Tim Ayres

Timothy Ayres is an Australian politician and trade unionist who was elected as a Senator for New South Wales at the 2019 federal election. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party and was previously a trade union official with the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU).

Senator

Tim Ayres
Senator for New South Wales
Assumed office
1 July 2019
Personal details
Political partyLabor
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
OccupationTrade unionist

Early life

Ayres was raised on a farm near Lismore, New South Wales. He completed his schooling at Glen Innes High School, before going on to study industrial relations at the University of Sydney.[1]

Career

Ayres worked as a union organiser in the Riverina until 2000, when he moved to Sydney. He was elected state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) in 2010.[1] In July 2017, Ayres won preselection for the ALP Senate ticket in New South Wales, replacing retiring senator Doug Cameron. He defeated former federal MP Chris Haviland by a substantial margin in a ballot of Labor Left factional delegates. According to The Australian, the vote was "highly controversial and acrimonious", and was boycotted by two major left-wing unions, the Maritime Union of Australia and the CFMEU.[2] Ayres was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election, running in second place on the ALP ticket in New South Wales.[3][4] He made his first speech to parliament on 30 July 2019, in which he offered that "a cruel pea-heart beats inside the chest of this mean-spirited government".[5] In April 2020, Ayres wrote an op-ed for the Northern Daily Leader which outlined ways for Australia to rectify the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

References
  1. "Tim Ayres". Australian Labor Party. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  2. Bramston, Troy (25 July 2017). "Ayres' early claim for Senate splits Labor left". The Australian. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  3. "Senate Results". ABC News. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  4. "Qualification checklist" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  5. Coughlan, Matt (30 July 2019). "Labor senator urges better ties to country". Canberra Times.
  6. Ayres, Tim (17 April 2020). "After COVID-19, reconstructing rural and regional Australia". Northern Daily Leader.
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