Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
n politician who was the 40th
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatur ...
. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
, Iemma attended the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
and the
University of Technology, Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form ...
. A member of the
Labor Party, he was first elected to the
Parliament of New South Wales
The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...
at the
1991 state election, having previously worked as a trade union official. From 1999, Iemma was a minister in the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* Hi ...
and
fourth ministries led by
Bob Carr
Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...
. He replaced Carr as premier and
Leader of the New South Wales Labor Party in 2005, following Carr's resignation. Iemma led Labor to victory at the
2007 state election, albeit with a slightly reduced majority. He resigned as premier in 2008, after losing the support of
caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
, and left parliament shortly after, triggering
a by-election. He was replaced as premier by
Nathan Rees.
Background
Iemma was born in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
, the only child of Giuseppe and Maria Iemma, migrants from
Martone,
Calabria
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,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Maria Iemma worked in the clothing trade, and Giuseppe Iemma, a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
supporter in Italy, worked as a machine labourer. Morris joined the
Labor Party when he was 16. He was educated at state schools in Sydney, including the now-closed
Narwee Boys' High School, and has an economics degree from the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
and a law degree from the
University of Technology, Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form ...
.
In 1997, Iemma married Santina Raiti, with whom he has four children. The couple's eldest child,
Clara, is a cricketer.
Iemma is a member of the dominant
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
faction of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. From 1984 to 1986 he was an official with the
Commonwealth Bank Employees Union. He then worked as an adviser to Senator
Graham Richardson who held the environment and social security portfolios in the
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...
and
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...
federal governments.
Iemma is a supporter of the
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a rese ...
in the AFL and the
St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
Parliamentary career
In 1991 Iemma was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
for the seat of
Hurstville
Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Georges Ri ...
,
defeating a sitting
Liberal member, with the slogan "A local who listens". When the seat of Hurstville was abolished in 1999, he won a tough pre-selection battle for the
safe seat
A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combina ...
of
Lakemba, which included part of the old seat of Hurstville. Iemma held Lakemba until his resignation in 2008.
Iemma was Minister for Public Works and Services and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship (1999-2003), and as Minister for Sport and Recreation (2001-2003), and was Minister for Health (2003-2005).
His tenure as Health Minister was generally free of major controversy, although he has said of the Health portfolio: "it is one of the biggest and most difficult jobs in government".
Premier
First ministry
:
When
Bob Carr
Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...
announced his intention to retire as New South Wales Premier on 3 August 2005, Iemma immediately announced his candidacy to succeed him as leader of the NSW Labor Party and thus as Premier. Police Minister
Carl Scully was also a candidate, but on 29 July he withdrew. Iemma was the only candidate when the Labor Caucus met on 2 August to elect a new leader. He was formally appointed by
Professor Marie Bashir, the
Governor of New South Wales
The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the A ...
, on 3 August.
Iemma immediately faced a number of resignations.
Deputy Premier
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
and
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury ...
Andrew Refshauge, and senior minister
Craig Knowles, once considered a potential leader himself, both declared they would leave politics.
Iemma took the Treasury portfolio for himself. Among his first policy moves as new Premier, Iemma announced the immediate repealing of the
vendor tax (a tax on investment property) that was introduced by the Carr government in 2003.
Opinion polls in August showed that Labor under Iemma's leadership was maintaining the lead over the Liberal opposition it had enjoyed under Carr, despite Iemma's relatively low profile.
His short-term position was improved by the sudden resignation of Liberal leader
John Brogden. This was seen in the results of the by-elections on 17 September caused by the resignation from Parliament of Carr, Refshauge and Knowles.
Labor retained all three seats - Maroubra (Carr's seat) very easily, Macquarie Fields (Knowles's seat) comfortably, despite a substantial swing to the Liberals, and Marrickville (Refshauge's seat) despite a strong challenge from the
Greens. In Marrickville, where the Labor candidate was Education Minister
Carmel Tebbutt
Carmel Mary Tebbutt (born 22 January 1964) is an Australian former politician. She was the Labor Party Member for the former seat of Marrickville in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly until the 2015 election and was Deputy Premier of New ...
(switching from the
Legislative Council), the Labor primary vote increased in the absence of a
Liberal Party candidate.
