Mark Lionel Furner (born 11 April 1958) is an Australian politician. He was a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

from 2008 to 2014, representing the state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Since the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a seco ...

, he has represented Ferny Grove in the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

Early life and education

Furner was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Queensland and grew up a housing commission development in . Initially working as a tradesman in the transport industry, he graduated from the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

with an associate diploma of business with a major in industrial relations. Between 1989 and 2008 he worked as a union official for the Transport Workers' Union, the

Queensland Police The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

Union, and the

National Union of Workers The National Union of Workers was an Australian trade union from 1989 to 2019. The union covered workers in various industries and was one of the most powerful unions in the Australian Labor Party and its national Labor Right faction. In 2019, i ...

. Furner held a range of positions within the Labor Party between 1996 and 2008.

Career

He was elected to the Senate at the 2007 federal election as the third candidate of the Labor Party Senate ticket in Queensland. He was defeated at the

2013 federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday, 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal ...

and his term ended on 30 June 2014. He won the seat of Ferny Grove representing Labor at the

. On 10 February 2017, Furner was appointed to the posts of Minister for Local Government and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships in a Cabinet reshuffle announced by Premier

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 unt ...

. In December 2017, Furner was sworn in as Queensland's Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries. He retained this portfolio following the swearing in of the Third Palaszczuk Ministry in November 2020.

Personal life

Furner is married to Lorraine and they have three children.

References

External links

Personal website
1958 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians Labor Right politicians {{Australia-Labor-senator-stub

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links