A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. In both common law and civil law legal systems, courts are the central means for dispute resolution, and it is generally understood that all persons have an ability to bring their claims before a court. Similarly, the rights of those accused of a crime include the right to present a defense before a court.

The system of courts that interpret and apply the law are collectively known as the judiciary. The place where a court sits is known as a venue. The room where court proceedings occur is known as a courtroom, and the building as a courthouse; court facilities range from simple and very small facilities in rural communities to large buildings in cities.

The practical authority given to the court is known as its jurisdiction (Latin ''jus dicere'') -- the court's power to decide certain kinds of questions or petitions put to it. According to William Blackstone's ''Commentaries on the Laws of England,'' a court is constituted by a minimum of three parties: the ''actor'' or plaintiff, who complains of an injury done; the ''reus'' or defendant, who is called upon to make satisfaction for it, and the ''judex'' or judicial power, which is to examine the truth of the fact, to determine the law arising upon that fact, and, if any injury appears to have been done, to ascertain and by its officers to apply a legal remedy. It is also usual in the superior courts to have attorneys, and advocates or counsel, as assistants, though, often, courts consist of additional attorneys, bailiffs, reporters, and perhaps a jury.

The term "the court" is also used to refer to the presiding officer or officials, usually one or more judges. The judge or panel of judges may also be collectively referred to as "the bench" (in contrast to attorneys and barristers, collectively referred to as "the bar"). In the United States, and other common law jurisdictions, the term "court" (in the case of U.S. federal courts) by law is used to describe the judge himself or herself.

In the United States, the legal authority of a court to take action is based on personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction, and venue over the parties to the litigation.

Etymology

The word ''cour'' comes from the French ''court'', an enclosed yard, which derives from the Latin form ''cortem'', the accusative case of ''cohors'', which again means an enclosed yard or the occupants of such a yard. The words ''yard'', ''court'', and Latin ''hortus'' (meaning "garden," hence horticulture and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.

The meaning of a judicial assembly is first attested in the 12th century, and derives from the earlier usage to designate a sovereign and his entourage, which met to adjudicate disputes in such an enclosed yard. The verb "to court", meaning to win favor, derives from the same source since people traveled to the sovereign's court to win his favor.

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction, means "to speak the law," is the power of a court over a person or a claim. In the United States, a court must have both personal jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. Each state establishes a court system for the territory under its control. This system allocates work to courts or authorized individuals by granting both civil and criminal jurisdiction (in the United States, this is termed subject-matter jurisdiction). The grant of power to each category of court or individual may stem from a provision of a written constitution or from an enabling statute. In English law, jurisdiction may be ''inherent'', deriving from the common law origin of the particular court.

Trial and appellate courts

Trial courts are courts that hold trials. Sometimes termed "courts of first instance," trial courts have original jurisdiction over most cases. Trial courts may conduct trials with juries are the finders of fact (these are known as jury trials) or trials in which judges act as both finders of fact and finders of law (these are known as bench trials). Juries are less common in court systems outside the Anglo-American common law tradition.

Appellate courts are courts that hear appeals of lower courts and trial courts.

Civil law courts and common law courts

The two major models for courts are the civil law courts and the common law courts. Civil law courts are based upon the judicial system in France, while the common law courts are based on the judicial system in England. In most civil law jurisdictions, courts function under an inquisitorial system. In the common law system, most courts follow the adversarial system. Procedural law governs the rules by which courts operate: civil procedure for private disputes (for example); and criminal procedure for violation of the criminal law.

See also

General

Tribunal

Sanctions (law)

International judicial institution

International Criminal Court

Types and organization of courts

Appellate court

Administrative court

Constitutional court

Court of Faculties

Court-martial

Courts of England and Wales

Ecclesiastical court

Equity court

Family court

High Court of Justiciary

Revolutionary Tribunal (French Revolution)

Scots Law

Scottish Court Service

Supreme court

Trial court

Notes

External links

US federal courts

Courtprep, Information about the Canadian justice process, features an interactive courtroom and witness tips.

