Ann Patricia Barker (born 19 January 1952) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n politician. She was a Labor Party member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

from 1999 to 2014, representing the electorate of Oakleigh. She previously represented the electorate of Bentleigh from 1988 to 1992. Barker was born in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. She worked as an electorate officer to former federal MP

Joan Child Joan Child, (3 August 192123 February 2013) was an Australian politician. She was the first woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives. Up until the election of Anna Burke on 9 October 2012 , she was the only female Speaker ...

before being elected to the

seat of Bentleigh at the 1988 state election, succeeding retiring ALP member Gordon Hockley. She was seen as a potential ministerial candidate towards the end of her first term, but was twice overlooked by then-Premier

Joan Kirner Joan Elizabeth Kirner (née Hood; 20 June 1938 – 1 June 2015) was an Australian politician who was the 42nd Premier of Victoria, serving from 1990 to 1992. A Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), Labor Party member of the Parliament of ...

. These ambitions were to be short-lived, as she was one of many Labor members to be defeated amidst the party's landslide defeat at the 1992 state election, losing to Liberal Inga Peulich. After her 1992 election defeat, Barker was employed as an advisor to federal MP

Simon Crean Simon Findlay Crean (26 February 1949 – 25 June 2023) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 2001 to 2003. He represented the seat of Hotham i ...

, then a minister in the Keating government. She left Crean's office in 1996 to work as an office manager with the Victorian Court Information and Welfare Network, but returned to Crean's office the following year.Parkinson, Tony and Boreham, Gareth. "Delahunty dilemma as deal eludes ALP". ''

The Sunday Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'', 15 March 1998. She was the Labor candidate for the seat of Oakleigh at the 1996 election, but was very narrowly defeated by incumbent Liberal member Denise McGill. She was again the Labor candidate for the seat at the 1999 election, having resisted pressure to stand aside for star candidate Mary Delahunty, and amidst the party's statewide victory, succeeded in defeating McGill. Barker was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Training and Higher Education after the party's victory at the 2002 election. A relatively low-profile MP, she spoke less than only one other member of either house of parliament in 2004. In 2006, she was a vocal supporter of

Martin Pakula Martin Philip Pakula (born 7 January 1969) is an Australian former politician. He has been a Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch), Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria from 2006 to 2022: in the Victorian Legislative Council, Le ...

's unsuccessful challenge to the preselection of her former employer, Simon Crean. Bachelard, Michael. "Crean's state colleagues support his rival.". ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'', 25 February 2006. She was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly after the 2006 election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Ann 1952 births Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Living people Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly