The Australian Women's Register

Summary

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Deborah O’Neill was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Robertson, New South Wales at the federal election, which was held on 21 August 2010. In an earlier bid to enter the New South Wales State Parliament, Deborah O’Neill was uncontested at the ALP preselection New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Gosford in 2003. She ran against the Liberal Deputy Leader. Deborah was unsuccessful in her bid losing by 272 votes.

At the time of her campaign, Deborah O’Neill had been resident on the Central Coast for 17 years. As a preselected candidate of the governing party, Deborah was able to lobby Ministers and her election material claimed several funding successes for local projects. She was opposed to overdevelopment on the coast. She taught locally and lectured at the University of Newcastle, as well as running a small business in partnership with her husband, Paul. They have three children.