Nicola Roxon

The Honourable Nicola Roxon MP
Minister for Health and Ageing
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 December 2007
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Tony Abbott
Constituency	Gellibrand
Personal details
Born	1 April 1967 (1967-04-01) (age 44) Sydney, NSW, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Profession	Lawyer
Website	NicolaRoxonMP.com

Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967) is an Australian politician, and is the Minister for Health and Ageing. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the Division of Gellibrand, in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.

Early and personal life

She was born in Sydney and was educated at the Methodist Ladies' College in the Melbourne suburb of Kew and the University of Melbourne.

Roxon is the second of three daughters and is also the niece of the late Australian journalist and Sydney Push member Lillian Roxon.^[1] Her paternal grandparents were Jewish and migrated from Poland to Australia in 1937. Anglicising the family name from Ropschitz to Roxon, her grandfather worked as a GP in Gympie and Brisbane.^[2] Her mother Lesley trained as a pharmacist, while her father Jack was a microbiologist. He was a strong influence in her life and she was devastated by his death from cancer when she was 10 years old. Roxon 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".^[1] She has publicly stated that she is an atheist.^[3]

Between 1992 and 1994, Roxon was employed as a judge's associate to High Court Justice Mary Gaudron.^[1] She then became involved with the trade union movement, joining the National Union of Workers as an organiser. Roxon was also an industrial lawyer and senior associate with the law firm Maurice Blackburn and Co. from 1996 to 1998.^[4]

Political career

Roxon was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998. 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 moved from the Immigration portfolio to Health. In 2003, new leader Mark Latham 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 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 as Minister for Health and Ageing.

Roxon made headlines during the 2007 federal election campaign when, on 31 October 2007, Health Minister Tony Abbott 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 did arrive, he swore at her when she said he could have been on time if he had wanted to.^[5][6]

Minister for Health

In February 2009, Roxon attempted to introduce legislation backing the alcopops tax increase into parliament.^[7]

In 2010, Roxon aimed to introduce major health reform in Australia. She said that the Government would even hold a referendum on hospital reform even if the Australian Senate rejected the idea.^[8]

See also

• First Rudd Ministry

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Stafford, Annabel (29 December 2007). "Going boldly into the minefield that is health". The Age (Melbourne). http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/12/28/1198778693395.html?page=fullpage. Retrieved 30 January 2008. 
2. ^ "Passion for prevention". Australian Doctor. 17 January 2007. http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/ad/0c0483ad.asp. Retrieved 5 March 2008. 
3. ^ Pollies in the no-God squad, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 March 2010
4. ^ "Biography". nicolaroxonmp.com. 2007-12-03. http://nicolaroxonmp.com/j1/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=28. Retrieved 2011-06-04. 
5. ^ Robertson, Dana (31 October 2007). "Roxon, Abbott trade debate blows". ABC Lateline. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2007/s2078036.htm. Retrieved 1 August 2008. 
6. ^ "Abbott ends tough day with 'bullshit' rebuke". 31 October 2007. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/31/2077872.htm. Retrieved 1 August 2008. 
7. ^ "Alcohol industry data slammed as 'shoddy'". The Age (Melbourne). 25 February 2009. http://www.theage.com.au/national/alcohol-industry-data-slammed-as-shoddy-20090225-8hdq.html. 
8. ^ "Nicola Roxon pushes referendum option on health". The Australian. 2010-03-07. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nicola-roxon-pushes-referendum-option-on-health/story-e6frg6n6-1225837845975. Retrieved 2011-06-04. 

External links

• Australian Parliament House Website Listing
• Department of Health and Ageing

Political offices
Preceded by Tony Abbott	Minister for Health and Ageing 2007–present	Incumbent
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Ralph Willis	Member for Gellibrand 1998–present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Roxon, Nicola
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 April 1967
Place of birth	Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date of death
Place of death