Pru Goward

The Honourable Pru Goward MP
Pru Goward visits La traviata in Sydney (2012)
Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Goulburn
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 March 2007
Preceded by	new district
Majority	6.70 points (2015)
Minister for Mental Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 April 2015
Premier	Mike Baird
Preceded by	Jai Rowell
Minister for Medical Research
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 April 2015
Premier	Mike Baird
Preceded by	Jillian Skinner
Minister for Women
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 April 2011
Premier	Barry O'Farrell Mike Baird
Preceded by	Linda Burney
Assistant Minister for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 April 2015
Premier	Mike Baird
Preceded by	Jai Rowell
Minister for Planning
In office 23 April 2014 – 2 April 2015
Premier	Mike Baird
Preceded by	Brad Hazzard
Succeeded by	Rob Stokes
Minister for Family and Community Services
In office 3 April 2011 – 23 April 2014
Premier	Barry O'Farrell
Preceded by	Linda Burney
Succeeded by	Gabrielle Upton
Personal details
Born	(1952-11-02) 2 November 1952 Adelaide, South Australia
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	David Barnett (m. 1986) Alastair Fischer (m. 1973; dis. 1983)
Children	Three including Kate Fischer
Alma mater	Adelaide University (1974)
Website	Parliamentary biography

Prudence Jane Goward MP (born 2 September 1952 in Adelaide^[1]), an Australian politician, is the New South Wales Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and Assistant Minister for Health since April 2015, and the Minister for Women since 2011, in the second Baird government.^[2] Goward is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Goulburn for the Liberal Party of Australia since 2007. She has previously served as the Minister for Planning during 2014 and 2015, and the Minister for Community Services between 2011 and 2014, in the O'Farrell and first Baird governments.^[3][4]

Prior to entering politics, Goward served as the Australian Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination with the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Early life and personal background

Goward was born to Gerald Goward and Zipporah Riggs, and was raised in Adelaide. She attended Morphett Vale Primary School, Willunga High School and gained entrance to Woodlands Church of England Girls Grammar School on a half scholarship.^[1] She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Econ) (Hons) in 1974 from Adelaide University.

Goward married journalist David Barnett in 1986. She was previously married from 1973 to 1983 to university lecturer Alastair Fischer, whom she met while studying at Adelaide University.^[1] She is the mother of three daughters, former model and actor Kate Fischer, Penny Fischer, and Alice Barnett. She has two granddaughters. ^[5]

Goward and Barnett have maintained a close personal friendship with former prime minister John Howard for many years, and jointly authored a biography of Howard in 1997.^[6]

Career

Goward joined ABC TV and Radio in 1980, firstly as a reporter with Nationwide, then as a political correspondent on the 7.30 Report, and later as host of the Morning Show and Daybreak on Radio National. She has also worked as a high school teacher, a university lecturer in economics, a broadcast journalism lecturer at University of Canberra, a media consultant and freelance writer. ^[7]

She was Executive Director of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1997 to 1999. In this position, Goward criticised the business community for the "primitive attitudes" that kept women out of senior executive ranks and boardrooms.^[8] At the time of her appointment, she was criticised by Anne Summers, a previous Executive Director, and Carmen Lawrence, a prominent female politician, for her perceived inexperience and political connection to the Howard government.^[9]

Goward was the Sex Discrimination Commissioner at HREOC, a five-year tenure she began in July 2001. In this role, she called for the introduction of paid maternity leave, a position rejected by the Howard government. Howard extended her tenure for an additional three years in July 2006. However, she successfully ran for New South Wales state parliament in March 2007.

Pru Goward, while Minister for the Department of Family and Community Services, initiated the Going Home Staying Home reforms which redistributed funding for youth refuges across the state.^[10][11]:14

Parliamentary career

Pru Goward at the 2008 NSW Country Liberals conference in Wagga Wagga

In 2006, Goward nominated for Liberal Party preselection for the New South Wales state parliament in seat of Epping in Sydney's north-west, but was defeated^[12] by the former President of the Right to Life Association,^[13] Greg Smith. She was subsequently preselected unopposed for the seat of Goulburn, to replace retiring Liberal frontbencher Peta Seaton. Goward was expected to win the seat, however an unexpectedly strong swing to Labor in the Southern Highlands area of the seat put her victory in doubt on election night. Her main contender, Independent Mayor of Goulburn Paul Stephenson, conceded defeat on 29 March 2007. Goward was quoted as saying that she "didn't expect to win it. I knew I was behind the whole time, even four days before the election we were told I was five points behind, so I'm just so grateful."^[14]>

As the Minister responsible for child protective services there have been reports of inadequate staffing and services to meet the need.^[15][16]

As the state's Community Services Minister, Goward announced in mid-March 2014 that around 300 harbourfront public housing properties will be sold under the management of Government Property NSW, with the proceeds reinvested into the public housing system. Considered historic structures, the harbourfront properties are located at Millers Point, The Rocks and on Gloucester Street, and include the Sirius complex, a high-rise, 79-unit apartment complex near the Harbour Bridge. The government expects to generate hundreds of millions of dollars from the sales and Goward explained, as a justification of the sale: "In the last two years alone, nearly [A]$7 million has been spent maintaining this small number of properties. That money could have been better spent on building more social housing, or investing in the maintenance of public housing properties across the state."^[17]

Due to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as Premier,^[18] and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the new Liberal Leader,^[3] in April 2014 in addition to her existing responsibilities as a minister, Goward was appointed as the Minister for Planning; and lost the portfolio of Family and Community Services.^[4][19] Following the 2015 state election, Goward was sworn in as the Minister for Mental Health, the Minister for Medical Research, the Minister for Women, the Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (a newly created portfolio), and the Assistant Minister for Health in the second Baird government.^[2]

Controversy

After being in Parliament a single day, Goward told a symposium of women in leadership in Sydney "I have never worked in any profession as male-dominated or as ruthlessly sexist as this. I was quite shocked by it."^[20] These comments have not been supported by other female MPs from both sides of politics, who generally said Parliament had improved.^[21]

In May 2007, Goward was caught speeding in a school zone. This was her second driving offence for 2007. Goward said "It was extremely careless on my part and like thousands of other drivers I deeply regret it."^[22][23]

In February 2014, Katrina Hodgkinson, the Nationals Member for Burrinjuck, a neighbouring electorate of Goulburn, announced that she would be contesting Goward's seat of Goulburn. Her decision followed a statewide electoral redistribution by the NSW Electoral Commission that resulted in a substantial revision of Hodgkinson's seat of Burrinjuck and the seat renamed as Cootamundra, with effect from the 2015 state election.^[24][25] Her announcement resulted in a dispute between the Nationals and Liberals;^[26][27] and on 28 February, Hodgkinson announced she would withdraw her nomination for Goulburn. Hodgkinson subsequently contested the newly constituted seat of Cootamundra,^[28] and won the seat for the National Party.

Awards

Goward was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 for services to journalism and women's rights.^[29]

References

External links

• Profile of Pru Goward at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
• Official Website of Pru Goward

Publications

• Barnett, David; Goward, Pru (1997). John Howard, Prime Minister. Viking. ISBN 0-670-87389-6. 
• Goward, Pru (2001). A Business of Your Own: How Women Succeed in Business. Australia: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-593-6.