Women in the Victorian Legislative Council

There have been 48 women in the Victorian Legislative Council since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to vote in Victoria, Australia since 1908 and the right to stand as a candidate for the Victorian Legislative Council since 1923. As at November 2015, there were 17 women in the 40 member Legislative Council.

The first successful female candidates for the Legislative Council were Gracia Baylor and Joan Coxsedge of the Liberal and Labor parties respectively, who were elected in 1979. Since then there have continuously been female members in the Council. The first National Party female member was Jeanette Powell, elected in 1996.

List of women in the Victorian Legislative Council

Names in bold indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during their time in the Legislative Council. Names in italics indicate entry into Parliament through a by-election or by appointment and * symbolises members that have sat as members in both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.

Name	Party	Province/Region	Period of service
Gracia Baylor	Liberal	Boronia	July 1979 – February 1985 (resigned)
Joan Coxsedge	Labor	Melbourne West	July 1979 – August 1992 (retired)
Caroline Hogg	Labor	Melbourne North	June 1982 – August 1999 (retired)
Judith Dixon	Labor	Boronia	June 1982 – August 1988 (defeated)
Joan Kirner*	Labor	Melbourne West	June 1982 – August 1988 (transferred to Assembly)
Maureen Lyster	Labor	Chelsea	April 1985 – August 1992 (defeated)
Jean McLean	Labor	Boronia Melbourne West	April 1985 – August 1999 (retired)
Rosemary Varty	Liberal	Nunawading Silvan	September 1985 – August 1999 (retired)
Marie Tehan*	Liberal	Central Highlands	April 1987 – October 1992 (transferred to Assembly)
Licia Kokocinski	Labor	Melbourne West	October 1988 – March 1996 (retired)
Louise Asher*	Liberal	Monash	October 1992 – August 1999 (transferred to Assembly)
Sue Wilding	Liberal	Chelsea	October 1992 – August 1999 (defeated)
Monica Gould	Labor	Doutta Galla	September 1993 – November 2006 (retired)
Maree Luckins	Liberal	Waverley	March 1996 – November 2002 (attempted to transfer to Assembly)
Jeanette Powell*	National	North Eastern	March 1996 – November 2002 (transferred to Assembly)
Wendy Smith	Liberal	Silvan	March 1996 – November 2002 (defeated)
Candy Broad	Labor	Melbourne North Northern Victoria	September 1999 – May 2014 (resigned)
Elaine Carbines	Labor	Geelong	September 1999 – November 2006 (defeated)
Andrea Coote	Liberal	Monash Southern Metropolitan	September 1999 – November 2014 (retired)
Kaye Darveniza	Labor	Melbourne West Northern Victoria	September 1999 – November 2014 (retired)
Dianne Hadden	Labor/Independent	Ballarat	September 1999 – November 2006 (defeated)
Jenny Mikakos	Labor	Jika Jika Northern Metropolitan	September 1999 –
Glenyys Romanes	Labor	Melbourne	September 1999 – November 2006 (defeated)
Marsha Thomson*	Labor	Melbourne North	September 1999 – November 2006 (transferred to Assembly)
Lidia Argondizzo	Labor	Templestowe	November 2002 – November 2006 (defeated)
Helen Buckingham	Labor	Koonung	November 2002 – November 2006 (retired)
Carolyn Hirsh*	Labor/Independent	Silvan	November 2002 – November 2006 (retired)
Wendy Lovell	Liberal	North Eastern Northern Victoria	November 2002 –
Colleen Hartland	Greens	Western Metropolitan	November 2006 –
Jan Kronberg	Liberal	Eastern Metropolitan	November 2006 – November 2014 (retired)
Sue Pennicuik	Greens	Southern Metropolitan	November 2006 –
Donna Petrovich	Liberal	Northern Victoria	November 2006 – July 2013 (resigned)
Inga Peulich*	Liberal	South Eastern Metropolitan	November 2006 –
Jaala Pulford	Labor	Western Victoria	November 2006 –
Gayle Tierney	Labor	Western Victoria	November 2006 –
Jennifer Huppert	Labor	Southern Metropolitan	February 2009 – November 2010 (defeated)
Georgie Crozier	Liberal	Southern Metropolitan	November 2010 –
Amanda Millar	Liberal	Northern Victoria	August 2013 – November 2014 (defeated)
Marg Lewis	Labor	Northern Victoria	June 2014 – November 2014 (retired)
Rachel Carling-Jenkins	Democratic Labour	Western Metropolitan	November 2014 –
Samantha Dunn	Greens	Eastern Metropolitan	November 2014 –
Margaret Fitzherbert	Liberal	Southern Metropolitan	November 2014 –
Fiona Patten	Sex Party	Northern Metropolitan	November 2014 –
Harriet Shing	Labor	Eastern Victoria	November 2014 –
Nina Springle	Greens	South Eastern Metropolitan	November 2014 –
Jaclyn Symes	Labor	Northern Victoria	November 2014 –
Mary Wooldridge*	Liberal	Eastern Metropolitan	November 2014 –
Melina Bath	National	Eastern Victoria	April 2015 –

Timeline

Proportion of women in the Council

Numbers and proportions are as they were directly after the beginning of Council terms and do not take into account deaths, resignations, appointments, defections or other changes in membership.

Term	Labor			Liberal			National			Greens			Others			Total
	Women	Total	%	Women	Total	%	Women	Total	%	Women	Total	%	Women	Total	%	Women	Total	%
1979–1982	1	13	7.7%	1	27	3.7%	0	4	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	2	44	4.5%
1982–1985	4	19	21.1%	1	21	4.8%	0	4	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	5	44	11.4%
1985–1988	6	23	26.1%	0	16	0.0%	0	5	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	6	44	13.6%
1988–1992	5	19	26.3%	2	19	10.5%	0	6	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	7	44	15.9%
1992–1996	3	14	21.4%	3	24	12.5%	0	6	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	6	44	13.6%
1996–1999	3	10	30.0%	6	28	21.4%	1	6	16.7%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	9	44	20.5%
1999–2002	8	14	57.1%	3	24	12.5%	1	6	16.7%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	12	44	27.3%
2002–2006	11	25	44.0%	2	14	14.3%	0	5	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	13	44	29.6%
2006–2010	5	19	26.3%	5	15	33.3%	0	2	0.0%	2	3	66.7%	0	1	0.0%	12	40	30.0%
2010–2014	5	16	31.2%	6	18	33.3%	0	3	0.0%	2	3	66.7%	0	0	0.0%	13	40	32.5%
2014–2018	5	14	35.7%	5	14	35.7%	0	2	0.0%	4	5	80.0%	2	5	40.0%	16	40	40.0%

See also

• Women and government in Australia
• Women in the Victorian Legislative Assembly