Robert Evan Schwarten 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 politician. He was born in Rockhampton

Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....

, and is married with two sons. Before his entry into politics, he was a teacher, a union official, and a ministerial advisor to the Deputy Premier. From 1985 to 1991 he was an alderman on Rockhampton City Council. A member 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...

, he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 in 1989 as the member for Rockhampton North, but was defeated in 1992. In 1995 he was returned, this time as the member for Rockhampton

Electoral district of Rockhampton

The district of Rockhampton is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.Wedged between the electoral districts of Keppel to the east and Mirani to the west, Rockhampton encompasses the bulk of the regional city of Rockhampton and many of its outlying...

. He was Minister for Public Works and Information and Communication Technology in Anna Bligh

Anna Bligh

Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian politician and the Premier of Queensland since 2007. The 2009 Queensland state election was the first time a female-led political party won or retained state or federal government in Australia...

's Labor Government. He held the Public Works portfolio from 1998 to 2011.