Going to court if you're charged with a crime (Directgov, England and Wales)

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (England and Wales)

Category:Courts

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Coordinates	38°37′38″N90°11′52″N
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Tim Holding
honorific-suffix	MLA
office	Minister for Tourism and Major Events
term start	3 August 2007
term end	2 December 2010
premier	John Brumby
predecessor	John Pandazopoulos (Tourism)
successor	Louise Asher
office2	Minister for Water
term start2	3 August 2007
term end2	2 December 2010
premier2	John Brumby
predecessor2	John Thwaites
successor2	Peter Walsh
office3	Minister for Finance, WorkCover and the Transport Accident Commission
term start3	December 2006
premier3	John Brumby (2007–)Steve Bracks (2006–2007)
predecessor3	John Lenders (Finance, WorkCover & Transport Accident Commission)
successor3	Robert Clark (Finance)
constituency mp4	Lyndhurst
parliament4	Victorian
predecessor4	New creation
term start4	November 2002
constituency mp5	Springvale
parliament5	Victorian
predecessor5	Eddie Micallef
successor5	Seat abolished
term start5	September 1999
term end5	November 2002
Birth date	August 21, 1972
Birth place	Melbourne
nationality	Australian
party	Australian Labor Party
alma mater	University of Melbourne
Branch	Australian Army Reserve
Serviceyears	1991–1993
Unit	1st Commando Regiment
Awards	}}

Timothy James Holding (born 21 August 1972) is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 1999. He served as Minister for Water; Minister for Finance, WorkCover and the Transport Accident Commission; and Minister for Tourism and Major Events in the Brumby Ministry.

Early life

Holding was educated at Haileybury College and the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1997. From the early 1990s he was active in the Australian Labor Party and Young Labor; being elected President of Australian Young Labor in 1993; working as an Electorate Officer to State and Federal Members of Parliament, and later as an assistant Ministerial Adviser, including Senator Robert Ray.

He served in 126 Signals Squadron of the 1st Commando Regiment in the Australian Army Reserve from 1991 until 1993.

Political career

Local government

Holding served on the City of Waverley council between 1992 and 1994.

State government

In 1999, Holding was elected to Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Member for Springvale at the age of 27. In 2002 he was elected the Member for Lyndhurst and appointed Minister for Manufacturing and Exports, and Minister for the Financial Services Industry. Earning praise from former Premier Steve Bracks as a 'rising star' of the government he was promoted in 2005 to the position of Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Corrections.

Holding easily won the safe Labor seat of Lyndhurst in the 2006 state election by a margin of 25.1% (a swing of 3.0% against Labor).

After the 2006 election, he was given the portfolios of Finance (including WorkCover and the Transport Accident Commission) and Tourism as well as Information and Communication Technology. Some initially saw this as a demotion, but Premier Steve Bracks described Holding as having done a 'great job' with Finance being seen as central to government decision-making with fewer potential political difficulties than the notoriously tricky Police portfolio.

Due to his relative youth and prominence, Holding has often been touted as a possible future Victorian Labor leader. He is recognised for his ability to master complex policy issues and combine this with his political capacity. Holding is well regarded by his colleagues who would value these attributes in the event of a vacancy for the Labor leadership. Holding suffered some criticism for his performance as Police Minister, however this would be unlikely to effect his chances of promotion given his steady performance in his current portfolios.

He was promoted in an August 2007 reshuffle following the ascension of John Brumby to the premiership, receiving his current responsibilities. Holding had been touted as a serious candidate for Treasurer, but lost out to John Lenders.

Disappearance and rescue

On 31 August 2009, Holding was reported missing after he failed to return from a solo hiking expedition of Mount Feathertop, Victoria's second highest mountain, having walked up the Bungalow Spur. He was due to return at 4pm on Sunday 30 August, but made no contact with his family. Holding was located by the Australian Federal Police and was rescued on 1 September by a Victoria Police helicopter.

References

Category:Brumby Cabinet Category:1972 births Category:Australian Army soldiers Category:Living people Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:People educated at Haileybury, Melbourne

Coordinates	38°37′38″N90°11′52″N
Honorific-prefix	The Honourable
Name	Peter Garrett
Honorific-suffix	AM, MP, BA, LLB
Office	Australian House of Representatives Member for Kingsford Smith
Term start	9 October 2004
Predecessor	Laurie Brereton
Constituency	Kingsford Smith
Office2	Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth
Term start2	14 September 2010
Predecessor2	Simon Crean (Minister for Education)
Office3	Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
Term start3	3 December 2007
Term end3	8 March 2010
Predecessor3	Malcolm Turnbull
Successor3	Peter Garrett
Office4	Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts
Term start4	8 March 2010
Term end4	14 September 2010
Predecessor4	Peter Garrett
Successor4	Tony Burke (Environment, Heritage), Simon Crean (Arts)
Office5	Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Heritage and the Arts
Term start5	December 2006
Term end5	5 December 2007
Predecessor5	Anthony Albanese
Birth date	April 16, 1953
Birth place	Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse	Doris Ricono-Garrett (m.1986)
Children	Emily, May, Grace
Residence	Randwick, New South Wales
Occupation	Politician, Activist, Musician
Religion	Christian
Alma mater	Australian National University, University of New South Wales
Website	http://petergarrett.com.au
Footnotes	}}

Peter Robert Garrett, AM, MP (born 16 April 1953), is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and politician.

