Jann McFarlane

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox officeholder Jann Sonya McFarlane (born 22 May 1944) is a former Australian politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2004, representing the Western Australian seat of Stirling for the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Early life

McFarlane was born in Sydney on 22 May 1944.<ref name=aph>Template:Cite news</ref> Her father abandoned the family when she was a small child and her mother remarried in the early 1950s. She grew up in a rural area and her family "struggled with domestic violence, alcoholism and poverty".<ref name=speech>Template:Cite news</ref>

After leaving school McFarlane worked as a cleaner, secretary and clerk.<ref name=aph/> She later completed a Bachelor of Arts at Macquarie University as a mature-age student and began working in the community sector. Prior to her election to parliament she had worked at a community legal centre and welfare rights centre for six years.<ref name=speech/>

Politics

McFarlane joined the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 1978. She was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 federal election, defeating the incumbent Liberal MP Eoin Cameron in the seat of Stirling.<ref name=aph/>

McFarlane was re-elected at the 2001 election but lost her seat to the Liberal candidate Michael Keenan at the 2004 election.<ref name=aph/> During the election campaign she attracted attention for a gaffe in which she implied that the ALP's tax policies announced by opposition leader Mark Latham would need to be "adjusted".<ref name=crikey>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She subsequently released a statement retracting her comments.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2006, McFarlane was investigated by the Department of Finance over allegations she had misused electoral entitlements to allow constituents to make long-distance calls. She stated that she "utterly denied and refuted the allegations".<ref name=crikey/>

Personal life

McFarlane was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2004 and underwent surgery.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>