Barrie Unsworth
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- Not to be confused with Barry Unsworth, British novelist.
Barrie Unsworth (born Dubbo, 16 April 1934), is an Australian politician. He built his career in the New South Wales labour movement through the Electrical Trades Union. He was Secretary of the Labor Council of New South Wales and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council until the resignation of Premier Neville Wran in May 1986. Unsworth was elected leader of the NSW Labor Party and contested a by-election in the seat of Rockdale a few months later in order to assume the Premiership. He narrowly won and was Premier until the Labor Party's defeat in the 1988 elections.
Unsworth's election loss was attributed to his strong stance on gun control.[citation needed] He was often associated with wearing cardigans, although interestingly there is no photo evidence of Unsworth actually wearing a cardigan. It is an urban legend, although it did Unsworth no discernible political harm, since he was widely known as "the killer in a cardie." On the other hand, this did not stop Unsworth from being seen in some quarters as a drab and lacklustre personality and a rather anonymous politician, especially by comparison to his predecessor Neville Wran. Wran himself described Mr. Unsworth as having had "a charisma bypass operation".
| Preceded by: Neville Wran | Premier of New South Wales 1986-1988 | Succeeded by: Nick Greiner |
| Premiers of New South Wales | Image:Flag of New South Wales.svg |
|---|---|
| Donaldson | Cowper | Parker | Forster | Robertson | Martin | Parkes | Farnell | Stuart | Dibbs | Jennings | Reid | Lyne | See | Waddell | Carruthers | Wade | McGowen | Holman | Storey | Dooley | Fuller | Lang | Bavin | Stevens | Mair | McKell | McGirr | Cahill | Heffron | Renshaw | Askin | Lewis | Willis | Wran | Unsworth | Greiner | Fahey | Carr | Iemma | |
