Robyn Parker
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Robyn Mary Parker (born 3 August 1958), is a former Australian politician, and was 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
Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
for the Liberal Party from
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to 2015 and was previously a member of the
Legislative Council of New South Wales 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 ...
between
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and 2011. Parker was 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 ...
Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Heritage in the
O'Farrell O'Farrell is an anglicised form of the Old Irish patronym ''Ó Fearghail''. People with the surname * Barry O'Farrell, Australian politician * Bernadette O'Farrell (1924–1999), Irish actress * Bob O'Farrell, American baseballer * Brett O'Farre ...
government from 2011 until April 2014. Parker was succeeded by
Rob Stokes Robert Gordon Stokes (born 17 January 1975) is an Australian politician. Stokes is the New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Cities, and the Minister for Active Transport in the Perrottet ministry since 21 December 20 ...
in the Baird cabinet.


Early years and background

Parker was born to parents, Adeline and Campbell McEwen. Her family has its origins in the dairy farming district of
Taranaki, New Zealand Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...
. She studied at the Palmerston North Teachers' College at
Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
, New Zealand and obtained a Diploma of Teaching. She subsequently worked as a development officer with a focus on Children's Services for the
City of Sunshine The City of Sunshine was a local government area about west of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1860 until 1994. History The local area was first incorporated as the Braybro ...
between 1979 and 1980; a Family Day Care Co-ordinator for the
City of Oakleigh The City of Oakleigh was a local government area about southeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1891 until 1994. History Oakleigh was initially part of the Oakleigh R ...
between 1981 and 1982, and for
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
Centacare The Catholic Church in Australia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual and administrative leadership of the Holy See. From origins as a suppressed, mainly Irish minority in early colonial times, the church has grown ...
between 1982 and 1983. After moving to
Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
in the mid-1980s, she was the Co-ordinator of a mobile resource service between 1984 and 1995 and she also taught child studies for
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 ...
between 1985 and 1992. At Maitland, she developed one of the first mobile community outreach programs for that city. Her interest in politics became evident in 1999, when she became a political advisor to
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
John Tierney but left in November 2001 to become a manager at a skin cancer centre in
Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent ...
. At the clinic she developed and implemented a program to encourage women to take leadership positions within politics, particularly the Liberal party. Parker was the Vice-President of the Liberal Party of New South Wales in 1997–2000, and was the president of the NSW Women's Council in 2000–2003. As head of the Liberal Women's Forum, she supported the training and mentoring of women in all levels of Government and initiated the Pathways to Political Leadership Programme.


Political career


Ministerial career

As Minister for the Environment, Parker has sought to increase penalties for pollution and develop an independent Environment Protection Authority. She pursued a science-based approach to recovery of threatened species and secured additional funding for these programs. During Parker's ministry, the EPA also introduced an energy and waste policy aimed at business recycling across NSW, and programs to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. In three years as heritage minister Parker delivered a record number of Maitland buildings to the state heritage register including Maitland's Jewish Cemetery. During her time as Minister for the Environment, Parker also oversaw the creation of the most comprehensive air quality network in Australia Securing the International World Parks Congress for Sydney in November 2014, greater support for Taronga Zoo's conservation program, the introduction of legislation banning solaria, making NSW the second in the world to do so (a lead other states have followed) and provided increased funding for community, local government, not for profit and aboriginal heritage projects throughout New South Wale

