The Australian Women's Register

Marlene Goldsmith was a Member of the NSW Legislative Council from 19 March 1988 to 5 March 1999. She was a member of the Liberal Party.

Marie Fisher was a member of the Australian Labor Party. She was a Member of the directly elected New South Wales Legislative Council from 1978-1988. Date of Election 7 October 1978.

Anne Press had a parliamentary career that spanned two decades and the opposite ends of the political spectrum. Initially elected in 1959 as an ALP councillor, Press was soon expelled (in 1959) from the party following her vote against party lines when she voted against the Legislative Council Abolition Bill. She then became a member of the Independent Labour Group, to which she belonged for eight years. She joined the liberal party in 1967, and was successfully re-elected to the council as their candidate in 1970. She retired from parliament in 1978.

Virginia Chadwick is a member of the Liberal Party. She was a member of the directly elected Legislative Council. Dates of Election 7 October 1978 and 19 March 1988.
Parliamentary career highlights
Minister for Family and Community Services, 1988-1990
Minister for School Education and Youth Affairs, 1990-1992
Minister for Education and Youth Affairs and Minister for Employment and Training, 1992-93
Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Minister for Tourism and Minister Assisting the Premier, 1993-1995
Opposition Whip, 1984-1988

Virginia Chadwick was the President of the Legislative Council 1998-1999. She was the first woman Opposition Whip and woman to gain ministerial appointment in a Liberal Government.
Granted retention of title of “Honourable” for life.

Robyn Parker was elected to the NSW Legislative Council on 22 March 2003. She was a member of the Liberal Party. She was elected Member for Maitland at the 2011 election after moving from the Legislative Council to contest the seat. She served as Minister for the Environment and Minister for Heritage f rom 2011-2014 and retired at the 2015 election.

Kathleen Whitten was a successful local government figure for more than a decade, being Alderman of the Campbelltown Municipal Council (1959-72) and Mayor (1961-2). She was in favour of hospitals and sewerage provision for Campbelltown and St Marys and improvement in the rail services to the area. Kathleen Whitten was very active in her electorate and was patron of the local Girl Guides and Boy Scouts associations, a member and patron of Parents and Citizens Associations in North and East Campbelltown, President of the Campbelltown Milk Zone Dairymen’s Council 1963-64, a member of V.I.E.W. and was associated with the Campbelltown Theatre Group and the Girls’ Marching Association.

Brigitte Williams was a once only candidate who represented the Australian Democrats in the 1999 elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Oxley. She believes in community action and is active in Landcare and the local Catchment Management Committee. Brigitte has worked in the hospitality industry in managing positions in a hotel and a caravan park (1980-82). She then managed a market garden and was Secretary for the Bellinger River Action Group (1984-94) while completing her tertiary qualifications (B.A., Dip. Ed.). She has taught English and History at tertiary and secondary level, and by correspondence.

Matilda Ann Aston (December 11, 1873 – November, 1947), better known as Tilly Aston, was a blind Australian writer and teacher. She founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers (which became the Victorian Braille Library) and then went on to establish the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, assuming the post of secretary.

Tilly’s energy was unbounded and her achievements (along with those of her co-workers) to promote the human rights of vision impaired people were plentiful. They include:

• Successfully lobbying for the world’s first free post system for braille (and later talking) books.
• Gaining free public transport for blind people.
• Achieving the right to vote for blind people.
• Lobbying for the repeal of the bounty system which meant blind people had to pay hefty levies before they could travel interstate
• Gaining Government approval for a pension for all legally blind people.

Jane Ward is a well known local and conservationist activist with a passion for social justice and community action. As an Independent candidate she contested the following elections:
Leichhardt Municipal Council, 1987
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Balmain, 1988
House of Representatives, Sydney, 2004
City of Sydney council elections, 2004

Rose Watson is a once only candidate, a successful Councillor and a stalwart community worker. In 1987 she was elected Alderman Woollahra Council and held that position until 2003. In 1991 she stood for election as an Independent to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Vaucluse. She has been very active in campaigns for better aged care facilities in her area. She was vigorously opposed to the closing of the Strickland House Nursing Home by the Greiner Government in 1989 and fought to open its grounds to the public. She also led the campaign against the proposed closure of the Post Office in Watsons Bay, taking the case to the Federal Court and winning. She founded the Watsons Bay Society, a resident action group and was instrumental in the re-establishment of the State Emergency Services in Woollahra municipality.

Rose Watson was educated at Coogee Public School, Sydney Girls High School and the University of Sydney from which she graduated B.Sc. and Dip.Ed. She taught mathematics at Vaucluse, Dover Heights, Marrickville, Crown Street and Randwick High Schools. She is married to a medical practitioner, whose practice she managed after her retirement from teaching.

Beth Smith is a committed Christian activist who stood for the Christian Democrat Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly election for Cronulla, 2003 and in the House of Representatives election for Cook, 2004. At the time of her first campaign, Beth Smith had been a resident in the Cronulla area for 11 years and a teacher for more than 30 years. Her campaign stressed the protection of Kurnell and opposition to over development in the Sutherland Shire.

Lorna Stone is successful Liberal Party candidate with a long history of community activity. In 1991 she was elected to the Sutherland Shire Council, remaining there until 1995 and then in 1997 she was elected to the seat of Sutherland in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly by-election. In 1999 Lorna successfully ran for the Assembly seat of Heathcote, but did not contest the 2003 election. She joined the Liberal Party in 1974 and has held many offices at every level of the Party.

