Tania Maxwell
Tania Maree Maxwell is a former Australian politician. She was a Derryn Hinch's Justice Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 2018 and 2022, representing Northern Victoria Region.[1] She was not re-elected at the 2022 state election.
Tania Maxwell | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Northern Victoria Region | |
| In office 24 November 2018 – 26 November 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Finley, New South Wales, Australia |
| Political party | Derryn Hinch's Justice Party |
| Occupation | Youth worker |
Maxwell was born and raised in Finley, New South Wales, before moving to Perth to work in Western Australia's mining sector in 1988. She then moved to Wangaratta, Victoria, where she became a youth worker and studied mental health.[2]
Maxwell was working in Wangaratta in 2016 when, with Wodonga’s Carol Roadknight, they founded a community-led campaign called #ENOUGHISENOUGH!
In 2015, a young schoolgirl called Zoe Buttigieg was raped and murdered in Wangaratta. Three months later, Roadknight's friend Karen Chetcuti-Verbunt, a manager at Wangaratta council, was murdered near Whorouly and her body dumped in bush near Lake Buffalo.
When these crimes were committed, Chetcuti-Verbunt's killer was on parole and Buttigieg's killer had recently been released from prison after breaching parole. Buttigieg was just 11. Chetcuti-Verbunt, mother of two, was 49.
"We wanted politicians, government and police to know that #ENOUGHISENOUGH! One thousand people joined us in Wangaratta’s main street in March 2016 to rally for greater rights in the justice system for people harmed by crime, especially women and children, tougher sentencing for perpetrators, and a parole system for offenders that's strongly policed to protect us all," Maxwell said.[3]
Maxwell in 2020 successfully put a motion in Victoria's Parliament to establish an inquiry into Victoria's criminal justice system by the Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, of which she's been a member since 2019. The inquiry's first hearing was held in Wangaratta.[4] The committee reported on March 24, 2021, making 100 recommendations to reform the state's criminal justice system.[5]
Maxwell advocates for "fair, just, safe communities" in her work as an MP.[6]
She has consistently argued in Parliament for reforms to improve support for people harmed by crime; redress for adults who, as children, were physically, psychologically and emotionally abused in state care, including orphanages; extending presumptive rights to female volunteer and career firefighters diagnosed with reproductive cancers; supporting victim survivors’ demands for a public sex offender register, strong online offending laws, justice in sentencing, and mandated lifetime monitoring of serious perpetrators; strengthened legal responses to serious offending with a formal review of Victoria’s responses to stalking, ‘no body, no release’ laws for convicted criminals who refuse to reveal the location of victim remains, allowing courts to deliver appropriate guilty findings when offenders plead mental impairment, making non-fatal strangulation a standalone offence.
Maxwell is married to Jarrod Toomer.
References
- ^ "Northern Victoria". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- ^ Bennett, James (19 December 2018). "Finley local's Vic. role". Southern Riverina News. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
- ^ "Tania – Tania Maxwell". Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "'Something's not working': Inquiry puts criminal justice system under microscope". ABC News. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "Inquiry into Victoria's criminal justice system | Parliament of Victoria". new.parliament.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ "Tania Maxwell". Retrieved 24 October 2022.