Bob Carr
Robert John Carr is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. He later entered federal politics as a New South Wales senator, and served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2013. Following his departure from politics, he served as the director of the Australia-China Relations Institute from 2014 to 2019 at the University of Technology Sydney.
Carr was born in Sydney and attended the University of New South Wales. Before entering politics he worked as a journalist. Carr entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1983, and the following year became a cabinet minister. He served under Neville Wran and Barrie Unsworth until the Labor government was defeated in a landslide at the 1988 state election. Carr subsequently replaced Unsworth as party leader, thus becoming Leader of the Opposition. He led Labor to the 1991 election, where it recovered many of the seats it had lost in 1988, and then became premier after a narrow victory in 1995.
As Premier, Carr was known for his emphasis on conservation and his use of public–private partnerships to fund infrastructure projects. His government oversaw much of the planning for the 2000 Summer Olympics, which Sydney hosted. However, he was criticised for allowing poker machines to become widespread in pubs across the state, which led to an increase in gambling addiction. Carr was re-elected twice, in 1999 and 2003, eventually resigning as Premier in 2005 after 10 years in office. Only Henry Parkes served as Premier for longer, and no one has served a longer consecutive term. Carr remained a public figure after leaving the Premiership, and entered federal politics in 2012 at the urging of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He served as Foreign Minister under both Gillard and Kevin Rudd, but retired following Labor's defeat at the 2013 federal election. Carr is the last Premier of NSW to have a served a full term.
Early life and career
Carr was born in the Sydney suburb of Matraville to Edward and Phyllis Carr. He was educated at Matraville High School from which he graduated as dux in 1964. He was the first person in his family to finish high school, and became interested in a career in politics in his teenage years.While still a 15-year-old student at school, Carr joined the Maroubra branch of the Australian Labor Party. He would go on to become the President of the Maroubra branch and then the national President of Young Labor in 1970 and 1972 respectively. He completed his tertiary education at the University of New South Wales, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History.
After graduation, Carr worked as a journalist for the ABC Radio's AM and PM current affair programs from 1969 to 1971. He was also a reporter on industrial relations and politics for The Bulletin magazine from 1978 to 1983. He later recalled that his work as a journalist provided good preparation for his political career. He also spent a period working as an education officer for the Labor Council of New South Wales.
In 1972, Carr met a Malaysian economics student, Helena John on a holiday in Tahiti, and they married on 24 February 1973. Helena Carr became a successful businesswoman, while she largely remained out of the political spotlight during her husband's career. Helena Carr died on 25 October 2023.
New South Wales state politics (1983–2005)
Carr entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at a by-election in October 1983 as the member for Maroubra, representing the Australian Labor Party. In December 1984 he was appointed Minister for Planning and Environment in the Neville Wran government. In February 1986, he also took on the Consumer Affairs portfolio, which he held until he became Minister for Heritage in July 1986 when Barrie Unsworth became premier. As planning minister, Carr released a new metropolitan planning strategy for the capital, to replace the 1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan.Leader of the opposition (1988–1995)
The Unsworth Labor government was defeated in March 1988, in the context of a 'time for a change' sentiment after 12 years of Labor. Carr was interested in international relations, and his long-term ambition was to enter federal politics and become Minister for Foreign Affairs.However, following the election Carr was pressured by his own rightwing faction to stand for the leadership. Further, the party organisation did not want Laurie Brereton as leader; he would go on to represent the federal seat of Kingsford Smith, which Carr viewed as his path to federal politics. Thus Carr reluctantly agreed to become Leader of the Opposition, as revealed in his diary entries from the time:
Despite his misgivings, Carr's performance as Opposition Leader gained approval in the party. Polling in the lead-up to the 1991 election predicted another heavy defeat. However, Labor regained all but one of the seats lost at the previous election. As a result, while the Coalition won 52 per cent of the two-party vote, Labor scored a 10-seat swing and came up only four seats short of Carr becoming Premier. Greiner was forced into a minority government with the support of independents.
