Jeannette Patrick

Jeannette Tweeddale Patrick (née Breen; 2 November 1929 – 24 May 2011) was an Australian politician. She was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1976 to 1985.

Patrick was born in Brighton, the daughter of solicitor Robert Breen and future Senator Dame Marie Breen. She studied at Firbank Girls' Grammar School, and after short stints as a kindergarten teacher and dental nurse, undertook the article clerks' course at Melbourne University, and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 3 April 1967. She worked as a solicitor in her family firm of R. T. Breen & Company from that point on. She was a City of Brighton councillor from 1973 to 1976, a member of the Consumer Affairs Council from 1974 to 1975, and was honorary solicitor to a number of local organisations.

Patrick was elected to the Legislative Assembly at the 1976 state election, having defeated Peter Reith and Alan Dixon, among others, for preselection in the safe Liberal seat.

In 1977, she was involved in the research, drafting and passage of the Equal Opportunity Act, which she would later tout as her greatest accomplishment in parliament. In 1980, she chaired a government inquiry into the possibility of abortion law reform in Victoria. The Liberal Party lost the 1982 election; afterwards she was promoted to Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs and Shadow Minister for Local Government.

Patrick died in Brighton on 24 May 2011 following a series of strokes. Her daughter, Jane Patrick, has been a judge of the County Court of Victoria since 2008.