Carl Scully

Carl Scully
Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Smithfield
In office 23 June 1990 – 27 March 2007
Preceded by	Janice Crosio
Succeeded by	Ninos Khoshaba
Personal details
Born	Patrick Carl Scully 4 April 1957 Sydney, New South Wales
Political party	Labor
Spouse(s)	Ann Leaf
Alma mater	Macquarie University

Patrick Carl Scully (born 4 April 1957), is a former Australian politician and minister in the New South Wales Government before his forced resignation on 25 October 2006.^[1]

Background and early career

Scully was born in Sydney and educated at state schools. He graduated in law from Macquarie University, Sydney, and was active in the Australian Labor Party since 1976. He practised as a solicitor between 1983 and 1990.^[2]

Political career

Scully was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as member for the safe Labor seat of Smithfield at the 1990 by-election.^[2] He is a member of the dominant right-wing faction of the New South Wales Labor Party.

Scully held the ministerial portfolios of small business and regional development (1995), state development (1995), public works and services (1995-97), roads and transport (1997-2003), housing (2003-05) and police (2005-06).^[2]

Scully was considered a possible candidate to succeed Bob Carr as Premier of New South Wales, and announced his intention to run for the position after Carr announced his resignation in July 2005. But he withdrew from the contest on 29 July when it became clear that health minister Morris Iemma had majority support in the Labor Caucus.^[3] Although Scully publicly blamed the party machine for working against him, it was reported that some Labor MPs feared his record as transport minister during the Waterfall train disaster and other problems would have worked against the party at the next state election if he was leader.^[4][5] In 2013 Scully testified that he was disappointed that Eddie Obeid, a powerbroker, had orchestrated Iemma becoming Premier instead of Scully.^[5][6]

Iemma sacked Scully as police minister on 25 October 2006 after he misled parliament twice in two weeks^[7] over the consequences of the 2005 Cronulla riots.^[5] Then Opposition leader Peter Debnam had repeatedly called for Scully's resignation.

Scully did not recontest Smithfield at the 2007 state election;^[8] and claimed he rejected an offer from Labor to contest a federal seat.^[9]

References

1. Clennell, Andrew; Braithwaite, David (25 October 2006). "Police minister resigns". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
2. "The Hon. (Carl) Patrick Carl Scully (1957 - )". Members of Parliament. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
3. Davies, Anne; Pearlman, Johnathan (30 July 2005). "Introducing your new premier". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
4. Goodsir, Darren; Clennell, Andrew (30 July 2005). "If only he had kept the trains on time". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
5. Mitchell, Alex (6 November 2005). "How Carl fell from grace". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
6. McClymont, Kate (5 November 2013). "Carl Scully denies at ICAC he hated Eddie Obeid". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
7. Jean, Peter; Ralston, Nick (25 October 2006). "'Errors' force minister to quit". News.com.au. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
8. Mitchell, Alex (14 January 2007). "Scully quits politics after humiliating cabinet snub". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2007.
9. Silmalis, Linda (14 January 2007). "Carl Scully: I quit". The Sunday Telegraph (Australia). Retrieved 15 December 2014.