Leesa Anne Vlahos, ''née'' Chesser (born 1966) is a former Australian politician. She represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

seat of

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) **List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) Plac ...

for the Labor Party from the 2010 election until her retirement in 2018.

Background

Vlahos was born in

Townsville, Queensland Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

. As a child she became a

Girl Guide Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

and later continued to be involved with the scouting movement. She studied Health Administration at the Queensland University of Technology. She then worked in public and private hospitals in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and later the Repatriation Hospital in

Daw Park, South Australia Daw Park is an inner southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, in the local government area of the City of Mitcham. The suburb is divided into two parts, with a smaller northern exclave separated from the larger southern part by a sectio ...

. Vlahos was the founding director of SA Progressive Business Inc. which acts as Labor's corporate events arm which links them with the business community.

Parliament

Vlahos was elected to the seat of

after the retirement of the previous Labor member

Trish White Patricia Lynne White (born 7 September 1964) is a company director and former Australian politician, who represented Taylor in the South Australian House of Assembly for the Labor Party. She first won the seat at a state by-election held on 5 ...

. She is a former Presiding Officer of the SA Parliament Public Works Committee, a former member of the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, and a former member of the Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation. She was also a member of the Economic and Finance Committee. She previously held offices as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and assisted in the portfolio areas of Defence Industries, Veterans’ Affairs, Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse and The Arts. Vlahos was described by the ''

Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'' as 'staunchly pro-nuclear' and advocated for

nuclear power in Australia The prospect of nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of public debate since the 1950s. Australia has one nuclear plant in Lucas Heights, Sydney, but is not used to produce nuclear power, but instead is used to produce medical radioisoto ...

at the time that the

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission is a Royal Commission into South Australia's future role in the nuclear fuel cycle. It commenced on 19 March 2015 and delivered its final report to the Government of South Australia on 6 May 2016. The Comm ...

commenced in March 2015. She is aligned with Labor's right faction. In a submission in response to the setting of the Commission's Terms of Reference she stated that "for years I have been an advocate for a modern and safe nuclear industry in our State."

Oakden Scandal

At the 2018 election, Vlahos would have been Labor's first-listed candidate on their upper house ticket, but she quit before the publication of the ICAC report into the Oakden scandal.

Cabinet

Vlahos' elevation to the

Cabinet of South Australia The Cabinet of South Australia is the chief policy-making organ of the Government of South Australia. In South Australia, the cabinet is interchangeably known as the ministry as there is no "outer ministry" – therefore all ministers are in cabinet ...

in the

Jay Weatherill Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of ...

government occurred in January 2016. Vlahos represented the following portfolios in the

: *Minister for Disabilities *Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse She resigned from Cabinet on 17 September 2017 for personal health reasons, but announced that she intended to remain in the House of Assembly until the March 2018 election, and stand for a seat in the Legislative Council at that election.

Reference

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Vlahos, Leesa 1966 births Living people Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the South Australian House of Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians