Michael George Forshaw (born 11 January 1952) is an Australian politician who served as a member of the

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 ...

for the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

from May 1994 to June 2011, representing the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

Early life and education

Forshaw was born in Sydney. He was educated at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, where he graduated in arts, and the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

, where he graduated in law.

Career

Forshaw was admitted as a barrister in 1985. Forshaw began employment with the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

in 1975 as an Industrial Officer and was elected as the union's Assistant General Secretary in 1989. In 1991 Forshaw was elected as the General Secretary of the AWU when he negotiated the amalgamation of the AWU with the Federation of Industrial Manufacturing & Engineering Employees (formerly the Federated Ironworkers' Association of Australia) to form the AWU-FIMEE Amalgamated Union. From 1993 until entering the Senate in 1994 Forshaw was the Joint National Secretary of the AWU-FIMEE Amalgamated Union (which changed its name back to the AWU in 1995). A member of Labor's right faction, on 2 March 2010 Forshaw announced his decision to retire, citing he was making way for outgoing state party boss

Matt Thistlethwaite Matthew James Thistlethwaite (born 6 September 1972) is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2013, representing the electorate of Division of Kingsford Smith, Kin ...

. His term ended on 30 June 2011. In September 2016, he was elected to

Sutherland Shire Council Sutherland Shire is a local government area (LGA) in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire is located approximately south-southwest of the Sydney CBD, and comprises an area of . As at the ...

as a

Councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

and in September 2020 he became

Deputy Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

.Cr Michael Forshaw - Deputy Mayor
Sutherland Shire Council

Personal

Forshaw is married to retired

Sutherland Shire Sutherland Shire is a local government area (LGA) in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire is located approximately south-southwest of the Sydney CBD, and comprises an area of . As at the ...

Councillor Jan Forshaw and has three sons, Simon, Martin and Jeremy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forshaw, Michael 1952 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales University of New South Wales Law School alumni Politicians from Sydney People from the Sutherland Shire University of Sydney alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Australian barristers Australian trade unionists