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Don Farrell

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Senator the Honourable
Don Farrell
Special Minister of State
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 June 2022
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese
Preceded byBen Morton
Minister for Trade and Tourism
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 June 2022
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese
Preceded byDan Tehan
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 June 2022
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese
LeaderPenny Wong
Preceded byMichaelia Cash
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
In office
30 September 2016 – 30 May 2019
LeaderPenny Wong
Preceded byStephen Conroy
Succeeded byKristina Keneally
Minister for Sport
In office
1 July 2013 – 18 September 2013
Prime MinisterKevin Rudd
Preceded byKate Lundy
Succeeded byPeter Dutton
Senator for South Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 July 2016
In office
1 July 2008 – 30 June 2014
Personal details
Born
Donald Edward Farrell

(1954-06-06) 6 June 1954 (age 70)
Murray Bridge, South Australia
Political partyLabor
Alma materUniversity of Adelaide
OccupationUnion leader
Websitesenatorfarrell.com.au

Donald Edward Farrell (born 6 June 1954) is an Australian politician and former trade unionist. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been Minister for Trade and Tourism and Special Minister of State in the Albanese government since 2022. He has served as a Senator for South Australia since 2016, after a previous term from 2008 to 2014.

Farrell holds a law degree from the University of Adelaide. He was state secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) from 1993 to 2008. After an unsuccessful candidacy at the 1988 Adelaide by-election, Farrell was elected to the Senate at the 2007 federal election. He was a parliamentary secretary in the Gillard government from 2010 to 2013, then served briefly as Minister for Science and Research and Minister for Sport prior to the ALP's defeat at the 2013 federal election. He lost his own seat at election, but was returned to the Senate in 2016 following a double dissolution. Farrell was elected as the ALP's deputy Senate leader in 2016 and is a senior figure in the Labor Right faction. He was appointed to cabinet following the party's victory at the 2022 election.

Early life

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Farrell was born on 6 June 1954 in Murray Bridge, South Australia.[1] He is the son of Mary Heptinstall and Edward William Farrell.[2] His father was a member of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and stood for federal parliament unsuccessfully on six occasions, five times for the seat of Boothby and once for the Senate.[2][3]

During his childhood, Farrell lived for periods in Crafers, Forestville, Panorama, and Daw Park. He began his schooling at St Therese's School and completed his secondary education at Blackfriars Priory School. He subsequently completed the degree of Bachelor of Laws at the University of Adelaide. He worked for six years in his uncle's kiosk at Cleland Wildlife Park,[2] and also worked as a mail sorter, council worker and waiter for periods.[1]

Union career

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Farrell joined the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) as an industrial officer in 1976. He was promoted to assistant secretary in 1980 and became state secretary in 1993, serving until his election to the Senate.[1]

Political career

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Farrell joined the ALP in 1976 and was elected as a delegate to state conference and state council in the same year. He was a delegate to the Australian Labor Party National Conference from 1984 and was elected state president of the ALP in 1988.[1] He became a senior figure in the Labor Right faction in South Australia.[4][5]

Farrell first ran for parliament at the 1988 Adelaide by-election but was unsuccessful. In June 2007, Farrell won preselection for the first position on Labor's Senate ticket in the 2007 election and he was subsequently the first elected senator for South Australia at the general election. His term began on 1 July 2008.[1]

Gillard and Rudd governments

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Following the 2010 federal election, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water.[6][7] On 25 March 2013, Farrell was promoted into the Outer Ministry as the Minister for Science and Research and the Minister Assisting on Tourism.[8] On 1 July 2013 as part of the Second Rudd Ministry, Farrell was appointed the Minister for Sport as well as remaining Minister Assisting on Tourism.[9][10]

In 2011 Farrell was listed as number six on the top ten political fixers as identified by The Power Index website. Where the article states that South Australian Labor's former deputy leader, Ralph Clarke commented:[11]

"He controls the pre-selection directly or indirectly of every MP in South Australia. If you want to get on, you get on with Don."

In 2012, he was again selected as the first candidate on Labor's Senate ticket in the 2013 federal election, causing some controversy as he defeated Penny Wong for the leading Senate position. At the time, Wong was a senior minister in the Second Gillard Ministry and a member of the Australian Cabinet. Anthony Albanese accused union powerbrokers of not listening to the electorate and instead focusing on its own ructions. He labelled the move as:[12]

"...gross self-indulgent rubbish.... [taken by] ....those who should care more about the party and less about themselves."

He stated that he would demand that Labor's national executive overturn the decision and promote Senator Wong to the number one spot. On 30 October 2012, Farrell stepped aside to give Wong the number one spot on Labor's senate ticket for the 2013 election. He was quoted as saying:[13]

"I was concerned that the issue was damaging the Labor Party. ..... I was prepared to do a swap with Penny. This is a case whereby modern Labor can't be seen to be concentrating on our internals at the expense of what is going on out there in the electorate and what is expected."

Wong later expressed favourable sentiments about Farrell after his decision to stand aside:[13]

"Throughout his career, Don has always put the Labor Party first and he has demonstrated that principle again today."

