The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Pru Goward served as Executive Director of the Office of the Status of Women from 1997. In July 2001 she became the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, appointed for a term of five years. In 2004 she was also appointed Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination. In 2004 she was nominated by The Australian as one of the forty most influential Australians and by the Australian Financial Review as one of the country’s top cultural and industrial relations influencers. Her speeches have been reproduced in published collections and in 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for her services to journalism and women’s rights.

In 2007 she stood successfully as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia in the seat of Goulburn in the Legislative Assembly at the New South Wales state election, which was held on 24 March. She was re-elected in 2011 and again in 2015  and 2017 and retired in 2019.

She was the New South Wales Minister for Family and Community Services from 2011 to 2014 and again from 2017 to 2019, Minister for Women from 2011 to 2017, Minister for Planning from 2014 to 2015, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Medical Research, and Assistant Minister for Health from 2015 to 2017, Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault from 2015 to 2019, and Minister for Social Housing, from 2017 to 2019.

Pru Goward was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2023 for distinguished service to the people and Parliament of NSW, and to women’s affairs.