81 Facts About Bob Carr

Robert John Carr was born on 28 September 1947 and 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 NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party.

Bob Carr later entered federal politics as a New South Wales senator, and served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2013.

Bob Carr was born in Sydney and attended the University of New South Wales.

Bob Carr entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1983, and the following year became a cabinet minister.

Bob Carr served under Neville Wran and Barrie Unsworth until the Labor government was defeated in a landslide at the 1988 state election.

Bob Carr subsequently replaced Unsworth as party leader, thus becoming leader of the opposition.

Bob Carr 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.

Bob Carr's government oversaw much of the planning for the 2000 Summer Olympics, which Sydney hosted.

Bob Carr was re-elected twice, in 1999 and 2003, eventually resigning as premier in 2005 after 10 years in office.

Bob Carr remained a public figure after leaving the premiership, and entered federal politics in 2012 at the urging of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Bob Carr served as foreign minister under both Gillard and Kevin Rudd, but retired following Labor's defeat at the 2013 federal election.

Bob Carr was born in the suburb of Matraville, Sydney to Edward and Phyllis Bob Carr.

Bob Carr was educated at Matraville High School from which he graduated as dux in 1964.

Bob Carr was the first person in his family to finish high school, and became interested in a career in politics in his teenage years.

Bob Carr would go on to become the President of the New South Wales branch and then the national President of Young Labor in 1970 and 1972 respectively.

Bob Carr completed his tertiary education at the University of New South Wales, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History.

Bob Carr was a reporter on industrial relations and politics for The Bulletin magazine from 1978 to 1983.

Bob Carr later recalled that his work as a journalist provided good preparation for his political career.

Bob Carr spent a period working as an education officer for the Labor Council of New South Wales.

In 1972, Bob Carr met a Malaysian economics student, Helena John on a holiday in Tahiti, and they married on 24 February 1973.

Helena Bob Carr became a successful businesswoman, while she largely remained out of the political spotlight during her husband's career.

Bob 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.

Bob Carr was interested in international relations, and his long-term ambition was to enter federal politics and become Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Further, the party organisation did not want Laurie Brereton as leader; he would go on to represent the federal seat of Kingsford Smith, which Bob Carr viewed as his path to federal politics.

At that election, Labor took three seats off the Coalition, allowing Bob Carr to become premier with a bare majority of one seat.

Bob and Helena Carr did not respond to Hewson's attack.

Bob Carr however did expressed his frustration with the Hewson attack in his diary:.

Bob Carr kept Treasury in 1993 when Fahey relinquish Treasury to Peter Collins but Bob Carr instead assigned Finance spokesman Michael Egan to tackle Collins.

When Bob Carr became Premier after the 1995 election he appointed Egan, not himself, as Treasurer.

Bob Carr was re-elected with the same margin in the 2003 election.

Bob 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.

Bob Carr became the first Premier who was not his own Treasurer for the entirety of his premiership since Barrie Unsworth.

Bob 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 Forest National Park along NSW's coastal range from Batemans Bay to the Victorian border.

Bob Carr said: "You wouldn't allow motor bikes in the Botanic Gardens".

In 2003 Bob 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.

In 1999, with the cost of many forms of injury insurance increasing, Bob Carr gave his Minister John Della Bosca the task of carrying reforms out.

Once installed in the premiership, Bob Carr inherited the work of the Royal Commission and its reports.

Bob Carr was adamant that the commissioner must have the increased power if the police force were to be rid of corrupt or compromised officers, and the legislation was passed.

Bob Carr's government was in power during much of the building of facilities and the conduct of the 2000 Olympic Games.

Bob Carr was to boast that the 2000 Olympics were paid in full without a cent in debt.

The Bob Carr government is known for its considerable infrastructure contribution.

Infrastructure projects completed when Bob Carr was premier included the Eastern Distributor and M5 East, while projects that were under construction when Bob Carr left office included three bus expressways costing $300 million in Western Sydney, Lane Cove Tunnel, Cross City Tunnel, the Epping to Chatswood railway line and the Westlink M7.

Bob Carr continued to advocate nature conservation, for example by calling for national park declarations over the River Red Gums.

Bob Carr wrote in 2009 that the river red gums are "Australian icons, part of our folklore, symbols of inland Australia".

Bob Carr wrote in The Australian that, "if the public believed the executive arm of government were stifling freedoms, Australia slipping behind other democracies, there would have been a decided shove towards a human rights act".

