Bryce Gaudry

Bryce James Gaudry (23 November 1942 – 4 October 2019) was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Newcastle.

Gaudry was educated at Kendall District Rural School, Taree High School and Newcastle Teachers' College.[1] He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University and became a physical education teacher. He was married with two adult children.

Gaudry represented Newcastle for the Labor Party from 1991 to 2007.[2] He was associated with the soft left of NSW Labor. In May 2003 he was appointed as a parliamentary secretary by New South Wales Premier Bob Carr following the state election earlier that year.[3] In 2006, the Labor Party State Executive deselected him in favour of the Labor Right-aligned Jodi McKay,[4] the preferred candidate of then Premier, Morris Iemma.[5] The deselection occurred after Gaudry had revealed that the Labor government were planning to privatise the state's electricity system. The controversy around the selection led to around 130 members of the Newcastle ALP branches, then the largest in the state, leaving or being expelled.[4] On 29 January 2007, Gaudry announced his resignation from the Labor Party and his intention to run as an independent candidate at the next state election. Gaudry was subsequently defeated in the 2007 general election by the new Labor candidate, Jodi McKay. However, McKay lost the seat at the following election in 2011.[4]

Gaudry died on 4 October 2019 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.[6]

  1. ^ The college (1949–1973) was absorbed into the Newcastle College of Advanced Education in 1974, which was absorbed into the University of Newcastle in 1989.
  2. ^ "Mr Bryce James Gaudry (1942-2019)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Factions divide spoils of victory". smh.com.au. 7 May 2003. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Daniel, Nicholas (13 November 2020). "Labor's Anthony Albanese Is Not a Friend of Australia's Left — And He Never Was". Jacobin. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  5. ^ Sikora, Kate; Hildebrand, Joe (6 March 2007). "Rat in the ranks for ALP". Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  6. ^ Kirkwood, Ian (5 October 2019). "Former Newcastle MP Bryce Gaudry dies after fighting pancreatic cancer". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 8 October 2019.