Leesa Anne Vlahos, ''née'' Chesser (born 1966) is a former Australian politician. She represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

seat of

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...

for the Labor Party from the 2010 election until her retirement in 2018.

Background

Vlahos was born in

Townsville, Queensland The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

. As a child she became a

Girl Guide Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of The Girl Guides ...

and later continued to be involved with the scouting movement. She studied Health Administration at the Queensland University of Technology. She then worked in public and private hospitals in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and later the Repatriation Hospital in Daw Park, South Australia. Vlahos was the founding director of SA Progressive Business Inc. which acts as Labor's corporate events arm which links them with the business community.

Parliament

Vlahos was elected to the seat of

after the retirement of the previous Labor member

Trish White Patricia Lynne White (born 7 September 1964) is an Australian company director and former politician who served as the member for Taylor in the South Australian House of Assembly, representing the Labor Party. She first won the seat at a stat ...

. She is a former Presiding Officer of the SA Parliament Public Works Committee, a former member of the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, and a former member of the Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation. She was also a member of the Economic and Finance Committee. She previously held offices as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and assisted in the portfolio areas of Defence Industries, Veterans’ Affairs, Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse and The Arts. Vlahos was described by the ''

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'' as 'staunchly pro-nuclear' and advocated for

nuclear power in Australia Nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of practical debate since the mid-20th century. Australia has never had a nuclear power plant, and has only one nuclear reactor (OPAL), the third in a series at Lucas Heights, New South Wales, which ...

at the time that the

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission is a Royal Commission into South Australia's future role in the nuclear fuel cycle. It commenced on 19 March 2015 and delivered its final report to the Government of South Australia on 6 May 2016. The Commis ...

commenced in March 2015. She is aligned with Labor's right faction. In a submission in response to the setting of the Commission's Terms of Reference she stated that "for years I have been an advocate for a modern and safe nuclear industry in our State."

Oakden Scandal

At the 2018 election, Vlahos would have been Labor's first-listed candidate on their upper house ticket, but she quit before the publication of the ICAC report into the Oakden scandal.

Cabinet

Vlahos' elevation to the Cabinet of South Australia in the

Jay Weatherill Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian former politician who was the 45th premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the South Australian House of Assembly, House of ...

government occurred in January 2016. Vlahos represented the following portfolios in the Cabinet of South Australia: *Minister for Disabilities *Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse She resigned from Cabinet on 17 September 2017 for personal health reasons, but announced that she intended to remain in the House of Assembly until the March 2018 election

Post Parliamentary Career

After leaving parliament, Leesa became a board member for the following organisations: * The Australian Physiotherapy Association * Neami National * Hen House Co-op * Community Options Australia * +Life During 2022 she joined the

Salzburg Global Seminar Salzburg Global (formerly known as Salzburg Global Seminar) is a non-profit organization that convenes programs on its five pillar topics of Peace and Justice, Education, Culture, Health, and Finance and Governance. Programs regularly occur at Sc ...

as part of the "Health and Economic Well-being: Gender Equity in Post-Pandemic Rebuilding" program

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Vlahos, Leesa 1966 births Living people Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the South Australian House of Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians