Nicola Roxon

he Honourable Nicola Roxon was a member of the Australian Parliament for 15 years, representing Labor in the Western suburbs Melbourne seat of Gellibrand.

Elected at 31, she served as Australia’s Health Minister for four years from 2007 and oversaw major reforms to Australia’s public hospital, primary care and preventative health systems.

In 2011 Ms Roxon became Australia’s first female Attorney-General, and the Minister for Emergency Management in 2012. She has received national and international awards in recognition of her public health work, particularly in tobacco control.

With Ms Roxon’s leadership Australia successfully introduced a world first: all tobacco sold must now be in plain packaging with large, graphic health warnings. Ms Roxon’s personal and professional story was recorded in a documentary Kicking the Habit, produced by the ABC’s Australian Story Program and aired on 27 August 2012.

Trained as a lawyer, protecting the dignity of workers and promoting the standing of women has been a hallmark of Nicola’s career.

Prior to entering parliament, Ms Roxon worked as an industrial lawyer, union organiser and an Associate to High Court Judge Mary Gaudron. Ms Roxon resigned her ministerial positions February 2013 and finished her period in Parliament in August 2013.

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From 2014 Ms Roxon has built a successful career as a non-executive director - serving as Chairman of the Cancer Council, Bupa, the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board and the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre at Victoria University.

She is married with one child and lives in Melbourne.