Julia Irwin
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox officeholder Julia Claire Irwin (Template:Nee; born 8 November 1951) is a former Australian politician. She represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2010, holding the New South Wales seat of Fowler.
Early life
Irwin was born in Sydney on 8 November 1951.<ref name=aph>Template:Cite news</ref> Her father Alan Welsh served on the Parramatta City Council and her mother Lois Welsh was the secretary of the New South Wales Labor Women's Committee. She joined the ALP at the age of 15 and began her involvement in the labour movement with the Sheet Metal Working Industrial Union. She was also involved in Young Labor where she met her future husband Geoff Irwin.<ref name=maidenspeech>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1975, Irwin became the electorate secretary to Jack Ferguson, who became the Deputy Premier of New South Wales the following year. She later worked as a staffer for Richard Klugman, Ross Free, and Ted Grace.<ref name=maidenspeech/>
Parliament
Following Ted Grace's retirement, Irwin won ALP preselection for his seat of Fowler. She retained the seat for Labor at the 1998 federal election, and was re-elected on three further occasions.<ref name=aph/>
In 2005 Irwin was involved in a controversy over comments she made about Israel. On 13 September she made a speech in parliament characterising Israel's policies as "ethnic cleansing" and Gaza as a "concentration camp".<ref>Hansard – House of Representatives, 13 September 2005 Template:Webarchive, pp 95</ref> After criticism from Jewish groups and by members of both the Liberal and Labor parties, she issued an apology for her "offensive" language.<ref>Hansard – House of Representatives, 15 September 2005 Template:Webarchive, pp 81</ref>
In October 2008 Irwin publicly criticised the Rudd Government's education policy, accusing it of "locking in the Coalition's favouritism of private schools".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Irwin announced in September 2009 that she would not recontest her seat at the 2010 federal election.<ref>Retiring MP takes aim at factional warlords: ABC News 14/9/2009</ref>
References
External links
- Parliamentary Library – Biography
- Personal website
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- 1951 births
- Living people
- Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
- Labor Right politicians
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Fowler
- Women members of the Australian House of Representatives
- 21st-century Australian women politicians
- 20th-century Australian women politicians
- Australian MPs 1998–2001
- Australian MPs 2001–2004
- Australian MPs 2004–2007
- Australian MPs 2007–2010