to the election due later that year, she was made Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Training. In December that year, after Labor's election victory, she was instead made Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment. Carbines was a vocal advocate on issues of broader social significance, such as the treatment of refugees, recognition of the Australian Aboriginal flag and the issue of Tibetan independence movement. As a member of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet Group, Carbines was among those who put their names to an advertisement taken out by the Australia-Tibet Council during a visit to Australia by Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2003. Rumors began circulating as early as 2004 that she would face a challenge to her preselection for the 2006 state election due to factional issues, with local media reporting in October 2005 that Carbines was facing the prospect of being placed in an unwinnable position on the Labor Party's ticket for the new Western Victoria region. Carbines would go on to lose her seat to Peter Kavanagh of the Democratic Labor Party after a recount. Personal Life She is married to Shane Carbines, a former umpire and senior official with the Geelong Football Umpires League. She is the stepmother of Anthony Carbines, a current sitting member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. References 1957 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Monash University alumni Politicians from Geelong Politicians from Manchester Australian schoolteachers English emigrants to Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century British women politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Council 21st-century Australian women politicians