Josh Burns (politician)

Joshua Solomon Burns (born 6 February 1987) is an Australian politician. Representing the Australian Labor Party, he was elected as the member for the division of Macnamara in Melbourne at the 2019 Australian federal election.

Josh Burns
MP
Member of the Australian Parliament for Macnamara
Assumed office
18 May 2019
Preceded byNew seat
Personal details
Born
Joshua Solomon Burns

(1987-02-06) 6 February 1987
Caulfield, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLabor Party
Websitejoshburns.com.au

Early life

Burns was born and raised in Caulfield, a Melbourne suburb which is in his electorate. His maternal grandmother came to Australia as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. His paternal grandfather was born in London and came to Australia via Israel, while his paternal grandmother was born in Scotland.[1] He was educated at Gardenvale Primary School and Mt Scopus Memorial College. He then went to Monash University, where he studied politics.[2]

Burns worked in a number of jobs in politics prior to his election to parliament. He was both a staffer for Michael Danby in federal politics, and he worked as a senior adviser to the Premier of Victoria,[3] Daniel Andrews immediately prior to his preselection.[4]

Politics

Burns ran as the Labor candidate for the seat of Caulfield in the 2014 Victorian state election and gained a 4.9-point swing against Liberal incumbent David Southwick.[5]

At the 2019 election, Burns contested the new seat of Macnamara following the retirement Michael Danby, held the abolished seat of Melbourne Ports which had very similar boundaries to Macnamara. The election was a three cornered contest with both Liberals and Greens reported as having a chance of winning the seat from Labor.[6] Burns increased Labor's primary vote and won the seat with a two candidate preferred swing of 5.04 points in his favour against Liberal candidate Kate Ashmor.[7]

Preselection

When he announced his retirement, Michael Danby called a meeting for 90 members with a view to selecting a candidate at the meeting. The Melbourne Ports branch numbered over 500. One of the unsuccessful candidates, Glen Eira councillor Mary Delahunty, accused Danby of handpicking the invitees to the meeting, and that she was being discriminated against for being a woman and the only non-Jewish candidate on the ballot.[8] Neil Pharaoh, who was a Labor candidate for the state seat of Prahran and a member of the Melbourne Ports branch said he was not invited to the meeting.[9]

It was later revealed that Burns was one of the federal parliamentarians that offered fealty to Adem Somyurek, who was a major Victorian power brother and was heavily involved in branch stacking in the Victorian Labor party, although there was no record of Burns being directly involved in the branch stacking.[10]

Personal life

Burns married Zoe Klein in 2015 and they have one daughter, Tia.[11]

References
  1. "First Speech: Mr Josh Burns MP". Parliament of Australia. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  2. "Josh Burns". www.joshburns.com.au. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  3. Kellett, Andrea (20 January 2014). "Danby staffer Josh Burns to contest safe Liberal seat of Caulfield". Herald Sun. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  4. "Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps". Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  5. "Caulfield – Victorian Election 2014 – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  6. Towell, Noel (16 April 2019). "With Labor veteran gone, three-way Macnamara fight too close to call". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  7. Australian Electoral Commission (11 June 2019). "Macnamara, VIC". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  8. "Heraldsun.com.au | Subscribe to the Herald Sun for exclusive stories". Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  9. "Labor MP Michael Danby's preselection meeting undemocratic, candidate says". the Guardian. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  10. Tozer, Nick McKenzie, Sumeyya Ilanbey, Joel (15 June 2020). "'F**k the premier': Labor's secret tapes reveal industrial scale stackathon". The Age. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  11. "Josh Burns". www.alp.org.au. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
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