Steven Kons (born 17 September 1962) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

from 1998 until 2010, representing the electorate of Braddon. He served as Deputy Premier under

Paul Lennon Paul Anthony Lennon (born 8 October 1955) is a Labor Party politician. He was Premier of Tasmania from 21 March 2004 until his resignation on 26 May 2008. He was member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for the seat of Franklin from 1990 unt ...

from 2006 to 2008, and also served as Attorney-General, Minister for Justice and Workplace Relations and Minister for Planning. He retired from state politics in 2010, and was elected Mayor of

Burnie Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. When founded in 1827, it was named Emu Bay, being renamed after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company, in the early 1840s. , Burnie had an urban popu ...

in 2011 and 2018. He previously served as Mayor of Burnie from 1997 to 1999. Kons 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 ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

immigrants who worked in heavy manual employment to help educate him at Caulfield Grammar School. After the family moved to operate a Devonport business, he graduated with a

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 ...

degree from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first prop ...

before returning to Melbourne to practice mainly in the corporate sector. Kons later returned to Tasmania and established a successful business career. From 1997 to 1999, he served as Mayor of

. He was invited to run for the Labor Party at the 1998 state election by then Labor leader

Jim Bacon James or Jim Bacon may refer to: *Jim Bacon (politician) (James Alexander Bacon, 1950–2004), Premier of Tasmania, 1998–2004 *Jim Bacon (rugby) James Arthur Bacon (fourth ¼ 1896 – fourth ¼ 1968) was a Welsh rugby union, and professional ...

, and was elected second overall, topping the Labor slate. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, promoted to Secretary to Cabinet, and then to Cabinet as Minister for Primary Industries and Water. He was again promoted to Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Planning and Workplace Relations following the 2006 state election. On 27 October 2006, he was appointed Deputy Premier, replacing

Bryan Green Bryan Alexander Green (born 30 June 1957) is a former Australian politician. He was the leader of the parliamentary Labor Party in Tasmania from 2014 to 2017, and a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the electorate of Braddon from 1 ...

. Kons resigned as Deputy Premier in April 2008 after admitting that he had made "inaccurate statements" to parliament regarding the appointment of a magistrate. He announced in July 2009 that he would retire at the 2010 election. He has since been an alderman of Burnie City Council, also serving as mayor in 2011-2014 and from 2018.

References

External links

Tasmanian parliamentary profileSteve Kons's maiden speech to parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kons, Steve People educated at Caulfield Grammar School Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian people of Greek descent Deputy Premiers of Tasmania Living people 1962 births Attorneys-General of Tasmania Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania 21st-century Australian politicians

See also

References

External links