Tania Mihailuk is an Australian politician who served as a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
, representing
Bankstown
Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...
from 2011 to 2023, as a member of the
Labor Party, and later as a member of
One Nation from October 2022 to March 2023. She is running for the Legislative Council on the
One Nation ticket in 2023.
Mihailuk became the first woman to represent Bankstown in its 80-plus-year history. She previously served as mayor of the
City of Bankstown
The City of Bankstown was a local government area in the south-west region of Sydney, Australia, centred on the suburb of Bankstown, from 1895 to 2016. The last Mayor of the City of Bankstown Council was Clr Khal Asfour, a member of the Labor ...
, a position she held from 2006 to 2012.
Background and education
Mihailuk attended
Macquarie University
Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...
and graduated with a degree in economics and later a degree in law. She has worked in various industries, including marketing and public policy.
Political career
Mihailuk was elected to Bankstown Council in 2004 and became mayor in 2006. She was endorsed as the Labor candidate for Bankstown in November 2010 after sitting member
Tony Stewart
Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...
announced his resignation. She stated she would resign from council if she won, which she did, having suffered a swing against her of more than 15 points, as part of the Coalition's landslide election win.
On 20 September 2022, Mihailuk used parliamentary privilege to link
Canterbury-Bankstown Council
The City of Canterbury Bankstown (also known as Canterbury-Bankstown Council) is a local government area located in the South Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 from a merger of the C ...
mayor,
Khal Asfour
Khaldoun Asfour is an Australian politician currently serving as the Mayor of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, the largest local government area in New South Wales by population, and fourth most-populous local government in Australia. He previou ...
, to corrupt former Labor Minister
Eddie Obeid
Edward Moses Obeid (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician, and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister f ...
. On 23 September, Labor Opposition Leader,
Chris Minns
Christopher John Minns (born 17 September 1979) is an Australian politician who is the leader of the NSW Labor Party. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Kogarah for the Labor Party at the 2015 New South ...
, demoted Mihailuk from the Shadow Cabinet. On 20 October 2022, Mihailuk resigned from the NSW Labor Party, claiming that the party was "plagued by corruption" and that it was "too
woke
''Woke'' ( ) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and Racial discrimination, discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social ineq ...
".
On 17 January 2023, Mihailuk announced that she would be running second on the
One Nation ticket at the upcoming
2023 New South Wales state election
The 2023 New South Wales state election will be held on 25 March 2023 to elect the 58th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election will be ...
for the
Legislative Council, behind party 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 ...
. Before that, in 2017 when she was a Labor MP she criticised One Nation and Mark Latham. Mihailuk officially resigned from the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
on 1 March 2023.
Personal life
Mihailuk resides in Bankstown with her husband, Alex, and has three children.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mihailuk, Tania
Living people
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Macquarie Law School alumni
New South Wales local councillors
Mayors of Bankstown
Politicians from Sydney
Australian people of Russian descent
21st-century Australian politicians
Russian Orthodox Christians from Australia
Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Women mayors of places in New South Wales
Women local councillors in Australia
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales
21st-century Australian women politicians
Pauline Hanson's One Nation politicians
1976 births