Doug Cameron (politician) explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Doug Cameron
Office:Senator for New South Wales
Term Start:1 July 2008
Term End:30 June 2019
Birth Name:Douglas Niven Cameron
Birth Date:1951 1, df=y
Birth Place:Bellshill, Scotland
Nationality:Australian
Party:Labor
Occupation:Fitter

Douglas Niven Cameron (born 27 January 1951) is a retired Australian politician and trade unionist. He served as a Senator for New South Wales from 2008 to 2019, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Early life

Cameron was born in Bellshill, Scotland, just outside Glasgow.[1] His mother's parents were born in Lithuania.[2] He left school at 15 to take up an apprenticeship as a fitter at a local chain-making factory.[3] Shortly after completing his apprenticeship the factory closed, and Cameron emigrated to Australia in 1973, at the age of 22.[4] He initially worked at the Garden Island Dockyard in Sydney, before moving to the Liddell Power Station in Muswellbrook in 1975, where he worked as a maintenance fitter.[4]

Union movement

After seven years working at the power station Cameron was elected as the Hunter Valley/New England regional organiser for the Amalgamated Metal Workers and Shipwrights Union (AMWSU).[3] In 1986 he became the Assistant State Secretary of the union (by then known as the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union) in NSW, and later the Assistant National Secretary.[3] Cameron served as National Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union from 1996 to 2008.

Politics

Cameron was first elected to the Senate at the 2007 federal election. He won Labor preselection by mounting a successful challenge to an incumbent senator, George Campbell, with the support of the Labor Left faction.[5] In the Senate, he was known for his heavy Scottish accent.[6]

During the period of leadership tensions between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, Cameron was a vocal Rudd supporter. In the second Rudd ministry, which held office from June to September 2013, he served as Parliamentary Secretary for Housing and Homelessness.

In October 2013, Cameron was appointed Shadow Minister for Human Services in the Shadow Ministry of Bill Shorten. He was instead made Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness and Shadow Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships in July 2016.

Cameron announced on 24 July 2016 that he would retire at the end of his current term, and not contest the 2019 election.[7]

In July 2022, Cameron and Nick Sherry were appointed by the Australian Labor Party National Executive as administrators of the Tasmanian branch, following the suspension of the state executive.[8]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About Doug . 26 December 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160701060500/http://www.dougcameron.com.au/about_doug . 1 July 2016 . dead .
  2. Web site: Citizenship Register . Parliament of Australia . 5 December 2017.
  3. Cameron . Doug . First Speech . Australian Senate . 1 September 2008 . Canberra . Open Australia . 25 July 2017.
  4. Cameron . Doug . . Doug Cameron . Saturday Extra . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 19 May 2017 . 25 July 2017.
  5. News: Left-wing unionist aims for Senate. The Weekend Australian. 5 January 2007. 20 July 2019.
  6. News: Federal senator Doug Cameron's Scottish accent incomprehensible say Opposition. SBS. 6 October 2015. 20 July 2019.
  7. News: Doug Cameron serving last term. 24 July 2016. SBS News. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160726175517/https://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/federal/2016/07/24/doug-cameron-serving-last-term.html. 26 July 2016.
  8. News: ALP national executive launches 'intervention' into Tasmanian Labor to repair branch. ABC News. 29 July 2022. 1 November 2023.