Lin Estelle Thorp (born 4 November 1953) is a former Australian politician. She was a Labor Party member of the

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, ...

from 1999 until 2011, representing the electorate of Rumney, and serving as Minister for Human Services (2008–2010) and Minister for Education and Skills, Minister for Children, and Minister for Police and Emergency Management (2010–2011) in the

Bartlett Bartlett may refer to: Places *Bartlett Bay, Canada, Arctic waterway * Wharerata, New Zealand, also known as Bartletts United States * Bartlett, Illinois ** Bartlett station, a commuter railroad station * Bartlett, Iowa Bartlett is an uninc ...

and Giddings governments. She was defeated for re-election to her state seat by independent

Tony Mulder Teunis "Tony" Mulder (born 9 May 1955 in Rotterdam, Netherlands)Inaugural sp ...

at the 2011 periodic elections, but was subsequently nominated to a casual vacancy for the Australian Senate in June 2012 caused by the resignation of

Nick Sherry Nicholas John Sherry (born 19 November 1955) is a former Australian politician who served as a member of the Australian Senate for the state of Tasmania from July 1990 until June 2012, representing the Australian Labor Party. Sherry was sworn ...

. She was defeated from the third position on the Tasmanian Labor Senate ticket at the 2013 federal election, and her term ended on 30 June 2014.

Early life

Thorp was born in Hobart,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. She studied education at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

and

Tasmanian College of Advanced Education ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, and subsequently taught at

Taroona High School Taroona High School is a government co-educational comprehensive junior secondary school located in , a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Established in 1958, the school caters for approximately 1,100 students from Years 7 to 10. The sc ...

and

Hobart College Hobart College may refer to: * Hobart and William Smith Colleges Hobart and William Smith Colleges are Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York. They trace their origins to G ...

Political career

Tasmanian Legislative Council

Her political interests include community support, women's issues,

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Sculpture * ''Reconciliation'' (Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture), a sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos in Coventry Cathedr ...

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

, the

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses ...

and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

. During her time as

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 ...

member she claimed a number of government achievements in information technology, including the opening of an online access centre in Clarendon Vale and the $4 million "Laptops for Teachers" program. She also spoke out against the Howard federal government's sale of

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX ...

. Other programs she was involved in included:

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

camps for teenagers,

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Su ...

aid efforts and

Landcare Australia Landcare Australia is the name for a community not-for-profit organisation which involves local groups of volunteers repairing the natural environment. Originally projects focused on agricultural farmland. The idea was that farmers, conservati ...

funding deals. In 2005, Thorp quoted, in tears, lyrics from

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

's song " Imagine", when the government introduced new anti-terrorism laws. Thorp faced election in the division of Rumney on 7 May 2005, and won with an outright majority of 50.96%, so there was no need to distribute

preferences In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between wikt:alternative, alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are centra ...

. She became Minister for Human Services on 17 September 2008. As a Legislative Councillor, she was not up for re-election at the 2010 Tasmanian State Election. However, the ensuing portfolio reshuffle on 21 April 2010, saw her become the new Minister for Education and Skills, Minister for Children, and Minister for Police and Emergency Management. She was defeated by

Tony Mulder Teunis "Tony" Mulder (born 9 May 1955 in Rotterdam, Netherlands)Inaugural sp ...

at the elections held on 7 May 2011.

Australian Senate

Thorp won 89 per cent of the preselection vote to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of stalwart

. She was appointed to the Senate by a joint sitting of the Tasmanian Parliament on 20 June 2012, and sworn in on 21 June. She was unsuccessful at the Senate election on 7 September 2013 and her term ended on 30 June 2014.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorp, Lin 1953 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania Women members of the Australian Senate Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council University of Tasmania alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council