Women in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
There have been 68 women in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to vote in the assembly since 1902 and the right to stand as a candidate since 1918.
The first successful candidate for the Legislative Assembly was Millicent Preston-Stanley, who was elected as a Nationalist representative for the multi-member electorate of Eastern Suburbs in 1925, but only lasted one term before being defeated. Fourteen years later, Mary Quirk held the seat of Balmain for Labor after the death of her husband, becoming the first Labor woman in the Assembly. However, successful women candidates in the Legislative Assembly remained few and far between until the 1980s.
In the early 1980s, women began to break through into senior positions in the state; Janice Crosio became the first woman to serve as a minister in state parliament, serving in the Wran Labor ministry, and she was followed on the conservative side of politics by Rosemary Foot, who served as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party for a time. In 1996, Liberal Kerry Chikarovski became the first woman to lead a major party in New South Wales, although she was deposed in 2003.
In 2009, Labor's Kristina Keneally became the first woman to serve as Premier of New South Wales. Both the offices of Premier and Deputy Premier were held by women from 2009 until 2011, the first in Australian history. In 2011, Shelley Hancock was elected as the first female Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
While there had been a number of women elected to the Legislative Council throughout the middle of the twentieth century, it was only at the 1988 state election that numbers began to grow in the Legislative Assembly. Seven women had been elected in the previous 132 years; six more joined them the 1988 election. Numbers have improved substantially in recent years, with women now occupying 27 Assembly seats in the current parliament. Linda Burney is the only Indigenous Australian woman to have been elected to the New South Wales Parliament.
List of women in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Names in bold indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during their time in Parliament. Names in italics indicate entry into Parliament through a by-election and * symbolises members that have sat as members in both the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.
| Name | Party | Electoral Division | Period of service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Millicent Preston-Stanley | Nationalist | Eastern Suburbs | 30 May 1925 – 7 September 1927 (defeated) |
| Mary Quirk | Labor | Balmain | 14 January 1939 – 22 May 1950 (defeated) |
| Lilian Fowler | Lang Labor | Newtown | 27 May 1944 – 22 May 1950 (defeated) |
| Mary Meillon | Liberal | Murray | 10 October 1973 – 9 June 1980 (died) |
| Rosemary Foot | Liberal | Vaucluse | 7 October 1978 – 13 February 1986 (retired) |
| Janice Crosio | Labor | Fairfield | 19 September 1981 – 16 February 1990 (resigned) |
| Wendy Machin | National | Gloucester Manning Port Macquarie |
12 October 1985 – 28 August 1996 (resigned) |
| Pam Allan | Labor | Wentworthville Blacktown |
19 March 1988 – 4 March 2007 (retired) |
| Anne Cohen | Liberal | Minchinbury Badgerys Creek |
19 March 1988 – 3 March 1995 (defeated) |
| Dawn Fraser | Independent | Balmain | 19 March 1988 – 3 May 1991 (defeated) |
| Clover Moore | Independent | Bligh Sydney |
19 March 1988 – 20 September 2012 (resigned) |
| Sandra Nori | Labor | McKell Port Jackson |
19 March 1988 – 2 March 2007 (retired) |
| Robyn Read | Independent | North Shore | 5 November 1988 – 3 May 1991 (defeated) |
| Deirdre Grusovin * | Labor | Heffron | 23 June 1990 – 20 March 2003 (retired) |
| Kerry Chikarovski | Liberal | Lane Cove | 25 May 1991 – 20 March 2003 (retired) |
