Sophie Mirabella

Sophie Mirabella
Member of the Australian Parliament for Indi
In office 10 November 2001 – 7 September 2013
Preceded by	Lou Lieberman
Succeeded by	Cathy McGowan
Personal details
Born	Sophie Panopoulos (1968-10-27) 27 October 1968 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Greg Mirabella (m. 2006)
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Occupation	Housewife
Profession	Barrister
Website	http://www.sophiemirabella.com.au/

Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos) (born 27 October 1968) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013, representing the Division of Indi, Victoria.

After spending a number of years on the backbench, she moved to the position of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government after the Coalition lost government in 2007, and to the role of Spokeswoman on Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth in 2008. In 2009, Mirabella was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

Mirabella lost her seat of Indi at the 2013 federal election to independent candidate Cathy McGowan. She also resigned from the Coalition frontbench shortly prior to conceding defeat.

Personal life

Mirabella was born Sophie Panopoulos in Melbourne, Victoria, her parents having arrived in Australia from Greece in 1956. She was educated at St Catherine's School, Toorak while working part-time at her father's milk bar in South Melbourne. Upon finishing secondary school, Mirabella attended Melbourne University where she studied law and became involved in student activism through the Melbourne University Liberal Club, of which she was president, and as vice-president of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation.^[1] After graduating from Melbourne University with degrees in law and commerce,^[2] Mirabella worked as a solicitor and articled clerk from 1995 to 1997. From 1998 until her election to Parliament, she worked as a barrister.

In 1995, she began a live-in relationship with Colin Howard, then dean of law at Melbourne University, who was forty years her senior. The relationship ended in 2001, although they remained close until his death in 2011. Her relationship with Howard was later the subject of a bitter dispute between Mirabella and Howard's adult children. Mirabella was granted power of attorney over Howard's estate and was named the sole beneficiary.^[3][4]

In June 2006 she married Lieutenant-Colonel Greg Mirabella, a former Australian Army Reserve officer still working in the defence industry.^[5] The couple have two daughters.^[1]

Political career

Mirabella has been a member of the Liberal Party since 1987. She became well known during the constitutional monarchy/republican debate in Australia, acting as a prominent advocate for retaining the constitutional monarchy, and was an elected member of the 1998 Constitutional Convention.^[6] The referendum that followed saw all states and a majority of Australians support the retention of the constitutional monarchy over the republican model that was offered. In 2001 Mirabella won preselection as the Liberal candidate to succeed Lou Lieberman as the Member for Indi, standing against Sussan Ley,^[7] which she won in the 2001 federal election with a vote of 61.15% on a two-party preferred basis.^[8] Mirabella received a well above-average^{[citation needed]} 5.6% swing to her in the 2004 federal election, giving her 66.3% of the two-party preferred vote and making Indi a safe Liberal seat.^[9]

Within the federal government, Mirabella sat in the backbench until 2007. During this time, in 2005, she attracted public attention as a key member of an informal "ginger group" of Liberal backbenchers. She chaired this group with Victorian Senator Mitch Fifield. The group argued for "tax reform" (in essence, tax cuts paid for by reductions in government spending), sparking public debate on the topic.^[10] Although Fifield stepped away from the group after budget cuts in 2005, Mirabella continued for a time as the group's chair.^[11] While on the backbench, Mirabella took a strong stance on the prominent issue of asylum seekers, criticising a group of four fellow Liberal backbenchers, including Petro Georgiou and Judi Moylan, for opposing government policy on mandatory detention.^[12] In August 2005, she called for Muslim women to be required to remove their head dress when posing for photo identification.^[13] Mirabella has been an advocate of voluntary student unionism (VSU) and strongly supported the legislation proposed by Brendan Nelson.^[14]

In opposition

In 2007 the Coalition lost the federal election and entered opposition. After the election, Mirabella was promoted to the role of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government under the leadership of Brendan Nelson.^[15] While serving as a Shadow Parliamentary Secretary, Mirabella attracted controversy in January 2008 when she launched an attack on former Liberal Party Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, after a speech he gave at Melbourne University on "the Bush Administration (reversing) 60 years of progress in establishing a law-based international system", claiming errors and "either intellectual sloppiness or deliberate dishonesty", and that he tacitly supports Islamic fundamentalism, should have no influence on foreign policy, and that his stance on the war on terror has left him open to caricature as a "frothing-at-the-mouth leftie".^[16][17][18] She was also one of five Liberal Party of Australia MPs not present in February 2008, when a motion was passed unanimously apologising to the stolen generations of indigenous children between federation and the 1970s.^[19] She explained her decision by asserting that there had never been a formal policy in Victoria of removing children from their families and that there is no evidence for any "truly stolen" children,^[20] despite the fact that the first laws passed giving authorities the right to take children from their parents were passed and used in Victoria.^[21]

