Rod Sawford
Encyclopedia
Rodney Weston Sawford 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, was 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....

 from March 1988 to November 2007, representing the Division of Port Adelaide
Division of Port Adelaide
The Division of Port Adelaide is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of South Australia. It is located in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, covering the area around the Barker Inlet, part of the Gulf St Vincent. It stretches from St Kilda in the north down to Grange Road, and is roughly...

, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. He was born in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, and was educated at Western Teachers College, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

. He was a teacher before entering politics, serving as the principal of the local Taperoo Primary School. He prides himself on the fact that he and his forbears have lived in the electorate for many generations.

He was a member of the previously dominant Centre-Left faction, which is now defunct, and is now classified as a member of the "independents" faction.

He vocally spoke out against 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....

, when he attempted to regain the leadership from former leader Simon Crean
Simon Crean
Simon Findlay Crean is an Australian politician, and the current Minister for the Arts and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government in the Australian Federal Government. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition at the Federal level,...

 in 2003, again when Beazley contested the leadership with 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 December 2003, and again in 2005, when Beazley reassumed the leadership following Latham's retirement.

His electoral office was burnt down in an overnight fire in 2004.

Sawford was a Deputy Government Whip 1994-96 and a Deputy Opposition Whip 1996-2001.

Sawford announced his resignation as of the 2007 federal election, citing an interest in running as a state independent as a protest against "gutless wonders" in the Rann
Mike Rann
Michael David Rann MHA, CNZM , Australian politician, served as the 44th Premier of South Australia. He led the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party to minority government at the 2002 election, before attaining a landslide win at the 2006 election...

 state Labor government over long-running housing development plans at Cheltenham
Cheltenham, South Australia
Cheltenham is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Charles Sturt.-Geography:The suburb lies between Port Road and Cheltenham Parade, which form its southwest and eastern boundaries respectively...

.
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