Joan Elizabeth Kirner AC (born 20 June 1938), Australian politician, was the 42nd Premier of Victoria, the first woman to hold the position, which she held for two years prior to a landslide election defeat.

Biography[edit]

Kirner was born Joan Hood in Essendon, Melbourne and was educated at state and private schools and at the University of Melbourne, where she graduated in arts and completed a teaching qualification. She taught in state schools and became active in school and parents' organisations. In 1960 she married Ron Kirner, with whom she had three children. She was President of the Victorian Federation of States School Parents' Clubs, an influential education lobby from 1971 to 1977 and its executive officer from 1978 to 1982. She was appointed to several government advisory bodies on education.

Career[edit]

Kirner joined the Australian Labor Party in 1978 and became a member of its Socialist Left faction. In 1982, she was elected as a Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house of the Victorian Parliament. In 1985, she was elected to the Cabinet of John Cain's Labor government and became Minister for Conservation, Forests and Lands. She proposed the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, the first Australian legislation which gave legal protection of rare species.

While Minister, and in association with Heather Mitchell from the Victorian Farmers' Federation, Kirner was instrumental in the formation of the first Landcare groups.

At the 1988 election, Kirner shifted to the Legislative Assembly, becoming MP for Williamstown, and was promoted to the Education portfolio. In this portfolio Kirner carried out a series of controversial reforms aimed at reducing what Kirner saw as the class-based inequity of the education system, culminating in a new system of assessment, the Victorian Certificate of Education.

Premiership[edit]

Later in 1988 Kirner was elected Deputy Premier of Victoria. When Cain resigned after a collapse in his political support in August 1990, Kirner was elected Labor leader and thus became Victoria's first female Premier.

By this time the Labor government was in deep crisis, with some of the state's financial institutions on the brink of insolvency, the budget deficit unsustainably high and growing and the Labor Party deeply divided on how to respond to the situation. The party hoped that the elevation of a popular woman as its new leader would improve its position, but Kirner never succeeded in gaining control of the crisis into which the state had plunged.

Conservative Melbourne newspaper the Herald Sun reacted with hostility to a Premier from the socialist left, dubbing her "Mother Russia" and other pejorative names. She was lampooned alternatively as a sinister commissar and as a frumpy housewife in a polka dot dress. She allowed the Victorian Trades Hall Council to influence government policy. She seemed unfazed and gradually won some respect, although she was unable to restore the government's standing.

During 1991 and 1992 Kirner took several decisions to cut government spending and raise revenue to some extent, however her government failed to cut spending in many areas including education by continuing to keep open many schools even though enrollments had fallen to the point where students were unable to receive satisfactory education. Most of the Kirner Government attempts to cut spending were actively opposed by trade unions and some members of the government. The interest bill alone was $3.5 Billion per year,^[1] the government sold off trains and trams and leased them back. Another decision was the sale of the state-owned State Bank of Victoria to the Commonwealth Bank in 1991.^[2] This sale resulted in staff redundancies, despite Mrs Kirner's claims that jobs would be preserved. Many former staff members of the State Bank remain angry about this matter today. Among her advisers at this time was Steve Bracks, who later succeeded her as MP for Williamstown and who became Premier in 1999.

In October 1992, Kirner faced an election which the opinion polls gave her no chance of winning. She remained personally more popular than the Liberal Opposition Leader, Jeff Kennett, but the electorate would no longer accept the continued mismanagement and waste which had occurred throughout the ALP hold on government. The Victorian Liberal Party made sure the electorate didn't forget the issues faced by Victoria by the Labor Government with the very successful "Guilty Party" campaign, which targeted many Ministers in the Kirner Government and provided examples of concerns in their portfolios. The Victorian Coalition won the election in a landslide result, with Liberal Party winning enough seats that it could have governed in its own right. Kirner stayed on as Opposition Leader for a short period, then resigned. She retired from Parliament in 1994.

Life after Parliament[edit]

Since leaving Parliament, Kirner has remained active in community affairs and politics. Initially this led her to a leading role in the Landcare movement. Subsequently she has devoted her energies to the Australian affiliate of EMILY's List, an organisation which promotes women's careers in politics. Kirner was one of the leaders of the movement in the Labor Party to adopt a policy of setting targets for the number of women candidates in winnable electorates. She has repeatedly publicly supported candidates identified with her Socialist Left faction.

Since January 2006, Kirner has been the Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Victorian Communities.

Kirner is also a board member of Museum Victoria, operators of Melbourne Museum, Royal Exhibition Building, Scienceworks Museum and Immigration Museum, Melbourne.

Kirner has been a long-time advocate of abortion law reform to legalise abortion.

She is an avid supporter of the Essendon Football Club.^[3]

In 1993, she famously appeared on The Late Show with colleague David White, MLC, in a musical skit performing Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll". This brief performance was covered nationally by the media.

Honours[edit]

On 1 January 2001, Kirner was awarded the Centenary Medal.^[4] On 26 January 1980, she was named an Member of the Order of Australia for her community service.^[5] On 11 June 2012, she was named an Companion of the Order of Australia for "eminent service to the Parliament of Victoria and to the community through conservation initiatives, contributions to gender equality, the development of education and training programs and the pursuit of civil rights and social inclusion."^[6]

References[edit]

v t e Premiers of Victoria William Haines John O'Shanassy William Nicholson Richard Heales James McCulloch Charles Sladen John Alexander MacPherson Charles Gavan Duffy James Francis George Kerferd Graham Berry James Service Bryan O'Loghlen Duncan Gillies James Munro William Shiels James Patterson George Turner Allan McLean Alexander Peacock William Irvine Thomas Bent John Murray William Watt George Elmslie John Bowser Harry Lawson George Prendergast John Allan Edmond Hogan William Murray McPherson Stanley Argyle Albert Dunstan John Cain Sr Ian Macfarlan Thomas Hollway John McDonald Henry Bolte Rupert Hamer Lindsay Thompson John Cain II Joan Kirner Jeff Kennett Steve Bracks John Brumby Ted Baillieu Denis Napthine