Fiona Richardson
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The Honourable Fiona Richardson MP |
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| Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Northcote |
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Assumed office 25 November 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Mary Delahunty |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 November 1966 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
Fiona Catherine Alison Richardson (born 22 November 1966) is an Australian politician. She has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2006, representing the electorate of Northcote. She has been Minister for Women and Minister for Prevention of Family Violence in the Andrews Ministry since December 2014.
Richardson was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and was educated at Methodist Ladies College Kew and the University of Melbourne, where she graduated in 1989 majoring in politics and psychology. She was then a researcher of ocular trauma at the Royal Melbourne Eye & Ear Hospital.
Richardson is married to former ALP state secretary Stephen Newnham and they have two children. On 25 June 2013 it was announced that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Richardson joined the Australian Labor Party in 1991, and has been an adviser to numerous state and federal members of parliament. She was the secretary of the rightwing Labor Unity faction from 2000 to 2007. Richardson was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in November 2006 representing the electorate of Northcote. She replaced the retiring Arts Minister Mary Delahunty. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Education and served in that position until August 2007, when she became a Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury and Finance.
Richardson was seen as a key player in protecting husband Stephen Newnham as state secretary during a debilitating struggle within the Right faction over control of ALP head office during 2008 and 2009. Newnham eventually left the role in September 2009 after losing the support of the Premier John Brumby.
After the Labor government's defeat in the 2010 Victorian state election Richardson was appointed as the Victorian Labor Party's spokesperson for public transport. Due to her ill health, her responsibilities were reduced in a December 2013 reshuffle of the opposition shadow cabinet, and she took responsibility for small business and innovation.
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