Stewart John West (31 March 1934 – 29 March 2023) was an Australian politician. He represented 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 ...

(ALP) in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1977 to 1993, holding the

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 ...

seat of

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player * Abe Cunningham, American drummer *Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

. He was a member of cabinet in the

Hawke government The Hawke government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1983 to 1991. The government followed the Liberal-National Coalition Fraser government and was su ...

, serving as Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1983–1984), Housing and Construction (1984–1987), and Administrative Services (1987–1990).

Early life

West was born on 31 March 1934 in

Forbes, New South Wales Forbes is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the Newell Highway between Parkes and West Wyalong. According to the , Forbes has a population of 9,319. Forbes is probably named after Sir Francis For ...

. Before entering parliament he was president of the Port Kembla branch of the Waterside Workers' Federation from 1972 to 1977. He also served as Rex Connor's campaign manager from 1966 to 1975.

Politics

West was elected to parliament in the Cunningham by-election on 15 October 1977, after the sudden death of the sitting member, Rex Connor. He was promoted to the shadow ministry of

Bill Hayden William George Hayden (23 January 1933 – 21 October 2023) was an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 198 ...

in 1980. When the Labor Party won government in the 1983 federal election, West was appointed Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs in the Cabinet under Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

. As the only member of Labor's left-wing faction to be a Cabinet minister, West found himself at odds with the Labor Right-dominated Cabinet, and he resigned on 4 November 1983 when he was unable to support a Cabinet decision on

uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the earth. Over 50,000 tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account for 68% of w ...

. He was reappointed to Cabinet on 3 April 1984, and served out the remaining parliamentary term as Immigration Minister. West remained in Cabinet for the Hawke government's two subsequent terms as Minister for Housing and Construction from 1984 to 1987, and Minister for Administrative Services from 1987 to 1990. He resigned from Parliament on 8 February 1993 after losing pre-selection for the seat of Cunningham to Stephen Martin. West died on 29 March 2023, two days before his 89th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Stewart 1934 births 2023 deaths Australian trade unionists Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians Australian democratic socialists Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cunningham Members of the Cabinet of Australia People from Forbes, New South Wales Australian MPs 1975–1977 Australian MPs 1977–1980 Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993