Peter Damian Kavanagh (born 1959) is a former Australian politician, teacher, barrister and legal academic, who served as a member of the

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 ...

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 ...

representing the Democratic Labor Party (DLP).

Early years

Kavanagh was born into a family with a long connection with the DLP. His maternal grandfather, Bill Barry was a key player in the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

split that saw the creation of the original Democratic Labor Party – a party from which the current DLP has descended although is legally separate – to the extent the party was informally dubbed "Barry Labor" in its infancy.

Education

Before entering parliament, Kavanagh attained, as he stated in 2010, "a lot of non-scientific academic credentials"; including

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 ...

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second bachelor's degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been touched on in ...

and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(Asian Studies) degrees from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, and a

Diploma of Education The Diploma of Education, often abbreviated to DipEd or GradDipEd, is a postgraduate qualification offered in many Commonwealth countries including Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Overview The diploma can build on th ...

from the Mitchell College of Advanced Education. He has worked as a barrister, law lecturer and teacher.

Political career

At the 2006 Victorian election Kavanagh stood as the DLP's lead candidate in the newly formed

Western Victoria Region Western Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created in ...

, which elects five members via proportional representation. Despite winning only 2.6% of the vote, Kavanagh was able to win the final seat due to receiving preferences from both of the major parties. Kavanagh maintained he was attempting to use his share of the balance of power constructively, in particular encouraging the Government and Opposition to work towards and achieve agreement on some legislation. Kavanagh led opposition within the Parliament to the decriminalisation of abortion under the Crimes Act in Victoria. In Parliament, Kavanagh proposed amendments to the Abortion Bill 2008 (including a requirement for pain relief for the fetus) which would have mitigated the legislation. In 2008 at the legislative council, he also made an impassioned three and a half-hour speech against the Abortion Bill. In 2007, Kavanagh expressed a willingness to consider gay civil unions in Victoria "providing there is a special status retained for marriage". Kavanagh was defeated at the Victorian state elections held on 29 November 2010. The DLP was again unrepresented in the Victorian parliament until the 2014 election when Rachel Carling-Jenkins won a

seat for the DLP.

References

External links

Peter Kavanagh's maiden parliamentary speech
* ttp://peterkavanagh.blogspot.com Peter Kavanagh websitebr>DLP website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavanagh, Peter (Australian politician) 1959 births Living people Australian people of Irish descent Politicians from Melbourne Melbourne Law School alumni Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Democratic Labour Party (Australia) politicians Democratic Labor Party (New) members of the Parliament of Victoria 21st-century Australian politicians Charles Sturt University alumni