Political Career
His first political experience as a Labor candidate occurred at the 1993 federal election, when he stood for the Division of Hindmarsh, where he was narrowly defeated by Liberal Party candidate Christine Gallus by 1.6 percent.
Prior to the 2002 state election, Rau contested Labor preselection for Enfield against the sitting member Ralph Clarke. Clarke had recently been deposed as the party's deputy leader. The local party branch chose Clarke who received 60 of 74 votes. However, the party's state executive stepped in and installed Rau as the pre-selected candidate. Clarke ran as an independent Labor candidate, receiving a respectable 23 percent of the vote; however, Clarke narrowly fell short of overtaking and inheriting Liberal Party votes. Rau easily won the seat with a 35.9 percent primary and 65.9 percent two-party vote.
Rau gained publicity in 2004 over his involvement in the Real Estate Industry – Reform bill, which was designed in an attempt to stop industry practices such as dummy bidding at auctions.
The 2006 state election saw Rau retain Enfield with a 63.4 percent primary and 74.5 percent two-party vote. At the 2010 state election, Rau suffered a swing to finish with a 52.6 percent primary and 60.5 percent two-party vote.
Rau became Attorney General when Michael Atkinson stepped down from the position following the 2010 election. Like his predecessor, Rau has also been described as a social conservative.
Rau expressed approval for the introduction of an R18+ video games classification following the resignation of Atkinson and is set to discuss it at the next meeting of attorneys-general in April 2010. The issue has been one for which his predecessor Atkinson received significant media attention. Rau appears to be taking a different view to his predecessor and is considering allowing an introduction of an R18+ classification.
In February 2011, Rau was elevated to Deputy Premier following the resignation of Kevin Foley from the position.
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