Paul Whalan

Paul Russell Whalan (born 10 July 1941) is an Australian political lobbyist and former politician who was a member of the first Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. He served as the leader of the ACT Labor Party in the mid-1980s and was the leader of the party's Right faction.

Career Prior to entering politics, Whalan served as the ACT secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association and as a senior advisor to five ministers in the Hawke federal government.

In February 1977, Canberra MLA Gordon Walsh resigned from the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly (later known as the House of Assembly).

On 24 June 1985, Horder announced her resignation as leader and from the House of Assembly. At a caucus meeting on 28 June, Walsh was one of at least three candidates to contest the leadership. No candidate initially had a majority, but on the final ballot, Whalan emerged victorious and became Labor leader. Ahead of the 1989 ACT election, the first under self-government, the party held a preselection to decide its 11 candidates. Whalan was seen as a favourite for the leadership based on the strength of the Labor Right faction, although the majority of members did not belong to any faction. However, Labor Left leader Rosemary Follett narrowly defeated Whalan by a margin of just 14 votes. Whalan became Labor's deputy leader. However, he instead decided to let Follett handle the difficulties of the first term, after which he would mount a challenge in the lead up to the next election. He also served as the first minister with responsibilities for industry, employment and education in the Follett government. He lost these positions in December 1989 when the Residents Rally successfully moved a no-confidence motion in Follett, which led to the creation of the Alliance government.

Ultimately, Whalan never officially challenged Follett and resigned from the Legislative Assembly on 30 April 1990, citing a decision not to give pay rises to MLAs such as himself. Outside of parliament, Whalan criticised Follett and Labor Left, and threatened to challenge sitting federal Labor MP John Langmore for his seat of Fraser.