Ann Patricia Barker (born 19 January 1952) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n politician. She was a Labor Party member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

from 1999 to 2014, representing the electorate of Oakleigh. She previously represented the electorate of Bentleigh from 1988 to 1992. Barker was born in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. She worked as an electorate officer to former federal MP

Joan Child Joan Child, AO (3 August 192123 February 2013) was an Australian politician. She was the first woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives. Up until the election of Anna Burke on 9 October 2012, she was the only female Spea ...

before being elected to the

seat of Bentleigh at the 1988 state election, succeeding retiring ALP member

Gordon Hockley Gordon Stanley Hockley (24 July 1926 – 11 May 2002) was an Australian politician. He was born in Albury to motor mechanic Stanley Bertram Hockley and nurse Frances McIntosh. He attended local state schools and became a clerk with Victoria ...

. She was seen as a potential ministerial candidate towards the end of her first term, but was twice overlooked by then-Premier

Joan Kirner Joan Elizabeth Kirner (née Hood; 20 June 1938 – 1 June 2015) was an Australian politician who was the 42nd Premier of Victoria, serving from 1990 to 1992. A Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria from 1982 to 1994, she was a mem ...

. These ambitions were to be short-lived, as she was one of many Labor members to be defeated amidst the party's landslide defeat at the 1992 state election, losing to Liberal

Inga Peulich Inga Peulich (; née Došen; born 15 October 1956) is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Legislative Council representing South Eastern Metropolitan Region from 2006 to 2018. From 2014 to 2018, Peulich served as the Victorian L ...

. After her 1992 election defeat, Barker was employed as an advisor to federal MP

Simon Crean Simon Findlay Crean (born 26 February 1949) is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the Member of Parliament for Hotham from 1990 to 2013, representing the Labor Party, and served as a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke, Keating, R ...

, then a minister in the Keating government. She left Crean's office in 1996 to work as an office manager with the Victorian Court Information and Welfare Network, but returned to Crean's office the following year.Parkinson, Tony and Boreham, Gareth. "Delahunty dilemma as deal eludes ALP". ''

The Sunday Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'', 15 March 1998. She was the Labor candidate for the seat of Oakleigh at the 1996 election, but was very narrowly defeated by incumbent Liberal member

Denise McGill Denise Frances McGill (born 11 December 1946 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia). McGill was a state politician for the Liberal Party who has held the seat of Oakleigh from October 1992 until August 1999. McGill was councillor of Oakleigh from 1 ...

. She was again the Labor candidate for the seat at the 1999 election, having resisted pressure to stand aside for star candidate

Mary Delahunty Mary Elizabeth Delahunty (born 7 June 1951) is an Australian journalist and politician with the Labor Party. Early life Delahunty was born in the Victorian town of Murtoa and educated at Loreto College in Ballarat.''Who's Who in Australia ...

, and amidst the party's statewide victory, succeeded in defeating McGill. Barker was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Training and Higher Education after the party's victory at the 2002 election. A relatively low-profile MP, she spoke less than only one other member of either house of parliament in 2004. In 2006, she was a vocal supporter of

Martin Pakula Martin Philip Pakula (born 7 January 1969) is a former Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria since 2006: in the Legislative Council for Western Metropolitan Region from 2006 to 2010, and then in ...

's unsuccessful challenge to the preselection of her former employer, Simon Crean.

Bachelard, Michael Michael Bachelard (born 1968) is an Australian journalist and author. In 1997, Bachelard wrote ''The Great Land Grab: What every Australian should know about Wik, Mabo and the Ten Point Plan''. Bachelard's '' Behind the Exclusive Brethren'' w ...

. "Crean's state colleagues support his rival.". ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'', 25 February 2006. She was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly after the 2006 election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Ann 1952 births Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Living people Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly