Virginia Judge

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(Virginia) Dianne Virginia Judge, B.Ed. MP is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. She has been described as "a photogenic, bubbling fountain of energy".^[1]

Judge was born in Cooma, where her father worked as a surveyor on the Snowy Mountain Scheme and was educated in Canberra. She received a Bachelor of Education from the Canberra School of Music. ^[2]

Judge taught in primary and secondary schools in Sydney and Canberra, including at the Evandale Special School in Croydon, a school catering for intellectual disabled students. She also worked as a volunteer abroad for the Overseas Service Bureau in Tonga and as a project officer for small non-government organisation, The Australian Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, delivering items such as humidicribs, toilets and ovens to Pacific islands such as Nauru, the Solomon Islands and Fiji.^[2]

Judge returned to Sydney,and worked in real estate, qualifying for her real estate licence. She was also studying Law part-time at Macquarie University prior to her election to the Legislative Assembly.^[2]

Judge was elected to Strathfield Council in 1995 and served until 2004. Almost immediately after being elected, she was accused of speaking and voting against an application for a development approval without declaring a conflict of interest, as her real estate agency, and allegedly herself, stood to benefit if it was approved. This charge was dismissed by the Department of Local Government.^[3] She was Mayor from 2001 to 2003 when she entered the NSW Parliament. She is married and has three daughters.^[2]

Judge was elected as member for Strathfield in 2003, representing the Australian Labor Party. ^[4] The seat has traditionally been held by the Liberal Party of Australia, but she won it with a 15% majority.^[5]