Garrett was lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil from 1973 until its disbanding in 2002. He served as President of the Australian Conservation Foundation for a total of ten years, and in 2003 was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the environment and music industry.

He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives for the seat of Kingsford Smith, New South Wales, since October 2004. After the Labor Party won in the November 2007 election, Garrett was appointed Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. On 8 March 2010, his portfolio title was changed to Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts. He continued in this role in Julia Gillard's first Ministry. He was re-elected at the 2010 election and was appointed Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He was sworn into this portfolio on 14 September 2010 as a member of the Second Gillard Ministry. In 2009, the French Government appointed Garrett an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2010, WWF Australia and International presented him with their Leaders for a Living Planet award.

Music and activism

Born in Sydney, Garrett attended Barker College in Hornsby, before studying Arts at the Australian National University (ANU) and later Law at the University of New South Wales. About the same time he became a rock singer with the Australian rock band Midnight Oil in 1973, after responding to an advertisement placed by one of the band's founding members Rob Hirst. In tandem with its musical and commercial success, the band was long identified with environmental causes. It was particularly critical of United States military and foreign policies during the 1980s. He is known for his trademark "stiff and sudden" dance movements in performances.

Garrett was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation (1989–93, 1998–2004). He joined the international board of Greenpeace in 1993 for a two-year term. He served as adviser and patron to various cultural and community organisations including Jubilee Debt Relief, and was a founding member of the Surfrider Foundation.

On and off stage, Midnight Oil often made political statements. At the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the group performed before Prime Minister John Howard and a television audience of hundreds of millions, wearing black overalls bearing the word 'sorry'. This referred to the Howard Government's refusal to apologise to Aboriginal Australians for the former policy of removing of Aboriginal children from their families.

In 2000, Garrett was awarded the Australian Humanitarian Foundation Award in the Environment category and in 2001 he received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New South Wales. He left Midnight Oil in 2002 to concentrate on his environmental and social activism, effectively spelling the end for the group. He has since ruled out any future musical projects, stating that his musical career was always exclusively bound to Midnight Oil.

Following the Asian Tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, Garrett and the other members of Midnight Oil reformed for two gigs as a part of the fund-raising event WaveAid.

On 7 July 2007, Garrett presented Crowded House at the Australian leg of Live Earth.

On 14 March 2009, Garrett (with Midnight Oil) also performed live at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for Sound Relief to raise money for the Victorian bushfire appeal.

Australian federal politics

Garrett's first attempt at entering politics was in 1984, when the Nuclear Disarmament Party invited him to stand for a New South Wales seat in the Australian Senate at the federal election in December. He refused at first, but after consulting the band, he agreed on condition that he head the ticket. He needed 12.5% of the vote to win a seat in the Senate voting system, but a primary vote of 9.6% was insufficient when Labor gave its preferences to the conservative Liberal and National Parties ahead of the NDP.

In June 2004, Labor leader Mark Latham announced that Garrett would become an Australian Labor Party candidate for the House of Representatives at the 2004 federal election, in the safe New South Wales seat of Kingsford Smith which was being vacated by the former Cabinet minister Laurie Brereton. There was some initial criticism from Labor members in the electorate, as this overrode the local branch's wishes. He won an easy victory on 9 October, increasing the Labor majority there.

In June 2005, Garrett was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Reconciliation and the Arts.

Garrett has modified many of his earlier views and says he is now a "team player" in the Labor Party. He now supports the U.S.-Australia alliance, and no longer opposes the Joint U.S-Australian Defence Facility at Pine Gap. He says he will argue for environmental causes inside the Labor Party, but will observe the decisions of the ALP caucus, including accepting any decision to change Labor's "no new uranium mines" policy. Garrett's change of stance drew criticism from both journalists and Midnight Oil fans, who contrasted Garrett's former pronouncements on environmental and political issues he made before joining the Australian Labor Party.

