Elected as Member for Maroubra in 1983, he was Minister for Planning and
Environment and Minister for Heritage in the Wran and Unsworth Governments.
He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1988 until his election as Premier in
March 1995. He was re-elected in 1999 and again in March 2003, securing an
historic third four-year term.
He retired from politics in 2005 after over 10 years as Premier.
During these 10 years the State Government set new records for spending on
infrastructure, became the first government in the state's history to retire
debt, hosted the world's best Olympics in 2000, achieved the nation's best
school literacy levels and Forbes magazine called Bob Carr a "dragon
slayer" for his landmark tort law reforms.
As Premier he introduced the world's first carbon trading scheme and
curbed the clearing of native vegetation as anti-greenhouse measures. Today he
chairs the Advisory Council of the Climate Institute. He was a member of the
International Task Force on Climate Change convened by Tony Blair.
He is also Chair of the Board of the Asbestos Diseases Research Foundation; a
member of the Board of the Dymocks Group of Companies, a member of the advisory
board of the Centre for Australian Studies at Georgetown University, Washington
and a member of the India Council for Sustainable Development.
Bob Carr has received the Fulbright Distinguished Fellow Award Scholarship and
the World Conservation Union International Parks Merit Award. He has served as
Honorary Scholar of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue. He is the
author of Thoughtlines (2002), What Australia Means to Me (2003), and My
Reading Life (2008).
