Jennie George
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Jennie George AO |
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| Member of the Australian Parliament for Throsby |
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In office 10 November 2001 – 19 July 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Colin Hollis |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Jones |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Eugenie Sinicky 28 August 1947 Trani, Italy |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Profession | Teacher, union official |
| Website | http://www.jenniegeorge.com.au/ |
Jennie George, AO (born 28 August 1947) is an Australian politician, and former Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 2001 to July 2010, representing the Division of Throsby, New South Wales.
Jennie George was born Eugenie Sinicky in Trani, Italy, where her parents Oleg and Natasha were displaced persons from the Soviet Union. Oleg and Natasha separated in 1955 and divorced in 1958. Oleg died in 1960, aged 39, after years of heavy drinking and smoking, during which he was frequently violent towards his wife and sometimes his daughter. She was educated at the Burwood Girls High School (where she was first called Jennie, as Eugenie was deemed too hard to pronounce),Sydney University and the Sydney Teachers College.
In February 1968 she married Paddy George, a full-time activist for the Communist Party and NSW State Secretary of the Eureka Youth League, of which she was also a member. Jennie George was a secondary school teacher and an active member of the teacher's union.
In April 1979 she began an affair with Jack Mundey, which continued for some months. Paddy confronted her about it, and she freely admitted it. Paddy moved out of the marital home but took only his clothes and personal items, and still visited her regularly. When he became ill with cancer in November 1979, Jennie put her relationship with Mundey on hold to care for Paddy. He died in June 1980. Jack Mundey continued to provide support for her, but when he ultimately chose not to leave his wife, she terminated their relationship.
George was elected General Secretary of the New South Wales Teachers Federation 1980-82. During the 1960s and early 1970s she was a member of the Communist Party of Australia.
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