Anna Watson is an Australian politician and a member of the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Legislative Assembly representing the

electoral district of Shellharbour Shellharbour is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Anna Watson who won Labor preselection after the former member Lylea McMahon decided not to contest the 2011 ...

Personal life

Watson grew up in Loftus. She was employed in accounting and clerical jobs before becoming a union organiser with the

United Services Union The United Services Union (registered as the NSW Local Government Clerical Administrative Energy Airlines & Utilities Union) is a trade union representing workers in a variety of industries. The USU is affiliated with the Australian Council of ...

.ABC Illawarra:
''Union organiser wins Labor preselection'' In the 12 years she spent in that role, Watson was involved in union activities in a number of industries.

Preselection

Watson was preselected in 2010 following the resignation of former member Lylea McMahon. McMahon had been "parachuted" into the seat prior to the 2007 State election by " Sussex Street" – Labor Party headquarters in Sydney.ABC Illawarra:
''Illawarra Labor adjusting to life in Opposition'' A number of factional opponents claimed she had been personally selected by former

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Morris Iemma Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...

. Her appointment was strongly opposed by local

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...

official Andy Gillespie – the two had previously been in conflict over a dispute at the nearby

BlueScope BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2002. History BlueScope was formed when BHP Billiton spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueScope ...

facility at

Port Kembla A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

. In the years between the 2007 and 2011 elections, Gillespie

lobbied In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

the Labor Party to give local branch members the chance to select a local candidate. Labor Party officials capitulated and McMahon realised she could not win the preselection vote. She resigned the night before the preselection committee was due to meet. Watson won the subsequent preselection vote.

Election

During the 2011 election campaign, anonymous brochures were distributed throughout the electorate claiming Watson was not fit to hold office. The material claimed of Watson that a, "recent background of infidelity, deception, lies and immoral conduct precedes this person" – claims Watson denied "unreservedly". Watson later said she believed she knew who had published the brochures and that neither the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

or a factional

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

opponent had been responsible for the material. Watson was elected at the 2011 state election, despite a general swing against the Labor Party.

Other

In 2020, Watson deleted her

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account after apologising to

Joe Hildebrand Joe Hildebrand is an Australian journalist, television and radio presenter. Hildebrand writes for Sydney's ''The Daily Telegraph'' and is also known to contribute to a number of other News Corp publications, including Melbourne's Herald Sun an ...

for her comments to him after he criticised Victorian Premier

Daniel Andrews Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian politician serving as the 48th and current premier of Victoria since December 2014. He has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since December ...

' COVID-19 response.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Anna Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Australian trade unionists 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians