Robert Douglas Martin (born 7 December 1945) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n politician. He was the Labor Party member for Port Stephens in 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 House ...

from 1988 to 1999. Martin was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

to Douglas and Beryl, and attended McDonald Upper Primary School and Hurlestone Agricultural High School, graduating in 1962. He then attended

Hawkesbury Agricultural College Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college in New South Wales, Australia, based in Richmond. It operated from 1891 to 1989. History It was established on 10 March 1891, and formally opened by Minister for Mines and Agric ...

and graduated with a Diploma in Agriculture in 1965. He worked for the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

at Alstonville, Dareton and Bathurst, before moving to

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

in 1969. On 11 January that year he married Margaret Eady from Murwillumbah, a primary school teacher. They had two children. He also joined the Labor Party. In 1970 he was employed with New South Wales State Fisheries, and managed the Port Stephens centre until 1988. In 1988, Martin was selected as the Labor candidate for the new seat of Port Stephens. He won the seat by less than 100 votes. Defeated Liberal candidate Walter Scott went to the Court of Disputed Returns, obtaining a judgement that government cheques handed to community groups by Martin counted as electoral

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

. This decision was met with astonishment by all sides of politics, and Martin won the by-election resoundingly with a 13% margin. In 1991, boundary changes made his seat notionally Liberal-held, but he was elected with a 10% margin nevertheless. He was appointed Minister for Mineral Resources and Minister for Fisheries in the Carr Government when it was elected in 1995. Martin retired from politics in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Bob 1945 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Politicians from Sydney