Leeanne Margaret Enoch is an Australian politician currently serving as the Minister for Communities and Housing and Minister for the Arts and Digital Economy of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. She has also served as the Labor Party member for Algester in the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

since 2015.

Early life and education

Enoch was born the oldest of four, and became the first member of her family to graduate from university. She is the sister of playwright

Wesley Enoch Wesley James Enoch (born 1969) is an Australian playwright and artistic director. He is especially known for ''The 7 Stages of Grieving'', co-written with Deborah Mailman. He was artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company from mid-2 ...

, who is the eldest of three brothers.

Career

Enoch worked as a high school English and drama teacher in schools across South-East Queensland and East London, later becoming a manager of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

policy in the State Education Department. Upon her election to the

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...

in 2015, Enoch became a first-term cabinet minister, becoming Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Science and Innovation. Her department launched the Advance Queensland initiative in June 2015, in a drive to create jobs in new and emerging industries. The Advance Queensland Expert Panel is an independent panel created to provide advice to government. She served as Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science, and Minister for Housing and Public Works ( 2017). Enoch is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

of the

Quandamooka people The Quandamooka people are Aboriginal Australians who live around Moreton Bay in Southeastern Queensland. They are composed of three distinct tribes, the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi, and they live primarily on Moreton and North Stradbro ...

North Stradbroke Island North Stradbroke Island ( Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Originally there was onl ...

, and is the first

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

woman elected to the Queensland Parliament. (She was followed in 2017 by

Cynthia Lui Cynthia Lillian Lui (born 17 February 1977) is an Australian politician. She has been the Australian Labor Party member for Cook in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2017. Originally from Yam Island in the Torres Strait The Torr ...

, the first

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often groupe ...

to be elected to any parliament.) As of September 2021, Enoch serves as the Minister for Communities and Housing, Minister for Digital Economy and Minister for the Arts.

Other activities

Enoch was a witness in ''

Eatock v Bolt ''Eatock v Bolt'' was a 2011 decision of the Federal Court of Australia which held that two articles written by columnist and commentator Andrew Bolt and published in ''The Herald Sun'' newspaper had contravened section 18C, of the ''Racial D ...

'', a 2011 decision of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

which held that two articles written by columnist and commentator

Andrew Bolt Andrew Bolt (born 26 September 1959) is an Australian right-wing social and political commentator. He has worked at the News Corp-owned newspaper company The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT) for many years, for both '' The Herald'' and its success ...

and published in ''

The 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 Sun ...

'' newspaper had contravened section 18C, of the ''

Racial Discrimination Act 1975 The ''Racial Discrimination Act 1975'' (Cth). is an Act of the Australian Parliament, which was enacted on 11 June 1975 and passed by the Whitlam government. The Act makes racial discrimination in certain contexts unlawful in Australia, and al ...

''. Bolt had accused Enoch and other Aboriginal people of "choosing" their identity for personal benefit..

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Enoch, Leeanne Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Indigenous Australian politicians Australian schoolteachers Griffith University alumni Alumni of the University of East London Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Labor Left politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians 20th-century Australian women

Early life and education

Career

Other activities

See also

References

External links