Robert Paul Elliott is an Australian politician. He was a Labor

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...

 member of the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 from 1990 to 1996, representing the division of Parramatta

Division of Parramatta

The Division of Parramatta is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the locality of Parramatta. The name Parramatta has been sourced to an Aboriginal...

.

Elliott was born in Ballina, New South Wales

Ballina, New South Wales

Ballina is a town on the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of the Ballina Shire Local Government Area. It had a population of 16,477 in the 2006 Census.-Location:...

 and earned a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 and a MLitt

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 at the University of New England

University of New England, Australia

The University of New England is an Australian public university with approximately 18,000 higher education students. Its original and main campus is located in the city of Armidale in northern New South Wales....

. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Western Sydney

University of Western Sydney

The University of Western Sydney, also known as UWS, is a multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

, a public servant and an electoral officer to Labor MP John Brown. He was elected as an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 on Parramatta City Council

City of Parramatta

The City of Parramatta is a Local Government Area in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.Initially in 1861 it was formed as Municipality of Parramatta...

 in 1977 and was mayor from 1984 to 1986.

Following the retirement of John Brown, Elliott was elected to federal parliament at the 1990 election. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer in the Keating government

Second Keating Ministry

The Second Keating Ministry was the sixtieth Australian Commonwealth ministry. It was led by Paul Keating of the Australian Labor Party, and held office from 24 March 1993 to 11 March 1996...

 in December 1993. In June 1994, he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications and the Arts and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Tourism as well. He was defeated at the 1996 election.