Michelle Hopkins Roberts (née Thomas; born 29 February 1960) is an Australian politician who served as

Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. The office has existed since the creation of the Legislative Assembly in 1890 under the ''Co ...

from 2021 to 2025. She was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly from 1994 to 2025. She served as a minister in the governments of

Geoff Gallop Geoffrey Ian Gallop (born 27 September 1951) is an Australian academic and former politician who served as the 27th premier of Western Australia from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a professor and director of the Graduate School of Government at ...

and

Alan Carpenter Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia, from 2006 to 2008. From Albany, Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia, and worked as a journ ...

between 2001 and 2008. In November 2015, Roberts became the longest-serving female parliamentarian in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

's history, breaking the record set by

Liz Constable Elizabeth Constable (born 2 December 1943) is an Australian former politician who was an independent member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, first representing the electorate Floreat after winning it at a 1991 by-election follo ...

. She was a high school teacher, civil servant and local government councillor before entering politics.

Early life

Roberts was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, to Frances (née Hopkins) and William Thomas.Michelle Hopkins Roberts
Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 31 January 2017. Her uncle, Chas Hopkins, served as Lord Mayor of Perth. Roberts completed her secondary education at Mercedes College and then went on to the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree followed by a diploma in education. She taught at John Curtin Senior High School from 1983 until 1987. Roberts left teaching in 1987 to work for the Department of Parliamentary Services, where she stayed until 1989. She then spent periods as a policy officer for the Departments of Local Government (1989 to 1991) and Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare (1993 to 1994), as well as serving as a board member of the East Perth Redevelopment Authority from 1991 to 1993.

Politics

Early years

Roberts joined the Labor Party in 1978, and has served as a party official at both state and federal level. She was elected to the Perth City Council in 1986 and served as a councillor until 1993, including as deputy lord mayor to

Reg Withers Reginald Greive Withers (26 October 1924 – 15 November 2014) was an Australian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served as a Senator for Western Australia for nearly 20 years. He was a cabinet minister in the Fras ...

from 1992. Roberts first ran for parliament at the 1993 state election, standing unsuccessfully for the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in fourth place on Labor's ticket in the East Metropolitan Region. She entered the Legislative Assembly the following year, winning the 1994 Glendalough by-election (caused by the resignation of former premier

Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian academic and former politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. To date she is the only female p ...

). Roberts was included in the shadow ministry of Ian Taylor a few months after her election, and remained a shadow minister under

Jim McGinty James Andrew McGinty (born 22 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Lea ...

and

. She transferred to the seat of Midland at the 1996 state election, following the elimination of Glendalough in a redistribution.Hon. Michelle Hopkins Roberts MLA BA, DipEd
Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 31 January 2017.

2001–2008: cabinet minister

After Labor's victory at the 2001 state election, Roberts was appointed Minister for Police, Minister for Emergency Services, and Minister for Local Government. She lost the local government portfolio to Tom Stephens in a reshuffle in July 2001, at which point her other two portfolios were merged. In June 2003, Roberts was also made

Minister for Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and Minister for Community Safety. She lost the justice portfolio to

John D'Orazio John Biase D'Orazio (5 September 1955 – 11 April 2011) was an Australian politician who served as the member for Ballajura in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 10 February 2001 to 6 September 2008. He was a minister in the go ...

in a reshuffle after the 2005 state election. When Geoff Gallop resigned as premier and leader of the Labor Party in January 2006, Roberts was one of three candidates to replace him, along with

and

. Both she and McGinty withdrew their candidacies before a formal vote was held. In the new ministry, Roberts became Minister for Housing and Works, Minister for Consumer Protection, Minister for Heritage, and Minister for Land Information. She was additionally made

Minister for Indigenous Affairs The Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Government of Australia is a position which holds responsibility for affairs affecting Indigenous Australians. Previous ministers have held various other titles since the position was created in 196 ...

in December 2006, although she lost the

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

portfolio. In March 2007, Roberts was also made Minister for Employment Protection, serving in that role until being replaced by Jon Ford in February 2008. She held her remaining portfolios until Labor's defeat at the 2008 state election.

2008–2017: shadow cabinet

After the 2008 election, Roberts was retained in the shadow cabinet of the new Labor leader, Eric Ripper. She was initially given the education portfolio, but in February 2011 was promoted to shadow treasurer, replacing Ben Wyatt (who had unsuccessfully challenged for the leadership)."Ripper promotes leadership rival: analysts"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 10 February 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2017. When

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian former politician and naval officer who served as the 30th premier of Western Australia from 2017 until his retirement in 2023. He was the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Austr ...

succeeded Ripper as leader in January 2012, Wyatt returned as shadow treasurer and Roberts was instead made shadow police minister. She came close to losing her seat at the 2013 state election, eventually winning Midland by just 24 votes on the

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 ...

count. This was a negative swing of 8.3 points from the 2008 election.

2017–2021: cabinet minister

Labor regained government at the 2017 state election, winning the largest majority government in the state's history at the time. Roberts herself saw off her 2013 opponent, Daniel Parasiliti, with somewhat less difficulty, picking up a swing of over 12 percent to turn Midland into a safe Labor seat at one stroke. She was appointed as Minister for Police and Minister for Road Safety in McGowan's government. With former Premier

Colin Barnett Colin James Barnett (born 15 July 1950) is an Australian former politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other ...

's retirement from politics in 2018, Roberts became the Mother of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as its longest-serving member.

2021–2025: Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

After Labor was re-elected with an even larger majority in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, Roberts was elected as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the first woman to hold the post. Her ascension to the post came as a record 28 women were elected to the Legislative Assembly. In her first address as Speaker, Roberts said that she took up the post 100 years after

Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan (' Brown; 2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children. She is best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. C ...

became the first woman elected to a legislature at any level in Australia. "This is a clear signal to the community and to women of just how far we've come," she said, "but it has taken over a century to do it." She stood down at the

2025 Western Australian state election The 2025 Western Australian state election was held on 8 March 2025 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, where all 59 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly and all 37 seats in the Western ...

. She was succeeded by Labor candidate Steve Catania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Michelle 1960 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian schoolteachers Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Public servants of Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Perth City Councillors Deputy mayors of places in Australia