Time in opposition

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Farrell was defeated at the 2013 federal election and his term in the Senate ended on 30 June 2014.[14]

In January 2014, it was announced that Michael O'Brien offered Farrell his state seat of Napier, so that Farrell could contest the 2014 South Australian election, representing Labor. Premier Jay Weatherill threatened to resign if Farrell was successfully preselected.[15][16] A few hours later, Farrell withdrew his nomination.[17]

In 2016 Farrell was endorsed as a Labor candidate for the Senate in South Australia in the 2016 federal election,[18] and was subsequently re-elected.[19] He was elected and returned to the Labor frontbench in October 2016.[20]

Farrell opposed same-sex marriage and supported the view of "traditional marriage as being between a man and a woman". He said he would only vote for marriage equality after the 2019 election.[21] He had publicly stated that he would vote against marriage equality in the parliament regardless of the results of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.[22] When the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 bill was voted in the senate, Farrell abstained from voting.[23]

Ministry in Albanese Government

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Farrell in Parliament after a meeting of the Australia & Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum, February 2023

After the ALP's victory at the 2022 federal election, Farrell became the deputy leader of the government in the Senate. He was appointed to cabinet in the Albanese ministry, becoming Special Minister of State and Minister for Trade and Tourism.[1] In the role, Farrell has kept pressure on his China counterparts to lift their trade sanctions against Australian exports, saying, "Things aren’t going to get back to normal until they lift those bans."[24]

These efforts appear to have paid off in April 2024, when China lifted its punitive tariffs on Australian wine.[25] However, Farrell maintained his goal of diversifying trade risk away from China, beginning new free trade agreements with the UK and India.[26] On New Year's Day 2022, Farrell's free trade agreement with India became active, with tariffs being removed on 85% of Australia's exports to India.[27] His goal of securing a free trade agreement with the European Union had eluded him, with the Minister leaving a meeting with his EU counterpart in 2023.[28]

Personal life and health

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In 2014, following the end of his first Senate term, Farrell established Farrell Wines, a vineyard in the Clare Valley.[1]

In December 2021, Farrell caught COVID-19 after attending a wedding in Melbourne.[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Senator the Hon Don Farrell". Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Maiden speech". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. 3 September 2008. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  3. ^ Naughton, Kevin (31 January 2014). "The rise and fall of Don Farrell". InDaily. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Labor's new-look shadow ministry". SBS News. Special Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  5. ^ Manning, Haydon (2005). Yes, Premier: Labor Leadership in Australia's States and Territories. UNSW Press. p. 215. ISBN 9780868408408.
  6. ^ "Second Gillard Ministry" (PDF). 14 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2012.
  7. ^ "Administrative Arrangements Order" (PDF). COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  8. ^ "Full list of changes to the Gillard ministry". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  9. ^ "Kevin Rudd's new-look ministry". ABC News, 1 July 2013. July 2013. Archived from the original on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Second Rudd Ministry" (PDF). Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Commonwealth of Australia. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013. [permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Political fixers, no. 6". The Power Index. 13 July 2011. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012.
  12. ^ Wright, Jessica (27 October 2012). "Wong senate snub risks factional flare-up". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  13. ^ a b Osborne, Paul (30 October 2012). "Labor avoids stoush over SA Senate post". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  14. ^ Labor "Godfather" hints at political return Archived 31 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine. ABC News Online, 2 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013
  15. ^ "Premier Weatherill tells 891 Breakfast he will reconsider leadership if Farrell accepts preselection". 891 ABC Adelaide radio. 31 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  16. ^ "Labor in pre-election crisis as Premier Jay Weatherill threatens to resign if Labor Senator Don Farrell is endorsed for state seat". ABC News. Australia. 31 January 2014. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  17. ^ "Labor Senator Don Farrell withdraws bid to enter SA Parliament". ABC News. Australia. 31 January 2014. Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  18. ^ Rebecca Puddy (12 May 2016). "Federal election 2016: Don Farrell wins No 2 spot on Senate list". The Australian. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  19. ^ Karp, Paul (2 August 2016). "Family First's Bob Day edges Labor out for final South Australian Senate seat". Guardian Australia. Australia. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  20. ^ "The Godfather returns: right-wing powerbroker Don Farrell back on Labor frontbench". Sydney Morning Herald. 11 October 2016. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  21. ^ Maiden, Samantha (15 October 2016). "Marriage equality: ALP bigwig Don Farrell will vote for change after next election". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  22. ^ Yaxley, Louise (14 November 2017). "How your MP will vote if Australia says Yes to same-sex marriage". ABC News. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  23. ^ "SENATE - Hansard". Record of Proceedings (Hansard). Australia: Australian Senate. 29 November 2017. p. 9181-9193. Archived 5 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Karvelas, Patricia (14 November 2022). "ABC Radio National with Patricia Karvelas". Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  25. ^ Butler, Josh (28 March 2024). "China scraps tariffs on Australian wine". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  26. ^ Clun, Rachel (14 November 2022). "UK, India trade deals weeks away while negotiations continue for 'game changer' EU deal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  27. ^ feed, watermark (29 December 2022). "Positive sign for China trade relationship". Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  28. ^ Mascitelli, Bruce Wilson, Bruno (2 May 2024). "Why a European Union FTA with Australia matters". The Mandarin. Retrieved 17 May 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "Another senior Labor figure catches Covid". Adelaide Now. December 2021. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Sport
2013 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Special Minister of State
2022–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Minister for Trade and Tourism
2022–present
Preceded by Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
2022–present
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