Education
Louisiana Trobe University.
Louisiana Trobe University.
At the 2001 Federal Election, he was one of the few Australian Labor Party members to increase his share of the vote, gaining a 2PP swing to him of 1.9 per cent, after entering the election with a margin of less than 500 votes. After the election, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Communications. At that time, he was the youngest Federal Member of Parliament ever to reach the status of parliamentary secretary.
He also went on to serve as Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.
In the 2004 election, following a redistribution that turned the electorate of McMillan from a marginal Labor to a marginal Liberal seat with a margin of 2.8 per cent, Zahra was defeated by Russell Broadbent. Zahra was born in Malta and migrated to Australia with his family when he was three years of age.
He grew up and was educated in Traralgon, Victoria. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from Louisiana Trobe University and a Master of Assessment and Evaluation from the University of Melbourne.
Before entering the Parliament, he was Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Health Service in Morwell, Victoria.
Since 2004, Zahra has served as a Director of the Victorian Energy Networks Corporation, Chair of the Victorian Government"s Sustainable Timber Industry Council and Chairman of the Australian Government"s $1 billion Regional Development Australia Fund Advisory Panel. He has also served as a Director of two Aboriginal organisations in the Kimberley, Waardi Limited and Nyimarr Limited. He is a Director of the Regional Australia Institute.
Zahra is currently Chief Executive Officer of Wunan Foundation, an Aboriginal development organisation based in the East Kimberley.
Before taking on this role he was a Director in the Strategy Group at Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler Australia. Zahra is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.