Name Stewart West | Nationality Australian | |
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Role Australian member of Parliament Books Government Policies in Action: Statement to the House of Representatives, Commonwealth Construction | ||
Stewart John West (born 31 March 1934), Australian politician, was the Australian Labor Party member for the Division of Cunningham in New South Wales.
West was elected to parliament in the Cunningham by-election on 15 October 1977, after the sudden death of the sitting member, Rex Connor.
When the Labor Party won government in the 1983 federal election, West was appointed Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs in the Cabinet under Prime Minister Bob Hawke. As the only member of Labor's left-wing faction to be a minister, West found himself at odds with the Labor Right-dominated Cabinet, and he resigned on 4 November 1983 when he was unable to support a Cabinet decision on uranium mining. He was reappointed to Cabinet on 3 April 1984, and served out the remaining parliamentary term as Immigration Minister.
West remained in Cabinet for the Hawke government's two subsequent terms as Minister for Housing and Construction from 1984 to 1987, and Minister for Administrative Services from 1987 to 1990. He resigned from Parliament on 8 February 1993 after losing pre-selection for the seat of Cunningham to Stephen Martin.