Vanessa Goodwin

Vanessa Goodwin (1969 to 2018) was an Australian criminologist, lawyer and politician from Tasmania. Born in Hobart, she studied arts and law at the University of Tasmania, took a Master of Philosophy in criminology at the University of Cambridge and completed a doctorate at the University of Tasmania. Before entering politics she worked for the Tasmanian Department of Police and Public Safety, as associate to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania and as a research assistant to the Governor. She won the Legislative Council seat of Pembroke for the Liberal Party at a by-election in 2009 and was re-elected in 2013. After the 2014 election she served as Attorney-General, Minister for Justice and Minister for Corrections, and as Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council. She resigned in October 2017 because of brain cancer and died in March 2018, at the age of forty-eight.