Lynne Kosky
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The Honourable Lynne Kosky |
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Lynne Kosky in 2009 in her role as Minister for Public Transport
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| Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Altona |
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In office 30 March 1996 – 18 January 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Carole Marple |
| Succeeded by | Jill Hennessy |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Lynne Janice Kosky 2 September 1958 Melbourne, Australia |
| Died | 4 December 2014 (aged 56) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Spouse(s) | Jim Williamson |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Occupation | Social worker |
Lynne Janice Kosky (2 September 1958 – 4 December 2014) was an Australian politician and senior minister in the Government of Victoria. She represented the electoral district of Altona in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party from 1996 to 2010 and held key ministerial posts from 1999 through to her retirement from politics, including the key education and public transport portfolios.
A sometimes controversial figure, particularly as public transport minister, and a magnet for criticism about the performance of Melbourne's metropolitan rail system, Kosky presided over the largest increases to public transport patronage in 50 years in Victoria when a substantial infrastructure deficit had been created over that period due to a bias towards funding for roads. Kosky attracted record funding for public transport, particularly during the settling of the Victorian Transport Plan, and built a strong record of legislative reform in her ministerial posts. On 18 January 2010, Lynne Kosky announced her intention to resign from Parliament immediately, citing "significant health problems in her family".
Born in Melbourne with a twin brother Mark, Kosky was educated at Footscray High School, and graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1980 with a Bachelor of Social Work. In her final year of studies, she had a placement at Sunshine High School, where she met her future husband, teacher Jim Williamson. After a few months of unemployment, Kosky secured a job as a social worker at the Victorian Department of Education, but finding she was not suited to counselling, became a community education officer.
Contact with Joan Kirner, a female parliamentarian, inspired Kosky to join the Australian Labor Party in 1985, and work as a government policy advisor and a year later she was elected to the City of Footscray council, becoming Mayor in 1988. She was also a member of the Board of the Footscray Football Club (now known as the Western Bulldogs), where she became Number 1 Woman Ticketholder. In 1993, while pregnant with her first child Hana, Kosky ran for the preselection for the State Parliamentary seat of Altona, a safe Labor seat in Melbourne's western suburbs. She was defeated by Carole Marple, but was preselected and elected in 1996.
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