Who is she?
Nicola Roxon was the attorney-general of Australia from December 2011 to February 2, 2013, when she announced her resignation. Roxon will complete her term as a member of the Australian House of Representatives, but will not seek re-election in September for family reasons.
Roxon has been a member of Parliament since 1998, and served as the Labor Party’s ranking immigration minister and minister for health before becoming Australia’s first female attorney-general.
Nicola Roxon. Source: Wikimedia user timeshift9, used under a creative commons license.
Why is she in the news?
Roxon’s departure, along with the resignation of Senate leader Chris Evans, prompted Prime Minister Julia Gillard to reshuffle her Cabinet just three days after announcing that federal elections will be held on September 14. Gillard appointed Mark Dreyfus to replace Roxon as attorney-general.
What can we expect?
Roxon’s resignation carries political significance heading into the elections. Although Gillard’s government said the resignation was planned in advance, the opposition, led by the Liberal Party’s Tony Abbott, has pointed to the Cabinet reshuffle as evidence of Labor’s instability—a constant theme since Gillard took the top post of the Labor-Green coalition government in 2010.
But Roxon’s departure could also offer Gillard a fresh start, much like New Zealand’s recent reshuffle has for Prime Minister John Key. This is especially true if her successor Dreyfus can distance himself from some of the thornier issues of Roxon’s tenure, including a controversial draft anti-discrimination bill, the world’s first cigarette plain packaging laws, and the sexual harassment case against House Speaker Peter Slipper, and attempts to force service providers to retain internet users’ data for up to two years.
