John Brumby

John Brumby
45th Premier of Victoria
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 July, 2007
Deputy	Rob Hulls
Preceded by	Steve Bracks
Constituency	Broadmeadows
Personal details
Born	April 21, 1953 Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse	Rosemary McKenzie
Profession	Secondary school teacher, Banking Consultant

John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953), Australian Labor Party politician, is the 45th Premier of Victoria, assuming office in July 2007 after the resignation of Steve Bracks. He also serves as the Minister for Veteran's Affairs and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs.

Early life

John Brumby was born in Melbourne and educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in Commerce in 1974, and at the State College of Victoria at Rusden, where he completed a Diploma of Education in 1975. He was a teacher at Eaglehawk High School, near Bendigo in central Victoria, from 1976 to 1979. From 1979 to 1983 he was an employee of the Victorian Teachers Union. He was also active in the Australian Labor Party.

Political career

Federal MP

In 1983 John Brumby was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Bendigo, which he held until his defeat in 1990. A member of the Labor Unity faction, he was a strong supporter of Prime Minister Bob Hawke and an opponent of the Socialist Left faction, which has its stronghold in the Victorian branch of the Labor Party.

John Brumby then worked as a consultant before being appointed Chief of Staff to the federal Minister for Resources and Tourism, Allan Griffiths with responsibility for the development of policy in areas such as energy, petroleum, minerals and tourism. He held this position until February 1993, when he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council at a by-election for the seat of Doutta Galla Province in Melbourne's western suburbs.

State opposition leader

The Victorian Labor government of Joan Kirner was defeated at the October 1992 state elections by the Liberal Party led by Jeff Kennett. Joan Kirner resigned as Leader after a short period and was succeeded by Jim Kennan; Kennan later resigned from Parliament in June 1993. John Brumby was subsequently elected as Labor's new State Parliamentary leader to fill the vacancy created by Jim Kennan's resignation. He resigned from the Legislative Council and was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly at a by-election for Kennan's seat of Broadmeadows.

In 1996, John Brumby opposed the Kennett State Government's proposed relocation of the State Museum to Carlton Garden's site adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building. It was at this time that Brumby first proposed that the Royal Exhibition Building and the Carlton Gardens be nominated for World Heritage Listing. The World Heritage nomination was opposed at the time by the Kennett Liberal State Government. It was not until after the 1999 State Election that the Bracks Labor Government nominated and obtained World Heritage Listing for the site.

From 1993 to 1996 Brumby worked to restore Labor's fortunes in Victoria. The defeat of the federal Labor government in March 1996 prompted Kennett to call an early state election three weeks later, at which Labor lost heavily, with a net gain of two seats. This defeat was claimed to have undermined Brumby's position as Leader. John Brumby was later replaced as Labor leader in March 1999, agreeing to resign in favour of Steve Bracks.

Bracks Government

Steve Bracks narrowly won the state election called by Kennett in September 1999 and appointed John Brumby as Minister for Finance, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for State and Regional Development. Brumby formed part of the core leadership team of senior ministers in the new Government along with Bracks, Deputy Premier John Thwaites and Attorney-General Rob Hulls. Steve Bracks initially served as Treasurer as well as Premier, assisted by John Brumby who was responsible for Victoria's finances and most of the workload of the Treasury portfolio. In May 2000 John Brumby was appointed State Treasurer.

As Treasurer, John Brumby presided over a period of steady economic growth in Victoria, and his economic management was given some of the credit, along with the personal popularity of Bracks, for Labor's landslide re-elections in 2002 and 2006. Brumby ensured that the Labor Government maintained a budget surplus. Victoria's budget surpluses have been fueled in part by revenue from the Federal Government's goods and services tax, which federal Labor opposed.

During 2004 John Brumby was criticised by the state Liberal opposition for sharp increases in the rate of land tax in Victoria, which was criticised by many for potentially threatening the viability of many small businesses. Land tax rates were cut in the 2005 state budget. Faced with a choice of having to fund road infrastructure at the expense of development of Victoria's schools, hospitals and public transport, Brumby decided to impose a toll on the new Scoresby Freeway (later known as EastLink) in eastern Melbourne. The decision, which broke a 2002 pre-election promise, provoked a hostile response from the Liberal Opposition and local community groups as well as causing the Federal Government to withhold its share of the funding for the project.

Premier of Victoria

On 27 July 2007 the then Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks, unexpectedly announced his resignation from politics, citing family reasons for the decision. Deputy leader John Thwaites also announced his resignation later that day. On 30 July John Brumby was elected unopposed as the new Labor leader and was sworn in as Premier. Brumby reshuffled the cabinet and indicated his preference for Rob Hulls as his new deputy leader, who was elected to the position unopposed.

An early challenge was his stance on the Federal Government's Murray-Darling Basin water conservation plan, where, under previous Premier Steve Bracks, Victoria had been the only state to refuse to accept the Federal Government's plan to take over management of the nation's major rivers. There has been no indication that Brumby would reverse the decision, despite renewed approaches from the Federal Government. Federal Minister for Water Malcolm Turnbull said special treatment for Victoria was unacceptable and that "Victoria's proposal would perpetuate a fragmented management system for the Murray-Darling Basin and undermine the cooperative Basin-wide approach the plan seeks to achieve".

External links

• Treasurer's Webpage
• Official Site of Premier of Victoria

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