John Faulkner

Senator John Faulkner
52nd Minister for Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office  9 June 2009
Preceded by	Joel Fitzgibbon
Special Minister of State
In office 3 December 2007 – 5 June 2009
Preceded by	Gary Nairn
Succeeded by	Joe Ludwig
Born	12 April 1954 (1954-04-12) (age 55) Leeton, New South Wales
Political party	Australian Labor Party

John Philip Faulkner (born 12 April 1954) is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate since 1989, representing the state of New South Wales. He has been the federal Minister for Defence since June 2009.

Early career

Faulkner was born in Leeton, New South Wales, and was educated at Macquarie University, Sydney, where he graduated in arts and education. He worked as a teacher in government schools before entering politics. He was Assistant General Secretary of the NSW ALP 1980-89, and has been a member of the ALP National Executive since 1989.

A leading member of the Socialist Left faction of the ALP, Faulkner succeeded the former left-wing minister Arthur Gietzelt in the Senate in 1989. In the Keating Labor government he was Minister for Veterans Affairs and Minister for Defence Science and Personnel 1993-94, and Minister for the Environment, Sport and Territories, with a seat in the Cabinet, 1994-96.

After the defeat of the Keating government in 1996, Faulkner became Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1996-2004. He was at various times Shadow Minister for Social Security, Public Administration and Home Affairs. He was a key Labor strategist in the 1998, 2001 and 2004 federal elections, and was a particularly close advisor to Mark Latham during the 2004 election. In the wake of Labor's defeat in that election, he resigned his positions. ^[1] In October 2006 John Faulkner was elected as the National President of the Australian Labor Party until February 2008. Three people are elected to the rotating position of Party President every three years, each serving one year. Faulkner chaired the ALP's National Conference in 2007, each of the rotating Presidents will chair the National Executive for one year.

Rudd Government Minister

Faulkner with Chief of the Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston and former Chief of the Defence Force Peter Cosgrove in November 2009

John Faulkner was the Vice-President of the Executive Council, Special Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary in the first Rudd Ministry. In his role he has introduced new rules for ministerial conduct and fundraising aimed at reducing the influence of lobbyists on government decisions. He has also introduced new guidelines reducing the overt political control of government funded advertising.^[2]

On 5 June 2009, John Faulkner was announced as the new Minister for Defence replacing Joel Fitzgibbon, who stepped down the previous day.

Publications

John Faulkner has authored and co-authored several books on the subject of representative government and the history of the Australian Labor Party.

• Deadlock or democracy: the future of the Senate, with Meg Lees, Helen Coonan and Harry Evans. UNSW Press, Sydney, 2000. ISBN 0-86840-570-1.
• True believers: the story of the federal parliamentary Labor Party, with Stuart Macintyre. Allen & Unwin, 2001. ISBN 1-86508-609-6.
• Parliamentary privilege: precedents, procedure and practice in the Australian Senate 1966-2005. Committee of Privileges, 2005. ISBN 0-642-71601-3.

See also

• First Rudd Ministry

References

1. ^ No bluff, Faulkner just resigns
2. ^ Liberals play spot the hypocrite on political accountability

• Senator The Hon. John Faulkner Parliament of Australia- retrieved 21 April 2007
• John Faulkner - Senator for New South Wales ALP - retrieved 21 April 2007