imported>Rbrwr: Adding local short description: "Australian political activist", overriding Wikidata description "Australian political activist"

2025-06-07T11:35:54Z

Adding local short description: "Australian political activist", overriding Wikidata description "Australian political activist"

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{{Short description|Australian political activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date = March 2019}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Tim Gartrell
| office = [[Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Australia)|Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Australia]]
| term_start = 23 May 2022
| primeminister = [[Anthony Albanese]]
| predecessor = John Kunkel
| successor =
| office1 = [[Australian Labor Party National Executive|National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party]]
| term_start1 = 2 September 2003
| term_end1 = 20 September 2008
| predecessor1 = [[Geoff Walsh]]
| successor1 = [[Karl Bitar]]
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1970
| birth_place = [[Orange, New South Wales]]
| death_date = 
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| citizenship =
| nationality =
| party = [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]]
| otherparty = 
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| children =
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| residence =
| education =
| alma_mater = [[University of New South Wales]] <br /> [[University of South Australia]]
| occupation =
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| known_for =
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}}

'''Tim Gartrell''' (born 1970) is an Australian political advisor currently serving as the [[Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Australia)|Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Australia]] under [[Anthony Albanese]]. He previously served as the [[Australian Labor Party National Executive|National Secretary]] of the [[Australian Labor Party]] between 2003 and 2008, overseeing Labor's federal election campaigns in [[2004 Australian federal election|2004]] and [[2007 Australian federal election|2007]].<ref name="afr.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.afr.com/brand/rear-window/tim-gartrell-to-launch-ad-agency-with-simon-collins-20171212-h0303q|title=Tim Gartrell to launch ad agency with Simon Collins|date=2017-12-12|website=Australian Financial Review|language=en|access-date=2019-03-16}}</ref> Gartrell was also the Campaign Director for the 'Yes' campaign in favour of marriage equality at the 2017 [[Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/tim-gartrell-uses-same-tactics-for-kevin-07-to-campaign-for-yes-vote/news-story/c945a4fffc9303f12533bc6682db0c98|title=Dailytelegraph.com.au {{!}} Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph for exclusive stories|website=www.dailytelegraph.com.au|language=en|access-date=2018-10-31}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Gartrell was born in 1970 in [[Orange, New South Wales|Orange]], [[New South Wales]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/dont-let-this-fresh-face-fool-you-20071201-gdrq4b.html|title=Don't let this fresh face fool you|date=2007-12-01|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2019-03-16}}</ref>

He was raised by his parents, David and Carolyn Gartrell, on an orchard.<ref name=":0" /> His parents fostered a number of children in addition to Tim as well as his brother Brett and sister Katrina.<ref name=":0" /> Gartrell notes the impact of living with foster children as a teenager as significant on his politics.<ref name=":0" />

In 1987, Gartrell and his school's team won the state debating championships.<ref name=":0" />

After finishing school, he moved to [[Sydney]] to study in 1989.<ref name=":0" />

==Career==
Gartrell started his career as an advocate and researcher in the Australian union movement, while studying a [[Bachelor of Arts]] part-time at the [[University of NSW]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>[http://www.alp.org.au/people/gartrell_tim.php Australian Labor Party : Tim Gartrell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405213340/http://www.alp.org.au/people/gartrell_tim.php |date=5 April 2007 }}</ref>

Gartrell then worked as an adviser for [[Keating government]] ministers, [[Frank Walker (Australian politician)|Frank Walker]] and [[Jeannette McHugh]].<ref name=":0" /> He then worked in the [[Kim Beazley|Beazley]] Federal Opposition for [[Anthony Albanese]]. Following this work, he worked as the assistant to the mayor of the [[South Sydney Council]].<ref name=":0" />

He joined the staff of the [[Australian Labor Party|Australian Labor Party National Secretariat]] in 1998 serving as Assistant National Secretary of the [[Australian Labor Party]] from April 2000. He was elected unopposed as National Secretary on 2 September 2003.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/30/1196394622537.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 |title=Don't let this fresh face fool you |author=Wainwright, Robert |date=1 December 2007 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=15 January 2012 }}</ref>

Following the ALP's defeat at the [[2004 Australian federal election|2004 election]], Gartrell pursued reform of the campaigning structures of the Party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alp.org.au/media/1104/spe100.php|title=The 2004 Election|date=10 November 2004|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807075837/http://www.alp.org.au/media/1104/spe100.php|archivedate=7 August 2007|url-status=dead|accessdate=12 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = ALP National Secretary Tim Gartrell resigns | url = http://www.alp.org.au/media/0908/msLNS300.php | date = 30 September 2008 | accessdate = 12 October 2008 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20091009115608/http://alp.org.au/media/0908/msLNS300.php | archivedate = 9 October 2009}}</ref>

