Inga Peulich is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Legislative Council representing South Eastern Metropolitan Region from 2006 to 2018. Following the 2014 State election, Peulich was appointed the offices of Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Shadow Minister for Scrutiny of Government, but was removed from the latter role in 2017.
Biography
Inga Peulich is of Bosnian heritage, being born Inga Došen in Bosnia and Herzegovina and migrating to Australia in 1967 with her family. Peulich is married to small business owner Savo Peulich, and their son, Paul Peulich, is currently a member of the Kingston City Council, serving as mayor in 2013–2014. Peulich has a Bachelor of Arts and a master's degree in education. Before her election as the Liberal Member for Bentleigh in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Peulich taught VCE English and Psychology, and was English faculty head in a large government school in the south-east region of Melbourne. She also has extensive experience in small business, which continues today through her involvement in an engineering business in the region. Peulich has been involved with many political, community and not-for-profit organisations, including:
In 1989, Inga Peulich joined the Moorabbin branch of the Liberal Party and a year later was elected to the Moorabbin City Council. She was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 2002, representing the electorate of Bentleigh. She was one of many Liberal members elected in Jeff Kennett's landslide win at the 1992 election. In 1992, Peulich expressed opposition to aspects of the proposed expansion of Westfield Southland. Peulich lost her seat at the 2002 election, but returned to parliament at the 2006 election, being elected to the Legislative Council as one of the members for South Eastern Metropolitan Region. She was re-elected to the Legislative Council in 2010 and 2014. Following a varied parliamentary committee career, Peulich was promoted to Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Communities in February 2008. Following the election of the Baillieu Liberal/National Coalition at the 2010 Victorian state election, Peulich was appointed Secretary to Liberal Parliamentary Party and Coalition, and in March 2013, was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary for Education. In March 2014, Peulich became Cabinet Secretary in the Napthine Ministry. In 2017, Peulich unsuccessfully opposed the trial of a safe injecting room in Richmond, a harm-minimisation strategy modelled on the successful program in Sydney, and assisted dying or euthanasia legislation. In September 2017, Peulich was dropped from her scrutiny of government role, but retained her shadow portfolio of Multicultural Affairs.
Controversial stance on LGBT youth
Peulich has raised ire of some sections of Victorian society for her stance against initiatives such as the Safe Schools Program. In a 2017 edition of the Quarterly Essay, Peulich was cited as stating that the programme — designed to keep gender and sexually diverse students safe — was, "frightening", and that it cultivated in children "an isolation from their own families and their own values".
Multiculturalism
In 2007, Peulich employed race blogger Gary Anderton as an adviser. On his blog in 2004, he had published material maligning both Aborigines and his Indian doctor. At the 2006 Victorian state election he had run as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Lyndhurst. In 2007, Peulich was accused by others in the Liberal Party of being a key supporter of Ken Aldred's attempt to gain Liberal preselelction for the federal electorate of Holt. In 1995, Aldred had tabled documents in the federal parliament linking Mark Leibler, National Chairman of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, to an alleged money-laundering scam run by the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad. The so-called Suriname Papers were later exposed as fakes. When told Aldred had won the Holt ballot, Liebler telephoned TreasurerPeter Costello, and the Prime Minister's office, to demand the result be overturned, and Aldred's endorsement was withdrawn. Following the defeat of the Liberal-National coalition government at the 2014 Victorian State election, Peulich was appointed to the shadow cabinet as the Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Scrutiny of Government. In 2018, Peulich labelled Victorian Greens MP Samantha Ratnam a "pig" while Ratnam was speaking in the Victorian parliament about increasing gender and cultural diversity.
Media
Following the 2010 State election, Peulich was credited with playing a significant role in winning several south-east metropolitan "sandbelt" seats to secure a narrow win for the Victorian Liberal/ National Coalition Government. In November 2012, she accused Liberal member Geoff Gledhill, and conservative fellow-traveller Tamsin Bearsley, of party disloyalty for failing to vote for her son in his mayoral bid. In January 2013, a number of articles were run inThe Age newspaper, based on dubious e-mails, accusing Peulich of intervening directly on behalf of her son in his mayoral bid. However, the paper was unable to confirm the source and the authenticity of the e-mails, and acknowledged it could not be sure if Peulich sent them.
When not working in politics Peulich enjoys family activities, community and international affairs, sport and recreation, education and further study, and travel. Peulich's husband Savo, son Paul, and mother Nena Dosen, all ran as candidates at the 2003 election for the Glen Eira City Council. In 2008, Paul was elected to the Kingston City Council. He was unanimously elected Mayor of Kingston for 2013–2014.
