Jacinta Allan was the first member of the Australian Labor Party and the first woman to be elected to the seat of Bendigo East in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament at the election of 1999. She was re-elected in 2002 and held the ministerial portfolio of Education Services and Employment and Youth Affairs. On her re-election again in 2006, she held the portfolios of Rural and Regional Development and Skills and Workforce Participation. Successful again at the November 2010 election, she is now a member of the Opposition, as the ALP was narrowly defeated on that occasion.
Jacinta Allan was born and raised in Bendigo, Victoria. She undertook secondary studies at Catholic College Bendigo before completing her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at La Trobe University, Bendigo.
A member of the fourth generation of her family to have lived in the Bendigo region, Jacinta maintains a proud family tradition of active community involvement. She has been a member of the Committee of Management for the Bendigo Community Health Service and the Loddon Mallee Women's Health Service.
Jacinta worked in the office of Neil O'Keefe, Federal Member for Burke, and Steve Gibbons, Federal Member for Bendigo, before entering Parliament in 1999. In 2002 she became the Minister for Education Services and Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs.
In her role as Minister for Education Services, Jacinta is responsible for:
school and TAFE construction projects
maintenance of government schools and TAFE campuses in Victoria
teacher recruitment and retention
student welfare services, including student transport and services for students with disabilities
school governance arrangements, and
IT management in schools.
As Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs, Jacinta is responsible for:
leading Whole-of-Government policy and program initiatives on behalf of Victoria's more than 800,000 young people as well as delivering one of the biggest youth budgets for young people;
programs run by the Office for Youth such as FReeZA, Youth Participation and Access Program and Advance;
the Government's comprehensive consultation programs with young people;
leading the Government's efforts to reduce unemployment across the whole of Victoria, and
employment programs such as Workforce Participation Partnerships program and the Youth Employment Scheme.
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Australian Women's Register