| Liz Kernohan | Liberal | Camden | 25 May 1991 – 20 March 2003 (retired) |
| Faye Lo Po' | Labor | Penrith | 25 May 1991 – 20 March 2003 (retired) |
| Jillian Skinner | Liberal | North Shore | 5 February 1994 – |
| Gabrielle Harrison | Labor | Parramatta | 27 August 1994 – 20 March 2003 (retired) |
| Reba Meagher | Labor | Cabramatta | 22 October 1994 – 17 September 2008 (resigned) |
| Marie Andrews | Labor | Peats Gosford |
25 March 1995 – 4 March 2011 (retired) |
| Diane Beamer | Labor | Badgerys Creek Mulgoa |
25 March 1995 – 4 March 2011 (retired) |
| Marie Ficarra | Liberal | Georges River | 25 March 1995 – 5 March 1999 (defeated) |
| Jill Hall | Labor | Swansea | 25 March 1995 – 1 September 1998 (resigned) |
| Peta Seaton | Liberal | Southern Highlands | 25 May 1996 – 2 March 2007 (retired) |
| Lorna Stone | Liberal | Sutherland | 20 December 1997 – 5 March 1999 (defeated) |
| Cherie Burton | Labor | Kogarah | 27 March 1999 – 6 March 2015 (retired) |
| Katrina Hodgkinson | National | Burrinjuck Cootamundra |
27 March 1999 – |
| Alison Megarrity | Labor | Menai | 27 March 1999 – 4 March 2011 (retired) |
| Marianne Saliba | Labor | Illawarra | 27 March 1999 – 2 March 2007 (retired) |
| Barbara Perry | Labor | Auburn | 8 September 2001 – 6 March 2015 (retired) |
| Judy Hopwood | Liberal | Hornsby | 23 February 2002 – 4 March 2011 (retired) |
| Gladys Berejiklian | Liberal | Willoughby | 22 March 2003 – |
| Linda Burney | Labor | Canterbury | 22 March 2003 – |
| Angela D'Amore | Labor | Drummoyne | 22 March 2003 – 4 March 2011 (retired) |
| Tanya Gadiel | Labor | Parramatta | 22 March 2003 – 4 March 2011 (retired) |
| Shelley Hancock | Liberal | South Coast | 22 March 2003 – |
| Noreen Hay | Labor | Wollongong | 22 March 2003 – |
| Virginia Judge | Labor | Strathfield | 22 March 2003 – 4 March 2011 (defeated) |
| Kristina Keneally | Labor | Heffron | 22 March 2003 – 29 June 2012 (resigned) |
| Karyn Paluzzano | Labor | Penrith | 22 March 2003 – 7 May 2010 (resigned) |
| Dawn Fardell | Independent | Dubbo | 20 November 2004 – 4 March 2011 (defeated) |
| Carmel Tebbutt* | Labor | Marrickville | 17 September 2005 – 5 March 2015 (retired) |
| Verity Firth | Labor | Balmain | 24 March 2007 – 4 March 2011 (defeated) |
| Pru Goward | Liberal | Goulburn | 24 March 2007 – |
| Sonia Hornery | Labor | Wallsend | 24 March 2007 – |
| Jodi McKay | Labor | Newcastle Strathfield |
24 March 2007 – 4 March 2011 (defeated) 28 March 2015 – |
| Lylea McMahon | Labor | Shellharbour | 24 March 2007 – 4 March 2011 (retired) |
| Tanya Davies | Liberal | Mulgoa | 26 March 2011 – |
| Melanie Gibbons | Liberal | Menai Holsworthy |
26 March 2011 – |
| Tania Mihailuk | Labor | Bankstown | 26 March 2011 – |
| Robyn Parker * | Liberal | Maitland | 26 March 2011 – 6 March 2015 (retired) |
| Roza Sage | Liberal | Blue Mountains | 26 March 2011 – 6 March 2015 (defeated) |
| Gabrielle Upton | Liberal | Vaucluse | 26 March 2011 – |
| Anna Watson | Labor | Shellharbour | 26 March 2011 – |
| Leslie Williams | National | Port Macquarie | 26 March 2011 – |
| Jodie Harrison | Labor | Charlestown | 26 October 2014 – |
| Jenny Aitchison | Labor | Maitland | 28 March 2015 – |
| Prue Car | Labor | Londonderry | 28 March 2015 – |
| Yasmin Catley | Labor | Swansea | 28 March 2015 – |
| Trish Doyle | Labor | Blue Mountains | 28 March 2015 – |
| Julia Finn | Labor | Granville | 28 March 2015 – |
| Jo Haylen | Labor | Summer Hill | 28 March 2015 – |
| Jenny Leong | Greens | Newtown | 28 March 2015 – |
| Eleni Petinos | Liberal | Miranda | 28 March 2015 – |
| Melinda Pavey* | National | Oxley | 28 March 2015 – |
| Kathy Smith | Labor | Gosford | 28 March 2015 – |
| Tamara Smith | Greens | Ballina | 28 March 2015 – |
| Kate Washington | Labor | Port Stephens | 28 March 2015 – |
Timeline
