Sonya Kilkenny (born 15 May 1969) is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor Party member of 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 presidin ...

since November 2014, representing the

Electoral district of Carrum The electoral district of Carrum is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It lies in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, covering Bangholme, Bonbeach, Carrum, Carrum Downs, Patterson Lakes, Sandhurst, Seaford a ...

. Kilkenny first entered parliament at the

2014 Victorian state election The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incumb ...

when she narrowly won the seat off 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 ...

incumbent, before holding the seat at the 2018 Victorian state election with an 11.2% swing, one of the biggest swings in the election. Kilkenny served on the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee and was an Acting Speaker in the Legislative Assembly. On 29 November 2018, Kilkenny was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and in 2020 appointed Cabinet Secretary. Kilkenny was born in Sydney, and attended schools in Hong Kong and the United States before returning to Australia. She graduated from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

with a Bachelor of Arts and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

, and later with a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from 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 no ...

. She has worked as a legal officer or lawyer for organisations such as the

Kimberley Land Council Kimberley Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, known as Kimberley Land Council (KLC), is an association of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The land council was formed at a meeting at Noonkanbah Station in May 1 ...

and the

Australian Children's Television Foundation The Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF) is a national non-profit children's media production and policy hub. The ACTF helps develop children's television policy; distributes and pays for Australian children's television series; ...

, and served on the boards of the Back to Back Theatre company and the National Theatre in St Kilda. Just prior to her election, she was head of the legal dispute resolution team at the

ANZ Banking Group The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fourth-largest bank by ma ...

. Sonya has lived in the Carrum Electorate for over 10 years. She previously contested the federal

Division of Dunkley The Division of Dunkley is an Australian electoral division in the state of Victoria. The division is located south-east of Melbourne in the Mornington Peninsula. It covers an area of approximately from in the north to in the south and Lan ...

for Labor at the 2013 federal election. Kilkenny was appointed as Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support and Minister for Fishing and Boating as part of a June 2022 cabinet reshuffle. She was sworn in on 4 July, a week after the rest of the cabinet, due to isolating after contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. On 5 December 2022, Kilkenny was sworn in as the Minister for Planning and the Minister for Outdoor Recreation.https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-cabinet-keep-doing-what-matters

References

External links

Sonya Kilkenny
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

*
Parliamentary voting record of Sonya Kilkenny at Victorian Parliament Tracker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilkenny, Sonya 1969 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian women lawyers University of New South Wales alumni University of New South Wales Law School alumni Melbourne Law School alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian lawyers 21st-century Australian lawyers Politicians from Sydney