Helen Mary Westwood AM is a former Australian politician and Labor Party member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

. Westwood was a member of the Council from 2007 to 2015.

Personal and early life

Westwood was born to Harry and Cecily Wray. Her brother David is known in the music industry as crooner Frank Bennett. Westwood married Bob in 1973, and they have two daughters and four grandchildren. She attended Catholic schools, but in her final year she attended Birrong Girls High School along with fellow politician

Lynda Voltz Lynda Jane Voltz (born 1965) is an Australian politician and Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Auburn since 2019. Voltz was previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2007 to ...

. She began her working life at 15 years of age and she has had a variety of jobs including shop assistant, accounting machinist, clerical assistant, stay-at-home mum, community worker and electorate officer. Westwood was previously married and is currently in a same-sex relationship.

Political career

Helen Westwood joined the Bargo-Picton Branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1976 (and which is now subsumed into the

Wollondilly Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area adjacent to the south-western fringe of Sydney, parts of which fall into the Macarthur, Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands regions in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wollondil ...

Branch). She became the Secretary of the Sefton Branch in 1977 and has remained an active member ever since. She was a Councillor of

Bankstown City Council The City of Bankstown was a local government area in the south-west region of Sydney, Australia, centred on the suburb of Bankstown, from 1895 to 2016. The last Mayor of the City of Bankstown Council was Clr Khal Asfour, a member of the Labor ...

between 1995 and 2007. She was its Deputy Mayor between 1997 and 1998, and between September 2002 to May 2006, she was the Mayor of Bankstown. She claims to be the first mayor of Bankstown to be elected to the New South Wales Parliament. She was a board member of the

Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) (pronounced 'wesrock') is one of the oldest Regional Organisations of Councils or ROCs in NSW, Australia. It was formed in November 1973 to represent the councils of Western Sydney and to ad ...

(WSROC) since 2001 and Chair from 2004 to 2005. She was also a member of the Executive of the New South Wales Local Government Association.Who's Who Australia She was a Director of the Board of Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation from 1996 to 2007. In 2006, she resigned as Mayor to become an adviser to State Fisheries Minister

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both ''Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from a ...

as a prelude to her nomination on the Labor Party ticket for the Legislative Council. She was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 2007 as a

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

faction candidate. She received the twelfth highest quota for the Council. Shortly after her election, she raised allegations about politician Paul Gibson assaulting fellow MP

Sandra Nori Sandra Christine Nori (born 16 June 1953 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is a former Australian politician and presently a company director and Member of Macquarie University Council. Nori was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assemb ...

resulting in Gibson standing down from the Ministry whilst the allegations were investigated. Gibson never returned to the Ministry and another Minister,

Phil Koperberg Philip Christian Koperberg (born 28 April 1943), is the Chairman of the New South Wales Emergency Management Committee, responsible for advising the New South Wales government on emergency response strategies, since 2011. Koperberg is a for ...

, was briefly stood aside in a related historical domestic violence allegations. These matters caused significant damage to the Iemma Labor Government. In 2008, she was one of a number of Australian politicians who backed besieged politician

Belinda Neal Belinda Jane Neal (born 10 January 1963) is a former Australian federal politician. She was a Member of the House of Representatives representing the electorate of Robertson between 2007 and 2010; and representing the state of New South Wales in ...

. In 2011, she was Deputy Chair of a parliamentary inquiry into domestic violence which pushed for an integrated response to domestic and family violence by the NSW Government. In 2014, Helen Westwood participated in a move by the Labor-affiliated Australian Services Union to allow the membership to vote on who the Union's delegates would preselect for the Labor ticket in the Legislative Council. Despite winning the endorsement of the ASU rank and file Helen ultimately failed in her bid to regain preselection on the back of other Left-affiliated unions (the AMWU,

CFMEU The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...

and CPSU) voting for

Luke Foley Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 July 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...

and

Mick Veitch Michael Stanley Veitch (born 19 December 1962) is an Australian politician and Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Veitch has been a member of the Council since 24 Mar ...

. Allegations were raised that this was the final payback for the earlier allegations against Paul Gibson.

Awards

In 2001, she was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

in 2001 for service to Local Government. In 2006, she was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) for her services to Local Government. In 2007, she was commended in the Women of the West Award for her commitment and dedication to improving social balance, equity, opportunity and community harmony.Women of the West Award 2007 , University of Western Sydney
UWS (21 November 2008). Retrieved on 14 March 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood, Helen Living people Labor Left politicians Australian lesbian politicians Members of the Order of Australia Mayors of Bankstown Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Year of birth missing (living people) LGBT legislators in Australia Place of birth missing (living people) Women mayors of places in New South Wales Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council