Nicola Roxon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Attorney-General of Australia | |
| In office 14 December 2011 – 2 February 2013 | |
| Prime Minister | Julia Gillard |
| Preceded by | Robert McClelland |
| Succeeded by | Mark Dreyfus |
| Minister for Health and Ageing | |
| In office 3 December 2007 – 14 December 2011 | |
| Prime Minister | Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard |
| Preceded by | Tony Abbott |
| Succeeded by | Tanya Plibersek (Health) Mark Butler (Mental Health and Ageing) |
| Member of theAustralian Parliament forGellibrand | |
| In office 3 October 1998 – 5 August 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Ralph Willis |
| Succeeded by | Tim Watts |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1967-04-01)1 April 1967 (age 58) Sydney, Australia |
| Political party | Labor Party |
| Spouse | Michael Kerrisk |
| Children | 1 daughter |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967[citation needed]) is an Australian former politician. After politics, she has worked as a company director and academic.
Roxon represented thelower house seat ofGellibrand inVictoria for theAustralian Labor Party; from the1998 federal election until her retirement in August 2013. Between 2011 and 2013, Roxon was the first femaleAttorney-General of Australia.
Post politics, Roxon was appointed an adjunct professor atVictoria University, board chair atVicHealth, and atHESTA.[1]
Roxon was born inSydney. She is the second of three daughters and the niece of the late Australian journalist andSydney Push memberLillian Roxon.[2] Herpaternal grandparents were Jewish and migrated fromPoland to Australia in 1937. Anglicising the family name from Ropschitz to Roxon, her grandfather worked as a GP inGympie andBrisbane,Queensland.[3] Her mother Lesley trained as a pharmacist, while her father Jack was amicrobiologist. He was a strong influence in her life and she was devastated by his death from cancer when she was 10 years old.[citation needed]
Roxon was educated at theMethodist Ladies' College in the suburb ofKew inMelbourne. She studied for a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at theUniversity of Melbourne, winning the university medal for law.[4] She 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".[2]
Between 1992 and 1994, Roxon was employed as a judge's associate toHigh Court JusticeMary Gaudron.[2] She then became involved with thetrade union movement, joining theNational Union of Workers as an organiser. Roxon was also an industrial lawyer and senior associate with the law firmMaurice Blackburn and Co. from 1996 to 1998.[5]
Roxon was elected to the comfortably safe Labor seat of Gellibrand in 1998, succeeding longtime memberRalph Willis.[6]
She served on a number of committees, including the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources and the Joint Select Committee on the Republic Referendum.[6]
Roxon was promoted to the Shadow Ministry after Labor's loss in the2001 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, whenJulia Gillard moved from the Immigration portfolio to Health. In 2003, new leaderMark 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 the2004 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, replacingTony Abbott asMinister for Health and Ageing.[6]
Roxon made headlines during the2007 federal election campaign when, on 31 October 2007, then Health MinisterTony Abbott arrived half an hour late for a televised debate. After apologising on behalf of the absent party to the audience of media and health industry figures, 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. When Abbott arrived, he apologised for being late, but swore at Roxon when she claimed he could have been on time if he had wanted to.[7][8]
In February 2009, Roxon attempted to introduce legislation backing thealcopops tax increase into parliament.[9]
In 2010, Roxon aimed to introduce major health reform in Australia. She said the Government would hold a referendum on hospital reform even if theSenate rejected the idea.[10]
In 2012, Roxon was featured in theAustralian Story television program in an episode entitled "Kicking The Habit", about her advocacy forplain cigarette packaging.[11]
Prime Minister Julia Gillard implemented a major change to her Cabinet on 14 December 2011. Roxon was promoted from Health and Ageing to become Australia's first woman to serve as Attorney-General.[12][13] In a reshuffle announced on 2 March 2012, Roxon was given the additional portfolio of Emergency Management.[14] She was sworn into that portfolio on 5 March.[6]
In May 2012, Attorney-General Roxon announced that the Australian Government would not approach the British Government to seek a pardon forHarry "Breaker" Morant because Morant and his two fellow officers did, in fact, kill unarmed prisoners and others during theSecond Boer War.
Roxon resigned as Attorney-General on 2 February 2013. She continued as abackbencher for the remainder of her term, and retired when the parliament was dissolved before the2013 federal election.[15]
She was inducted onto theVictorian Honour Roll of Women in 2014.[16]
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forGellibrand 1998–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Health and Ageing 2007–2011 | Succeeded byas Minister for Health |
| Succeeded by | ||
| Preceded by | Attorney-General of Australia 2011–2013 | Succeeded by |
Prime Minister:Kevin Rudd | ||
 | ||
