Tony Sheldon (trade Unionist)
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Anthony Vincent Sheldon (born 26 August 1961) is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He is a member 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 ...
(ALP) and has served as a
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
for
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 ...
since 2019. He was previously a senior figure in the Transport Workers Union (TWU), serving as state secretary (1999–2008) and national secretary (2006–2019).


Early life

Sheldon was born on 26 August 1961 in
Caringbah, New South Wales Caringbah is a suburb in Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Caringbah is south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Sutherland Shire. Caringbah once stretched from Woolooware Bay o ...
. He attended
De La Salle College, Cronulla St Aloysius College is an independent Roman Catholic comprehensive co-educational secondary day school, located in Cronulla a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History In 1936, the De La Salle Brothers purchased a bushl ...
. He worked as a cleaner, bartender and garbage collector prior to becoming a professional unionist. He undertook postgraduate studies in industrial law at 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 ...
and is also a graduate of the Harvard Trade Union Program.


Transport Workers Union

Sheldon joined the TWU in the 1990s. He led the NSW branch of TWU from 1999 to 2008 and was elected TWU National Secretary in 2006. In 2008, Sheldon was accused of running a joint employer–union training fund. A review by professional services firm
Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...
noted a lack of governance arrangements in the operation of the fund, which should have been in place to ensure its formal separation from the TWU. In December 2011 he restructured elements of the TWU's national office, with a stated view to position the TWU for the future, but the move received some criticism from rival unions and disgruntled former members of staff. As TWU National Secretary, Sheldon led the widely praised TWU 'Safe Rates' campaign, where his negotiation skills and leadership of the TWU's campaigning were instrumental in garnering community and political support for the Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012, landmark legislation which is aimed at improving safety and conditions in the road transport industry. In October 2015, he led a delegation to the
International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...
lobbying for a plan based on the Australian Safe Rates model to tackle unfair and unsafe remuneration as the root cause of the high global death toll in trucking. In May 2012 Sheldon was named one of the most powerful union leaders in Australia by the Power Index. In 2014 he was elected chairperson of the
International Transport Workers' Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership o ...
Road Transport Sector. He resigned from the TWU in August 2018 following his preselection for the Senate. Sheldon also served as vice president of the
Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...
, a member of the
Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) The New South Wales Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) and commonly referred to simply as NSW Labor, is the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The branch is the current ...
administrative committee, as a board member to TWU Super and is a former senior vice president 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 ...
.


Politics

Sheldon won ALP
preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...
for the Senate in June 2018, with the endorsement of the Centre Unity (
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 ...
) faction. ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' described him as a "strong backer of Labor leader
Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019. He also ...
" and speculated he would be elevated to the ministry if the party won government. He was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election to a six-year term beginning on 1 July 2019. Following the election of the Labor Government, on 24 July 2022, Sheldon was appointed Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery by Prime Minister
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 ...
. On 2 August 2022, Sheldon was elected Chair of the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee. He also serves as Deputy Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldon, Tony 1961 births Living people Australian trade unionists Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales People from the Sutherland Shire People educated at De La Salle College, Cronulla