Tim Gartrell (born 1970) is an Australian political advisor currently serving as the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Australia under

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

. He previously served as the National Secretary of 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 ...

between 2003 and 2008, overseeing Labor's federal election campaigns in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. Gartrell was also the Campaign Director for the 'Yes' campaign in favour of marriage equality at the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.

Early life

Gartrell was born in 1970 in Orange,

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 ...

. He was raised by his parents, David and Carolyn Gartrell, on an orchard. His parents fostered a number of children in addition to Tim as well as his brother Brett and sister Katrina. Gartrell notes the impact of living with foster children as a teenager as significant on his politics. In 1987, Gartrell and his school's team won the state debating championships. After finishing school, he moved to

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 study in 1989.

Career

Gartrell started his career as an advocate and researcher in the Australian union movement, while studying a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

part-time at the University of NSW. Gartrell then worked as an adviser for Keating government ministers, Frank Walker and Jeannette McHugh. He then worked in the Beazley Federal Opposition for

. Following this work, he worked as the assistant to the mayor of the South Sydney Council. He joined the staff of the Australian Labor Party National Secretariat in 1998 serving as Assistant National Secretary of the

from April 2000. He was elected unopposed as National Secretary on 2 September 2003. Following the ALP's defeat at the 2004 election, Gartrell pursued reform of the campaigning structures of the Party. Gartrell is recognised as one of the driving forces behind Labor's successful 2007 election campaign, which saw the Party return to power after more than 11 years in Opposition. Through a creative use of new campaign techniques and advertising, Labor's campaign was seen to be superior to the Liberal Party campaign and won a series of media awards. As a key member of Labor's Political Strategy Group, Gartrell worked closely with

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

from his ascension to the Labor leadership, through to Rudd's election as Prime Minister. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described Gartrell's leadership skills as "superb" and stated " s ability, hard work, judgment and campaign leadership skills are first class". Gartrell announced his resignation from the position on 30 September 2008 to become CEO of market research firm Auspoll which is part of the larger Photon group of media companies. He left that post in 2010 to become CEO of Indigenous employment advocacy charity GenerationOne. In 2012, Gartrell was recruited by Reconciliation Australia to lead the " Recognise" campaign team, as campaign manager. The Recognise campaign advocated for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Tanya Hosch was joint campaign director, and also the public face of the campaign. Shortly after the announcement of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, Gartrell was appointed Campaign Director by the 'yes' side in favour of marriage equality. He led the campaign to a resounding success, with 61.6% of Australians voting in favour of marriage equality, representing a higher vote than any two-party preferred electoral vote in Australian history. He served as Vice-President of NSW Labor in 2019. Gartrell was appointed as the Chief of Staff to

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

in June 2019. Following the 2022 federal election, he became the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff.

Personal life

Gartrell holds a Bachelor of Arts from 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 ...

. He also holds a master's degree in communications studies from the University of South Australia. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gartrell, Tim 1970 births Living people People educated at Orange High School (New South Wales) Australian Labor Party officials University of New South Wales alumni University of South Australia alumni