Andrea Coote (born 18 July 1951) is an Australian former parliamentarian. She was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

from 1999 to 2014, representing

Monash Province Monash Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished from the 2006 Victorian general election, 2006 state election in the wake of the Steve Bracks, Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative ...

until the 2006 election and the Southern Metropolitan Region thereafter. Coote was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and studied at

Fintona Girls' School Fintona Girls' School is a small, independent, non-denominational, day school for girls, located in Balwyn, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1896, Fintona is a non-selective school and currently caters for approximately 600 st ...

and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. Before being elected to parliament, she worked in a number of business and executive positions, which included stints as Executive Director of the State Library Foundation (1994–1996) and Director of Development at

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

(1996–1998). In the early 1990s, she also worked as a staff officer to Member of the Legislative Assembly Michael John, and later as a ministerial adviser. Coote succeeded in winning Liberal pre-selection for the safe Liberal-held seat of Monash Province in the leadup to the 1999 election, and was ultimately elected.

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian former politician who served as the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, Leader of the Victorian Liberal Party from 1982 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1999, and the Member for ...

's Liberal government, however, had suffered a surprise defeat, so Coote found herself in opposition. Despite this, due to the way the Legislative Council is elected, the Liberal Party still had control of the upper house, giving them significant power to reject legislation introduced by the new

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government. In her first term in office, Coote was a member of the Legislative Council Printing Committee, and in 2000, also gained a seat on the Economic Development Committee. During her first term, Coote also became notable for her support of the

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

communities. Coote became one of a small group of Liberal Legislative Councillors - along with Andrew Olexander (since expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party following a drink-driving incident), and before they lost their seats at the 2002 election,

Peter Katsambanis Peter Argyris Katsambanis (born 24 December 1965) is a former Australian politician. He was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council at the 2013 Western Australian state election, 2013 state election, representing the Liberal Party ...

and Leonie Burke - that lobbied for gay-friendly changes in party policy. Along with these three, Coote regularly met with representatives from the LGBT communities in Melbourne. The Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby specifically singled out Coote for praise, describing her as "very proactive on gay issues". The influence of Coote and her allies was most clearly illustrated when the Liberal Party backed down on its prior opposition to the 2001 ''Statute Law Further Amendment (Relationships) Bill'', which Coote spoke in support of. The passage of the bill resulted in major changes, requiring that lesbian and gay relationships be treated equally in fields such as property, superannuation, and medication decision-making. The 2002 election was devastating for the Liberal Party, resulting in the loss of their control of the Legislative Council, and with Katsambanis and Burke being among those losing their seats. However, this opened up a number of new shadow ministerial positions, and Coote was one of those promoted. She became Shadow Minister for Tourism, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Manager of the Opposition Business in the Council and Shadow Minister for Ageing and Carers. She also received the additional portfolio of Victorian Communities in January 2004. Coote was re-elected in 2006 to the Southern Metropolitan Region. In 2006, she was appointed Shadow Minister for the Portfolios of Community Services, Children and Aboriginal Affairs. She is also the Manager of Opposition Business in the Legislative Council, and is a member of the Legislation Committee of the Legislative Council. In 2007 she was reelected as Deputy Leader of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

for the Opposition. But after continuous disagreements with Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu both Phillip Davis and Andrea Coote resigned from their Leadership and Shadow Cabinet positions in favour of returning to the backbench of the Legislative Council. After the election of the Baillieu Liberal Government in 2010, Coote was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services, assisting Mary Wooldrige in the first Baillieu Ministry. Coote was not nominated for the election held on 29 November 2014 choosing to retire from parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coote, Andrea 1951 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Council