Highs and lows: Joy Burch to leave Assembly at 2024 election

Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly and Labor Member for Brindabella Joy Burch will not contest the 2024 ACT election, bringing to a close a long and sometimes controversial political career.

It will also allow a fresh face to contest the southern seat for Labor.

First elected in 2008, the former nurse joined the Cabinet in 2009 and held 11 portfolios over seven years, including Arts, Education and Police, all of which were problematic for her.

In 2014 as Arts Minister, she came under fire for her decision to award a Fringe Festival contract without tender and ignoring warnings about contentious adult content.

The next year as Education Minister, she presided over the Telopea Park School land row and the ‘boy in the cage’ controversy. She was then forced to resign as Police Minister over claims her chief of staff was too close to the powerful Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

By 2016, she had quit all her portfolios but was appointed Speaker.

Her announcement focused on the positives of her time in the Assembly.

Ms Burch championed the ACT being the first trial site for the launch of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, opening the first Project Independence property providing home ownership for people with disability, and securing funding for the Ricky Stuart House Respite Centre.

She increased STEM opportunities in Canberra schools, including through the purpose-built STEM centre at Caroline Chisholm High School, introduced compulsory English for Year 12 students, brought CIT to Tuggeranong, and secured a permanent home at the Canberra Glassworks for the popular Brodburger business.

As Arts Minister, Ms Burch facilitated the relocation of Megalo Print Studio to refurbished premises in Kingston, and while holding the Community Services portfolios of Housing and Disability, lobbied for the first-of-its-kind women in construction project, which resulted in two purpose-built homes for people living with disabilities completed in 2014.

In recent years as an MLA, Ms Burch advocated for her constituents and community groups, securing funding grants for many.

In 2019, she supported a successful community campaign to keep McDonald’s from opening a fast-food restaurant on the site of the Chisholm Tavern.

This commitment to her Tuggeranong community was rewarded at the 2020 Assembly election with the highest vote of any member in her electorate.

Ms Burch will retire from the Assembly as its longest-serving Speaker, serving two terms in the role.

She presented the Legislative Assembly’s first remonstrance to the Federal Parliament following the Senate rejection of the Assembly passing laws on territory rights and was the first Speaker to open the Assembly using traditional Ngunnawal language.

Ms Burch said it was time to focus on things outside of politics, such as her grandchildren.

“It has been deeply rewarding to serve the people of Canberra, in particular in my electorate of Brindabella, but it is time for me to focus on things outside of politics, including my grandchildren, of which five have been born during my time in this place,” she said.

“It is also a good time to step aside and provide an opportunity for someone else with a passion for their community to have this wonderful experience of being able to serve the people of Canberra and contribute to the important work of the Assembly”.

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee wished Ms Burch well.

“On a personal level she was always supportive of me, particularly when I was pregnant both times and on my return to work with babies in tow,” she said.