Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos; born 27 October 1968) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who currently serves as a Commissioner on the Fair Work Commission since 24 May 2021.
[7] Mirabella received a well above-average[citation needed] 5.6% swing to her in the 2004 federal election, giving her 66.3% of the two-party preferred vote and making Indi a safe Liberal seat.
[12] Mirabella was an advocate of voluntary student unionism (VSU) and strongly supported the legislation proposed by Brendan Nelson.
After the election, Mirabella was promoted to the role of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government under the leadership of Brendan Nelson.
[14] While serving in that role, she attracted controversy in January 2008 when she launched an attack on former Liberal Party Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, after a speech he gave at Melbourne University on "the Bush Administration (reversing) 60 years of progress in establishing a law-based international system", claiming errors and "either intellectual sloppiness or deliberate dishonesty", and that he tacitly supported Islamic fundamentalism, should have no influence on foreign policy, and that his stance on the war on terror has left him open to caricature as a "frothing-at-the-mouth leftie".
[15][16][17] She was also one of five Liberal MPs not present in February 2008, when a motion was passed unanimously apologising to the stolen generations of indigenous children between Federation and the 1970s.
Mirabella had joined Abbott in resigning from the frontbench over Turnbull's climate change policy,[23] and her move to the Shadow Cabinet was seen as part of the rise of the social-conservative right within the party.
In 2008, Mirabella stated in parliament to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who has no children, "You won't need his (ex-PM Kevin Rudd's) taxpayer-funded nanny, will you?
director and unsuccessful Greens Senate candidate Simon Sheikh) had a seizure live on air, with his head falling forward on the desk.
Prior to the 2013 federal election, retiring independent MP Tony Windsor nominated Mirabella for "the nasty prize" when asked who was the person he would miss least in politics on the ABC Insiders program.
[37] On 12 September, Mirabella issued a statement that, as the result in Indi would not be known for "many days", and her "future in the Parliament is not assured", she had requested Prime Minister-elect Abbott not consider her for a frontbench position in the new government.
[38] Abbott was quoted in reply: "I pay tribute to Sophie Mirabella and thank her for her magnanimity in ensuring the continuing vote count in Indi does not hinder formation of the new ministry.
A statement read "Combined with her legal background and her extensive experience working with the manufacturing industry, Mrs Mirabella will make a valuable contribution to the board".
She also said "I am currently investigating my legal remedies and those available through the Australian Press Council" and "The article represents a new low and a sad return to nasty tactics from my opponents.
[47] On 21 April 2016, Mirabella alleged that during her failed election bid in 2013, A$10 million of public funding for Wangaratta Hospital was promised by the then opposition leader, Tony Abbott.
Mirabella's first preference vote suffered a drop in excess of 17%, largely due to the Nationals Party fielding a candidate in Indi.
In August 2016, Mirabella became the general manager of government and media relations for Gina Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting.
[1] In 1995, Mirabella began a live-in relationship with Colin Howard, then dean of law at Melbourne University, who was forty years her senior.
[53][54] In June 2006, she married Greg Mirabella, a farmer and former Australian Army Reserve officer working in the defence industry, and later a senator for Victoria.