Laurie Short

Short was the national secretary of the Federated Ironworkers' Association (FIA), now part of the Australian Workers' Union, from 1951 to 1982.

[2] Short ran against Ernest "Ernie" Thornton, a member of the Communist Party of Australia, in the 1949 FIA elections — Thornton at first claimed victory, but later his election was ruled invalid, and Short declared the winner.

A. Santamaria's Catholic Social Studies Movement,[4] but was seen as playing a key role in preventing the New South Wales branch of the ALP from splitting along sectarian lines in the Australian Labor Party split of 1955.

[1] He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1971[5] by John Gorton's Liberal-Country Party Government, and this was followed in 1980 by his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)[6] by Malcolm Fraser.

He married artist Nancy Borlase in 1941 and was father to journalist Susanna Short.