Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Eric Roozendaal

Eric Roozendaal (born 16 March 1962) is an Australian politician, serving as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2004. He is a former General Secretary of the Australian Labor Party and current Treasurer of New South Wales.

Early career

Roozendaal was born in Sydney and educated at Macquarie University. His family is of Dutch-Jewish descent, his grandfather perishing in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. He studied Commerce at the University of Sydney, but did not complete the course. He would later graduate with a Law degree. He became an organiser for the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1987, Assistant General Secretary in 1995 and General Secretary in 1999. This made him the organisation head of the dominant Labor Right faction of the party's largest state branch, a powerful position. He was also a member of the National Executive of the Party.

Roozendaal was campaign director for Premier Bob Carr's successful election campaign in 2003. He was also the party's chief fund-raiser, raising a reported $16.3 million in his four years as General Secretary. He also carried out a crackdown on branch stacking and insisted on the selection of more female candidates in safe Labor seats.

Roozendaal was also Labor's New South Wales campaign manager at the 2004 federal election, but was widely reported to have a poor relationship with the then party leader, Mark Latham, and also with Latham's predecessor and close supporter, Simon Crean. It was reported that Roozendaal was a consistent ally of Kim Beazley and supported his claims to the leadership both in 2003 when Crean resigned and again in 2005 when Latham resigned.

State Parliament

In 2004 Roozendaal was appointed to a vacancy in the New South Wales Legislative Council, succeeding Tony Burke following his election to the Australian House of Representatives. He was immediately appointed chair of the Standing Committee on State Development. In August 2005 he was appointed Minister for Ports and Waterways, and in February 2006 he was promoted to Minister for Roads. Following the 2007 election, Roozendaal was also appointed Minister for Commerce in addition to his Roads portfolio.

As Roads Minister, Roozendaal was embarrassed for being caught illegally travelling in a Sydney bus lane in his motor vehicle, and for dumping a promise to widen the problematic Spit Bridge just two months after the State election. He was also against cyclists using roads during busy times, saying it was "not helpful" for cyclists to ride in peak hour traffic.

Despite these criticisms, Roozendaal was promoted to Treasurer by incoming Premier Nathan Rees, with immediate responsibilities for producing a 2008 mini-budget and maintaining the State's credit rating.

Roozendaal has described himself as a "rev head", due to his love of V8 Supercars. He was an advocate for transforming Sydney Olympic Park into a V8 Supercar circuit.