Maureen Gertrude Theresa Worsley (née Anderson; 1937–2001) was an Australian politician. Worsley was born in Burton-on-Trent in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in England in 1937. In 1970 she married Mike Worsley and later that year migrated to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. She was elected to the new Legislative Assembly as a member for

in 1975 for the centrist Australia Party. When most of the Australia Party merged into the new Australian Democrats in 1977, Worsley declined to join the new party, and sat as an Independent until the 1979 election. She was an Independent candidate for the electorate of

in the 1982 election for the House of Assembly, which by then had replaced the earlier Legislative Assembly. Worsley was active in abortion rights protests in the 1970s, and was an active member of the Women's Tent Embassy outside

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * Parliament House, Darwin, Parliame ...

protesting against abortion laws in 1973. One of the leaders of that protest was Beryl Henderson, who founded the

Canberra Women's Refuge Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The c ...

in 1975. The immediate prompt for the Women's Tent Embassy was to support the

Private Member’s Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...

proposed by MPs David McKenzie and Tony Lamb, the Medical Practice Clarification Bill, which, if it had passed, would have allowed abortion in the Australian Capital Territory.Warhurst, John, and Vance Merrill. “The Abortion Issue in Australia: Pressure Politics and Policy.” ''The Australian Quarterly'', vol. 54, no. 2, 1982, pp. 119–135. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/20635163. Accessed 18 Nov. 2020. Worsley died in 2001 of

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worsley, Maureen 1937 births 2001 deaths Australia Party politicians Australian Capital Territory politicians Members of the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians

See also

References