Sophie Mirabella

Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos; born 27 October 1968) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013, representing the Division of Indi, Victoria.

Sophie Mirabella
Member of the Australian Parliament for Indi
In office 10 November 2001 – 7 September 2013
Preceded by	Lou Lieberman
Succeeded by	Cathy McGowan
Personal details
Born	Sophie Panopoulos 27 October 1968 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Greg Mirabella ​ (m. 2006)​
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Profession	Barrister
Website	sophiemirabella.com.au

After spending a number of years on the backbench, Mirabella moved to the position of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government after the Coalition lost government in 2007 and to the role of Spokeswoman on Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth in 2008. In 2009, she was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

Mirabella narrowly lost her seat of Indi at the 2013 federal election to independent candidate Cathy McGowan. She also resigned from the Coalition frontbench shortly prior to conceding defeat. She subsequently attempted to regain the seat, standing again for the Liberal Party at the 2016 election, but was defeated by McGowan again on an increased margin.[1]

Personal life

Mirabella was born Sophie Panopoulos in Melbourne, Victoria, her parents having arrived in Australia from Greece in 1956. She was educated at St Catherine's School, Toorak, while working part-time at her father's milk bar in South Melbourne. Upon finishing secondary school, she attended the University of Melbourne where she studied law and became involved in student activism through the Melbourne University Liberal Club, of which she was president, and as vice-president of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation.[2] After graduating from Melbourne University with degrees in law and commerce,[3] Mirabella worked as a solicitor and articled clerk from 1995 to 1997. From 1998 until her election to Parliament she worked as a barrister.

In 1995, she began a live-in relationship with Colin Howard, then dean of law at Melbourne University, who was forty years her senior. The relationship ended in 2001, although they remained close until his death in 2011. Her relationship with Howard was later the subject of a bitter dispute between Mirabella and Howard's adult children who questioned Mirabella's care for and treatment of their father in the months leading up to a serious illness in late 2008 when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.[4] Mirabella held power of attorney over Howard's affairs from early 2007, and pursuant to his 1997 will was executor and sole beneficiary of his estate following his death in 2011.[5]

In June 2006 she married Greg Mirabella, a former Australian Army Reserve officer still working in the defence industry.[6] The couple have two daughters.[2]

Political career

Mirabella has been a member of the Liberal Party since 1987. She became well known during the constitutional monarchy/republican debate in Australia, acting as a prominent advocate for retaining the constitutional monarchy, and was an elected member of the 1998 Constitutional Convention.[7] The referendum that followed saw all states and a majority of Australians support the retention of the constitutional monarchy over the republican model that was offered. In 2001 Mirabella won preselection as the Liberal candidate to succeed Lou Lieberman as the Member for Indi, standing against Sussan Ley,[8] which she won in the 2001 federal election with a vote of 61.15% on a two-party preferred basis.[9] Mirabella received a well above-average 5.6% swing to her in the 2004 federal election, giving her 66.3% of the two-party preferred vote and making Indi a safe Liberal seat.[10]

Within the federal government, Mirabella sat in the backbench until 2007. During this time, in 2005, she attracted public attention as a key member of an informal "ginger group" of Liberal backbenchers. She chaired this group with Victorian Senator Mitch Fifield. The group argued for "tax reform" (in essence, tax cuts paid for by reductions in government spending), sparking public debate on the topic.[11] Although Fifield stepped away from the group after budget cuts in 2005, Mirabella continued for a time as the group's chair.[12] While on the backbench, Mirabella took a strong stance on the prominent issue of asylum seekers, criticising a group of four fellow Liberal backbenchers, including Petro Georgiou and Judi Moylan, for opposing government policy on mandatory detention.[13] In August 2005, she called for Muslim women to be required to remove their head dress when posing for photo identification.[14] Mirabella was an advocate of voluntary student unionism (VSU) and strongly supported the legislation proposed by Brendan Nelson.[15]