Malcolm Turnbull challenged Brendan Nelson for leadership of the Liberal Party in September 2008, and Mirabella was one of those who pledged their support to Turnbull. She was promoted as part of the subsequent reshuffle, becoming the opposition Spokeswoman on Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth.^[22] Her move to the Shadow Cabinet came in 2009 when she was promoted to the role of Spokeswoman for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, after Tony Abbott defeated Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership spill.^[23] Mirabella had joined Abbott in resigning from the frontbench over Turnbull's climate change policy,^[24] and her move to the Shadow Cabinet was seen as part of the rise of the social-conservative right within the party.^[1]

After the 2010 election, she held her seat with a margin of 9.9% two party preferred against Labor.^[25]

2013 Federal election defeat

Mirabella was defeated in Indi by independent candidate Cathy McGowan at the 2013 federal election. On 18 September 2013, Sophie Mirabella conceded defeat, the same day Tony Abbott and the Abbott Government were sworn in.^[26] On 11 September 2013, 1,003^[27] votes were discovered to have been mis-reported in a transcription error on 8 September. These were for McGowan, and strengthened her slight lead in the count.^[28]

On 12 September, Mirabella issued a statement that, as the result in Indi would not be known for "many days", and her "future in the Parliament is not assured", she had requested of Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott not to be considered for a frontbench position in the new government.^[29] The prime minister-elect was quoted in reply: "I pay tribute to Sophie Mirabella and thank her for her magnanimity in ensuring the continuing vote count in Indi does not hinder formation of the new ministry."^[30]

The final result in Indi saw Mirrabella's Liberal two-candidate preferred vote at 49.8% (−10.2), with the primary vote at 44.7% (−7.2) and the two-party preferred vote at 59.1% (+0.1).

Parliamentary style

According to Fenella Souter in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mirabella is known for her "caustic, confrontational manner".^[1] Her behaviour has led her to be ejected from parliament on at least two occasions. In 2007, David Hawker expelled Mirabella from parliament for shouting at him after being warned twice to resume her seat. She defied parliamentary orders under Standing Order No. 94A and thus was removed from the House of Representatives for misconduct.^[31] In 2010, Peter Slipper expelled Mirabella from parliament for 24 hours on the eve of the vote on the carbon tax, when she "refused to accept a ruling barring her from tabling an anti-carbon tax petition".^[32]

On a number of occasions her comments both inside and outside of parliament have attracted controversy. In 2008, Mirabella stated in parliament to Julia Gillard, who is childless, "You won't need his (ex-PM Kevin Rudd) taxpayer-funded nanny, will you?"^[33] Mirabella again created controversy on 2 March 2011, when she compared the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to Muammar Gaddafi, claiming that both were delusional.^[34] The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, refused to condemn Mirabella, instead terming the comparison colourful and not language he would use.^[35] And in 2012, Mirabella denounced fellow Liberal NSW Senator Bill Heffernan by telling him to "Oh, why don't you go and pop your Alzheimer's pills". This was in response to Heffernan branding a fellow Liberal senator a "fuckwit".^[36]

Prior to the 2013 Federal Election, retiring independent MP Tony Windsor nominated Mirabella for "the nasty prize" when asked who was the person he would miss least in politics on the ABC Insiders program. "She is the nastiest — I reckon if you put it to a vote to all politicians, she’d come up No.1”.^[37]

Media

Mirabella appeared as a panellist on the ABC panellist TV talkback show Q&A on a number of occasions. On one show in 2012 a fellow panellist (GetUp! director and unsuccessful Greens Senate candidate Simon Sheikh) had a seizure live on air, with his head falling forward on the desk.^[38] Mirabella was criticised for not responding to Sheikh's situation.^[39][40] A spokesperson for Mirabella said she was unaware that it was a medical emergency.^[41] Of the panelists, only Greg Combet physically responded to the situation. Sheikh made a full recovery off camera.

Career after politics

Finance minister, Mathias Cormann, issued a statement on Tuesday 17 December 2013 naming Mirabella as one of three appointees to the board of ASC Pty Ltd – formerly known as the Australian Submarine Corporation. Cormann pointed to Mirabella’s past shadow cabinet roles as relevant to the appointment. Cormann said "Combined with her legal background and her extensive experience working with the manufacturing industry, Mrs Mirabella will make a valuable contribution to the board".^[42] The appointment was greeted with cynicism by one journalist, describing the apopintment as "Jobs for the girls".^[43]

References

External links

• Sophie Mirabella webpage

• Search or browse Hansard for Sophie Mirabella at OpenAustralia.org