Nicola Roxon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Hon. Nicola Roxon | |
 |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 3 December 2007 |
|
| Prime Minister | Kevin Rudd |
| Preceded by | Tony Abbott |
| Constituency | Gellibrand |
|
|
|
| Born | 1 April 1967 Sydney, NSW, Australia |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Website | NicolaRoxonMP.com |
Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967) is an Australian politician, and is the Minister for Health and Ageing. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the Division of Gellibrand, in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. She was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and was educated at the Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne, at Kew and the University of Melbourne.
Roxon is the middle of three sisters and is also the niece of the late Australian journalist and Sydney Push member Lillian Roxon.[1] Her paternal grandparents were Jewish and migrated from Poland to Australia in 1937. Anglicising the family name from Ropschitz to Roxon, her grandfather worked as a GP in Gympie and Brisbane.[2] Her mother Lesley trained as a pharmacist, while her father Jack was a microbiologist. He was a strong influence in her life and she was devastated by his death from cancer when she was 10 years old. Roxon ultimately came to the view that "governments have got a role to make sure they can help people in circumstances they can't control - either through their health failing or an accident".[1]
Between 1992 and 1994, Roxon was employed as a judge's associate to High Court Justice Mary Gaudron.[1] She then became involved with the trade union movement, joining the National Union of Workers as an organiser. Roxon was also an industrial lawyer and senior associate with the law firm Maurice Blackburn and Co. from 1996-98.
After her election to the House of Representatives in 1998, Roxon served on a number of committees, including the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources and the Joint Select Committee on the Republic Referendum.
Roxon was promoted to the Shadow Ministry after Labor's loss in the 2001 election. Initially, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Child Care, Family Support and Youth. Roxon then had a brief stint as Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration later that year, when Julia Gillard moved from the Immigration portfolio to Health. In 2003, new leader Mark Latham appointed her Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader on the Status of Women. She remained as Shadow Attorney-General following Latham's election loss in the 2004 election, holding this position until 2006. Kevin Rudd appointed her to the position of Shadow Health Minister upon his elevation to the Labor leadership in December 2006, and she retained the portfolio when Labor won government, replacing Tony Abbott as Minister for Health and Ageing.
Roxon made headlines during the 2007 election campaign when a scheduled televised debate with Federal Minister for Health, Tony Abbott failed to arrive. After apologising on behalf of the absent party to the audience of media and health industry figures, Ms Roxon said: "Who on Earth is Minister Abbott going to insult next?" Roxon had the debate to herself and made light of the situation by stating that her staff felt she did a good impersonation of Abbott and could play his part.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Stafford, Annabel. "Going boldly into the minefield that is health", The Age, 29 December 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-30.
- ^ "Passion for prevention", Australian Doctor, 17 January 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
[edit] External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tony Abbott |
Minister for Health and Ageing 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
| Parliament of Australia | ||
| Preceded by Ralph Willis |
Member for Gellibrand 1998 – present |
Incumbent |
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||