In opposition

In 2007 the Coalition lost the federal election and entered opposition. After the election, Mirabella was promoted to the role of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government under the leadership of Brendan Nelson.[16] While serving in that role, she attracted controversy in January 2008 when she launched an attack on former Liberal Party Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, after a speech he gave at Melbourne University on "the Bush Administration (reversing) 60 years of progress in establishing a law-based international system", claiming errors and "either intellectual sloppiness or deliberate dishonesty", and that he tacitly supported Islamic fundamentalism, should have no influence on foreign policy, and that his stance on the war on terror has left him open to caricature as a "frothing-at-the-mouth leftie".[17][18][19] She was also one of five Liberal MPs not present in February 2008, when a motion was passed unanimously apologising to the stolen generations of indigenous children between Federation and the 1970s.[20] She explained her decision by asserting that there had never been a formal policy in Victoria of removing children from their families and that there is no evidence for any "truly stolen" children,[21] despite the fact that the first laws passed giving authorities the right to take children from their parents were passed and used in Victoria.[22]

Mirabella was one of those who pledged their support to Malcolm Turnbull when he challenged Brendan Nelson for leadership of the Liberal Party in September 2008. She was promoted as part of the subsequent reshuffle, becoming the opposition spokeswoman on early childhood education, childcare, women and youth.[23] Her move to the Shadow Cabinet came in 2009 after Tony Abbott defeated Turnbull in a leadership spill.[24] She was promoted to the role of spokeswoman for innovation, industry, science and research. Mirabella had joined Abbott in resigning from the frontbench over Turnbull's climate change policy,[25] and her move to the Shadow Cabinet was seen as part of the rise of the social-conservative right within the party.[2]

After the 2010 election, she held her seat with a margin of 9.9% two party preferred against Labor.[26]

Parliamentary style

According to Fenella Souter in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mirabella is known for her "caustic, confrontational manner".[2] Her behaviour led her to be ejected from parliament at least twice. In 2007, David Hawker expelled her for shouting at him after being warned twice to resume her seat. She defied parliamentary orders under Standing Order No. 94A and thus was removed from the House of Representatives for misconduct.[27] In 2010, Peter Slipper expelled Mirabella from parliament for 24 hours on the eve of the vote on the carbon tax, when she "refused to accept a ruling barring her from tabling an anti-carbon tax petition".[28]

On a number of occasions her comments both inside and outside parliament attracted controversy. In 2008, Mirabella stated in parliament to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who has no children, "You won't need his (ex-PM Kevin Rudd's) taxpayer-funded nanny, will you?"[29] Mirabella again created controversy on 2 March 2011, when she compared Gillard to Muammar Gaddafi, claiming both were delusional.[30] Abbott refused to condemn Mirabella, instead terming the comparison colourful and not language he would use.[31] In 2012, she denounced fellow Liberal NSW Senator Bill Heffernan by telling him to "Oh, why don't you go and pop your Alzheimer's pills". This was in response to Heffernan branding a fellow Liberal senator a "fuckwit".[32]

Prior to the 2013 federal election, retiring independent MP Tony Windsor nominated Mirabella for "the nasty prize" when asked who was the person he would miss least in politics on the ABC Insiders program. "She is the nastiest – I reckon if you put it to a vote to all politicians, she'd come up No.1".[33]

2013 federal election defeat

Mirabella was defeated in Indi by independent candidate Cathy McGowan at the 2013 federal election. She was the only sitting Liberal member to lose her seat.

On 11 September 2013, 1003[34] votes were discovered to have been misreported in a transcription error three days earlier. These were for McGowan, and strengthened her slight lead in the count.[35] On 12 September, Mirabella issued a statement that, as the result in Indi would not be known for "many days", and her "future in the Parliament is not assured", she had requested Prime Minister-elect Abbott not consider her for a frontbench position in the new government.[36] Abbott was quoted in reply: "I pay tribute to Sophie Mirabella and thank her for her magnanimity in ensuring the continuing vote count in Indi does not hinder formation of the new ministry."[37]

On 18 September 2013, Mirabella conceded defeat, the same day Abbott and his government were sworn in.[38]

The final result in Indi saw Mirabella's Liberal two-candidate preferred vote at 49.8% (−10.2), with the primary vote at 44.7% (−7.2) and the two-party preferred vote at 59.1% (+0.1).

