Jan Wade Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Jan Wade
Office:Attorney-General of Victoria
Premier:Jeff Kennett
Term Start:6 October 1992
Term End:21 October 1999
Predecessor:Jim Kennan
Successor:Rob Hulls
Office2:Minister for Fair Trading
Term Start2:6 October 1992
Term End2:21 October 1999
Predecessor2:Theo Theophanous
Successor2:Marsha Thomson
Office3:Minister for Women's Affairs
Term Start3:6 October 1992
Term End3:21 October 1999
Predecessor3:Joan Kirner
Successor3:Sherryl Garbutt
Assembly4:Victorian Legislative
Constituency Am4:Kew
Term Start4:19 March 1988
Term End4:17 September 1999
Predecessor4:Prue Sibree
Successor4:Andrew McIntosh
Birth Date:1937 7, df=yes
Birth Place:Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Birthname:Jan Louise Murray Noone
Nationality:Australian
Party:Liberal
Alma Mater:University of Melbourne
Occupation:Teacher university tutor visiting professor
Profession:Solicitor

Jan Louise Murray Wade (née Noone; born 8 July 1937) is an Australian former politician.

She was born in Sydney to John Murray Noone and Lillian, née Knight. She attended Sydney High School and Firbank Girls' Grammar School in Melbourne, and graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1959 with a Bachelor of Law. She later attained a Bachelor of Arts in 1979.

She married Francis Bannatyne Lewis, with whom she had four children. From 1960 to 1961 she worked in London as a schoolteacher before returning to Australia as a law tutor at the University of Melbourne from 1963 to 1964. A solicitor from 1964 to 1967, she joined the Parliamentary Counsel's office in 1967, becoming Assistant Chief Parliamentary Counsel in 1978. Also in 1978, she married Peter Brian Wade, and, in so doing, acquired a step-daughter. In 1979, she was appointed Commissioner for Corporate Affairs and, in 1985, President of the Equal Opportunity Board.

In 1988, she successfully contested a by-election in the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Kew, for the Liberal Party. After her election she was appointed Shadow Attorney-General. She moved to Women's Affairs in 1989 but resumed her previous role in 1990. Following the Coalition victory at the 1992 state election she became Attorney-General, Minister for Fair Trading, and Minister for Women's Affairs.

She retired from politics in 1999, after which she was a visiting professor at Victoria University and a writer of an occasional column in the Australian Financial Review.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Parliament of Victoria . Parliament of Victoria . Wade, Jan Louise Murray . re-member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851 . Parliament of Victoria . 2008 . 17 January 2014.