Kay Patricia Setches (born 28 November 1944) is an Australian 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 1982 to 1992, representing the electorate of Ringwood. She was Minister for Conservation, Forests and Lands from 1988 to 1990, Minister for Community Services from 1990 to 1992 and Minister Responsible for Child Care from 1991 to 1992. Setches was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and was educated at St Joseph's Collingwood, Cromwell Street State School, and the Collingwood School of Domestic Arts. She resided in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

from 1964, and was a shop assistant before entering politics. She joined the Labor Party in 1972 and was involved in a number of community organisations, including serving as co-ordinator of the Maroondah Halfway House Group, a women's refuge, from 1977 to 1978 and president of the Boronia Technical School Council from 1979 to 1983. She was also an advocate for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities. Setches was elected to the Legislative Assembly at the 1982 state election, defeating two-term Liberal MP Peter McArthur, and was re-elected in 1985 and 1988. She was promoted to the ministry in 1988 as Minister for Conservation, Forests and Lands, shifted to Minister for Community Services in 1990, and added the new portfolio of Minister Responsible for Child Care in 1991. Setches was minister during a period of significant change: she introduced mandatory reporting of child abuse, formally closed the notorious

Sunbury Asylum Sunbury Lunatic Asylum was a 19th-century mental health facility known as a lunatic asylum, located in Sunbury, Victoria, Australia, first opened in October 1879. Prior to being opened as an asylum, Sunbury was controlled by the Department of ...

however little was done to accommodate the insane who for the most part were left to roam the streets in places like St Kilda resulting in some being shot by police after turning violent, increased funding to

Kew Cottages :''Medical terms in this article are in the context of what was legally correct usage for that period where they appear in the text. Therefore "feeble-minded", "idiot", "imbecile", "lunatic", etc., should not be taken at their modern signific ...

, and advocated the outlawing of surrogacy. Her seat of Ringwood was abolished for the 1992 election and she contested and lost the new notionally Labor seat of Bayswater as Labor were resoundingly defeated that year. In retirement, she was one of the co-founders of

EMILY's List Australia EMILY's List Australia is a political network in Australia that supports progressive Labor Party (ALP) women candidates seeking election to political office. Founded in 1996, EMILY's List Australia was inspired by EMILY's List, a political ac ...

, and was a board member of the Victorian Women's Trust and the Queen Victoria Women's Centre Trust. She was one of the inaugural additions to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001. She subsequently retired to Victoria Harbour at Docklands, and has spoken about planning issues in the area. Both of her children have been involved in Labor politics; her son, Earl Setches, is the secretary of the Plumbing Trades Employees Union, and her daughter, Vicki Setches, was the unsuccessful Labor candidate for Kilsyth at the 2010 state election. Three of her parliamentary advisers, Alan Griffin,

Gavin Jennings Gavin Wayne Jennings (born 18 April 1957) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1999 to 2020, representing Melbourne Province (1999–2006) and then the South Eastern Metropolitan R ...

and

Lynne Kosky Lynne Janice Kosky (2 September 1958 – 4 December 2014) was an Australian politician and senior minister in the Government of Victoria. She represented the electoral district of Altona in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Labor Part ...

, subsequently went on to political careers of their own as federal and state ministers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Setches, Kay 1944 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Members of the Order of Australia Politicians from Melbourne