Jaala champions technology and innovation.

First elected to the Victorian Parliament in 2006, Jaala served as a minister from 2014 until her departure in 2022, including as Minister for Medical Research, Innovation and the Digital Economy from 2020. In those roles, she worked with small businesses to urgently modernise during COVID, partnered with global biotechs advancing rare disease treatment, and introduced significant innovation across livestock production, traffic management, and the medical cannabis industry. She led a billion-dollar upgrade to Victoria’s digital infrastructure, established the state’s first digital inclusion policy, and launched its first program investing in women founders.

Since leaving politics, Jaala has continued this work — joining the board of MTPConnect as Chair in 2023 and the Tech Council of Australia in 2025. She serves as a non-executive director and adviser to several scaling technology companies. Jaala has held appointments as Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne and on the Advisory Board of Monash University’s Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, both with a focus on research translation and commercialisation.

Jaala is also Chair of the Children’s Cancer Foundation.