Helen Buckingham
Helen Buckingham (born November 17, 1952) is an Australian politician. She has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council since November 2002, representing Koonung Province. Buckingham was born in Melbourne, and went to secondary school in the suburb of Preston, but switched to the selective University High School for her final year. She studied teaching at La Trobe University, and took up her first position teaching history and politics at the somewhat underprivileged Pascoe Vale Girls High School. She taught there from 1975 to 1982, and then worked for a time at the private Mount Scopus College. In 1987, she received a position at Presbyterian Ladies College, and worked there until retiring from teaching in 1991. She took up a position as a careers counsellor the following year. Buckingham was actively involved in a number of community organisations, and was on the board of Box Hill Hospital for several years, as well as being a member of the Monash University Department of Physiology's Animal Ethics Committee. In 1997, Buckingham made a bid to be elected as a councillor for the City of Whitehorse, and was ultimately successful. She became mayor the following year, and served for two years in this capacity. Buckingham was not re-elected as mayor in 2000, but continued to serve as a councillor. She stood as the Labor candidate for the federal seat of Deakin at the 2001 election, and was thought to have a chance of winning it. However, the 2001 election was not successful for Labor, and Buckingham was defeated. Her second bid for political office was to be more successful. She switched from federal to state politics, and won pre-selection for the Legislative Council seat of Koonung Province at the 2002 election. It was held by a strong margin by sitting Liberal member Gerald Ashman, but the election resulted in a significant landslide victory for Labor, and Buckingham soundly defeated Ashman, even before the distribution of preferences. Buckingham has been a member of the Legislative Council Privileges and Education and Training Committees, as well as the Labor Party's Local Government Policy Committee. During mid-2004, Buckingham took medical leave for several months in order to receive treatment for an unspecified serious illness. She is a member of the Labor Unity faction, and is the daughter of former state Labor leader Frank Wilkes.
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