Felicity Lesley Wilson (born 7 June 1982) is an Australian politician. She has been a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

representing the

electoral district of North Shore North Shore is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, located on Sydney's lower North Shore. It is currently held by MP Felicity Wilson. History North Shore was originally created as a ...

for 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 ...

since 2017. Wilson was first elected on 8 April 2017 at the North Shore state by-election held to replace the previous member, former Minister for Health

Jillian Skinner Jillian Gell Skinner (born 5 August 1944) is an Australian politician who was the New South Wales Minister for Health in the Baird government. Skinner was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing North Shore for the ...

, and was re-elected in the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

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elections.

Early life and background

Wilson was born in 1982 in Cessnock as the youngest of 3 children. She lives in Cremorne with her husband and their 2 children, both born since her election to parliament. In her inaugural speech to the Parliament, she spoke about her turbulent childhood due to her father's undiagnosed schizophrenia which led to violence experienced by her and her sisters. She pledged her commitment to addressing the stigma associated with mental illness. She went to Nulkaba Public School until her family circumstances required her to move to the Central Coast where she finished primary school and started high school, later completing her secondary education at

Tara Anglican School for Girls Tara Anglican School for Girls (commonly referred to as Tara) is an independent Anglican single-sex early learning, primary, and secondary day and boarding school for girls, located in North Parramatta, a western suburb of Sydney, New South ...

after receiving an academic scholarship. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

and a Bachelor of Media from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

. Prior to her election, she was studying a Master of Business Administration at the

Australian Graduate School of Management The Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM @ UNSW Business School) is a postgraduate management and business school that is part of the UNSW Business School at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), in Sydney, New South Wales, A ...

at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

as a recipient of the AGSM Excellence Scholarship, including a term completed at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

Booth School of Business The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...

. Before entering politics, Wilson was a corporate affairs director for

Broadspectrum Broadspectrum, formerly known as Transfield Services, was an Australian and New Zealand company that provided infrastructure maintenance services. Formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, and later owned by Ferrovial, it was then ...

, and had previously worked in executive and corporate affairs roles at the

Property Council of Australia The Property Council of Australia is an Australian national lobby group representing property developers and property owners. It was formed as the Building Owners and Managers’ Association of Australia (BOMA) 1966, incorporated in 1969, and assum ...

and

Caltex Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. It is also the brand name of non-Chevron petroleum companies in some countries (such as New Zealand, and previously ...

. Prior to her election, Wilson served as Vice President of the NSW Liberal Party and as President of the Liberal Women's Council (NSW) from 2012 to 2015.

Political career

Wilson provided incorrect information in a statutory declaration and 'solemn declaration' when she falsely claimed to have lived in the North Shore constituency for a decade. In relation to that affair, a sub-committee of the Mosman branch of the Liberal Party recorded that it had been left 'unimpressed by the apparent evasiveness of many answers' on Wilson's part, 'together with the lack of contrition for any embarrassment caused to the party'. In a separate scandal, Wilson admitted to providing false information on political forms having overstated the number of undergraduate university degrees that she held. Ms Wilson claimed she had a double degree from Macquarie University when she applied to be vice-president of the NSW Liberal state executive in 2013. However, she later admitted to holding only one undergraduate degree. Despite a 16.5-point against the Liberals on a two-candidate preferred basis, Wilson was elected on 8 April 2017 at the North Shore state by-election held to replace the previous member,

. In 2018, while heavily pregnant with her first child, Wilson was challenged for preselection by the hard-right's Tim James, who had lost preselection to Wilson first in 2017. Wilson was strongly supported by the Premier

Gladys Berejiklian Gladys Berejiklian (born 22 September 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021. Berejiklian became a member ...

along with the moderate wing of the Liberal Party. Wilson is known to support action on climate change and had been an advocate for women's rights including supporting legislation to decriminalise abortion & introduce safe access zones around abortion clinics. The preselection was influenced by the heavy presence of right-wing Liberal Party members installed in support of Tony Abbott in the overlapping Federal electorate of Warringah. After Wilson narrowly won the vote, James and right-wing supporters chose to challenge the preselection in the NSW Supreme Court. However, his case was dismissed. Wilson suffered a 10.1-point against her on a two-candidate preferred basis at the 2019 election, but retained her seat.

External links

Inaugural speech to NSW Parliament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Felicity Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1982 births 21st-century Australian women politicians People from Cessnock, New South Wales Macquarie University alumni University of Sydney alumni