Tania Mihailuk

The Honourable
Tania Mihailuk
MLC
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 May 2023
Preceded byMark Latham
Leader of One Nation – New South Wales
In office
10 December 2023 – 20 December 2024
Preceded byMark Latham
Succeeded byVacant
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Bankstown
In office
26 March 2011 – 1 March 2023
Preceded byTony Stewart
Succeeded byJihad Dib
51st Mayor of Bankstown
In office
1 September 2006 – 27 June 2011
Preceded byHelen Westwood
Succeeded byKhal Asfour
Personal details
Born (1976-05-05) 5 May 1976[1]
Political partyIndependent (2022–2023),(2024–)
Other political
affiliations		Labor (until 2022)
One Nation (2023–2024)
Alma materMacquarie University
OccupationPolitician
Websitetaniamihailukmlc.com.au

Tania Mihailuk (born 5 May 1976) is an Australian politician, currently serving as member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2023.[2] She served as mayor of the City of Bankstown from 2006 to 2011.[3]

Mihailuk was the first woman to represent Bankstown in the electoral district's history, serving in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2023. She initially served as a member of the Labor Party before resigning from the party in 2022. She joined One Nation in January 2023[2] and ran for the Legislative Council on the party's ticket at the March election, at which she was unsuccessful.[4][5] Mihailuk was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council on 10 May 2023, filling a casual vacancy created by the resignation of Mark Latham, shortly before the 2023 New South Wales state election.[6]

Background and education

Mihailuk attended Macquarie University and graduated with a degree in economics and in law. She later obtained a Master of Law from the University of Sydney. She has worked in various industries, including marketing and public policy.[7]

Political career

Mihailuk was elected to Bankstown Council in 2004 and became mayor in 2006. She was endorsed as the Labor candidate for Bankstown in November 2010 after sitting member Tony Stewart announced his resignation.[8] She stated she would resign from council if she won, which she did, having suffered a swing against her of more than 15 points, as part of the Coalition's landslide election win.[9]

On 20 September 2022, Mihailuk used parliamentary privilege to link Canterbury-Bankstown Council mayor, Khal Asfour, to corrupt former Labor Minister Eddie Obeid, which was a stark contrast with her prominent thanks of Asfour in her maiden parliamentary speech for being her campaign director.[10] On 23 September, Labor Opposition Leader, Chris Minns, demoted Mihailuk from the Shadow Cabinet.[11][12] On 20 October 2022, Mihailuk resigned from the NSW Labor Party, claiming that the party was "plagued by corruption"[13] and that it was "too woke".[14]

On 17 January 2023, Mihailuk announced that she would be running second on the One Nation ticket at the upcoming 2023 New South Wales state election for the Legislative Council, behind party leader Mark Latham.[4] Before that, in 2017 when she was a Labor MP she criticised One Nation and Mark Latham.[14] Mihailuk officially resigned from the New South Wales Legislative Assembly on 1 March 2023.[5]

Mihailuk announced her resignation from One Nation on 20 December 2024.[15]

During her tenure, she held various shadow ministerial roles:

Shadow Minister for Fair Trading, Healthy Lifestyles, Volunteering and Youth
(21 October 2011 – 8 April 2015)

Mihailuk advocated for stronger consumer protections, including stricter regulations on insurance-funded auto repairs and enhanced protections for home building warranties and structural defects in apartments and strata schemes.[16][17][18]

Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services, Mental Health, Medical Research, Social Housing
(9 April 2015 – 27 November 2018)

Mihailuk championed reforms in the child protection system, asking for independent auditing of out of home care providers, stricter working with children’s checks, and greater support for children in foster care.[19]

In 2017, following the death of mental health patient Miriam Merten at Lismore Base Hospital due to prolonged seclusion, Mihailuk described the incident as a "Don Dale moment" for NSW. Her advocacy led to an independent review by the Chief Psychiatrist, resulting in 19 recommendations to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint in mental health facilities, all of which were accepted by the government.[20][21]

Shadow Minister for Planning and Housing
(27 November 2018 – 3 July 2019)

Mihailuk coordinated a Social and Affordable Housing roundtable of industry wide stakeholders to develop a policy of inclusionary zoning quotas for brownfield and greenfield developments to increase housing supply and to address housing affordability. This included an audit of vacant Government owned land to be converted to increased social and affordable housing developments.[22][23]

Shadow Minister for Natural Resources
(12 June 2021 – 23 September 2022)