Bob Carr took up the issue of obesity and argued that chain restaurants should be forced by law to put calorie measurements next to menu items, that trans fats be banned as in some US states and food manufacturers be made to reduce salt content.

In October 2005 Bob Carr became a part-time consultant for Macquarie Bank, advising the company on policy, climate change, renewables and strategic issues with a focus on the United States and the People's Republic of China.

Bob Carr continued pursuing his literary interests, interviewing authors and lecturing at the Sydney Writers' Festival.

Bob Carr appeared as a guest reporter for the ABC television show Foreign Correspondent, conducting an interview with friend Gore Vidal.

On 2 March 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that Bob Carr would be nominated to fill a casual vacancy in the Australian Senate caused by the resignation of Mark Arbib.

Gillard announced Bob Carr would become the new Minister for Foreign Affairs in succession to Kevin Rudd.

Bob Carr confirmed that he would seek election to the Senate for a further full six-year term and was nominated at the head of Labor's New South Wales Senate ticket for the 2013 poll.

Bob Carr was formally chosen to fill the vacant Senate position by a joint sitting of the NSW Parliament on 6 March 2012.

Bob Carr credited Australia's successful campaign to promotion of Australia's diplomatic links with African nations and environmental and cultural links with small island states in the Caribbean and Pacific.

Bob Carr advocated adoption by the UN of a global Arms Trade Treaty to track and reduce the supply of weapons to rogue states or terrorist groups.

Bob Carr twice travelled to New York to personally campaign for the treaty.

Bob Carr secured Australian Government support for abstention on a motion before the UN General Assembly to grant observer state status to the Palestinian Authority.

In January 2013, in a joint communique with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, Bob Carr called for US leadership in resuming direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Closer to home, Bob Carr worked to build stronger relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, holding in-country talks with all ten member states, twice attending the East Asia Summit and repeatedly emphasizing Australia's interest in regional convergence and co-operation.

Bob Carr lobbied European and United States leaders to follow suit, with the European Union lifting its sanctions April 2013 and the US moving to increase engagement on trade and investment.

Bob Carr announced a doubling of Australia's foreign aid for Myanmar to $100 million by 2015, with a focus on education and maternal health.

Bob Carr visited Indonesia on four occasions as Foreign Minister, raising issues such as people smuggling, aid, education links and trade.

Bob Carr responded that the Huawei decision reflected Australia's right to make decisions on the resilience and security of its infrastructure.

Bob Carr argued Australia had a welcoming approach to Chinese investment, pointing to its 20-fold increase over the preceding five years and to 380 individual proposals from Chinese firms that had been approved in Australia since 2007.

Bob Carr argued the Marines presence reflected Australia's long-term Australian security relationships:.

Bob Carr returned to China with Prime Minister Gillard in April 2013 for the annual Boao Forum for Asia, with a focus on strengthening bilateral relations.

Gillard and Bob Carr secured agreements for an annual leadership dialogue with their Chinese counterparts.

Bob Carr praised China's leadership for being "determined, confident and pragmatic" about the continued economic and geopolitical rise of their country.

Bob Carr's third visit, in July 2013, was to open Australia's fourth diplomatic post in China, a consulate-general in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.

At the opening Bob Carr emphasised trade issues, highlighting Chinese investment in Australia and saying the new consulate would assist Australian firms in establishing a presence in western China.

Bob Carr represented Australia at the 2013 G-20 Saint Petersburg summit.

At a sideline meeting convened by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Bob Carr secured international agreement on a medical pact in Syria to protect hospitals and health care workers from targeted attacks and to maintain humanitarian access for medical NGO's and for the distribution of aid.

On 23 October 2013, Bob Carr announced his resignation from the Senate, which took effect the following day.

Bob Carr was replaced by Deborah O'Neill on 13 November 2013.

Bob Carr's current appointment at UTS is a three-year role as Industry Professor.

Bob Carr took up a position as Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales.

Bob Carr has been a long time campaigner against high immigration.

Bob Carr is the author of several books, including Thoughtlines, My Reading Life, and Diary of a Foreign Minister, which received a mixed reception.

Bob Carr participated in the 2004 Sydney Festival in conversation with Sir Tom Stoppard.

Bob Carr has served as a board member of book retailer Dymocks since July 2007.

Bob Carr donated the prize money to launch scholarships for the State's teachers to complete studies abroad.