In 1992, Greiner resigned following adverse findings against him from the Independent Commission Against Corruption. John Fahey replaced him as premier, but was hampered by his need to negotiate with independents. For the 1995 election, Carr focused the campaign on a select group of key seats. At that election, Labor took three seats off the Coalition, allowing Carr to become premier with a bare majority of one seat.
In 1992, federal Liberal leader John Hewson controversially attacked Carr for his lack of family life when compared to Fahey: "You've got to be suspicious of a guy that doesn't drive, doesn't like kids and things like that. When he's up against a full-blooded Australian like John Fahey, he hasn't got a hope", but was later forced to withdraw his remarks.
Bob and Helena Carr did not respond to Hewson's attack. Bob Carr however did express his frustration with the Hewson attack in his diary:
"What a business to be in where your private life gets blasted all over the media…In the middle of an assault like this one feels crushed; you want to crouch at home; you wonder why friends don’t ring".
For the entirety of his Opposition Leadership, Carr was his own Shadow Treasurer due to Greiner and Fahey being their own Treasurers.
Carr kept Treasury in 1993 when Fahey relinquished Treasury to Peter Collins, but Carr instead assigned Finance spokesman Michael Egan to tackle Collins.
When Carr became Premier after the 1995 election he appointed Egan, not himself, as Treasurer.
Premier of New South Wales (1995–2005)
Following the narrow 1995 victory, Labor was re-elected by a much bigger margin in the 1999 poll with 55 seats out of 93. He was re-elected with the same margin in the 2003 election. In the 1999 poll the defeated Liberal opposition leader was Kerry Chikarovski; in the 2003 poll it was John Brogden.Carr's government was characterised by conservative financial management and to a certain extent the encouragement of market forces, along with a "tough on crime" policy. It was also seen as having a strong pro-environment character and being committed to curriculum rigour, testing and literacy initiatives in schools. Carr ventured periodically into national policy issues, particularly issues concerning the environment, population growth, embryonic stem cell research, federal–state relations and support for a minimalist model of an Australian Republic. Carr's government, under State Treasurers Michael Egan and Andrew Refshauge, delivered ten consecutive budget surpluses.
Carr became the first Premier who was not his own Treasurer for the entirety of his premiership since Barrie Unsworth.
Nature conservation
Nature conservation was a priority for the government and for Carr personally. Carr moved to ban canal estates because of their impact on river systems, and when in office he implemented a 1995 election pledge to prevent logging in parts of southeastern NSW by creating the South East Forests National Park along NSW's coastal range from Batemans Bay to the Victorian border.Carr's election policies had also included commitments to protect of old-growth forest and wilderness areas through a string of new national parks. The promise was exceeded with gazettal of between 1995 and 2005. The initiative was supported by a A$6 million forestry restructuring package to build a modern mill and provide a 20-year guarantee of alternative timber.
Following the 1999 victory, Carr's government declared 100 new national parks between Nowra and the Bega Valley. Carr claimed in 2009 that: "rural towns did not 'die' as a result of these conservation measures. The old timber towns now boast communities with a strong economic base, world-class national parks on their doorstep and thriving nature-based tourism". In its first term, the government banned the removal of old-growth vegetation from farmlands and introduced pricing for rural water and an environmental allocation to the state's river systems. In June 2001 jet skis were banned from Sydney Harbour. Carr said: "You wouldn't allow motor bikes in the Botanic Gardens".
The curbs on the clearing of nature vegetation were mounted as a serious anti-greenhouse gas measure, helping Australia achieve its Kyoto targets. In addition, in January 2003 the Carr government launched the world's first greenhouse gas trading scheme, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme, which set a limit on carbon emissions by electricity retailers. It was listed by the World Bank as the world's first carbon trading scheme.
In 2003 Carr launched the building sustainability index which mandated reductions in energy and water use of up to 40 percent in every new dwelling built after July 2004. Regarding environmental and education improvements, Carr noted in his diary for 21 April 1997: "Yesterday our school reforms were announced. All the ideas I'd formulated in Opposition. Four-unit English for the HSC. Compulsory exams at the end of Year 10. Soft options gone... I mark the package with forestry. I could leave politics and be satisfied with my achievements."