Barry Joseph Collier OAM (born 5 December 1949) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2015, representing the electorate of Miranda. Collier retired at the 2011 election, but contested and won a 2013 by-election when his successor, Liberal Graham Annesley, resigned. Collier then retired a second time at the 2015 election. In September 2016, Collier was elected to Sutherland Shire Council, serving as a Councillor representing B Ward.
Barry Collier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Miranda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 19 October 2013 – 6 March 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Graham Annesley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Eleni Petinos | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 27 March 1999 – 4 March 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ron Phillips | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Graham Annesley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Councillor for Sutherland Shire for B Ward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 2016–2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Phil Blight | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Louise Sullivan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Barry Joseph Collier 5 December 1949 Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labor Party | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Jeanette | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of New South Wales University of Sydney | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Teacher, solicitor and barrister | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2017 Australia Day Honours List for services to the Parliament of New South Wales, to the law and to education.
Education
editBachelor of Commerce (Economics) with Merit (UNSW); Graduate Diploma in Education (UNSW); Diploma in Law, BAB (Sydney); Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Teaching and legal careers
editFrom 1973 to 1989, Collier was a high school economics teacher with the NSW Education Department. During his teaching career, Collier also served as NSW economics curriculum consultant and chairman of the NSW Higher School Certificate Economics Examination Committee. He wrote three textbooks and accompanying workbooks for high school students in Years 11 and 12 entitled Introducing Economics, published by Jacaranda-Wiley.[1]
From 1989 to 1999, he practiced criminal law as a solicitor with both the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Legal Aid Commission of NSW, and later as a barrister in private practice.[2] As a Legal Aid solicitor, Collier appeared in the 1993 ABC Television reality local court documentary So Help Me God.[citation needed]
Political career
editCollier was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in the 1999 NSW state election defeating Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, Ron Phillips who had held the seat of Miranda for 15 years.'From 2007 until his retirement from Parliament in 2011, he served as Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Attorney General & Minister for Justice, Assisting the Minister for Corrective Services, Assisting the Treasurer and Assisting the Minister for Ports & Waterways.
Collier made over 700 speeches in the NSW Legislative Assembly.[3]
Collier is notable for switching from the right faction to the left faction in 2005 and causing the Government to back down on a proposal to resurrect the long-standing plan to build the Southern Freeway (or F6) through his electorate.[4] He returned to the right faction of the Labor Party in September 2008.
On 21 September 2010 Collier announced that he would not contest the 2011 state election.[5][6] He gave his valedictory speech in the Legislative Assembly on 26 November 2010.[7] In 2013, Collier nominated to contest Miranda once again in the by-election triggered by the resignation of his successor, Graham Annesley and won a surprise victory, returning to Parliament on the back of a 27 per cent swing- the largest swing ever recorded at a New South Wales by-election [8]
In 2013, Collier withdrew his opposition to the F6 extension, saying he would support it if it was built as a tunnel under the Sutherland Shire. [9]
In Opposition, Collier served as Shadow Minister for Water and as Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation [10] He did not recontest Miranda at the 2015 election, instead marking his second retirement from the New South Wales Parliament.[11]
Collier decided to run for Sutherland Shire Council in September 2016 and became a councillor for B Ward with Labor gaining a 20 percent swing on the primary vote [12] He did not seek re-election in 2021.[13]
Political hiatus and personal life
editAfter temporarily leaving politics, Collier returned to legal practice as a barrister.[14]
In September 2012, Collier was appointed by the NSW Government as a trustee of the newly created Rookwood General Cemetery Reserve Trust Board.[15] He resigned from the Board in September 2013 to contest the Miranda by-election.
Collier is married with two children and has lived in Sutherland Shire since 1972.[3]
Literature
editCollier has written and published several poems including "Millennium Drought" for which he won the National Henry Lawson Literary Society Award for Free Verse in 2017[16][17] and "Anzac Day 2018: Let Us Also Remember."[18]
In November 2018, Barry Collier published his political memoir, Collier For Miranda: The 1999 Labor Campaign. The book details his successful grassroots campaign as an unknown, first-time Labor candidate to win the southern Sydney seat which had been held by the Liberal Party for 15 years.[19]
External links
editReferences
edit- ^ Collier, Barry. Introducing economics.
- ^ "NSW Labor MP shocks with about-turn". smh.com.au. 4 May 2005. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ^ a b "Mr Barry Joseph Collier OAM (1949- )". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
- ^ Noonan, Gerard (4 May 2005). "Barry jumps to the left". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 27 February 2007.
- ^ AAP (22 September 2010). "NSW Labor MP Barry Collier to quit and not recontest 2011 state election". Daily Telegraph. News Limited. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
- ^ Trembath, Murray (22 September 2010). "Barry Collier decides to quit". St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ Collier, Mr Barry: Speeches in Hansard, Parliament of NSW.
- ^ Antony Green, Labor's Barry Collier returns to NSW Parliament after record swing against O'Farrell Government in Miranda by-election, ABC News, 20 October 2013.
- ^ Murray Trembath, Collier changes mind about F6. The Leader.com.au, 21 November, 2013
- ^ Parliament of New South Wales, Former Members
- ^ Trembath, Murray (16 October 2014). "Collier exits again - Miranda MP calls it quits 'for wife and family'". theleader.com.au. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
- ^ Murray Trembath, Labor gains 20 per cent swing in Sutherland Council election, party officials calculate, St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, 12 September 2016
- ^ "Inefficient? Lacking energy? - Shire councillors have their say". St George & Sutherland Shire Leader. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ "2013 Miranda by-election". abc.net.au. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ New Life in Multicultural Approach, Inner West Courier, 9 October 2012 page 8.
- ^ The Lawsonian, Vol 1 No 35 Number 601, September 2017
- ^ Murray Trembath, Collier wins national poetry competition, St George & Sutherland Shire Leader, 1 November 2017
- ^ Murray Trembath, Award-winning poet and Sutherland Shire Councillor Barry Collier reflects on Anzac Day, theleader.com.au 24 April 2018.
- ^ Murray Trembath, New Book by Barry Collier tells story behind the 1999 election campaign, theleader.com.au, 29 November 2018.