Explosivo2002

The Hon. Explosivo2002 OAM (born 19 July 1970) is an Australian politician serving as the Minister for Education and Training since the 14th of October 2020. Explosivo was first appointed as a Senator for Queensland on the 12th of April 2020, going on to retain that position in the April 2020 Federal Election. Resigning from the Senate on the 11th of July 2020, he would later win election as an Independent Candidate in the Division of Sydney, going on to serve in both the Second Griffo and Third NGSpy Cabinets across the course of the 18th Parliament of the Australian Republic.

Born in Wollongong, Explosivo graduated from Brisbane Water Secondary College on the New South Wales Central Coast. He would go on to study Arts and Education at the University of Sydney, alongside joining the campaign team of Mary Easson for her victorious 1993 Election Campaign for the electorate of Lowe. He joined the Australian Labor Party around this time, and went on to lead the NSW Teacher's Federation from 2007 to 2018.

Although his Federal Labor membership expired upon the collapse of the federal party in early 2017, he would later re-join the party in early 2020, going on to run as the Labor Candidate in the February 2020 Mayo By-Election, where we would gain prominence due to a strong showing for a then-weakening party. Quickly rising up the ranks to become the Leader of the Labor Party, Senator for Queensland and Deputy Prime Minister following the resignation of advancedgaming12, he quickly moved to merge the Labor Party into the governing Social Democratic Party under the leadership of NGSpy. Retaining his seat at the April 2020 Election, he would go on to serve as the Deputy Speaker of the Senate throughout much of the 16th Parliament, and became known for his unique style of oratory and persistent debating attendance. While he did not face election at the July 2020 Election, he resigned his seat shortly thereafter, citing mental health issues.

He would later return to the political scene later that year, standing as an Independent in both the September 2020 Brisbane By-Election and the October 2018 Federal Election, winning the Division of Sydney in the latter of those. Initially joining the Liberals in Coalition, he departed only 4 days after the government was sworn in, later joining The Bloc Coalition a week later, retaining his ministry positions from his first swearing in.

Return to Labor and the Mayo By-Election
In late January 2020, Explosivo re-applied for membership of the Labor Party, with that membership application being accepted by the party on 10 February 2020. He was very quickly approached about the possibility of a potential run in the upcoming Mayo by-election, which had its writs issued by the AEC on 12 February 2020. He was not the first candidate to join the race, but entered the race with a campaign event that evening, despite only offically joining the party in NSW 2 days previously.

Upon joining in the race, he built up a reputation as a strong campaigner amongst many both inside and outside his party, something he would later attribute to his years leading the NSW Teacher's Federation. He launched his campaign with attacks against the Liberals and Nationals, as well as promoting one of his earliest policy pillars; the AusToWork jobs program. Throughout the rest of the campaign, he toured the state promoting himself as a defender of worker's rights, and ardent supporter of an anti-corruption commission, and a supporter of the ideas of popular sovereignty and stronge public voice in Parliament.

Ultimately, however, he would finish last out of the 5 candidates, finishing a few thousand votes behind perennial candidate Plupsnup. However, many took notice of his strong performance, managing to gain 13.5% of the vote. This was notable for two reasons; Mayo was considered an SDP stronghold at the time, and the Labor National Polling Average sat at 5%, leaving his result over 2.5x stronger than his national counterparts.

Deputy Leader of the Labor Party
Despite the setback of the by-election, Explosivo continued to rise to prominence, especially inside of the Labor Party itself. On the 22nd of February, Labor leader Lucifer Morningstar spilled the vacant deputy position in the party room meeting that day, asking any members of the party who wished to stand for the position to notify him in the coming days. After a delay of a few hours, Explosivo announced to the party his intent to put his hand up for the position. However, by the 23rd of February, no other candidate had joined in the race, and so in a press release that day, the party announced Explosivo as their new Deputy Leader, taking over the position vacated by Morningstar when he assumed leadership following the resignation of Dyljam. However, during his time as deputy, the Labor Party did not promote any major policies or cause any major controversies, due primarily due to their small national presence and minimal representation in Parliament,

Entrance into the Senate and Labor Leadership
Explosivo's time in the Deputy Leadership came to an abrupt end on the 12th March, following the resignation of Labor Leader advancedgaming12 due to his nomination as a High Court Justice. Following this, Explosivo was appointed to fill his vacancies in the Senate, Cabinet and Party Leadership, taking his positions as Deputy Prime Minister, Senator for Queensland and Labor Leader later that day. However, following his assumption to the leadership, rumours began to fly around about the future of the party, with many considering Explosivo only a temporary leader until the party either dissolved or merger into another: an idea re-enforced by the fact that Labour were only hovering around 5% Nationally at that point in time. Indeed, these rumours would be seemingly confirmed the next day on the 13th, when a leak revealed a meeting between the PM NGSpy, Explosivo, and Socialist Leader MattMonti, with the leak suggesting the three were meeting to debate about possibly merging all three parties. The rumours would last until the 15th, when Explosivo released a press release to the media announcing his plans to merge the Labor Party into the SDP to acheive, as he called it, 'a unity of the left'.

, with the Socialists announcing a similar future on the 18th of March. In the midst of all that, advancedgaming12 was confirmed as a High Court Justice on the 19th of March, and departed the Labor Party as their last leader to lead them into any form of election, that being the Mayo-By Election of the month before.

