Bob Carr

The Labor premier of Australia's most populous state entered Parliament in the state seat of Maroubra in 1983, becoming Opposition Leader after Labor's 1988 defeat. After losing a tight election to Nick Griener[?]'s coalition government in 1991, he became Premier in a comfortable victory in 1995 and won comfortably again in 1999 and 2003.

Carr makes no secret of his intellectual leanings, and still occasionally writes book reviews for the major newspapers. Like many contemporary leaders of social-democratic parties, his government preaches responsible financial management, encouragement of market forces, with substantial privatization of government assets such as the electricity industry, and makes much of its "tough on crime" policies, crime being a particular obsession of Sydney and much of its tabloid media.

Carr occasionally ventures into national policy issues, particularly environmental issues where he has consistently argued that Australia's population growth is environmentally and socially unsustainable. With the continued weakness of federal Labor, particularly in New South Wales, rumblings continue about his promotion to federal ranks.