Chris Hayes (politician)
Christopher Patrick Hayes is an Australian Labor Party politician who was elected to the Australian House of Representatives on 19 March 2005 in a by-election for the Division of Werriwa, New South Wales, succeeding former party leader Mark Latham.
Hayes holds the position of Returning Officer for the Labor Caucus, in which he oversees elections, including the 2013 leadership spill/ballot in June. He released the official votes between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.Early life and education
Hayes was educated at De La Salle College, Revesby, and Sydney University. He has a Diploma in Labour Relations and Law. He was an industrial officer with the Public Service Professional Officers Association and then with the Australian Workers' Union from 1978 to 1995, then assistant national secretary of the Police Federation of Australia and New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. Since 1999 he has run his own business advising companies and unions on mediation issues.Political career
At the 2005 Werriwa by-election Hayes polled 55.54 percent of the primary vote, a 2.90-point increase from the October 2004 election. This was seen as a good result for Labor, although the Liberal Party did not contest the by-election. At the 2010 federal election, he moved to the seat of Fowler following a redistribution to allow Laurie Ferguson, whose seat of Reid had been substantially changed, to contest Werriwa.
Hayes, a practising Roman Catholic, was one of the few Labor MPs to publicly oppose the legislation of same-sex marriage. He voted to legalise same-sex marriage after the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey returned a "Yes" result even though 63.66% of his electorate returned a "No" result.
