Dianne Virginia Judge (born 19 August 1956) is a former Australian politician, who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Strathfield for the Australian Labor Party from 2003 until 2011.
Early life
Virginia Judge Blocks Travel Ban, Dealing Another Blow to Trump - Feb.13 -- President Donald Trump's order barring people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from the U.S. for 90 days suffered another blow after a ...
Judge was born in Cooma and educated in her early years in both Canberra and New Delhi, India. She later returned to Canberra for her secondary schooling. She received a Bachelor of Education from the Canberra School of Music.
Judge taught in primary and secondary schools in both Sydney and Canberra. She also worked as a volunteer abroad for the Overseas Service Bureau in Tonga and as a project officer for small non-government organisation, The Australian Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, delivering items such as humidicribs, toilets and ovens to Pacific islands such as Nauru, the Solomon Islands and Fiji.
Judge returned to Sydney, and taught in various primary and secondary schoolsâ€"including Evondale Special School for students with intellectual disabilities. She was also studied law part-time at Macquarie University and served as a Strathfield Municipal Councillor from 1995 to 2004â€"serving as Mayor from 2000 to 2003.
Political career
On 23 March 2003 Judge was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the first ALP woman to be elected to the NSW seat of Strathfield.
In September 2008, in the Government led by Nathan Rees, she was Minister Assisting the Premier on the Arts, Minister for Citizenship and Minister for Fair Trading. In the cabinet re-shuffle following Rees being replaced as Premier by Kristina Keneally, she retained the portfolio of Fair Trading and became Minister for the Arts. She held these portfolios until her defeat at the 2011 election.
Post political career
In July 2011, Judge became Head of Strategic Partnerships for the Children's Medical Research Institute (CMRI) which is an independent medical research institute which commenced operations in 1958 as part of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Camperdown, Sydney.
In 2013, she also became a Board Member of the Riverside Theatres Parramatta and Board Member of Gallery 49 Marrickville.
Notes
External links
- Virginia Judge's inaugural speech.
