Erik Locke

Erik Aldar Locke is an Australian political figure, who was the State Secretary of the Australian Labor Party in Victoria, a national official and a Chief of Staff in three jurisdictions.

Locke was educated at Hollywood Senior High in Western Australia. His mother served as a Union Official.[1]

Locke worked for Labor in Perth, Western Australia, where he was connected to the Subiaco branch, and then Labor in Melbourne, Victoria.[1]

Locke was an adviser and Chief of Staff to Lynne Kosky, the Victorian Education Minister, and later became ALP State Secretary.[2] During his two years as State Secretary, Locke brokered a preference deal between the ALP and the Family First Party helping to elect Family First Steve Fielding as Senator ahead of the Greens, which allowed the Coalition to form an Upper House majority. He resigned from the State Secretary position in April 2005 amidst factional infighting and in protest of a branch stacking controversy.[3][4][5] He was a leading figure within ALP's Socialist Left faction.[6][1]

Locke was later the CEO of CPR Communications and Public Relations, a Federal Chief of staff, the lead of Essential Media Communication's union practice and was an unsuccessful candidate for the ALP in the Legislative Council at the 2014 Victorian state election for Southern Metropolitan region.

Locke moved to Western Australia to become Chief of Staff to the Deputy Premier, Roger Cook. He was cleared by an independent investigation of bullying. He later disclosed he was suffering anxiety. He received public support from a number of former colleagues.

He is now the CEO of Incolink, Australia's largest Worker's Entitlement Fund, and appears regularly on radio and TV current affairs programs as a commentator.