Mary Wooldridge | |
---|---|
Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Eastern Metropolitan | |
In office 29 November 2014 –28 February 2020 | |
Succeeded by | Matthew Bach |
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Doncaster | |
In office 25 November 2006 –28 November 2014 | |
Preceded by | Victor Perton |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Melbourne | 29 July 1967
Political party | Liberal Party |
Children | 1 |
Website | marywooldridge.com |
Mary Louise Newling Wooldridge (born 29 July 1967) is a former Australian politician. She was a Liberal Party member of the Parliament of Victoria from 2006 to 2019. She was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly,representing the seat of Doncaster from 2006 to 2014;her seat was abolished in a redistribution for that year's election,and she was subsequently elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Eastern Metropolitan Region in November's state election.
Wooldridge was the state Minister for Mental Health,Minister for Women's Affairs and Minister for Community Services from 2010 to 2014,serving under both Ted Baillieu and Denis Napthine. She was elected as leader of the Liberal Party in the Legislative Council in December 2014 and appointed as the Shadow Minister for Health. [1]
Wooldridge was born and raised in Melbourne and is the youngest of four children. She graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree with Honours in 1989. In 1994 she completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Harvard Business School. She is the sister of Michael Wooldridge,a former federal Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party.
Wooldridge has worked in executive roles with a number of companies including consultants McKinsey &Company in New York and London,Australian Consolidated Press and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited in Sydney. [2]
Between 2001 and 2005 Wooldridge was the chief executive of The Foundation For Young Australians,a not-for-profit charitable trust. In 2002 she was awarded the new chief executive officer award in Equity Trustees National Nonprofit CEO awards for this role.
Wooldridge joined the Liberal Party in 1987.
From 1999 to 2001 Wooldridge worked as a Senior Adviser to Senator the Hon Nick Minchin. As part of her duties with the Senator,Wooldridge took part in an overseas trip that was the cause of some consternation for the Federal Labor Opposition. [3] [4]
She chaired the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Homelessness,which advises the Federal Minister for Family and Community Services on matters relating to homelessness.
In May 2006 she was preselected as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Doncaster to replace retiring member Victor Perton,and was elected to the Parliament of Victoria in November 2006.
The Liberal party was defeated at the election and remained in Opposition. Despite being a new Member,Wooldridge was appointed to five Shadow Ministries. She was Shadow Minister for Mental Health,Drug Abuse,Community Services and Environment and Climate Change. [5] One of the issues which came up in her first term was the lack of rail transport in the City of Manningham. In April 2010,she said the Opposition "strongly supported" the council's plans to extend the number 48 tram to the rapidly developing Doncaster Hill precinct. [6]
When the Coalition won the 2010 state election,Wooldridge was appointed to the Baillieu Ministry as Minister for Mental Health,Women's Affairs and Community Services (her brother Michael,incidentally,had been Federal Health Minister in 1996–2001). When Denis Napthine replaced Baillieu as Premier,Wooldridge also became Minister for Disability Services and Reform,ceding the Women's Affairs portfolio to Heidi Victoria.
In the Community Services Portfolio,Wooldridge established the Commissioner for Children and Young People and Australia's first Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People. [7] [8] She instigated the Shergold Report into Reform of the Human Services Sector to improve partnerships between the government and community sector organisations,with a view to better address the needs of vulnerable community members. [9]
In youth justice,Wooldridge and Martin Dixon,then Minister for Education,introduced full-time schooling for each young person within youth justice. [10] The program established Parkville College which was located at the Youth Justice Precincts at Parkville and Malmsbury.
Mental health reforms led by Wooldridge included the significant re-drafting of the Victorian Mental Health Act. This was the first time Victoria's mental health legislation had been re-drafted in 25 years. The reforms placed patients and their family at the centre of decisions about their treatment,care and recovery. [11] At the conclusion of the process,the Director of the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council stated "[Wooldridge is] the first Mental Health Minister I've ever worked with who is completely committed to listening to consumers". [12] Part of those reforms included establishing Australia's first Mental Health Complaints Commissioner and the Mental Health Tribunal to hear and determine patients' treatment under the Act,including applications for the use of electroconvulsive treatment (ECT). [13]
Wooldridge established a pilot Family Drug Treatment Court within the Family Division of the Children's Court of Victoria. The Court was designed to assist families whose children have been placed in out of home care due to parental substance misuse.
Wooldridge also legislated secondary supply laws which prohibited serving alcohol in a private residence to minors,without their parents’permission. [14] She also led a number of other public health campaigns,funding the hard-hitting What are you doing on ICE?, alcohol campaigns Name that point and No excuse needed, as well as the cannabis education campaign Don't let your dreams go up in smoke. [15] [16] [17] [18]
Wooldridge was the responsible Minister during the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry in 2011. She tabled the Report of the Inquiry on 27 January 2012. The Inquiry Panel made 90 recommendations for measures to reduce the incidence and negative impact of child abuse and neglect in Victoria in ten major system reform areas. [19]
Wooldridge secured the full roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) across Victoria and negotiated for the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) headquarters to be based in Geelong. Commencing with an Initial trial site in Barwon,the NDIS rollout required significant investment and reform to the disability portfolio. The scheme was designed to support people with a disability,using a model where they had genuine choice and control over their care. [20]
In 2013,a redistribution of electoral boundaries saw Wooldridge's seat of Doncaster abolished. She stood for preselection for the seat of Kew,but despite the support of the Premier,lost preselection to Tim Smith. [21] She contested a seat in the Upper House for the Eastern Metropolitan Region.