Opposition in the 16th Parliament
Immediately following the election loss, there was a shuffle of roles in the now-Shadow Cabinet, with Explosivo2002 ending up gaining the Education and Training portfolio, and would later gain the Communications and the Arts portfolio in a Shadow Cabinet mid-way through the term.

The Anthem Plebiscite
During the 2020 Anthem Plebiscite, Explosivo2002 was the only Social Democratic Party member to openly come out in support of the Keep It As It Is Campaign, launching ads for it across his state of Queensland. However, on the 25th of April, he broke away from the campaign following the decision by the Prime Minister (who was also a member of Keep It As It Is) to endorse True Blue for the first plebiscite, a song he had disavowed during his first speech of the campaign. However, he would remain on the campaign trail for Advance Australia Fair, launching a series of ads for the second plebiscite with the slogan of 'Our Anthem' during this time, he also worked closely with Keep It As It Is Campaign Director AussieConservative to co-ordinate their efforts. However, on May 9th, the results came back 53% in favour of the alternative option, I Am Australian.

However, despite his close working relationship with the Liberal National Party during the course of the campaign, he was one of the most vocal critics of the government's actions during the 2020 Anthem Scandal: he launched attacks against the government and railed against the government's policies on Twitter and during a Senate debate on the issue, famously comparing the government of the time to a 'pit of snakes'.

In Parliament
Throughout his term in Opposition, Explosivo gained a reputation as somebody who often attempted to compromise and broker deals between both sides of Parliament; a skill that would become more prevalent during his time as an Independent MP.

The Brisbane By-Election
After a few months away from the political scene, and a subsequent resignation from the Social Democratic Party, Explosivo emerged as an anti-establishment Independent candidate in the September 2020 Brisbane By-Election, surprising many given his almost lifelong involvement with the Labor Movement. However, his attacks against the Canberra bubble appeared effective, as his social media posts were often some of the most seen across the nation on any specific day. Ultimately, he would not win the seat, although he did capture 195,512 votes, enough to finish 3rd with 19.04% of the overall. Accepting the result immediately thereafter, he appeared surprised at such a high vote count, but declared that he would return next time around; a promise he would never go on to fulfil.

The 18th General Election
Following his failed attempt to win the seat of Brisbane, Explosivo returned to New South Wales for the first time since his run in Mayo, and elected to run as an Independent again in an attempt to replace outgoing Independent MP General_Rommel as the Member for Sydney. In the General Election, he was up against the same opponent that his predecessor came up against, that being the Liberal Party candidate Mrcri. Once the results came in on the 9th of October, Explosivo won in a landslide, defeating his Liberal Opponent by over 32% of the vote. When the result was called, he was on an ABC Election Panel, and reacted with surprise, simply responding with the phrase of "And thank you Sydney!".

Formation and Collapse of the Government
The situation following the election was one of a hung Parliament, with Explosivo being the focus of much speculation as to just who he would align with, as he had previously worked with both sides of Parliament on multiple bills. However, despite the fact that many in the media expected him to join an SDP-led Coalition, he would eventually join the Liberals and the newley-elected MBOM to form what was considered an unlikley government.

However, on the 18th of October, a day after his fellow Independent MBOM withdrew support for the government, Explosivo followed suit, reducing the Liberal government to only 6 members in the 15 member House, and effectively collapsing the government. He would later elaborate upon his decision to withdraw from the government, stating in Parliament that "so as to facilitate the formation of a government of either side in the wake of an upcoming VONC, and I in no ways departed the government with the intent of bringing it down". However, despite his withdrawal of support from the government, he also announced that he would recuse himself from the Vote of No Confidence launched against the Liberal Government, due to his own previous position in the government and potential to be a kingmaker in the aftermath of the vote.

'The Bloc' Government
Officially, Explosivo signed onto the Bloc Government on 26 October 2020, although many suspected the deal had been agreed to only a few days after his departure from the Liberal government on 18 October 2020

Liberal Enemy Number 1
To many, Explosivo's departure from the Liberal Government appeared a magnanimous seperation, with neither side lobbing insults across Twitter or in the press. However, as it would emerge on the 27th of October, the seperation was far from that, with Explosivo launching into an outright attack on the Liberals

Whether Explosivo's actions led to the resignation of RMSteve has been debated since that explosive day in Parliament

Throughout the first half of the term, Explosivo did not personally introduce any bills, although he did become known for amending many bills that entered Parliament. However, in many ways, the incidents

That aside, his work and consistent attendence record in Parliament appeared to garner him respect amongst the people both inside and outside his constituency. Indeed, on the 22nd of November, official AEC polling placed Explosivo as the 4th most preferred Prime Minister in Parliament with 8.6% of the nation wanting him in the job. This was only behind the Prime Minister (22.7%), Deputy SDP Leader Mikiboss (17.7%), and Leader of the Opposition Griffo (11.1%), and ahead of such names as former Prime Minister Riley (8%), CLP Leader Gregor (6.7%) and Chief Government Whip NeatSaucer (5.5%)

Reception
Crikey! noted the tendency of Explosivo2002, as well as of Cunningham MP stranger195 and of Cowper MP mikiboss, to break the official whip, albeit in moments that are "relatively speaking, non-consequential."

The Hon. Explosivo2002 was criticized in an attack poster by the Australian Green Left Party for questioning the Prime Minister's and the Leader of the Opposition's non-attendance in Questions without Notice, while not attending Question Time himself.