Australian Government Address

Minister for Resources and Energy, Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson, was born in Sydney in 1953 and was educated at St Patrick’s, Strathfield. He has a BEcpn (Hons, Sydney University). He was elected to Federal Parliament as the Member for Batman in 1996 and became Shadow Minister for Employment and Training. In 1997, he assumed the added responsibility of Population and Immigration and Assistant to the Opposition Leader on Multicultural Affairs. He was re-elected to the Shadow Ministry on 22 November 2001. Previously, Martin was President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) after working for the Federated Miscellaneous Workers’ Union of Australia since 1975. As president of the ACTU, Martin was a member of advisory councils and foundations including the Social Security Review, the Economic Planning Advisory Council, the National Labour consultative Council and the Advance Australia Foundation. Martin was previously the Shadow Minister for Transport, Roads and Tourism. Martin and his wife Patricia have two children.