While the media sometimes labeled him a "turncoat", some commentators, such as the ''Canberra Times'' columnist John Warhurst, defended his need to be a "team player" if he was going to play the political game "from the inside".

Peter Garrett campaigned for Labor in the 2006 Victorian State election. There was controversy when he sent a letter to the constituents of the seat of Melbourne, where Labor and the Greens were embroiled in a tight contest. In the letter Garrett urged voters not to vote for the Greens, claiming they were in alliance with the conservative Liberal party. This incurred the ire of Greens leader and former Garrett ally, Bob Brown who accused Garrett of having "sold out" and of going against the green movement, since joining the Labor Party

In December 2006 Kevin Rudd, the newly-elected Labor Party leader, announced that he planned to appoint Garrett to his front bench. Garrett was subsequently appointed as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment & Heritage, Arts.

Garrett has been criticised for giving support to the Gunns Company's plan to build the Bell Bay Pulp Mill in the environmentally sensitive Tamar Valley, Tasmania.

In the 2007 Federal election, Garrett was re-elected to his seat with a 4.56% swing towards him. However, his campaign was fraught with a number of tactical errors, including journalist Steve Price claiming that Garrett had said to him that Labor would simply change all their policies once they got into power. This was disputed by Garrett as a "short jocular conversation".

On 29 November 2007, the Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd named Garrett Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts; however, his responsibilities did not include the climate change role, which was given to Penny Wong.

On 20 December 2007, Garrett approved a controversial plan to dredge Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay. This move has attracted strong criticism from environmental groups who are concerned that the 23 million cubic metres of sand, rock and contaminated silt dredged from the bay's shipping channels will affect fishing and tourism in the area.

Garrett approved a major expansion of South Australia's Beverley uranium mine in August 2008, saying the uranium mine would use world's best practice for environmental protection. Garrett's decision was praised by the uranium industry, but criticised by the Australian Conservation Foundation which said the decision would result in the mine spreading acid and radioactive pollution over 100 square kilometres.

Garrett announced in October 2008 that the government would be withdrawing all $2.6 million funding from Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).

In 2009, Garrett would not give the proposed $2 billion mill in the Tamar Valley the go ahead until more studies were undertaken on its potential impacts to marine environments. A new condition was put on the mill meaning Gunns could be liable for criminal and civil penalties if the mill is approved and breaks defined "environmental limits".

In December 2009 Garrett made his final decision on the Traveston Crossing Dam (on the Mary River (Queensland), rejecting the proposal. Garrett determined that the impacts of the proposed dam on nationally listed threatened species (Australian lungfish, the Mary River Turtle and the Mary River cod) would be too great and unacceptable impacts on matters of national environmental significance.

On 26 February 2010 the Prime Minister reduced his appointment to the Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts. This demotion was in response to Garrett's administration of the Home Insulation Program (HIP) which was linked to four deaths, over 100 house fires and allegations of fraud.

It was revealed in May 2010 that Mr Garrett had written to the then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, on four separate occasions raising concerns about safety. Further to this, the Hon Gary Gray – Special Minister of State and Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity, revealed that the environment minister was demoted, losing responsibility for the insulation program, because Rudd had a shocking interview on The 7.30 Report and needed a scapegoat.

He states: "The majority of caucus felt he had been badly treated. For Rudd and his office to position Garrett as the fall guy was disgraceful, weak, sneaky, unprincipled and just plain wrong. All along, Peter properly put his objections to the administration of the program on the record. How can you have a situation where Rudd executes complete and total influence, micromanages everything, yet not the home insulation program? The shape and execution of the program was certainly designed by the prime minister's office, if not the prime minister himself."

Garrett was re-elected at the August 2010 election with a substantially reduced majority, surviving a two party preferred negative swing of 8.1%. After the election he was appointed Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth.

Personal life

Garrett is married and has three daughters. Garrett's childhood was spent in Wahroonga, the oldest of three boys who all attended Barker College. His father died while he was still at school. His mother died in a fire at the family home, during his period at university. In 2007 the artist Michael Mucci entered a portrait of Garrett in the Archibald Prize.

Garrett is the uncle of Nickelodeon Australia personality Maude Garrett.

