Richard Marles

Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Member for Corio

About Richard

Richard Marles was elected to Federal Parliament as the Member for Corio in November 2007.

He is currently Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

Richard was born in 1967, raised in Geelong, and educated at Geelong Grammar School. He has a LLB (Hons) and BSc from Melbourne University.

He began his career with legal firm Slater and Gordon. In 1998, he became Federal Assistant Secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union where he was responsible for bargaining with national transport companies and managing the union’s activities in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

In 2000, he became Assistant Secretary of the ACTU and ran the Working Hours Case, which gave workers the right, for the first time, to refuse unreasonable amounts of overtime. He was a member of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission and led the ACTU’s work on OHS. He also led an innovative program of co-operation between the Australian and Papua New Guinea union movements.

He was Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Affairs from February 2008 to June 2009 and Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry from June 2009 to August 2010.

He lives in Geelong with his wife Rachel and has four children, Sam, Isabella, Harvey and Georgia.

Contact Richard

Corio Electorate Office
17A Yarra Street
Geelong
VIC
3220
(03) 5221 3033
(03) 5222 4505
Email Richard

Parliament House Office
PO Box 6022
Canberra
ACT
2600
(02) 6277 4330
(02) 6277 8488

Electorate Profile

Corio

State:

VIC

Name Derivation:

Named after Corio Bay which originated from an Aboriginal word 'coraiyo' meaning 'small marsupial' or 'sandy cliffs'.

Area and Location Description:

Corio covers an area of approximately 815 sq km from the western shores of Port Phillip Bay, stretching to the north of Geelong and inland and covering part of the Bellarine Peninsula. Suburbs and towns include Anakie (part), Avalon, Batesford (part), Bell Park, Bell Post Hill, Breakwater, Clifton Springs (part), Corio, Curlewis (part), Drysdale (part), Fyansford (part), East Geelong, Geelong, North Geelong, South Geelong, Geelong West, Hamlyn Heights, Herne Hill, Lara, Leopold (part), Lovely Banks, Manifold Heights, Moolap, Newcomb, Newtown (part), Norlane, North Shore, St Albans Park, Rippleside, Thomson (part) and Whittington.

Products/Industries of the Area:

Many industries, including stevedoring, vehicle manufacturing plant, glass works, aluminium smelter, petroleum refinery, woollen mills, saltworks, dairy, poultry and mussel farming, fishing, wood chipping, wool scouring, fertiliser refining, tourism, tannery, carpet, clothing, shoes, chemical production and aeronautical services.