Denise Margaret Allen (29 March 1953 – 22 January 2022) was an Australian politician, political strategist, social commentator and disability advocate.

Life and career

Allen was born on 29 March 1953 in

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, to Jack Donald Boote and Bette Doreen Boote. She attended Alexandra Primary School and Alexandra High School, receiving her leaving certificate in 1970. Prior to entering politics, Allen was a life skills and motivational tutor. She also owned a modelling agency, beauty therapy studio and retail fashion store. In 2000, Allen was the Labor Party candidate in the by-election for the seat of Benalla in 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 ...

, which was being vacated by former deputy premier and state Nationals leader Pat McNamara. On paper, Allen faced daunting odds. Benalla was a staunchly conservative division in rural north-eastern Victoria and had been in National hands for all but nine years since 1920. However, she won a surprise victory by 237 votes over new Nationals' candidate

Bill Sykes William Everett Sykes (born 3 October 1948) is an Australian politician. He was the National Party of Australia – Victoria, Nationals member of the Victoria (Australia), Victorian parliament, representing Electoral district of Benalla, Benal ...

. She was the first-ever Labor member to win the division. A

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, she was the inaugural chairperson of the Parliamentary Friends of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. In the 2002 state election, she was defeated by Sykes in a rematch, despite the Labor government being re-elected in a landslide. Although Allen led on the primary vote, she was defeated on the third count after the preferences of the

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 ...

candidate, Andrew Dwyer, flowed overwhelmingly to Sykes, resulting in a 52-48

two-party-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Natio ...

percentage of the vote in favour of the Nationals. Allen died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on 22 January 2022, at the age of 68.

References

1953 births 2022 deaths 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Australian Buddhists Australian female models Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly People Power (Australia) politicians People from Alexandra, Victoria Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly {{Australia-Labor-Victoria-MP-stub