ACT Legislative Assembly Speaker Joy Burch will retire at the next election in October, 2024. She will have been an MLA for 16 years. 

Ms Burch was elected to Brindabella in 2008 and has been a backbench member and a minister.

She is the Assembly’s longest serving Speaker, having held the post for two terms. At the 2020 election she received the highest vote of any member in Brindabella.

“It has been deeply rewarding to serve the people of Canberra, in particular in my electorate of Brindabella, but it is time for me to focus on things outside of politics, including my grandchildren, of which five have been born during my time in this place,” she says.

“Life beyond the Assembly is unlikely to involve a slower pace, just a different one, and one that may see me dip back into past experiences as the owner of a childcare centre, only this time, the children I’ll provide some care for, are my grandchildren,” she said.