Garrett is a Christian

References

External links

Garrett's maiden speech in the House of Representatives

Peter Garrett's personal webpage

OfficialPeterGarrett @ Myspace.com

ALP clears runway for Garrett's next gig

Sedition bill a threat to arts

2006 video interview by John Foreman on Channel 10's Big Night In – discusses concluding Midnight Oil's career with the ARIA Hall of Fame induction and the ALP's policies

How Peter Garrett lost his voice Discusses Garrett's early years and family

Midnight oil website

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:Australian male singers Category:Australian rock singers Category:Australian activists Category:Australian anti-war activists Category:Australian Christians Category:Australian environmentalists Category:Australian Labor Party politicians Category:Australian National University alumni Category:Government ministers of Australia Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Kingsford Smith Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:Members of the Cabinet of Australia Category:Midnight Oil members Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:People from Sydney Category:University of New South Wales alumni Category:Free Your Mind Award winners Category:Nuclear Disarmament Party politicians

de:Peter Garrett es:Peter Garret fr:Peter Garrett nl:Peter Garret ja:ピーター・ギャレット pl:Peter Garrett pt:Peter Garrett sk:Peter Garrett fi:Peter Garrett sv:Peter Garrett

Coordinates	38°37′38″N90°11′52″N
Honorific-prefix	The Honourable
Name	Ted Baillieu
Honorific-suffix	MLA
Office	46th Premier of VictoriaElections: 2010
Term start	2 December 2010
Deputy	Peter Ryan
Predecessor	John Brumby
Office2	Leader of the Opposition of VictoriaElections: 2006, 2010
Term start2	8 May 2006
Term end2	2 December 2010
Deputy2	Louise Asher
Predecessor2	Robert Doyle
Successor2	Daniel Andrews
Constituency mp3	Hawthorn
Parliament3	Victorian
Term start3	18 September 1999
Predecessor3	Phil Gude
Birth date	July 31, 1953
Birth place	Melbourne, Victoria
Party	Liberal Party
Spouse	Robyn Jubb
Children	Eleanor
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Profession	Architect
Website	Personal websiteParliament website }}

Edward Norman "Ted" Baillieu MLA (born 31 July 1953) is an Australian politician. He is currently the Premier of Victoria and the member for the Legislative Assembly seat of Hawthorn. He has been the leader of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia since May 2006 and Premier of Victoria since 2 December 2010 after the Liberal/Nationals Coalition defeated the Brumby-led Labor Party government with 45 seats to 43 in the Legislative Assembly.

Early life

Baillieu is the youngest son of Darren and Diana Baillieu. He is also the younger brother of solicitor Ian Baillieu, former ABC presenter Fiona Baillieu, author David Ballieu, former journalist and Portsea activist Kate Baillieu (the widow of state Liberal politician Julian Doyle) and Olympic oarsman and America's Cup yachtsman Will Baillieu.

Baillieu was raised in the Melbourne suburb of Toorak, educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne (where he graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Architecture) degree and was an architect by profession before entering the Victorian Parliament.

He is a descendant from the Baillieu family dynasty of French Belgian ancestry.

Early career

Baillieu worked as an architect and for a time joining the family real estate firm Baillieu Knight Frank. The Labor Party ran an election advertisement campaign in 2006 and 2010 claiming he profited from Liberal government policies. Baillieu also was employed by Tourism Victoria from 1998 to 1999 before entering politics.

Political career

Baillieu joined the Carlton branch of the Liberal Party in 1981 because of his frustration at the power of unions on building sites. By 1987 he was Vice-President of the Victorian Liberal Party and President in 1994. At Jeff Kennett's insistence, Baillieu nominated for Liberal Party preselection for the State seat of Hawthorn at the 1999 election, to replace the retiring member Phil Gude. Baillieu was successful. It was at this election that Steve Bracks unexpectedly led the Australian Labor Party to victory, with the support of three country independents, one a former Labor supporter and the other two conservatives.

Since his entry into Parliament, Baillieu has been a permanent member of the Liberal Party frontbench. He has served as Shadow Minister for Tertiary Education and Training (1999–2001), Gaming (July 2000 – August 2002) and Planning (September 2001 – May 2006).

Liberal Party leadership

Baillieu was elected unopposed as the Opposition Leader of Victoria on 8 May 2006 by the Liberal Party room, replacing Robert Doyle, who resigned his position on 4 May 2006.

