Jaclyn Symes
Victoria’s forestry policy from now will be in the hands of Jaclyn Symes, who has been appointed Agriculture Minister in the re-elected Andrews Government. Ms Symes, 39, is the Upper House Member for Northern Victoria, but must wait until her re-election is formally confirmed before she can take up her new post. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timberbiz
Born in Benalla, she has a law degree from Deakin University, and initially worked for the Australian Services Union as an industrial officer.
From there, Ms Symes became an adviser in the former Bracks-Brumby Labor Government, working in the office of the then Attorney General, Rob Hulls, where she shaped legislation that affected employee rights.
In a profile in the Herald-Sun, Mr Hulls described her in her 2007 job interview as a person who exuded a quiet confidence with an infectious pursuit of social justice “running in her veins”.
Years later, he said she was a “thoroughly decent person who is enormously passionate and has steely determination”.
In 2010, Ms Symes narrowly lost pre-selection for Mr Hulls’ set of Niddrie, but after Labor’s defeat in that election, she worked as a senior legal and justice adviser in the office of the then Opposition leader Daniel Andrews.
In 2014, she won the chance to run in the Legislative Council seat of Northern Victoria, and was one of the last MPs to have her win confirmed.
She is a member of the Parliament’s Legal and Social Issues committee, Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption committee, the Accountability and Oversight committee and the Legislative Council Privileges committee.
Ms Symes now lives at Sunday Creek near Broadford, in the middle of her electorate, with her husband Gerard and two children.
