Anna Burke

Anna Elizabeth Burke (born 1 January 1966), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since October 1998, representing the Division of Chisholm, Victoria. She was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and was educated at the University of Melbourne and Monash University.

Before entering politics, Burke worked as a trade union official. In this capacity, she worked in the Victorian roads department 1988–93 and the Victorian Institute of Technology 1993–94. In 1994, she joined the Finance Sector Union as their National Industrial Officer.

After Labor's win at the 2007 federal election, Burke was elected as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

She successfully defended her seat in the 2010 federal election.

On 24 November 2011, she was nominated by the Opposition for the position of Speaker of the House, which she declined. However, she accepted the Government's nomination for the position of Deputy Speaker on the same day, and was elected to that position following a ballot.

The Speaker, Peter Slipper, announced he was standing aside, meaning he remains Speaker but will not attend sessions of the House, on 22 April 2012 until fraud allegations made against him with respect to travel expenses are resolved.^[1] The Opposition has called for Slipper to stay away from the chamber until sexual harassment charges are resolved as well.^[2] In the meantime, Burke is deprived of her deliberative vote, being able only to vote in the case of a tie.

References

External links

• Personal website
• Search or browse Hansard for Anna Burke at OpenAustralia.org

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