After Doyle's resignation, speculation mounted that former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett would return to politics and the position of Liberal Party Leader in order to lead the party into the 2006 state election which was held on 25 November 2006. However on the morning of 5 May 2006, Baillieu in announcing his candidacy for the party leadership revealed that Kennett would withdraw from the leadership race and throw his support behind Baillieu. Later that afternoon, Baillieu's only other challenger for the position, Shadow Minister for Transport Terry Mulder also withdrew from the race.

Six months after assuming leadership of the Liberals, Baillieu lead the campaign in the 2006 election. The Labor party, keen to exploit Baillieu's wealth, dubbed him, ''Ted the Toff from Toorak''.

Throughout the campaign, media stories about Baillieu's extensive blue chip share portfolio, at the time estimated to be worth almost $4 million, raised questions about conflicts of interest. Baillieu's handling of the issue and his refusal to place his investments in a blind trust was thought to have hurt the Liberal Party during the campaign. On 25 November 2006, the Liberal Party lost the state election under Ted Baillieu's leadership, though gaining an extra 6 of the 88 lower house seats.

In a speech at the State Council of the Victorian Liberal Party, Ted Ballieu opposed the push by John Howard for nuclear reactors in Victoria.

An online campaign against Baillieu by senior Liberal Party members was uncovered and made public, with Baillieu promising to root out the disloyal elements in his party. The media suspected that forces loyal to former Federal Treasurer Peter Costello and former State Party President Michael Kroger had attempted to undermine Baillieu.

In February 2008, at a joint news conference it was announced that the Victorian Nationals and Liberals would join in a new Coalition agreement forged between Leaders Ted Baillieu and Peter Ryan. As part of the arrangement, both parties agreed to hold joint party meetings, develop joint policies, allocate five shadow cabinet positions to the Nationals, abolish three-cornered contests (unless otherwise agreed) and run joint legislative council tickets in the non-metropolitan Regions.

In 2008, Baillieu declared his support for abortion law reform in Victoria.

Premier of Victoria

Baillieu as Leader of the Opposition contested the 2010 Victorian state election as the alternative Premier of Victoria and Nationals Leader Peter Ryan as the alternative Deputy Premier. Ballieu focussed during the election campaign mainly on the policies of health, law and order, government expenditure and the longevity and the ability of the incumbent Labor government to deliver during a record fourth term for Labor. Until election eve, polling indicated a tight Labor government re-election. The final Newspoll saw a two party preferred figure of 48.9 percent for Labor and 51.1 percent to the Liberals and Nationals.

Two days after the election, on Monday 29 November, Premier John Brumby conceded defeat after it became clear that his government had lost its majority to the opposition. The Coalition won 45 seats to Labor's 43. On 2 December, Baillieu was sworn in as the 46th Premier of Victoria, along with 22 of the Baillieu/Ryan government ministers.

Personal life

Baillieu is of French Belgian ancestry, his great-great-great-grandfather, Étienne Lambert Baillieux (1773–1816) having migrated to England from Liège, Belgium. The current Baron Baillieu of Sefton in the Commonwealth of Australia and of Parkwood in the County of Surrey, James William Latham Baillieu, 3rd Baron Baillieu (b. 1950) is his third-cousin. Ted Baillieu is also the great-grandson of Victorian politician William Knox.

Baillieu is married to Robyn and has three children: Martha, Eleanor and Robert. He is a supporter of the Geelong Football Club where he is a joint convenor of 'We Are Geelong Supporters' (WAGS). Baillieu is a regular Sunday morning swimmer with the ''Brighton Icebergs''. He regularly enters the Pier to Pub swim organised by the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club. He also plays golf and basketball.

In December 2010, Baillieu underwent surgery at the Epworth Hospital to remove a kidney stone.

Baillieu is a member of the following organisations:

Australian Institute of Architects

Geelong Football Club

Melbourne Cricket Club

Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club

Melbourne Savage Club

Melbourne Victory FC

Rotary Club of Glenferrie

Royal Melbourne Golf Club

Sorrento Golf Club

Ted is a member of the Patrons Council of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria.

See also

Victorian state election, 2014

References

External links

Liberal Party biography

|- |- |-

Category:1953 births Category:Australian people of French descent Category:People educated at Melbourne Grammar School Category:Living people Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Category:People of Belgian descent Category:Politicians from Melbourne Category:Premiers of Victoria (Australia) Category:Leaders of the Opposition in Victoria (Australia) Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Victoria (Australia) Liberal politicians

cs:Ted Baillieu de:Ted Baillieu fr:Ted Baillieu pl:Ted Baillieu simple:Ted Baillieu