Jon Stanhope, MLA

	Chief Minister
	Treasurer
	Minister for Business and Economic Development
	Minister for the Environment, Water and Climate Change
	Minister for Indigenous Affairs
	Minister for the Arts
	Phone: (02) 6205 0104
	Fax: (02) 6205 0433
	Address: GPO Box 1020, Canberra ACT 2601
	Email: stanhope@act.gov.au Website: www.chiefminister.act.gov.au

Jon Stanhope MLA, is the Chief Minister of the ACT. He is also the ACT’s Treasurer, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for the Environment, Water and Climate Change, Minister for Indigenous Affairs, and Minister for the Arts.

Mr Stanhope was first elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1998 as a Member for Ginninderra and was elected Opposition Leader by the Labor Caucus in that year. He led the Labor Party to victory in the 20 October 2001 election, with a 16 per cent swing. He was elected Chief Minister of the ACT at a sitting of the Legislative Assembly on 12 November 2001.

In October 2004 Mr Stanhope led the Labor Party to victory for a second time, increasing its representation in the 17-member Assembly to nine and ushering in the first majority government in the history of the Assembly.

Prior to entering the ACT Legislative Assembly, Mr Stanhope worked as Senior Adviser and Chief of Staff for the Federal Attorney General, Michael Lavarch, and spent a period as an adviser on native title to then Federal Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley. Before this, Mr Stanhope was the Secretary of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, a position in which he initiated and managed the inquiry that led to Half Way to Equal, a detailed analysis of issues relating to equality for women. Before that, Mr Stanhope had served in a public service career, working as a legal officer for 15 years in various Commonwealth departments. He spent two years as Deputy Administrator and Official Secretary of Norfolk Island.

Jon Stanhope was born in Gundagai in 1951. One of nine children of schoolteacher parents, much of his junior education was spent at one-teacher schools in country NSW.

He attended Mullumbimby Public School and Bega High School before coming to Canberra to undertake studies at the Australian National University, graduating as a Bachelor of Laws.

He married Robyn, a palliative care nurse and counsellor, and they raised their four children in Belconnen. They are now proud grandparents of four.

Mr Stanhope has a long-standing interest in human rights issues and has served as President of the ACT Council for Civil Liberties and as ACT Convenor of the National Coalition for Gun Control. He was also the original co-convenor of Racial Respect in the ACT and served as President of the ACT Hospice and Palliative Care Society.

Mr Stanhope’s interests include jogging, reading, gardening, football and cricket, fishing, and solitude.