Margaret Reid

Margaret Elizabeth Reid AO (born 28 May 1935) is a former Australian politician. She was the first woman to be President of the Australian Senate.^[1]

Early years

Born Margaret McLachlan^[2] near Adelaide, South Australia, Reid was educated at the University of Adelaide, obtaining a LLB. There she joined the Liberal Party, becoming the first female president of the Australian Liberal Students Federation. After graduating, Reid became a barrister, specialising in family law; and moved to Canberra in 1965.

Political career

On 5 May 1981, Margaret Reid was elected by a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament to fill a casual vacancy in the representation of the Australian Capital Territory in the Senate, following the sudden death of her close friend, Senator John Knight. This was the first of only two occasions on which a Senate casual vacancy was filled in this manner, as the law was later changed to provide for a replacement senator to be appointed by the relevant territory (ACT or NT) legislative assembly.^[3]

Reid became Liberal Whip in the Senate in 1987 and held the office until 1995. In 1996, she was elected President of the Senate, retiring from the position in 2002 after six years. Reid resigned from the Senate on 14 February 2003, and was replaced by the former ACT Chief Minister, Gary Humphries.

Honours and Awards

An active patron of over eighty community organisations in Canberra, in 2004 she was appointed an Officer (AO) in the Order of Australia for her service to the Australian Parliament and the community. She was inaugural President of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.^{[citation needed]}

Reid is the patron of the Australian Women's History Forum with Mary Sexton.^[4]

External links

• Margaret Reid, Senate Biography

References