Abe Landa

Abram "Abe" Landa CMG (10 November 1902 – 7 October 1989) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1930 until 1932 and from 1941 until 1965. He was variously a member of the Australian Labor Party (NSW) and the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch). He held a number of ministerial positions between 1953 and 1965.

Landa was born in Belfast, Ireland and migrated to Sydney with his widowed mother in 1910. He was educated at Christian Brothers, Waverley and won a scholarship to study law at the University of Sydney. He practiced as a solicitor mainly in Industrial Law and joined the ALP in 1919. He was an advisor to Doc Evatt at the United Nations meetings in Lake Success. Landa was a prominent member of Sydney's Jewish Community. He was the uncle of Paul Landa who was a member of the Legislative Assembly and the New South Wales Legislative Council.

Landa was elected as the Labor member for Bondi at the 1930 state election. He defeated the sitting Nationalist member Harold Jaques and his victory contributed to Labor forming a government under Jack Lang. However, he lost the seat in the 1932 landslide that ended Lang's premiership. Landa regained the seat at the 1941 election which resulted in Labor regaining power under William McKell. He retained the seat for the next 8 elections.

Landa held ministerial positions in the governments of Joseph Cahill, Robert Heffron and Jack Renshaw. He was the Minister for Labour, Industry and Social Welfare from 1953 till 1956 and the Minister for Housing from 1956 until the defeat of the Labor government in 1965.

Following the victory of Robert Askin's conservative coalition at the 1965 election, Landa was controversially offered and accepted an appointment as the New South Wales Agent-General in London. This position was usually a sinecure for retiring members of the ruling party but Askin offered it to Landa to force his resignation from parliament and cause a by-election with the hope of increasing his government's small majority. Landa's acceptance of the position resulted in his expulsion from the Labor Party. However, Askin's plans were frustrated when the by-election was won by Labor's Syd Einfeld.

Granted retention of the "Honourable" in 1965, Landa was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1968.