Jill Hennessy (politician)

Jill Hennessy (born 17 March 1972) is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since February 2010, representing the seat of Altona. She was Minister for Health in the Andrews Ministry from December 2014 to November 2018,[1] and was Attorney-General from November 2018 to December 2020, the second female Attorney-General in Victoria's history.[2] On 16 December 2020, she announced she would step down from the role of Victorian Attorney-General effective immediately to spend more time with her family, but would stay in Parliament and recontest her seat at the 2022 election.[3]

A former candidate for preselection for the federal seats of Holt and Isaacs, Hennessy is a former State President of the Victorian Labor Party.[4] When state minister and Altona MLA Lynne Kosky resigned early in 2010, Hennessy won endorsement for Labor preselection. She was elected to the seat in the by-election, but Labor suffered a large swing to the Liberal Party.

Hennessy was educated at Avila College, Mount Waverley, and then Monash University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. She also holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne. Prior to entering the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, Hennessy practised as a solicitor specialising in personal injury and employment law, and was a senior advisor to former Victorian premier Steve Bracks.[4]

In 2016, she was awarded the Thornett Award for Promotion of Reason by the Australian Skeptics for "courageously facing down those who misrepresent and mislead the public in their promotion of dodgy medical claims and practices".[5]

Hennessy is a member of Labor's left faction.[2]