Mark Arbib

His father, Eric Arbib, was of Libyan heritage and spoke Italian, moving to Australia in the 1960s and becoming a property developer.

His mother, Lola, was born in Sydney.

She raised Mark and his brother Scott after the death of their father when they were young.

He has a Master of Arts in political science and economic history from the University of New South Wales.

He lives in Sydney with his wife Kelli Field and two daughters.

He is a supporter of the Sydney Roosters NRL club, Sydney FC A-League club, and is a public Ambassador for Australia's leading Indigenous non-profit education organisation, the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.

Arbib is an avid runner, having completed a number of Ironman triathlons and marathons.

His personal best times are 11.09 for the Melbourne Ironman and 2.58.51 for the Sydney Marathon.

While studying, Arbib worked part-time at a Sizzler restaurant in Bondi Junction.

When there were moves to remove penalty rates, he negotiated on behalf of the part-time workers and signed up members to the Liquor Trades Union.

Later he worked variously as a metal trades assistant, beach inspector and restaurant cook, but became increasingly involved in the trade union movement.

Mark Victor Arbib (born 9 November 1971) is an Australian former Labor Party politician and trade unionist, who was an Australian Senator for New South Wales from 2008 to 2012.

In 1989 he had a bit part in the Australian soap opera Home and Away.

He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1992 and was elected as President of NSW Young Labor in 1995.

He served as Assistant General Secretary from 1999 and was the ALP State Organiser between 1996 and 1999.

Arbib rose within the New South Wales Labor Party, and was eventually elected as State Secretary in 2004, before being elected to the Senate at the 2007 election.

Arbib was frequently described in the media as a "power-broker" within the Parliamentary Labor Party.

Arbib was elected General Secretary of the Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch) in June 2004.

Arbib was a member of the ALP National Executive (from 2004) and a member of the ALP National Executive Committee (from 2007).

In 2005, he was elevated to the role of national convener of the party's right wing.

In 2007, Arbib was Campaign Director for Morris Iemma's successful 2007 state election campaign.

Following the 2007 Election victory for the Labor Party, he was credited by former premier Bob Carr as "one of the best campaigners in the business."

However, the opposition has criticised his role in procuring political donations for the Labor party from business groups.

Arbib was preselected for the number one position of Labor's New South Wales Senate ticket and won a seat at the 2007 federal election.

In January 2008, The Sydney Morning Herald quoted an organisation which makes political donations to the Labor Party as saying that Mark Arbib made an art form out of extracting political donations from businesses.

Said the donor: "There's no doubt Arbib wrote the book in terms of both political donations ... and their importance ... It's fine to take the higher ground and say 'we won't make donations' ... but if you don't you have got zero chance of getting (to see them)."

Arbib denied the allegations.

Arbib was named in the ABC television program Four Corners in relation to political donations to the NSW Labor Party.

From 1 July 2008 to 30 March 2009, Arbib served on the Senate Committees for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Corporations and Financial Services, and Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

He was also the co-convenor of a bipartisan parliamentary group: Parliamentarians Against Child Abuse and Neglect (PACAN) and is an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.

In 2009, he was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Employment Participation.

In February 2009, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Government Service Delivery.

In the June 2009 reshuffle, he was promoted to Employment Participation Minister and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Government Service Delivery.

In 2010, he was instrumental in the successful leadership challenge by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Gillard later named Arbib as Minister for Sport and Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness.

On 24 June 2010, Arbib used his power as leader of the NSW right faction to shore up numbers to depose Kevin Rudd, then in his first term as prime minister, in favour of Julia Gillard.

After Rudd launched a leadership challenge against Gillard in 2012, Arbib announced his immediate retirement from politics.

Arbib was subsequently appointed a senior executive with James Packer's private investment company, Consolidated Press Holdings.

He was also made President of Athletics Australia and has previously been a board member of the South Sydney Rabbitohs and for Sydney FC.

Arbib was born in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale.