Noreen Hay (born 10 March 1951) is an Australian politician and a former 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 ...

. She represented

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

for the Labor Party from 2003 to 2016. In July 2015, Hay stood down as NSW Opposition whip due to allegations of

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

and branch stacking. In August 2016, Hay resigned from the

NSW 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 House ...

triggering a by-election.

Early life

Hay was born in London into a working-class family of practising Christians. She was the second eldest of five children to parents Nora and Tadg Herlihy, who had migrated to the United Kingdom from

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland. She married Christopher Martin Hay and in 1982 they migrated with their four children to

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. Hay enrolled in Wollongong

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

and subsequently found employment with the NSW Home Care Service, caring for the elderly and bedridden in Wollongong's outer suburbs. She became a union official and regional secretary of the

Miscellaneous Workers' Union The Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union (F.M.W.U.), commonly known as the 'Missos', was an Australian trade union which existed between 1915 and 1992. It represented an extremely diverse and disparate range of occupations, but its core support ...

and worked as an electorate officer to

Jennie George Jennie George Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born Eugenie Sinicky; 28 August 1947) is an Australian politician, and former Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 2001 to July 2010, repres ...

, the Federal Member for Throsby.

Political career

In 2002, she won ALP preselection from the sitting member,

Col Markham Colin William Markham (4 June 1940 – 6 September 2020) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 2003, representing the electorates of Keira (1988–1999) and Wollongo ...

, and was the first woman elected for the seat of Wollongong. Following the 2007 election, Hay was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to Health Minister

Reba Meagher Reba Paige Meagher (born 11 September 1967) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of Cabramatta. She was a minister in various portfolios from 2003 to ...

. She was stood down in February 2008 by the Premier Iemma being named in an ICAC inquiry into Wollongong Council. Hay was re-appointed in March 2008 after being cleared by the ICAC.

State Premier The premiers and chief ministers of the Australian states and territories are the head of government, heads of the executive governments in the six states and two self-governing territories of Australia. They perform the same function at the s ...

Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...

dismissed Noreen Hay from her position as Parliamentary Secretary for Health on 12 September 2008 after allegations arose that she participated in simulated

mammary intercourse Mammary intercourse is a sex act, performed as either foreplay or as non-penetrative sex, that involves the stimulation of a man's penis by a woman's breasts and vice versa.Alex Comfort, ''The Joy of Sex'' (1972) p. 67-9 It involves placing ...

with Police Minister Matt Brown at an office party in June. Both Brown and Hay denied the allegations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Noreen 1951 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales English emigrants to Australia Australian people of Irish descent People from Wollongong 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians