Jann McFarlane

Jann Sonya McFarlane (born 22 May 1944) is a former Australian politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2004, representing the Western Australian seat of Stirling for the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Early life McFarlane was born in Sydney on 22 May 1944. Her father abandoned the family when she was a small child and her mother remarried in the early 1950s. She grew up in a rural area and her family "struggled with domestic violence, alcoholism and poverty".

After leaving school McFarlane worked as a cleaner, secretary and clerk. She subsequently released a statement retracting her comments.

In 2006, McFarlane was investigated by the Department of Finance over allegations she had misused electoral entitlements to allow constituents to make long-distance calls. She stated that she "utterly denied and refuted the allegations".