Parker and the Environment Protection Authority received a lot of criticism following a Orica#Hexavalent chromium leak, Kooragang Island, Australia, hexavalent chromium emission at
Orica Orica Limited () is an Australian-based multinational corporation that is one of the world's largest providers of commercial explosives and blasting systems to the mining, quarrying, oil and gas, and construction markets, a supplier of sodium ...
's ammonium nitrate plant in Newcastle in August 2011;. Parker refused to apologise for why there was a delay in informing the public of the spill claiming she was left off of a crucial departmental email. The ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' reported " It was also reported that there was a pattern going back more than a decade with 32 documented serious pollution incidents in New South Wales since 1999 in which companies failed to notify authorities within 24 hours. Ms Parker has been criticised for not notifying the public about the incident until Thursday afternoon, three days later, despite being informed on Wednesday evening." The Parliamentary report showed that Parker was notified about the incident by the Office of Environment and Heritage on 10 August 2011 at 4.23pm. In the morning of 11 August 2011, the Premier's Chief of Staff was notified by Parker's office and Parker informed the parliament at 3:30pm. It was reported that Parker received media training from journalist
John Mangos John (born 9 July 1956) is an Australian news presenter. Mangos has previously been a news presenter on Sky News Australia. He has also made cameo appearances on the Australian comedy programs '' Pizza'', '' Swift and Shift Couriers'' and ''H ...
to handle the crisis. The head of Orica claimed he tried to contact Parker about the spill three times with no success. Parker responded "The time for Orica to contact the Government and environmental authorities was as soon as the Kooragang Island leak occurred – not seven days later". In November 2011, NSW Opposition Leader
John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians * J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...
called on the Premier to sack Parker saying "the job of a minister is to take responsibility for protecting the community and from day one, Ms Parker has clearly failed to live up to that standard". An upper house inquiry into the Orica incident was released in February 2012, the inquiry's report stated "The delay by the Minister for the Environment in informing the public regarding the leak, whether by press statement, ministerial statement or other means, was unacceptable" The inquiry also stated "in this instance Minister Parker's actions led to a great deal of political debate ultimately increasing public concern and confusion about the leak." Immediately after the Orica incident the Government held an independent inquiry with an independent chairperson. Brendan O'Reilly, the former director general of the NSW Premier's department. Mr O'Reilly's report stated that "The public were exposed to the media reporting of the political debate with claims and counter claims being made. This resulted in increased concerns and confusion in the minds of the public." On 11 October 2011, Parker introduced
the Protection of the Environment Legislation Amendment Bill
into the Parliament aimed at strengthening the ability of the Environment Protection Authority to regulate serious pollution incidents by significantly improving notification requirements and pollution incident response management provisions and increase penalties for non-compliance. The Bill was passed on 13 October 2011. In a budget estimates hearing in 2011, Parker stated "logging protects koalas." In reference to this quote, Parker stated " tdoesn't help koalas you know, this was a heated exchange," and "I was interrupted continuously and so I've missed a couple of words out in one sentence." Opposition environment spokesperson
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 ...
said that Parker had broken her government's promise of protecting koalas. Foley also said "Robyn Parker is allowing a national icon to be endangered thanks to her 'unsound ecological approach' " In one of her last acts as Minister for Environment, Parker launched a master plan for
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government ar ...
. The plan was seen as controversial and criticised by the opposition and former Australian of the Year
Ian Kiernan Ian Bruce Carrick Kiernan (4 October 1940 – 16 October 2018) was an Australian yachtsman, property developer, builder, and environmental campaigner, known for co-founding with Kim McKay the not-for-profit ''Clean Up Australia'' campaign in 19 ...
as commercialisation of the gardens. Former Prime Minister
Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...
also criticised the plan saying "While the government is spending a lot of money on a cultured headland park at Barangaroo to the west, the same government, with the authority of environment minister Robyn Parker, is spending money to destroy the gardens to the east". In 2014
Rob Stokes Robert Gordon Stokes (born 17 January 1975) is an Australian politician. Stokes is the New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Cities, and the Minister for Active Transport in the Perrottet ministry since 21 December 20 ...
succeeded Parker as the new Minister for the Environment in Premier
Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South W ...
's cabinet. Despite being endorsed as the candidate for the seat of Maitland, Parker announced her retirement from Parliament and did not contest the election held in March 2015.


