Walt Secord

Walter Secord (born 25 December 1964) is a Canadian-born former Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from May 2011 to March 2023.

Secord was previously chief of staff to former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally. He is the NSW patron of the Labor Israel Action Committee.

Early life and education Secord was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and grew up on the Mississaugas of the Credit (Indian reserve) First Nation in Southern Ontario, Canada. He is a Mohawk-Ojibwe man whose father is a status Indian. He was the first member of his father's family to complete high school and the first to fly in an aeroplane.

Early career and higher education He studied arts at York University in Toronto, and worked as a journalist for the Toronto Star before emigrating to Australia in September 1988. He became an Australian citizen in June 1992.

From 1988 to 1991, he worked at the Australian Jewish News. In November 1991, he won an Australian Human Rights Award in 1991 for a series of articles in the Australian Jewish News.

Secord was Bob Carr’s communications director at the time of the 1999 state election. During this campaign, after speaking with Kristina Keneally, a member of John Watkins's campaign office team, he demanded that Watkins's campaign team "get that woman with an American accent off the telephones"; Keneally, who went on to serve as Premier of New South Wales, referenced this incident in her maiden speech; quipping "Well, I got off the phones that day, but today I have the floor." Secord went on to become Kevin Rudd's director of communications.

Legislative Council Secord was appointed to a vacancy in the Legislative Council in 2011. In his almost twelve years in NSW Parliament, Secord served in more than a dozen Shadow Ministerial roles including four years as Deputy Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council. Following Labor's defeat at the Upper Hunter by-election in May 2021, there was speculation that McKay would resign as party leader. After McKay announced she was not stepping down as party leader, Secord resigned from the shadow cabinet on 25 May 2021. He said it was "well-known that Jodi McKay and [he] have disagreed on key policy, parliamentary and strategic decisions and directions", and that he could no longer serve under her.

Secord served as Shadow Minister for the Arts and Heritage, Shadow Minister for Police and Counter Terrorism and Shadow Minister for the North Coast in the NSW Shadow Cabinet until his resignation in August 2022.

In 2022, Secord chaired the official parliamentary inquiry into the historic 2022 floods. The allegations in the report were made anonymously, as were the identities of the alleged offenders, but a submission obtained by the ABC identified Secord as the MP in the report described as "a vicious manipulative bully who particularly targeted junior staff and young women".

Secord apologised for his behaviour and resigned from the Shadow Ministry on 15 August 2022 in response to the bullying allegations.

In the Australian Jewish News, Secord later described the allegations against him as a “political assassination” and an “orchestrated plan.”

Secord addressed the allegations against him in his final speech to the NSW Parliament on 16 November 2022, claiming the allegations against him were the result of a conspiracy between “disgruntled supporters of the former Labor leader and a pocket of vicious anti-Israel actors”: It would be remiss of me if I did not address the elephant in the room. I admit I was a tough operator in the New South Wales Labor Party and in the Parliament, but I assure you there are tougher ones. I was brought down when two forces conspired around a goal—getting me out of Parliament. Those cliques comprise mainly disgruntled supporters of the former Labor leader and a pocket of vicious anti-Israel actors.

Addressing the first group, I do not at all regret starting the May 2021 process as shadow Treasurer that eventually saw the removal of the former Opposition leader. To the contrary, I am proud of my role in those events and in shaping Labor history. NSW Labor is in a much stronger position today than we were then. Anyone who denies that really needs to get out and talk to the community more often. As to the latter group, again I regret nothing. I believe it is imperative that there is always a strong Labor voice in support of the Jewish community and the State of Israel. This is akin to one person standing up to a mob and on that issue I proudly stand on my record.

Secord retired at the 2023 New South Wales state election.

Personal life Secord married his partner in October 2021. Secord is the deputy chair of NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel. In 2020 he announced that he was converting to Judaism. He has visited Israel multiple times and previously worked for the Australian Jewish News. He described his conversion as "the logical step of a lifelong journey that was inevitable".