Leesa Vlahos

Leesa Anne Vlahos, née Chesser[1] (born 1966) is a former Australian politician. She represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Taylor for the Labor Party from the 2010 election until her retirement in 2018.

Leesa Vlahos
Member of the South Australian Parliament for Taylor
In office 20 March 2010 – 17 March 2018
Preceded by	Trish White
Succeeded by	Jon Gee
Personal details
Born	Leesa Anne Chesser 1966 (age 54–55) Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Political party	Australian Labor Party (SA)

Background

Vlahos was born in Townsville, Queensland. As a child she became a Girl Guide and later continued to be involved with the scouting movement. She studied Health Administration at the Queensland University of Technology. She then worked in public and private hospitals in Brisbane and later the Repatriation Hospital in Daw Park, South Australia. Vlahos was the founding director of SA Progressive Business Inc. which acts as Labor's corporate events arm which links them with the business community.[2]

Parliament

Vlahos was elected to the seat of Taylor after the retirement of the previous Labor member Trish White.[3]

She is a former Presiding Officer of the SA Parliament Public Works Committee, a former member of the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, and a former member of the Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation. She was also a member of the Economic and Finance Committee.

She previously held offices as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and assisted in the portfolio areas of Defence Industries, Veterans’ Affairs, Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse and The Arts.

Vlahos was described by the Australian Financial Review as 'staunchly pro-nuclear' and advocated for nuclear power in Australia at the time that the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission commenced in March 2015. She is aligned with Labor's right faction.[4] In a submission in response to the setting of the Commission's Terms of Reference she stated that "for years I have been an advocate for a modern and safe nuclear industry in our State."[5]

Oakden Scandal

At the 2018 election, Vlahos would have been Labor's first-listed candidate on their upper house ticket,[6] but she quit before the publication of the ICAC report into the Oakden scandal.

Cabinet

Vlahos' elevation to the Cabinet of South Australia in the Jay Weatherill government occurred in January 2016.[7][8]

Vlahos represented the following portfolios in the Cabinet of South Australia:[9]

• Minister for Disabilities
• Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse

She resigned from Cabinet on 17 September 2017 for personal health reasons, but announced that she intended to remain in the House of Assembly until the March 2018 election, and stand for a seat in the Legislative Council at that election.[10]

References

1. "Leesa Vlahos MP on Twitter". Twitter.
2. "Leesa Vlahos". South Australian Labor. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
3. "Home - Electoral Commission SA". ecsa.sa.gov.au.
4. Evans, Simon (16 March 2015). "Labor MP Leesa Vlahos says pro-nuclear debate 'getting easier'". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
5. Vlahos, Leesa (15 February 2015). "Royal Commission into Nuclear Industry" (PDF). Retrieved 16 February 2018.
6. Labor Upper House MLC John Gazzola to retire from politics at next election: The Advertiser 14 February 2017
7. Peter Malinauskas, Leesa Vlahos confirmed as new members of SA Labor ministry: ABC 18 January 2016
8. Reshuffle, Peter Malinauskas and Leesa Vlahos join Jay Weatherill’s Cabinet: The Advertiser 18 January 2016
9. Cabinet of South Australia: Premier.sa.gov.au Archived 21 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
10. McGuire, Michael; Wills, Daniel (15 September 2017). "Vlahos Quits". The Advertiser. News Limited.

External links

• Parliamentary Profile: SA Parliament website
• Parliamentary Profile: SA Labor website