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Amanda Vanstone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amanda Eloise Vanstone (born 7 December 1952) is an Australian senator, and the former Immigration Minister and Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Vanstone has served as a politician since December 1984, when she was first elected to the Australian Senate for the state of South Australia. In 1996, Vanstone was appointed the only female member of Prime Minister John Howard's cabinet at the time. She has since become the longest serving female cabinet minister in Australia's history.
On 23 January 2007 Prime Minister Howard announced a ministerial reshuffle which took effect on 30 January, as a result of which Senator Vanstone was no longer part of the new Ministry. Her portfolio of Minister for Immigration was given to former Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews[1].
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Amanda Vanstone was born on 7 December 1952, the youngest of four children in Adelaide, South Australia. As a child, Vanstone was educated at St Peters Collegiate Girls School before attending the University of Adelaide. At university, Vanstone received both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Marketing Studies Certificate from the South Australian Institute of Technology which is now the University of South Australia. In the late 1980s, Amanda married Tony Vanstone, a commercial lawyer from Adelaide.
Prior to entering politics, Vanstone worked as a retailer in a large department store, and later had her own business selling prints and picture-frames. She later took up a job as a legal practitioner.
In 1984, at age 32, Vanstone was elected the youngest member of the Australian Senate as a representative for South Australia. She was one of 27 senators for the Liberal Party of Australia elected that year. Vanstone's maiden speech to the Senate was made on 27 March 1985 and addressed issues that young Australians had with the then Labor Government led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
Vanstone was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1987 to 1988, from 1989 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996, serving as Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Justice from 1994 to 1996.
In March 1996 Vanstone became the only woman in John Howard's cabinet when she was appointed Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. In this portfolio she presided over heavy cuts to the employment programs established by the Keating government, which drew strong criticism. In October 1997 she was dropped from Cabinet and appointed Minister for Justice, a title which was changed to Minister for Justice and Customs in October 1998.
Vanstone made a comeback in January 2001 when she was re-appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Family and Community Services. During this period she was also Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women. In the Family and Community Services portfolio she presided over the massive government pensions and welfare system whose service delivery agency, Centrelink, is a frequent target of criticism by welfare activists.
Vanstone proved to be a robust defender of government policies, not afraid to use strong language or offend interest groups. The then Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services, Wayne Swan, described her as "a political hyena who takes delight in attacking society's most vulnerable." Her defenders said that she was only carrying out Cabinet policy.
In his reshuffle in October 2003, Howard showed his confidence in Vanstone by appointing her Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Reconciliation, one of the most difficult portfolios in the government. Her biggest decision in this portfolio was to abolish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), which she said had become a corrupt bureaucracy not serving the interests of indigenous Australians.
During 2005 Vanstone became involved in three major controversies, two of them involving the treatment of asylum-seekers by her department - the Cornelia Rau and Vivian Alvarez Solon cases - and a third involving a defecting Chinese diplomat, Chen Yonglin. An inquiry by the former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer was severely critical of the Immigration Department's treatment of Cornelia Rau.
In January 2006 a ministerial reshuffle saw Indigenous Affairs transferred to Mal Brough. Vanstone's title was changed to Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. In January 2007, the Senator was removed from the cabinet after an election year reshuffle, with Kevin Andrews replacing her as the Immigration Minister in the new Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIC).
In July 2006, Vanstone came under fire for holding shares in the South Australian Agribusiness Wasley's Piggery[1]. Wasley's had come under fire after the group, Animal Liberation Australia, revealed footage of animal conditions which they say did not adhere to the states animal welfare regulations. Vanstone responded stating that she is 'simply one shareholder in the business'. The RSPCA later conducted an inspection[2] and found that while the sow stall sizes were smaller then regulation, the size was only a recommendation and could not be enforced.
In February 2007, she released the lyrics to her "Ode to Australia", Under Southern Stars.[2]
- Amanda Vanstone, Senate Biography
- Parliamentary homepage
- Departmental homepage
- Australian Women biographical entry
- Vanstone pens ode to Australia, February 4 2007, News.com.au, AAP
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Simon Crean |
Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs 1996 – 1997 |
Succeeded by David Kemp |
| Preceded by Daryl Williams |
Minister for Justice (and Customs) 1997 – 2001 |
Succeeded by Chris Ellison |
| Preceded by Jocelyn Newman |
Minister for Family and Community Services 2001 – 2003 |
Succeeded by Kay Patterson |
| Preceded by Philip Ruddock |
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural (and Indigenous) Affairs 2003 – 2007 |
Succeeded by Kevin Andrews |
|
Current members of the Australian Senate
|