| Wendy Machin MP | |
|---|---|
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Gloucester |
|
| In office 12 October 1985 – 22 February 1988 |
|
| Preceded by | Leon Punch |
| Succeeded by | Abolished |
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament | |
| In office 19 March 1988 – 3 May 1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Recreated |
| Succeeded by | Abolished |
| Constituency | Manning |
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament | |
| In office 25 May 1991 – 28 August 1996 |
|
| Preceded by | Bruce Jeffery |
| Succeeded by | Rob Oakeshott |
| Constituency | Port Macquarie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 October 1958 Wingham, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | National Party |
| Alma mater | New South Wales Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Consultant |
Wendy Machin (born 14 October 1958 in Wingham, New South Wales),[1] is the president of the National Roads and Motorists' Association (NRMA). She was the first woman member of the National Party of Australia elected to the New South Wales Parliament and was Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister Assisting the Minister for Roads and Assisting the Minister for Transport between 1993–1995.[2]
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Machin studied at Wingham High School before earning a Bachelor of Arts (Communications) at the New South Wales Institute of Technology[2] She also holds a Masters of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.[2][3][4]
Machin worked for the Young National Party as a field organiser, serving on its State Executive, and as Communications Officer for the National Party of Australia from 1981-82.[1][2] In 1983 she was elected as to North Sydney Municipal Council an independent alderman at age 25, serving until 1985 when she contested a by-election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Gloucester on 12 October.[1][2][4]
Winning the safe National Party seat, she become the first woman to represent the National Party in the Legislative Assembly.[2] She founded her company Machin Consulting in the same year.
Her original seat of Gloucester was abolished before the 1988 state election, so she stood for the newly recreated seat of Manning which covered the a portion of the same area. Manning was subsequently abolished and she won the seat of Port Macquarie at the 1991 state election.
Machin was Deputy Speaker and became the first woman to chair the New South Wales Parliament.[5] She appointed Minister for Consumer Affairs in the coalition government of John Fahey on 26 May 1993.[2][5]
The election of the Carr Labor government in 1995 saw the coalition in opposition. Machin was appointed shadow minister for Consumer Affairs, Roads and Fisheries until she resigned from Parliament on 28 August 1996 after the birth of her second child.[3] Her resignation prompted the 1996 Port Macquarie by election, won by then National Party member Rob Oakeshott[6].[2]
Machin became the President of Save the Children Fund NSW in 1996, remaining in that position until 2000, as well as serving on the National Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.[3][4][5][7]
Between 1997 and 2000 Machin was the Deputy Chair of the Australian Republican Movement.[2][4] She was an delegate to the Constitutional Convention in February 1998, elected by a voluntary ballot run by the Australian Electoral Commission [8][9]
In 2005, Machin was elected to the board of the NRMA [10] to represent the Coghlan region, which stretches from the Hunter River to the Queensland border. Following her re-election to the NRMA board on 8 December 2008, Machin became President on 10 December.[4][7]
Wendy Machin married David Bell, the former chief executive of the Australian Bankers' Association and now a senior executive at Westpac on 20 July 1991 and they have 3 children; James, Georgia and Emma.[1][2][3][4] Her only sibling, Janne, was left profoundly disabled after a difficult birth.[11]
| Parliament of New South Wales | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Leon Punch |
Member for Gloucester 1985-1988 |
Succeeded by Abolished |
| Preceded by Recreated |
Member for Manning 1988-1991 |
Succeeded by Abolished |
| Preceded by Bruce Jeffery |
Member for Port Macquarie 1991-1996 |
Succeeded by Rob Oakeshott |