Joe de Bruyn is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 official. He is currently National Secretary and Treasurer of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association is the largest trade union in Australia with more than 230,000 members and branches in every state and one in the Newcastle, Hunter Valley and Central Coast region. The SDA is the union for retail and fast-food workers, but does have other...

 (SDA), a Vice-President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions

Australian Council of Trade Unions

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions.-History:The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australian Council of Trade Unions"...

 (ACTU) and a member of the National Executive

Australian Labor Party National Executive

The National Executive is the highest elected body of the Australian Labor Party, one of the major political parties in Australia. The Executive is elected by the party's National Conference, held every three years, and represents the party's state and territory branches. Many of its members are...

 of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 (ALP).

De Bruyn was born in the Netherlands in 1949 and is married with four children. He lives in Melbourne, Victoria. De Bruyn has come under scrutiny for voicing his conservative views while being secretary of a trade union and holding a position on the National Executive of the centre-left Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. He has repeatedly voiced opposition to abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, and to legalising same sex marriage.

Political influence in the Australian trade union movement and ALP

As the national head of the SDA, de Bruyn has considerable influence in Australian trade union and political affairs. This is particularly so in the ALP as delegations to the various State and Territory bodies that control party policy and pre-selections for State and Federal Parliaments are decided on a pro-rata basis of union members affiliated to the party.

The SDA is associated with the right-wing

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

, "Labor Unity" or "Centre-Unity" grouping or faction of the trade union movement in Australia and the Australian Labor Party. De Bruyn is a leading figure in the right wing faction of the ACTU and the ALP

De Bruyn strongly supported the ACTU’s ‘Rights at Work’ campaign against the Howard Government’s industrial relations laws passed in 2005. The union is a significant contributor to ALP election campaigns, according to Australian Electoral Commission funding disclosure returns.

Gay marriage

At a quarterly SDA members meeting in February 2011, de Bruyn moved a resolution against gay marriage, without giving any members a chance to speak or vote on the issue. This led to the first instance of members of the SDA speaking out and challenging de Bruyn on his stance on gay marriage. 83 SDA member signatures in support of gay marriage were presented to the SDA Queensland branch quarterly meeting, shop steward Duncan Hart said SDA national secretary de Bruyn’s staunch opposition to gay marriage did not reflect the feelings of its members.