Julie Sutton is a dedicated teacher of modern languages, whose service to local government and the ALP has spanned several decades. She was first elected to the Warringah Council in 1980 and was re-elected several times until 2003. Julie became the first woman Mayor of Warringah in 1995 and has since served as Deputy Mayor for five terms. Unfortunately she could not match this success at the state level and failed to gain election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Davidson in 1981, 1984 and 1988.

Kathleen Taperell ran only once for parliament (ALP candidate, New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Nepean, 1973) and went on to become a leading feminist and a senior public servant. From 1990, she has been Senior Adviser to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Assistant Secretary in the Department. Her papers are deposited in the National Library of Australia.

After working as a teacher, and small business person and being active in community services and local charity, Janelle Saffin stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Lismore (New South Wales Legislative Assembly) in 1991. However in 1995 she was elected to the Legislative Council of the New South Wales Parliament and remained in office until 2003. In 2007 she was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Page, New South Wales and was re-elected in 2010, but was defeated the 2013 election. She joined the Australian Labor Party in 1982 and held senior positions in her local branch. Janelle was a delegate to Country and State conferences and was a member of the Corrective Services Advisory Council. She was also President of the North Coast Breast Screening Program and a committee member of the Northern Rivers Social Development Council.

She is married to Jim Saffin, and has one son and three stepsons. Janelle Saffin completed a Dip Prim T (Northern Rivers CAE), BLegalStud (Macq), and Mbus.

Susan Pinsuti is a committed Christian who has run once for election to parliament. That was in 2003 as a Christian Democrat Party candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Burrinjuck. Her campaign was aimed at bringing morals and ethics back into society.

Susan Pinsuti grew up in Goulburn and went to the Bourke Street Primary School. She has a Diploma in Education in Early Childhood Teaching and taught for a period in Cabramatta. She married in 2001and at the time of her campaign for Burrinjuck, she taught scripture at four Goulburn Primary Schools.

Terri Richardson is a hard working party member of the Australian Democrats, deeply committed to a just society, and passionate on the subject of Indigenous education. Terri was on the State Executive Committee of the Australian Democrats for nine years, 1989-1998, and continues her connection with the party as Acting Convenor of the Cook Electorate branch. She also contested the following elections on their behalf:
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Cronulla, 1991
House of Representatives, Cook, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1998
New South Wales, Legislative Council, 1994.

Terri Richardson grew up in the Sutherland Shire and was educated at Oyster Bay Primary School and St George Girls’ High School. She trained as a primary school teacher at the Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education and taught for 15 years. Subsequently she was a tutor at the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. In 2005, still passionate about the education of indigenous children, she was actively involved in the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme. She was also part way through a Masters of Professional Studies: Aboriginal Studies from the University of New England. She has one daughter.

Maureen Riordan ran for parliament once only: ALP candidate, New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Port Macquarie, 1999. She has worked as a residential care assistant, a teacher and a manager. Maureen served on the Board of the Mid Coast Council for Regional and Social Development, and was a member of the Health Council. She is married.

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.

Karyn Paluzzano was a successful woman ALP candidate in the seat of Penrith. She was first elected to that seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 2003. She was re-elected in 2007, but resigned from the Parliament on 7 May 2010 as a result of allegations against her of falsely claiming parliamentary allowances and of giving false and misleading evidence to an anti-corruption inquiry.

Prior to this she was a member of the Penrith City Council (1999-2004).

Gwen Parry Jones is a dedicated environmentalist who ran for the Australian Greens in the 2003 New South Wales Legislative Assembly election for The Entrance.

An indefatigable and very successful campaigner, whose support in her community continues to grow. Clover Moore was Alderman of the South Sydney City Council from 1980-81 and Alderman of the Council of the City of Sydney 1981-87. She was elected Lord Mayor of Sydney 2003. Clover was also elected as an Independent to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Bligh in 1988, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003. In 2007 she was elected to the new seat of Sydney and relinquished it in 2012.

In the 1990s Clover Moore held the balance of power in the Legislative Assembly, with two other independents. She is renowned for her hard work and her community attachments. She continues to hold the position of Lord Mayor of Sydney.

Sharon Mullin was briefly a political activist who contested the New South Wales Legislative Assembly election for Bathurst in 1995 and for the House of Representatives seat of Calare in 1996. She ran for the Greens because of her belief in the need to balance social and economic needs with environmental protection, and because she deplored the lack of women in political life. At the time of the campaign, Sharon Mullin was studying architecture, having previously been a secondary school teacher.

Mary Murtagh joined the ALP in 1972 and has held office at branch and electorate level and been an annual conference delegate. She represented them in the 1995 New South Wales Legislative Assembly election for Oxley. She was a member of the Independent Education Union and was its Mid North Coast Branch Secretary from 1991-1994

Mary Murtagh was educated at St Brendan’s Central School, Bankstown and Bethlehem Ladies College, Ashfield. She attended Macquarie University where she obtained an Arts degree and a Dip. Ed. She taught first at St Patrick’s College, Campbelltown, and from 1981, at Paul’s College, Kempsey. Mary and her husband have three children.

Born in 1944 in Kampong Cham province, about 120km from the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, Piphal Engly arrived in Australia in 1977 with no money and very little English.

A local activist and community worker, Pippa McInnes has been a Councillor in the Blue Mountains City Council from 1991-1992 and again since 2004. In 2003 she represented the Australian Greens in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections.

A well known figure in Sydney political and socially active organizations and a staunch defender of civil liberties. Mary McNish stood for the Australia Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Willoughby in 1971 and 1973.