Despite its relatively short term in office, the Iemma Government faced significant service delivery problems in transport, health care and future water supplies. Sydney newspapers consistently asserted that Iemma's government was more interested in "spin" than policy development. Other embarrassments beset his premiership. For example, in February 2006, while awaiting the start of a
COAG
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) was the primary intergovernmental forum in Australia from 1992 to 2020. Comprising the federal government, the governments of the six states and two mainland territories and the Australian Local G ...
media conference in
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, while chatting to
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks
Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 ...
and not realising cameras were operating, Iemma was recorded as saying:
:''"Today? This fuckwit who's the new CEO of the
Cross City Tunnel
The Cross City Tunnel is a twin-road tunnel tollway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The tunnel links Darling Harbour on the western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs. Each of ...
has ... been saying what controversy? There is no controversy."''
Nevertheless, in the months leading up to his first election as Labor leader, he maintained a comfortable lead in various opinion polls and was re-elected in the March 2007 election. Labor was returned with 52 seats compared to 35 for the Coalition.
Second ministry
On 15 July 2007, after several failures on the NSW rail system, Iemma claimed that the government was at war with rail unions. In November 2007 the Iemma government lifted the ban on
genetically modified canola
Genetically modified canola is a genetically modified crop. The first strain, Roundup Ready canola, was developed by Monsanto for tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the commonly used herbicide Roundup.
Genetic modification
Glypho ...
production and started the process of privatising the state's electricity system. On 3 May 2008, the New South Wales ALP's State Conference rejected, by 702 to 107 votes, the Iemma government's plans to privatise the state's electricity system.
Resignation and post-political career
On 5 September 2008, Iemma announced his resignation as Premier after losing the support of his caucus faction over the details of a proposed cabinet reshuffle sparked by the resignation of Deputy Premier John Watkins. Iemma had proposed that five other Ministers also depart, including Treasurer
Michael Costa and Health Minister
Reba Meagher
Reba Paige Meagher (born 11 September 1967) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of Cabramatta. She was a minister in various portfolios from 2003 t ...
. Iemma's faction, Centre Unity, supported the sacking of the Treasurer but not the other four Ministers. Faced with this rejection, Iemma resigned. The caucus unanimously selected
Nathan Rees as Premier in his stead.
Iemma resigned from parliament on 19 September 2008, ending his 17-year political career,
and forcing a
by-election in the seat of Lakemba,
won by
Robert Furolo.
In May 2009, Iemma was admitted to hospital suffering from an acute brain inflammation—
viral meningitis
Viral meningitis, also known as aseptic meningitis, is a type of meningitis due to a viral infection. It results in inflammation of the meninges (the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord). Symptoms commonly include headache, fever, sen ...
. As a result, he lost movement in his legs and underwent physiotherapy with the goal of recovering full use of his legs.
Iemma has served as chair of the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Board since 1 January 2011 and on the boards of the
Cancer Institute NSW and the
Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust
The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust (popularly known as the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust or SCG Trust) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales that operated the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, New S ...
.
In January 2013, there was speculation that Iemma was considering standing for the
Division of Barton
The Division of Barton is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.
History
The division was created in 1922 and is named for Sir Edmund Barton, the first Prime Minister of Australia. For most of its history, Barto ...
in the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members of ...
for Labor at the
2013 federal election to replace
former Attorney-General Robert McClelland who on that day announced that he would be retiring from parliament after 17 years. Iemma, however, decided not to contest the preselection in Barton, and the preselection instead went to Steve McMahon.
In November 2012 and March 2014 Iemma was called before the
NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in relation to allegations of corrupt behaviour by
Eddie Obeid
Edward Moses Obeid (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician, and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister fo ...
regarding a dispute between Australian Water Holdings and
Sydney Water; and in relation to allegations of corrupt behaviour by
Ian Macdonald
Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...
and Obeid regarding the issuing of lucrative mining licences near . Both Obeid and Macdonald were found by ICAC to have acted in a corrupt manner regarding the issuing of mining licences and criminal charges were laid.
Honours
The Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre, named in honour of Iemma and operated by the
City of Canterbury-Bankstown
The City of Canterbury Bankstown (also known as Canterbury-Bankstown Council) is a local government area located in the South Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 from a merger of the City ...
in partnership with the
YMCA NSW, is a modern sports facility that caters for a variety of indoor sports, including
netball
Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
and
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
as well as incorporating a
gym
A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...
, change rooms, cafeteria and childcare services. The facility was opened in March 2011.
References
External links
Profile of Morris Iemmafrom ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iemma, Morris
Premiers of New South Wales
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Australian people of Calabrian descent
Australian politicians of Italian descent
Australian trade unionists
Politicians from Sydney
University of Sydney alumni
University of Technology Sydney Law School alumni
1961 births
Living people
Treasurers of New South Wales
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Labor Right politicians
21st-century Australian politicians