Steven James Robert Whan (born 11 February 1964) is an Australian politician who has served as Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education since 2023. He has represented the electoral district of Monaro 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 ...

for the Labor Party since 2023, after previously representing the seat from

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

until

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. He was a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

from 2011 to 2015. Whan served as Minister of Emergency Services, Minister for Small Business and Minister for Rural Affairs in the Rees and Keneally ministries from 2009 to 2011. Whan lives in with his wife and two children. Whan is a member of

Labor Right The Labor Right (LR), also known as Labor Forum, Labor Unity or simply Unity, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social democratic to Third Way economic policies ...

Early career and background

Born in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, he is the son of Bob Whan, a former member for the federal seat of Eden-Monaro. Steve Whan was educated at the Canberra

College of Advanced Education The College of Advanced Education (CAE) was a class of Australian tertiary education institution that existed from 1967 until the early 1990s. They ranked below universities, but above Colleges of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) which offer ...

(now

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

). He graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences, majoring in Economics and Politics. In 1998, he received a Graduate Certificate in Management from the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus public research university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university in its current form was founde ...

. From 1987 to 1988 Whan was assistant private secretary to John Brown, Federal Minister for Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories. He later worked for senator Bob McMullan until 1992. Between 1992 and 1994, Whan worked for Ros Kelly, Federal Minister for Environment, Sport and Territories. He worked for the Australian Sports Commission from 1994 to 2001, and subsequently became a consultant on community relations and sport, before being preselected as a Labor candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

Political career

Representing Labor, Whan contested Eden-Monaro, which was held by his father Bob between 1972 and 1975, at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

federal elections, and was unsuccessful on both occasions. Whan was elected as the member for NSW state seat of Monaro at the 2003 state election. As the local member he secured funding for the rebuilding of Queanbeyan and Bombala Hospitals. He also guaranteed record levels of funding to the Kings Highway, increased local Rural Fire Service staffing numbers and new fire trucks, as well as funding to several local community organisations. In January 2009, Whan was appointed as the Minister for Emergency Services, Small Business and Rural Affairs in the Rees ministry. In December 2009 when Kristina Keneally became Premier he was made Minister for Primary Industry and Minister for Emergency Services and Rural Affairs. During 2010 he also added Mineral Resources and Forestry to the Primary Industries portfolio responsibilities. As Minister for Primary Industries he sought assistance for farmers and producers in NSW who were suffering one of the State's longest running droughts. Whan guaranteed stock and fodder subsidies for farmers and drought declaration assistance. Whan also oversaw the introduction of kilojoule labelling for fast-food chain restaurants so that customers were aware of the kilojoule content of the foods they were purchasing. At the 2011 state election, Whan was defeated in Monaro by a margin of 2 per cent, which was one of the lowest anti-Labor swings in the state. Less than three months later, Whan was appointed to the Legislative Council to fill a casual vacancy, succeeding Tony Kelly. Whan was immediately promoted to the shadow cabinet, becoming the shadow minister for Resources and Primary Industries, shadow Special Minister of State, and shadow minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing. In 2014 he was preselected as the Labor candidate for the seat of Monaro at the 2015 state election. Before his preselection, Whan stated his intention to retire from politics if he did not win Monaro at the 2015 election. At the 2015 election, Whan was defeated for the second time by sitting member

John Barilaro Giovanni Domenic Barilaro (; born 14 November 1971) is an Australian former politician who served as the 18th deputy premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales National Party, NSW National Party from 2016 to 2021. He was t ...

, by a margin of 2.53 points. Barilaro improved the Nationals margin by 0.53 points, even though the remainder of the state swung to the ALP. In February 2023, it was announced that he would be replacing Terry Campese as the Labor candidate for Monaro at the March state election and was subsequently elected. He served for five months as Government Whip in the

before being appointed as Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education in the Minns ministry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whan, Steve Living people 1964 births Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians Australian Capital Territory politicians People from Canberra University of Canberra alumni Western Sydney University alumni People from Queanbeyan Labor Right politicians Ministers for agriculture (New South Wales) Ministers for emergency services (New South Wales)