Our newest Board Member – The Hon. Jaala Pulford

We are pleased to announce that former Victorian member of parliament Jaala Pulford, will take up a position on the Children’s Cancer Foundation Board.

Having assisted the Children’s Cancer Foundation as a parent speaker at last year’s Million Dollar Lunch, it is a privilege to have Jaala join the Board to help drive the Foundation’s agenda into the future. 

About Jaala Pulford

The Honourable Jaala Pulford was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 2006 as Member for Western Victoria.  Over the first two terms of the Andrews Government (2014 – 2022), Jaala was the first woman to serve as Minister for Agriculture, and had ministerial responsibilities that included roads, the TAC, fishing and boating, small business, resources, employment and for innovation, medical research and the digital economy. She also served as Deputy Leader of the Government in the upper house.

Jaala steered Jobs Victoria through a critical period as the pandemic hit hard for both workers and employers alike. She led the state’s efforts to help Victoria’s 640,000 small businesses navigate and survive the impact of lockdowns. She secured both Moderna and BioNTech for Melbourne, cementing a local end-to-end mRNA vaccine capability, supply certainty, an R&D hub and significant research investment. She also set Victoria on course to be Australia’s first gigabit state through the Connecting Vic program, a billion dollar investment delivered in partnership with telecommunications providers. As Agriculture Minister she oversaw the establishment of a medicinal cannabis industry. 

Jaala is an experienced leader with deep experience in Cabinet government, public administration and governance, Jaala is passionate about making sure people and businesses can thrive in an economy undergoing fast-moving, often destabilising, but exciting and transformational change.

Jaala’s daughter Sinéad was diagnosed with cancer in September 2014 and died 12 weeks later – she was 13 years old. Jaala hopes her work with the Children’s Cancer Foundation will help other families avoid the devastation of a childhood cancer diagnosis.

Read Jaala’s full story here.