Kelvin Thomson
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The Honourable Kelvin Thomson |
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| Member of the Australian Parliament for Wills |
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In office 2 March 1996 – 9 May 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Phil Cleary |
| Succeeded by | Peter Khalil |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1 May 1955 Melbourne, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Spouse(s) | Marsha Thomson (divorced) |
| Domestic partner | Kerry Gordon |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Occupation | lawyer, public servant, electorate secretary |
| Website | www.kelvinthomson.com.au |
Kelvin John Thomson (born 1 May 1955) is a former Australian politician. From March 1996 to May 2016, Thomson was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Wills in Victoria. In February 2013, Thomson was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary for Trade in the Second Gillard Ministry.
Thomson was born in Coburg, Victoria. He has been active in improving the local environment of Pascoe Vale and north-western Melbourne from a young age. He received a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne and, finishing first in his class, he was awarded the Supreme Court Prize for Law.
He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1975 and was a public servant and electorate secretary to Senator Gareth Evans before entering local politics serving as a councillor in the Coburg City Council from 1981 to 1988. He was the deputy mayor from 1983 to 1984 and 1987 to 1988.
Kelvin Thomson was married to Victorian Labor MP Marsha Thomson until they separated in 2003. They have two children.
In October 1988, Thomson was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for the Electoral district of Pascoe Vale. He was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1992 to 1994, and in 1994 he served as the Manager of Opposition Business.
In 1996, Thomson was elected to the seat of Wills, formerly a blue-ribbon Labor seat that had been held by Bob Hawke. However it had become less safe for Labor. In 1992 the independent Phil Cleary won a by-election; and in 1993, although Labor retained government, Cleary again defeated the Labor candidate who received only 41.9% of the primary vote. In the 1996 election, in which Labor's support slumped badly and Paul Keating's government was destroyed, Thomson became the Labor candidate and proved himself a strong campaigner. He won the seat, gaining 50.0% of the primary vote. He has held the seat since then. In the 2007 election, which Labor won, Thomson achieved a swing, on the two-party-preferred vote of 5.5 points, and received 56.9% of the primary vote. In the 2010 election, which resulted in near defeat for Labor, Thomson like other Labor incumbents lost ground on the primary vote (51.81%); yet he achieved a further slight positive swing on the two-party preferred vote (0.24%).
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