Legislative Council

Parker was first touted as a Liberal candidate in 2000 However, she had to wait until 2002 to be pre-selected for the fifth position on the Liberal ticket, and was the seventh person elected on the combined Liberal/National ticket. Parker was elected to the Legislative Council in 2003. Parker delivered her Inaugural speech on 20 May 2003. During her time in Parliament Parker chaired a number of high-profile inquiries, including the Operation and Management of the NSW Ambulance Service, the Bullying of Children and Young People, and the Building the Education Revolution. She also served as the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Aboriginal Affairs and was Chair of the NSW Opposition's Hunter Taskforce. In 2004 she spoke on the debate of the Criminal Procedure Amendment Sexual Offences Bill in the New South Wales Parliament. She supported the introduction of closed circuit television for victims to give their evidence in court as she had been a victim when she was nineteen in New Zealand. In the debate she pointed out the different standards that apply to rape victims compared to other victims of crime. She said that if "an assailant held you at knifepoint, asked you for your wallet and you complied, there is no question that a crime was committed. You would not be asked if you consented. You would not be asked if you had tried to resist. Only survivors of sexual assault are asked these questions." Parker delivered her Valedictory Speech on 2 December 2010. Parker decided to seek election to the Legislative Assembly to fulfil a desire to become involved in politics at a more local level and was elected as the first female Member for Maitland in March 2011 Parker was appointed Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage in April 2011.


Legislative Assembly

On 19 February 2010, Parker was pre-selected by the Liberal Party to contest the semi-marginal
Lower House A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
seat of Maitland. At the 2011 election, Parker was elected with a swing of 20.3 per cent and won the seat with 56.3 per cent of the
two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...
vote. Her main competitor was the incumbent sitting member, Labor's
Frank Terenzini Francesco (Frank) Terenzini is a former Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2007 until 2011, representing the electorate of Maitland. He was a lawyer and teacher before entering ...
. In her inaugural speech to the Parliament Parker noted her aspirations as a member of the Liberal party to follow the lead of Menzies who named the party as a party of long-term vision, progressive rather than reactionary. Parker delivered her inaugural speech on 3 May 2011. As one of the fastest growing regional electorates in the country, infrastructure expenditure centring around roads, transport, schools and Hospitals was a priority during Parker’s term. Funding was secured, a site was selected, and planning commenced for a new teaching hospital. The new Hunter Expressway opened, A new overpass to reduce traffic congestion was built, and further road and rail projects were undertaken. Community Funding Initiatives in the Maitland electorate included an upgrade to the Maitland Hospital mental health unit, a new grandstand for the sportsground, and one of the first Service NSW sites was established. School funding initiatives included new environmental projects, and new playgrounds. Parker lobbied and achieved funding for a complete school rebuild for Hunter River Community School, and Rutherford Technology High School received a $15 million upgrade.


Post Political Career

After leaving parliament Parker resumed her career in community services. In 2015 Parker was appointed as Chief Executive Officer ageing and disability services, Delphis Australia. Parker has been appointed as a non-executive director to a number of not-for-profit and government boards including: Taronga Conservation Society, NextSense (formerly Royal Institute For Deaf And Blind Children), Hume Community Housing, Hunter Local Land Services, The Heritage Council of New South Wales.


Personal life

Parker is married to David and has three children Dylan, Chelsea and Heath and two stepchildren Ben and Tim. Her husband stood for the seat of
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
in the 2003 election. Parker told parliament in 2004 that she had been raped as a teenager and nailed her bedroom windows shut in the aftermath. In 2009 it was revealed that her eldest son, Dylan, then aged 22, made and flew paper planes and had become one of the world's best, while simultaneously dealing with the sudden discovery of a brain tumour. His story was broadcast in an episode of the ABC TV program ''
Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs Department. The program first aired on 29 ...
''.


References

  {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Robyn Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales 1958 births Living people Australian people of New Zealand descent Massey University alumni 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 21st-century Australian women politicians