Cavalier, Rodney Mark, 1948 –

Rodney Mark Cavalier was born at Sydney in 1948, son of Frank and Elizabeth Cavalier. He was educated at Putney Public School, Fort Street Boys High School and the University of Sydney where he graduated Bachelor of Arts with honours in government. Rodney Cavalier was a project officer of the Australia Council and an alderman of the Hunter's Hill Municipal Council when he was pre-selected as the ALP candidate for the state seat of Fuller.

Cavalier won the seat of Fuller in October 1978 defeating the sitting member Peter Coleman who was the Leader of the NSW Liberal Party and a former government minister. After an electoral redistribution which abolished the seat of Fuller in 1981 Cavalier was preselected for the seat of Gladesville which he won at the 1981 election. In 1984 Cavalier was appointed Minister for Energy and Planning in the Wran ministry. In a Cabinet reshuffle in 1984 he was appointed Minister for Education, a position he held in both the Wran and Unsworth governments until his electoral defeat in the March 1988.

Prior to his election to the NSW Parliament Rodney Cavalier was employed as a trade union official with the Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union (1972-1973) and was an advisor to the Federal Minister for Labour (1973). He was a member of the NSW Administrative Committee of the ALP from 1975 to 1978.

During his time in Parliament he was Chairman of the Joint Select Committee Upon Parliamentary Privileges (1983-1985); an alderman of the Hunter's Hill Municipal Council (1977-1980); and a member of the University of Sydney Senate (1978-1984). Following his parliamentary career Rodney Cavalier worked for two years as a journalist with The Australian Financial Review.

Since that time he has been appointed to numerous committees and government bodies including: Chairman of the NSW Centenary of Federation Committee; Trustee of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust; Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the National Portrait Gallery; Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Australian Archives; Member of the Council of the National Library of Australia; and Chairman of the Committee for the Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government in NSW.