Stephen Francis Smith is the Australian Minister for Defence. He has been an 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...

 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....

 since March 1993, representing the Division of Perth

Division of Perth

The Division of Perth is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia. It is named after Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, where the Division is located...

, Western Australia.

Smith was born in Narrogin, Western Australia, and was educated at the University of Western Australia

University of Western Australia

The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...

 and the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, where he gained a master's degree in law. He was a solicitor, lecturer and tutor before entering politics. He was principal private secretary to the Western Australian Attorney-General, Joe Berinson

Joe Berinson

Joseph Max "Joe" Berinson is a former Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives from the 1969 election until his defeat by Ross McLean at the 1975 election, representing the division of Perth, Western Australia...

 1983–87 and State Secretary of the Western Australian Labor Party 1987–90 From 1990 to 1993 he was an adviser to Paul Keating

Paul Keating

Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...

, first as Treasurer, then as Prime Minister. He was instrumental in securing caucus support for Keating to defeat Bob Hawke

Bob Hawke

Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....

 for the Labor Party leadership in 1990 and thereby become Prime Minister.

Career

Smith was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from March 1996 until the November 2007 elections, which were won by the Labor party. He was Shadow Minister for Trade 1996–97, for Resources and Energy 1997–98, for Communications 1998–2001, Health and Ageing 2001–03 and Immigration 2003–04. He was Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations from October 2004 until December 2006, when he was appointed to the position of Shadow Minister for Education and Training.

During the leadership crisis in the Labor Party in 2003, Smith was a prominent supporter of his fellow Western Australian, Kim Beazley

Kim Beazley

In the October 1998 election, Labor polled a majority of the two-party vote and received the largest swing to a first-term opposition since 1934. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up eight seats short of making Beazley Prime Minister....

, and his name was mentioned as a possible future leader. He again supported Beazley in the leadership contest which followed the resignation of Mark Latham

Mark Latham

Mark William Latham , an author and former Australian politician, was leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005....

 in January 2005, which saw Beazley return to the leadership.

Smith was appointed as the Minister for Foreign Affairs

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)

In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...

 in Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd

Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...

's cabinet

First Rudd Ministry

The Rudd Ministry was the 65th Australian Commonwealth ministry. It was led by Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party.The Ministry was sworn in by the 24th Governor-General of Australia Major-General Michael Jeffery on 3 December 2007, following the 2007 election, and it ended on 24 June 2010...

 on 3 December 2007 following Labor's win in the 2007 election and Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard

Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...

 added Minister for Trade

Minister for Trade (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...

 in her first ministry.

The United States diplomatic cables leaks

Contents of the United States diplomatic cables leak

This is a list of notable content from the United States diplomatic cables leak that shows the United States' opinion of related affairs. Beginning on 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks had been publishing classified documents of detailed correspondence—diplomatic cables—between the United...

 reveal US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 criticism of Smith’s ability as Foreign Minister, including that “Rudd dominated foreign policy decision making, “leaving his foreign minister to perform mundane, ceremonial duties”. The cables however do praise Smith's ability, by his handling of the Asylum Seeker issue. (See main article: Contents of the diplomatic cables leak - Australia)

After the 2010 Federal election he accepted the vacant Defence Ministry

Minister for Defence (Australia)

The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...

. Kevin Rudd took his Foreign Ministry position. In his role, he has been critical several times of the ADFA

Australian Defence Force Academy

The Australian Defence Force Academy is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and tertiary academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force .Tertiary education is provided by the...

 recruits embroiled in the "Skype scandal".

Further reading

• Stephen Smith – biographical information, appointed senior adviser to Paul Keating Labor voice, Vol.12, no.4 (Dec 1990), p. 1–2.
• Stephen Smith – former W.A. A.L.P. state secretary moves to Paul Keating's staff Australian Business, 5 Dec. 1990, p. 30

External links

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