John Della Bosca
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John Della Bosca is an Australian Labor Party (ALP) politician in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
Della Bosca is currently a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, Minister for Commerce, Minister for Finance, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability Services and Vice President of the Executive Council. He serves as Leader of the Government in the upper house.
Della Bosca is sometimes touted as a possible future premier.
Della Bosca has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales. He is married to Belinda Neal, a former Senator. They have two sons.
[edit] Early career
Della Bosca joined the ALP in January 1973. He rose through his branch and electorate council to take a place on the party's National Executive.
Between 1976 and his election to parliament in 1999, Della Bosca worked for the labour movement full-time in various capacities, first as a researcher for Senator Kerry Sibraa. In 1979 he took on the role of National Research Officer for the Australian Transport Officers' Federation, becoming the union's State Organiser in 1981.
In 1983, Della Bosca became State Organiser for the ALP. In 1985, he was promoted to Assistant Secretary and in 1990 he attained the position of General Secretary, a post he was to hold for nine years.
[edit] Parliamentary career
In 1999, Della Bosca made his much-anticipated move into parliamentary politics as a candidate for the Legislative Council. Within a month of his election, then Premier Bob Carr appointed him Special Minister of State, in effect the government's "Mr Fix-it".
As Special Minister of State, Della Bosca led reforms to compulsory third party ("green slip") insurance after public outcry over soaring costs. Della Bosca also braved controversy to streamline the system of workers compensation—drawing the ire of the trade union movement.
In 2000, Della Bosca famously became the first senior ALP figure to support the Goods and Services Tax (GST) since the mid-1980s, telling The Bulletin magazine that then federal leader Kim Beazley was wrong to oppose the measure. Labor was running hard on the GST issue at the time, and Della Bosca's approach made him a pariah within the party, derailing his bid for the party's federal presidency. Labor has since fallen in line with Della Bosca and dropped its opposition to the tax: the GST had become a non-issue by the time of the 2004 election.
As Finance Minister, Della Bosca acts as joint shareholder with the Treasurer for New South Wales state-owned enterprises.
As Minister for Industrial Relations, Della Bosca is leading the state government's legal and advertising battle against the Australian Government's WorkChoices reforms.
