Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967) is a former Australian politician, who was a member of the House Representatives representing the seat of Gellibrand in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

for 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 the f ...

from the 1998 federal election until her retirement in August 2013. Between 2011 and 2013, Roxon was the first female

Attorney-General of Australia The Attorney-GeneralThe title is officially "Attorney-General". For the purposes of distinguishing the office from other attorneys-general, and in accordance with usual practice in the United Kingdom and other common law jurisdictions, the Aust ...

. Roxon is currently an adjunct professor at Victoria University and Chair of the board at VicHealth (Victoria Health Promotion Foundation).

Early and personal life

Roxon was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. She is the second of three daughters and the niece of the late Australian journalist and

Sydney Push The Sydney Push was an intellectual subculture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Its politics were predominantly left-wing libertarianism. The Push operated in a pub culture and included university students, academics, manual w ...

member

Lillian Roxon Lillian Roxon (8 February 1932 – 10 August 1973) was a noted Australian journalist and author, best known for ''Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia'' (1969). From Italy to Australia, then the USA She was born Lillian Ropschitz in Alassio, Provi ...

. Her

paternal A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

grandparents were Jewish and migrated from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

to Australia in 1937. Anglicising the family name from Ropschitz to Roxon, her grandfather worked as a GP in

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Wide Bay-Burnett District, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River (Queen ...

and

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 ...

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_ ...

. Her mother Lesley trained as a pharmacist, while her father Jack was a

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

. He was a strong influence in her life and she was devastated by his death from cancer when she was 10 years old. Roxon was educated at the Methodist Ladies' College in the suburb of

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

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 ...

. She studied for a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, winning the university medal for law. She ultimately came to the view that "governments have got a role to make sure they can help people in circumstances they can't control—either through their health failing or an accident". Between 1992 and 1994, Roxon was employed as a judge's associate to High Court Justice

Mary Gaudron Mary Genevieve Gaudron (born 5 January 1943), is an Australian lawyer and judge, who was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was the Solicitor-General of New South Wales from 1981 until 1987 before her appointment to ...

. She then became involved with the

trade union movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

, joining the

National Union of Workers The National Union of Workers was an Australian trade union formed in 1989. History The National Union of Workers of Australia was formed by a progressive amalgamation of unions from 1989 onwards in a time when all Australian unions were merging ...

as an organiser. Roxon was also an industrial lawyer and senior associate with the law firm Maurice Blackburn and Co. from 1996 to 1998.

Political career

Roxon was elected to the comfortably safe Labor seat of Gellibrand in 1998, succeeding longtime member

Ralph Willis Ralph Willis AO (born 14 April 1938) is a former Australian politician who served as a Cabinet Minister during the entirety of the Hawke-Keating Government from 1983 to 1996, most notably as Treasurer of Australia from 1993 to 1996 and briefl ...

. She served on a number of committees, including the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources and the Joint Select Committee on the Republic Referendum. Roxon was promoted to the Shadow Ministry after Labor's loss in the 2001 election. Initially, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Child Care, Family Support and Youth. Roxon then had a brief stint as Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration later that year, when

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...

moved from the Immigration portfolio to Health. In 2003, new leader

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...

appointed her shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader on the Status of Women. She remained as Shadow Attorney-General following Latham's election loss in the 2004 election, holding this position until 2006.

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

appointed her to the position of Shadow Health Minister upon his elevation to the Labor leadership in December 2006, and she retained the portfolio when Labor won government, replacing

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

as Minister for Health and Ageing. Roxon made headlines during the 2007 federal election campaign when, on 31 October 2007, then Health Minister

arrived half an hour late for a televised debate. After apologising on behalf of the absent party to the audience of media and health industry figures, Roxon had the debate to herself and made light of the situation by stating that her staff felt she did a good impersonation of Abbott and could play his part. When Abbott arrived, he apologised for being late, but swore at Roxon when she claimed he could have been on time if he had wanted to.

Minister for Health

In February 2009, Roxon attempted to introduce legislation backing the

alcopops An alcopop (or cooler, spirit cooler n South African English">South_African_English.html" ;"title="n South African English">n South African English or malternative n American English is any of certain flavored alcoholic beverages with relati ...

tax increase into parliament. In 2010, Roxon aimed to introduce major health reform in Australia. She said the Government would hold a referendum on hospital reform even if the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

rejected the idea. In 2012, Roxon was featured in the ''

Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs Department. The program first aired on 29 ...

'' television program in an episode entitled "Kicking The Habit", about her advocacy for

plain cigarette packaging Plain tobacco packaging, also known as generic, neutral, standardised or homogeneous packaging, is packaging of tobacco products, typically cigarettes, without any branding (colours, imagery, corporate logos and trademarks), including only the br ...

Attorney-General

Prime Minister Julia Gillard implemented a major change to her Cabinet on 14 December 2011. Roxon was promoted from Health and Ageing to become Australia's first woman to serve as Attorney-General. In a reshuffle announced on 2 March 2012, Roxon was given the additional portfolio of Emergency Management. She was sworn into that portfolio on 5 March. In May 2012, Attorney-General Roxon announced that the Australian Government would not approach the British Government to seek a pardon for Harry "Breaker" Morant because Morant and his two fellow officers did, in fact, kill unarmed prisoners and others during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

Resignation

Roxon resigned as Attorney-General on 2 February 2013. She continued as a

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

for the remainder of her term, and retired when the parliament was dissolved before the 2013 federal election.

References

External links

Department of Health and Ageing2013 Valedictory speech
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Roxon, Nicola 1967 births Attorneys-General of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Government ministers of Australia Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Gellibrand Members of the Cabinet of Australia Melbourne Law School alumni Women members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women government ministers of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Australian atheists Australian Ministers for Health 20th-century Australian women politicians