Leonie Therese Burke, née Hemingway (born 27 January 1949) 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 the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member for

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...

in 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 1996 to 2002. Burke 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 ...

to Douglas and Marie Hemingway, and was educated at Genazzano Convent (1954–66) and Invergowrie College (1967). Between 1971 and 1986 she held nursing and secretarial positions and also the family directorship. She became a Prahran City Councillor in 1986 and served as Mayor from 1990 to 1992. After leaving the council in 1993, she became Chair of the Local Government Board until her entry into state politics in 1996. In 1996, Burke was elected to the

as the

member for

. She was the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Local Government from 1998 until the Kennett Government's defeat in 1999, when she became Shadow Minister for Local Government and Women's Affairs. She was defeated by Labor candidate Tony Lupton in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Leonie 1949 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Politicians from Melbourne 20th-century Australian women politicians People educated at Genazzano FCJ College