Anna Burke - Biography

Biography

Anna Burke was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and was educated at the University of Melbourne and Monash University.

Before entering politics, Burke worked as a trade union official. In this capacity, she worked in the Victorian roads department 1988–93 and the Victorian Institute of Technology 1993–94. In 1994, she joined the Finance Sector Union as their National Industrial Officer.

After Labor's win at the 2007 federal election, Burke was elected as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

She successfully defended her seat in the 2010 federal election.

On 24 November 2011, she was nominated by the Opposition for the position of Speaker of the House, which she declined. However, she accepted the Government's nomination for the position of Deputy Speaker on the same day, and was elected to that position following a ballot.

On 22 April 2012 the Speaker, Peter Slipper, announced he was standing aside, meaning he would remain Speaker but would not attend sessions of the House, until fraud allegations made against him with respect to travel expenses were resolved. The Opposition called for Slipper to stay away from the chamber until sexual harassment charges were resolved as well. As Deputy Speaker, Burke was deprived of her deliberative vote, being able only to vote in the case of a tie. On 9 October 2012, Peter Slipper resigned as Speaker of the House. Later that evening, Burke was nominated and elected the new Speaker of the House of Representatives unopposed.