Post-2013 career

On 17 December 2013 Mirabella was named as an appointee to the board of ASC Pty Ltd – formerly known as the Australian Submarine Corporation. Mirabella's past shadow cabinet roles were considered relevant to the appointment. A statement read "Combined with her legal background and her extensive experience working with the manufacturing industry, Mrs Mirabella will make a valuable contribution to the board".[39] The appointment was greeted with cynicism by one journalist, describing the appointment as "jobs for the girls".[40]

In 2015, Mirabella stated Liberal minister Scott Morrison would be the "next conservative prime minister of Australia".[41]

Media

Mirabella appeared as a panellist on the ABC TV talkback show Q&A on a number of occasions. On one show in 2012 a fellow panellist (GetUp! director and unsuccessful Greens Senate candidate Simon Sheikh) had a seizure live on air, with his head falling forward on the desk.[42] Mirabella was criticised on Twitter for not physically responding to his situation.[43][44] A spokesperson for Mirabella said she was unaware it was a medical emergency.[45] Of the panelists, only Greg Combet physically responded to the situation. Sheikh made a full recovery off camera.

2016 federal election bid

In 2015 Mirabella was endorsed as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Indi at the 2016 federal election. During the lead up to the official election campaign it was reported that Mirabella "very publicly pushed Ms McGowan out of the way to obstruct" a photo being taken of her opponent, Cathy McGowan, with a Liberal MP, Ken Wyatt. Mirabella went on Twitter to "emphatically reject reports I pushed Cathy McGowan"; the editor of the Benalla Ensign stated that she confirmed the incident with four sources and defended the reporting on the basis of "public interest".[46] Mirabella denied the allegations and is reported as examining legal remedies. She stated that it was "extremely disappointing that the journalist at no time sought to contact me or check the facts or seek a right of reply." She also said "I am currently investigating my legal remedies and those available through the Australian Press Council" and "The article represents a new low and a sad return to nasty tactics from my opponents."[47] It was reported that a witness denied that any physical altercation took place.[48]

On 21 April 2016, Mirabella alleged that during her failed election bid in 2013, A$10 million of public funding for Wangaratta Hospital was promised by the then opposition leader, Tony Abbott. She also alleged that, due to her eventual election loss to independent candidate Cathy McGowan, this funding was scrapped by the newly elected coalition government.[48][49] Mirabella claimed that her own party was the source of a series of damaging leaks to undermine her.[50]

Mirabella's bid to reclaim the seat of Indi was ultimately unsuccessful,[1] with Independent Cathy McGowan claiming victory in the race, with a near 4.5% swing against Mirabella after preferences. Mirabella's first preference vote suffered a drop in excess of 17%, largely due to the Nationals Party fielding a candidate in Indi.[51]

McGowan retained Indi against Mirabella at the 2016 election with an increased 54.8% (+4.6) two-candidate-preferred vote. The Liberal two-party-preferred vote was reduced to 54.4% (–4.7) against Labor's 45.6% (+4.7), a marginal two-party result not seen since the 1929 election.

Post politics

In August 2016, Mirabella became the general manager of government and media relations for Gina Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting.[52]

