Meaghan Alana Jenkins Scanlon is an Australian politician and lawyer. She has been the

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 for

Gaven Gaven is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created out of the former district of Nerang and the southern segment of Albert in the 2001 redistribution, and encompasses the northern ...

in the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

since 2017 and is currently serving as the Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef and Minister for Science and Youth Affairs.

Early life

Scanlon was born on the Gold Coast and grew up in the suburb of Nerang. Her father migrated from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

with his family at an early age, and her mother is from Moe, Victoria. During her school years, she attended Guardian Angels Primary School and

Aquinas College :''See also List of institutions named after Thomas Aquinas'' Aquinas College may refer to any one of several educational institutions: In Australia *Aquinas College, Perth, Roman Catholic boys' R–12 school * Aquinas College, Adelaide, resident ...

. At the age of 13, she tragically lost her father to melanoma and began helping her mother care for her brother, who has

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with child development, physical growth delays, mild to moderate ...

. Following her graduation from high school, Scanlon completed a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of ...

at the Gold Coast campus of

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asia ...

, and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

. She briefly worked in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

before deciding to pursue a career in politics at the age of 23.

Political career

Scanlon ran as the

candidate for the seat of Fadden in the

2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissol ...

but was defeated by Stuart Robert. She then turned her attention to the

2017 Queensland state election The 2017 Queensland state election was held on 25 November 2017 to elect all 93 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, the unicameral Parliament of Queensland. The first-term incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Annastac ...

where she ran for the central Gold Coast seat of

and defeated Sid Cramp to become, at the age of 24, the youngest female elected to the

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral ...

. She served as the Assistant Minister for Tourism Industry Development, and was considered by some to be the unofficial minister for the Gold Coast at the time, due to Gaven having been the only Gold Coast-based seat held by the Queensland Labor Government. Following the Queensland Labor Government's win at the 2020 Queensland state election, with Scanlon again winning the seat of Gaven, she was appointed to the Labor government's third-term cabinet as Minister for the Environment, the Great Barrier Reef, Science and Youth Affairs.

Personal life

In September 2018, Scanlon and fellow MP Mark Bailey confirmed that they had been in a relationship since 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scanlon, Meaghan Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Labor Left politicians Griffith University alumni Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1993 births 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Australian people of English descent