Lisa Marie Chesters (born 11 February 1980) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

(ALP) and has been a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since 2013, representing the

Division of Bendigo The Division of Bendigo is an Australian electoral division in the state of Victoria. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. It is named for the city of B ...

. Prior to her election to parliament she worked as a union organiser for

United Voice United Voice was a large Australian trade union, with over 130,000 members. United Voice members worked in a wide range of occupations including hospitality, childcare, teachers' aides, aged care, property services (cleaning, security, maintenan ...

Early life

Chesters was born in

Wentworthville, New South Wales Wentworthville is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wentworthville is located 27 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Wentworthville is split ...

. Her parents owned a small business, although her mother Jenny Chesters later completed a PhD as a mature-age student and became an academic. Chesters holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

. She was involved in student politics, serving as secretary of the

University of Queensland Union The University of Queensland Union (UQ Union) is a student organisation established to provide service, support and representation to the students of The University of Queensland. It remains the largest student representative body in Australia ...

in 2002 and as women's officer of the National Union of Students in 2003. She subsequently worked as an organiser for

from 2003 to 2013.

Politics

Prior to her election to parliament, Chesters held senior positions in the Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), serving on the administrative committee, as a delegate to state and national conference, and as president of the women's affairs policy committee.

Parliament

Chesters was elected to the

at the 2013 federal election, retaining the

for the ALP following the retirement of Steve Gibbons. She is the first woman to represent the seat, which has existed since

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

in 1901. She was re-elected at the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

federal elections. After the 2016 election, Chesters was promoted to

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition ...

's shadow ministry as a shadow assistant minister, holding the portfolios of "workplace relations" and "rural and regional Australia". She did not retain her place when Anthony Albanese succeeded Shorten as party leader following the 2019 election.

Personal life

Chesters is in a long-term relationship with Matt Emond. Their first child was born in 2019. Their second child was born in 2021. In 2018, Chesters was diagnosed with conjuctival melanoma, a rare eye cancer. She received surgical treatment and radiotherapy.

References

1980 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bendigo Members of the Australian House of Representatives Women members of the Australian House of Representatives 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians University of Queensland alumni Australian trade unionists {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub