Robert Ray (Australian politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Francis Ray (born 8 April 1947), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Senate since July 1981, representing the state of Victoria. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and was educated at Monash University, Melbourne, where he graduated in arts and education. He worked as a teacher in government schools and as a taxi-driver before entering politics.

A leading member of the right-wing faction of the ALP, Ray defeated a left-wing Senator, Jean Melzer, in a ballot for a place on the party's Senate ticket. This caused great bitterness in the Socialist Left faction, which has disliked Ray ever since. He was elected to the Senate at the October 1980 election, taking his seat on 1 July 1981.

In the Hawke Labor government Ray was Minister for Home Affairs 1987-88, Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs 1988-90 (with a seat in the Cabinet), and Minister for Defence 1990-96. In this portfolio he strongly supported Hawke's decision to send Australian forces to support the United Nations in the Gulf War, despite bitter opposition from the left.

After the defeat of the Keating government in 1996 election, Ray did not seek election to the Opposition Shadow Ministry, but remained a powerful figure in the Labor Party, acting as a key factional supporter of Opposition Leader Kim Beazley 1996-2001. His influence diminished when Mark Latham became Leader in 2003. He is expected to retire at the 2007 election, in which case his term would expire on 30 June 2008.

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Barry Cohen	Minister for Home Affairs 1987–1988	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Clyde Holding	Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs 1988–1990	Succeeded by Gerry Hand
Preceded by Kim Beazley	Minister for Defence 1990–1996	Succeeded by Ian McLachlan

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

v • d • e

Current members of the Australian Senate

NSW

George Campbell (ALP) • Helen Coonan (Lib) • John Faulkner (ALP) • Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (Lib) • Michael Forshaw (ALP) • Bill Heffernan (Lib) • Steve Hutchins (ALP) • Sandy Macdonald (Nat) • Fiona Nash (Nat) • Kerry Nettle (Grn) • Marise Payne (Lib) • Ursula Stephens (ALP)

QLD

Andrew Bartlett (Dem) • Ron Boswell (Nat) • Sue Boyce (Lib) • George Brandis (Lib) • John Hogg (ALP) • Barnaby Joyce (Nat) • Joe Ludwig (ALP) • Ian Macdonald (Lib) • Jan McLucas (ALP) • Brett Mason (Lib) • Claire Moore (ALP) • Russell Trood (Lib)

Cory Bernardi (Lib) • Simon Birmingham (Lib) • Grant Chapman (Lib) • Alan Ferguson (Lib) • Mary Jo Fisher (Lib) • Annette Hurley (ALP) • Linda Kirk (ALP) • Anne McEwen (ALP) • Nick Minchin (Lib) • Natasha Stott-Despoja (Dem) • Penny Wong (ALP) • Dana Wortley (ALP)

Tas

Eric Abetz (Lib) • Guy Barnett (Lib) • Bob Brown (Grn) • Carol Brown (ALP) • David Bushby (Lib) • Richard Colbeck (Lib) • Christine Milne (Grn) • Kerry O'Brien (ALP) • Stephen Parry (Lib) • Helen Polley (ALP) • Nick Sherry (ALP) • John Watson (Lib)

Vic

Lyn Allison (Dem) • Kim Carr (ALP) • Steve Conroy (ALP) • Steve Fielding (FFP) • Mitch Fifield (Lib) • Rod Kemp (Lib) • Julian McGauran (Lib) • Gavin Marshall (ALP) • Kay Patterson (Lib) • Robert Ray (ALP) • Michael Ronaldson (Lib) • Judith Troeth (Lib)

Judith Adams (Lib) • Mark Bishop (ALP) • Mathias Cormann (Lib) • Alan Eggleston (Lib) • Chris Ellison (Lib) • Chris Evans (ALP) • David Johnston (Lib) • Ross Lightfoot (Lib) • Andrew Murray (Dem) • Rachel Siewert (Grn) • Glenn Sterle (ALP) • Ruth Webber (ALP)

Territories

ACT	Gary Humphries (Lib) • Kate Lundy (ALP)
NT	Trish Crossin (ALP) • Nigel Scullion (CLP)

Labor (ALP) • Democrat (Dem) • Family First (FFP) • Greens (GRN) • Liberal (Lib) • Country Liberal (CLP) • National (Nat)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ray_%28Australian_politician%29"

Searching reference...

Reference

Sources

Robert Ray (Australian politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Top Matching Results

Sponsored Links
This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Searching reference...

Reference

Sources

Robert Ray (Australian politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Top Matching Results

Sponsored Links This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Sponsored Links
This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.