Following the November 2014 election,Wooldridge was elected to the Legislative Council as a representative for the Eastern Metropolitan Region and was subsequently elected by her colleagues as Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council and appointed Shadow Minister for Health.
In opposition,Wooldridge has been a vocal critic of the Andrews Governments decision to cancel the creation of Peter Mac Private,a 42-bed private hospital at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. The decision to not proceed with Peter Mac Private cost the hospital at least $20 million in philanthropic donations which were contingent on the construction of the hospital. [22] "By ripping $20 million out of Peter Mac,Daniel Andrews is cruelly affecting the treatment and survival of thousands of Victorians with cancer," Wooldridge has said. [23]
Following 2018 Victorian State Election,Wooldridge was appointed Shadow Minister for Innovation,Jobs and Trade,Shadow Minister for Higher Education and Shadow Minister for Training and Skills. [24] Wooldridge announced her intention to retire from state politics on 8 December 2019,using the moment to call on the Liberal Party to consider gender quotas as a way of increasing female representation in the Victorian Parliament. [25] Wooldridge vacated her seat on 28 February 2020, [5] and was replaced by Matthew Bach.
Wooldridge is married to Andrew,a surgeon,and they have a son. Wooldridge has been a Director of the Breast Cancer Network Australia,Foundation Boroondara,Trinity College at Melbourne University and the Otis Foundation,a network of rural retreats for women with breast cancer.
Stephen Phillip Bracks is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 to 2007.
Kay Christine Lesley Patterson is a former Australian politician. She was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1987 to 2008,representing the state of Victoria.
Peter Keaston Reith was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1982 to 1983 and from 1984 to 2001,representing the Liberal Party. He was the party's deputy leader from 1990 to 1993,and served as a minister in the Howard government.
David McLean Davis is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council since March 1996,representing East Yarra Province from 1996 until 2006 when it was abolished and the Southern Metropolitan Region from 2006 onwards. He was state Minister for Health from 2010 to 2014 under Premiers Ted Baillieu and Denis Napthine.
Richard Alex Gordon Dalla-Riva is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 2002 to 2018,representing East Yarra Province (2002–2006) and Eastern Metropolitan Region (2006–2018). He served as Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations and Minister for Manufacturing in the Baillieu Ministry from 2010 to 2013,but was dropped in a reshuffle when Denis Napthine replaced Baillieu as Premier.
Andrea Coote is an Australian former parliamentarian. She was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1999 to 2014,representing Monash Province until the 2006 election and the Southern Metropolitan Region thereafter.
Johnstone William "John" Thwaites is an Australian former politician,and served as Deputy Premier of the state of Victoria from 1999 to 2007.
Lidia Serafina Argondizzo is an Australian politician. She was the Labor Party (ALP) member of the Victorian Legislative Council representing Templestowe Province from 2002 to 2006.
Victor John Perton is a former parliamentarian in the Australian state of Victoria,and formerly the Victorian Government's Commissioner to the Americas,based in San Francisco,USA.
Michael Richard Lewis Wooldridge is an Australian doctor,company director,and former politician. He served as deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 1993 to 1994,under John Hewson. In the Howard government,he held ministerial office as Minister for Health and Family Services (1996–1998) and Health and Aged Care (1998–2001). He represented the Liberals in the House of Representatives as the member for Chisholm (1987–1998) and Casey (1998–2001).
Edward Norman Baillieu is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014,representing the electorate of Hawthorn. He was elected leader of the Liberal Party in opposition in 2006,and served as Premier from 2010 until 2013 after winning the 2010 state election. He resigned as Premier on 6 March 2013,and was succeeded by Denis Napthine.
Michael Anthony O'Brien is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2006,representing the electorate of Malvern and served as the leader of the party and opposition leader from December 2018 to September 2021.
Janice Susan Kronberg is an Australian politician and a former member of the Victorian Legislative Council representing the Eastern Metropolitan Region.
The electoral district of Bulleen is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It covers an area of 39 square kilometres (15 sq mi) in eastern Melbourne,including the suburbs of Bulleen,Doncaster,Templestowe Lower,and part of Templestowe. It lies within the Eastern Metropolitan Region of the upper house,the Legislative Council.
Maxine Veronica Morand is an Australian academic,advocate for cancer patients,and former politician. Morand has a current academic appointment at Monash University where she is a professorial fellow in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. In addition she is a board director at Inner East Community Health and is the chair of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Kimberley Arthur Wells is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 1992,representing first Wantirna and then Scoresby and Rowville. Wells was the Treasurer of Victoria from December 2010 until March 2013. Wells was born in Leongatha,Victoria,and attended public schools in Bairnsdale,graduating in 1976.
Georgina Mary Crozier is an Australian politician. She has been a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council since 2010,representing Southern Metropolitan Region. She currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council.
John Pesutto is an Australian politician and lawyer serving as the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria,holding office as the leader of the Victorian Branch of the Liberal Party of Australia. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the inner-city division of Hawthorn since 2022,and previously from 2014 to 2018.
The Victorian Liberal Party,officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) and branded as Liberal Victoria,is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in Victoria. It was formed in 1944. It became the Liberal and Country Party (LCP) in 1949,and simplified its name to the Liberal Party in 1965. The party sits on the centre-right to right-wing of the Australian political spectrum.
Matthew Donald Andrew Bach is an Australian teacher,historian,and former politician. He served as a Liberal Member of the Victorian Parliament from 2020 to 2023,representing the North-Eastern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council. Bach also served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council,and as a frontbencher in the Shadow Cabinets of Michael O'Brien,Matthew Guy,and John Pesutto.