References

1. "Election 2016: Sophie Mirabella fails to reclaim Indi from Cathy McGowan". ABC News. 2 July 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
2. Souter, Fenella (26 May 2012). "Will to Power". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. p. 10.
3. "Sophie Mirabella". Q&A. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
4. "Power, love and money". The Age. Fairfax Media. 23 September 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
5. Michael Gilding and Christopher Baker (28 October 2012). "Family Matters". Inside Story. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
6. Bugelly, Chloe (11 July 2006). "Sophie weds in military theme". The Border Mail. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
7. Schubert, Misha (18 June 2005). "A tale of two Liberals". The Age Retrieved 24 August 2012.
8. Ramsey, Alan (19 March 2005). "Women the power behind the PM". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
9. "2001 Profile of the division of Indi". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
10. "2004 Profile of the division of Indi". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
11. Karvelas, Patricia (7 June 2005). "Ginger group eyes capital gains tax". The Australian. p. 2.
12. Colman, Elizabeth (9 September 2005). "Ginger group to meet again". The Australian. p. 2.
13. "Rebel MPs 'behaving like political terrorists'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 June 2005. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
14. "Bishop backs headscarf ban". The Age 28 August 2005. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
15. Woe, David (10 August 2005). "Student unionism divides Coalition". The Age Retrieved 24 August 2012.
16. "Mrs Sophie Mirabella MP". Parliament of Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
17. Sexton, Reid (6 January 2008). "Liberal MP attacks 'frothing' Fraser". theage.com.au. The Age Company. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
18. Hedge, Mike (8 September 2013). "Mirabella fighting for political life". news.com.au. News Corp. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
19. Matthewson, Paula (1 July 2013). "Michaelia Cash's attack: Coalition women take nastiness to a new low". theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
20. Schubert, Misha; Dewi Cooke (15 February 2008). "Outspoken Liberal MP defends apology boycott". theage.com.au. The Age Company. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
21. "Children removed 'for own good', says Mirabella". news.com.au. News Corp. 13 February 2008. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
22. Christie, M.F. (1979). Aboriginal People in Colonial Victoria 1835–86. Sydney: Sydney University Press. pp. 175–176. ISBN 9780424000664.
23. Berkovic, Nicola (23 September 2008). "Women rewarded in Liberal reshuffle". The Australian. p. 4.
24. Cronin, Danielle (9 December 2009). "Fighting Abbott to lead with his right". The Canberra Times. p. 1.
25. Franklin, Matthew; Shanahan, Dennis (27 November 2009). "Malcolm Turnbull defies mutineers". The Australian. News Limited. Archived from the original on 19 January 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
26. "VIC DIVISION – INDI". Election 2010. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
27. Bunn, Anthony (27 February 2007). "Mirabella ordered to the sin bin". The Border Mail. Albury-Wodonga. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
28. Vasek, Lanai (12 October 2011). "Expulsion of Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella eases passage of carbon tax in the lower house". The Australian. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
29. Hein, Tim (22 May 2012). "The 10 Most Publicised Abusive Comments about Julia Gillard". Tim Hein. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
30. Leslie, Tim (2 March 2011). "Swan appalled by Gillard-Gaddafi comparison". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
31. "Comparing Gillard to Gaddafi 'colourful', says Abbott". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 March 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
32. Coorey, Phillip (29 February 2012). "Coalition in a froth over milk". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
33. Kotsios, Natalie (2 July 2013). "Windsor: Sophie Mirabella doesn't get country people". The Border Mail Local News. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
34. Johnston, Matt; Gemma Jones (11 September 2013). "Newly found ballot papers put Sophie Mirabella further behind in Indi". Herald Sun. News Ltd. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
35. "1,000 misplaced votes extend Cathy McGowan's lead over Sophie Mirabella in Victorian seat of Indi". ABC News Online. Australian Broadcastng Corporation. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
36. Ireland, Judith (12 September 2013). "Sophie Mirabella withdraws from frontbench contention". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
37. Cullen, Simon; staff (13 September 2013). "Sophie Mirabella quits her frontbench role as she continues to trail Cathy McGowan in the seat of Indi". abc.net.au News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
38. "Sophie Mirabella concedes defeat in Indi". ABC News. 18 September 2013.
39. Hurst, Daniel (17 December 2013). "Sophie Mirabella joins board of submarine maintenance organisation". the Guardian. Australia. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
40. Waterford, Jack (22 December 2013). "Jobs for the girls: no sinking feelings about Sophie Mirabella". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
41. "Sophie Mirabella enters Indi preselection battle in bid to rejoin Coalition". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 May 2015.
42. Thompson, Angus. "GetUp! campaigner has seizure on Q&A". Herald Sun. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
43. "downs GetUp! boss on live TV". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
44. ""Mirabella Reaction Awakens Twitterati"".
45. "Rattled by Sheikh". The Project. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
46. Savage, Alison (21 April 2016). "Sophie Mirabella, former Liberal MP, denies pushing opponent Cathy McGowan at function". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
47. Colangelo, Anthony (21 April 2016). "Mirabella denies pushing rival at nursing home event". The New Daily News. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
48. Koziol, Michael (23 April 2016). "Turnbull government ministers duck for cover after Sophie Mirabella comments embarrass the Coalition". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
49. Gribbin, Caitlyn; and staff (22 April 2016). "Sophie Mirabella slapped down by Barnaby Joyce over Wangaratta hospital funding comments". ABC News. Australia.
50. Gorr, Libbi (16 April 2016). "Sophie Mirabella suspects Liberal HQ leaking against her in fight for Indi". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
51. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
52. McIlroy, Tom (12 August 2016). "Former Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella goes to work for Gina Rinehart". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

External links

• Sophie Mirabella webpage

• Search or browse Hansard for Sophie Mirabella at OpenAustralia.org