Mihailuk supported regional industries, including forestry and mining, arguing for balanced environmental and economic policies. Ms Mihailuk as a Shadow Minister advocated for policies to support the $15 billion dollar NSW mining industry which employs over 38,000 direct and indirect jobs in NSW. She is also the co-chair of the NSW Parliamentary Friends of Forestry.[24][25]


In addition to her parliamentary work, Mihailuk is a regular political commentator on Sky News Australia, appearing weekly on Prime Time with Danica De Giorgio.[26]

References

  1. ^ Jonathan O'Dea (5 May 2021). "Member for Bankstown". Legislative Assembly Hansard. Parliament of New South Wales: Legislative Assembly. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b "The Hon. Tania Mihailuk, BEc, LLB, LLM MLC". Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  3. ^ "New Mayor for Bankstown City Council". Local Government Career. 30 June 2011. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  4. ^ a b Rabe, Tom; Cormack, Lucy (17 January 2023). "Former Labor MP switches to One Nation weeks before NSW election". The Age. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  5. ^ a b Mihailuk, Tani [@taniamihailukmp]; (1 March 2023). "Resigned as a Member of the Legislative Assembly today - it has been a privilege and an honour to have been the Member for Bankstown. I will shortly be nominating for the Legislative Council for NSW One Nation. Stay tuned…". Retrieved 10 March 2023 – via Instagram.
  6. ^ "Minutes of the Proceedings of the Joint Sitting of the Houses of Parliament of the State of New South Wales Held on Wednesday 10 May 2023 to Choose Persons to Fill the Vacancies in the Legislative Council Caused by the Resignations of the Honourable Mark Latham and the Honourable Natasha Maclaren-Jones" (PDF). www.parliament.nsw.gov.au. New South Wales Parliament. 10 May 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Tania Mihailuk". Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch). Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  8. ^ Vella, Joanne (30 November 2010). "Tania Mihailuk wins preselection for Bankstown". Canterbury-Bankstown Express. News Limited. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  9. ^ Green, Antony (5 April 2011). "Bankstown – NSW Votes 2011". ABC News. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  10. ^ Tania Mihailuk (25 May 2011). "Inaugural Speeches". Legislative Assembly Hansard. State of New South Wales through the Parliament of New South Wales: Legislative Assembly. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2023. I am eager to place on record my enormous gratitude to the many people who assisted and supported me in the election, many of whom are here today. First among them I thank my campaign director, Khal Asfour, for his unstinting support and loyalty. Khal worked with a fantastic campaign team— ... the Asfour family and all the team that came out in force on election day.
  11. ^ Gramenz, Jack (23 September 2022). "NSW Labor boots MP from shadow cabinet". The Canberra Times. Australian Community Media. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  12. ^ McGowan, Michael (23 September 2022). "Chris Minns defends swift sacking of Tania Mihailuk after corruption allegations". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  13. ^ Cockburn, Paige (20 October 2022). "NSW Labor MP Tania Mihailuk resigns from party, says Labor not ready to govern". ABC News. Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  14. ^ a b McGowan, Michael (17 January 2023). "Former NSW Labor MP joins One Nation despite previously labelling Mark Latham a 'buffoon'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025.
  15. ^ Schmidt, Nathan (26 December 2024). "Major blow to Pauline Hanson after state's last One Nation member quits over funding". NewsWire. Archived from the original on 21 December 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via news.com.au.
  16. ^ "Labor Calls on Government to Finally Reform the Motor Vehicle Repair Industry". Repairer Driven News. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  17. ^ McDougall, Bruce (12 February 2014). "Home warranties or fire safety and waterproofing spring a leak".
  18. ^ www.parliament.nsw.gov.au https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1323879322-56636/link/67. Retrieved 21 May 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ^ "Why we need to talk about vulnerable kids like Braxton".
  20. ^ "Sweeping mental health reforms announced in NSW after horror death". ABC News. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  21. ^ "Report into NSW mental health system released". www.health.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  22. ^ "We crunched 30 years of Sydney housing data — this is what we found". ABC News. 10 March 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  23. ^ Echo, The (7 June 2017). "Labor promises to tackle affordable housing crisis". The Echo. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  24. ^ "Bunnings a battleground as timber shortage strikes". The Daily Telegraph.
  25. ^ Mihailuk, Tania (8 October 2021). "Leadership change can't conceal ugly reality of job losses and financial fright". The Daily Telegraph.
  26. ^ Prime Time with Danica De Giorgio (News, Talk-Show), Danica De Giorgio, Tania Mihailuk, Emily Carver, Sky News Australia, 21 January 2024, retrieved 21 May 2025{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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