Gartrell is recognised as one of the driving forces behind Labor's successful 2007 election campaign, which saw the Party return to power after more than 11 years in Opposition.<ref>Christine Jackman, 2008: Inside Kevin 07, MUP, Melbourne.</ref> Through a creative use of new campaign techniques and advertising, Labor's campaign was seen to be superior to the Liberal Party campaign and won a series of media awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iabawards.com.au/index.cfm?id=4|title=IAB Awards|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719044138/http://iabawards.com.au/index.cfm?id=4 |archivedate=19 July 2008|accessdate=12 October 2008}}</ref> As a key member of Labor's Political Strategy Group, Gartrell worked closely with [[Kevin Rudd]] from his ascension to the Labor leadership, through to Rudd's election as Prime Minister. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described Gartrell's leadership skills as "superb" and stated "[h]is ability, hard work, judgment and campaign leadership skills are first class".

Gartrell announced his resignation from the position on 30 September 2008 to become CEO of market research firm Auspoll<ref>{{cite web |title = Auspoll |
url = http://www.auspoll.com.au/ |accessdate=12 October 2008}}</ref> which is part of the larger Photon group of media companies. He left that post in 2010 to become CEO of Indigenous employment advocacy charity GenerationOne. In 2012, Gartrell was recruited by [[Reconciliation Australia]] to lead the "[[Recognise (Australia)|Recognise]]" campaign team, as campaign manager.<ref>{{cite web | title=Former ALP National Secretary Tim Gartrell to run Indigenous referendum campaign | website=[[The Australian]] | date=17 April 2012 | url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/former-alp-national-secretary-tim-gartrell-to-run-indigenous-referendum-campaign/story-fn9hm1pm-1226329799315 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529200747/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/former-alp-national-secretary-tim-gartrell-to-run-indigenous-referendum-campaign/story-fn9hm1pm-1226329799315 | archive-date=29 May 2012 | url-status=dead | access-date=20 April 2023}}</ref> The Recognise campaign advocated for [[Australian Constitution| constitutional]] recognition of [[Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander]] people.<ref name="afr.com"/> [[Tanya Hosch]] was joint campaign director,<ref name=afrwoi>{{cite web | title=Hosch | website=AFR Women of Influence| publisher= [[Australian Financial Review]]| url=https://live.afr.com/womenofinfluence/search/Hosch/ | access-date=20 April 2023}}</ref> and also the public face of the campaign.<ref>{{cite web | last=Murphy | first=Katharine | title=Tanya Hosch: adoption, dislocation and the fight for recognition | website=[[The Guardian]] | date=26 May 2013 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/26/tanya-hosch-indigenous-australians-constitution | access-date=20 April 2023}}</ref>

Shortly after the announcement of the [[Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey]], Gartrell was appointed Campaign Director by the 'yes' side in favour of marriage equality. He led the campaign to a resounding success, with 61.6% of Australians voting in favour of marriage equality, representing a higher vote than any two-party preferred electoral vote in Australian history. He served as Vice-President of [[Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)|NSW Labor]] in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/tim-gartrell-to-become-vicepresident-of-nsw-labor/news-story/d42440ee90f99a201eaa98affe0796a6|title=Tim Gartrell to become vice-president of NSW Labor|last=Bramston|first=Troy|date=26 July 2017|website=The Australian|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref>

Gartrell was appointed as the Chief of Staff to [[Leader of the Opposition (Australia)|Leader of the Opposition]] [[Anthony Albanese]] in June 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/gartztim/status/1135747627759177728|title=Duty calls. Honoured to be joining Federal Labor Leader @albomp as his Chief of Staff|last=Gartrell|first=Tim|date=2019-06-03|website=@gartztim|language=en|access-date=2020-03-01}}</ref> Following the [[2022 Australian federal election|2022 federal election]], he became the [[Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Australia)|Prime Minister's Chief of Staff]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/diversity-rules-as-new-broom-sworn-in/news-story/e633812322ae4c52554241da7442fe4e|title=Diversity rules as new broom sworn in|last=Chambers|first=Geoff|date=1 June 2022|website=The Australian|language=en|access-date=14 June 2022}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Gartrell holds a Bachelor of Arts from the [[University of New South Wales]].<ref name=":0" /> He also holds a master's degree in communications studies from the [[University of South Australia]].<ref name=":0" />

He is a member of the Advisory Council of the [[University of New South Wales]] Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-ppo}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Geoff Walsh]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Australian Labor Party|National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party]]|years=2003–2008}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Karl Bitar]]}}
{{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gartrell, Tim}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People educated at Orange High School (New South Wales)]]
[[Category:Australian Labor Party officials]]
[[Category:University of New South Wales alumni]]
[[Category:University of South Australia alumni]]

Tim Gartrell - Revision history

imported>Rbrwr: Adding local short description: "Australian political activist", overriding Wikidata description "Australian political activist"