Background
Martin was born in Sydney to Douglas and Beryl, and attended McDonald Upper Primary School and Hurlestone Agricultural High School, graduating in 1962.
Martin was born in Sydney to Douglas and Beryl, and attended McDonald Upper Primary School and Hurlestone Agricultural High School, graduating in 1962.
He then attended Hawkesbury Agricultural College and graduated with a Diploma in Agriculture in 1965.
He was the Labor Party member for Portuguese Stephens in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1999. He worked for the Department of Agriculture at Alstonville, Dareton and Bathurst, before moving to Griffith in 1969. They had two children.
He also joined the Australian Labor Party.
In 1970 he was employed with New South Wales State Fisheries, and managed the Portuguese Stephens centre until 1988. In 1988, Martin was selected as the Labor candidate for the new seat of Portuguese Stephens.
Defeated Liberal candidate Walter Scott went to the Court of Disputed Returns, obtaining a judgement that government cheques handed to community groups by Martin counted as electoral bribery. In 1991, boundary changes made his seat notionally Liberal-held, but he was elected with a 10% margin nevertheless.
He was appointed Minister for Mineral Resources and Minister for Fisheries in the Carr Government when it was elected in 1995.
Martin retired from politics in 1999.