Wendy Maxine Duncan (née Tonkin; born 7 October 1954) is an Australian politician who was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 2013 to 2017, representing the seat of Kalgoorlie. She was previously a member of the Legislative Council, representing the Agricultural Region from 2008 to 2009 and the Mining and Pastoral Region from 2009 to 2013. She is a patron of the Earbus Foundation of Western Australia.

Early life

Duncan was born in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

, Western Australia, to Shirley Maxine (née Davies) and Stephen John Tonkin.Wendy Maxine Duncan
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 9 July 2016. She and her siblings were raised on her parents'

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

, and received their early education from the

School of the Air School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is n ...

. Duncan later boarded at

Methodist Ladies' College, Perth , motto_translation = Through Striving to the Heights , established = 1907 , type = Independent, day and boarding , gender = Girls , denomination = Uniting Church , ...

. After leaving school, she spent a year in South Africa through the

Rotary Youth Exchange Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) is a Rotary International student exchange program for students in secondary school. Since 1929, Rotary International has sent young people around the globe to experience new cultures. Currently, about 9,000 students ...

, and then enrolled at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, eventually graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in politics and Australian history. Duncan worked for the

National Farmers' Federation The National Farmers' Federation (NFF) is an Australian non-profit membershipbased organization that represents farmers and the agricultural sector in Australia. Historically, NFF was a key player in a number of industrial relations disputes, inc ...

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 ...

from 1977 to 1979, and also completed a postgraduate diploma at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

). Returning to Western Australia, she married Ian Murray Duncan in 1980, with whom she had four children, and then worked part-time at legal firms in Kalgoorlie and Esperance. She later worked in various administrative positions for the

Shire of Esperance The Shire of Esperance is a local government area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, about south of the town of Kalgoorlie and about east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its sea ...

Politics

From 1994 to 1998, Duncan worked as a research officer for

Ross Ainsworth Ross Andrew Ainsworth (born 25 September 1947) is an Australian politician. He was a National Party of Western Australia member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 2005, representing the electorate of Roe. Ainsworth was b ...

, a long-serving Nationals MLA for the seat of Roe. She joined the party herself in 2001, and from 2002 to 2003 served as president of the party's Esperance branch. Duncan served on the party's state executive from 2003 to 2004, and then from 2004 to 2008 served as state president, becoming the first woman to hold the position. During her presidency, she was one of the architects of the party's

Royalties for Regions Royalties for Regions is a political policy formulated by the National Party in 2008 which involves the redirection of Western Australian state government spending from the major population centres, particularly Perth, into the rural areas of th ...

policy. She first stood for parliament at the 2005 state election, running second (behind Murray Criddle) on the party's ticket in Agricultural Region, but was not elected. She was also second on the party's ticket for the

Senate 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 ...

at the 2007 federal election, but neither her nor the lead candidate, Tony Crook, were elected. However, in January 2008, Murray Criddle resigned from parliament, with Duncan taking his position in the Legislative Council on a

countback In various sports, a countback is used to break ties. Field events High jump and pole vault World Athletics, the international governing body for athletics, uses the following criteria to break ties (rule 26.8 in the 2020 edition of the World At ...

. In her inaugural speech, she expressed concerns about foreign ownership of Australian resources,

economic rationalism Economic rationalism is an Australian term often used in the discussion of macroeconomic policy, applicable to the economic policy of many governments around the world, in particular during the 1980s and 1990s. Economic rationalists tend to favour ...

, the dominance of the two major parties and the neglect of regional and rural areas. At the 2008 state election, Duncan transferred to the Mining and Pastoral Region, allowing a former party leader, Max Trenorden, to take her old seat. She was subsequently included in the new ministry formed by

Colin Barnett Colin James Barnett (born 15 July 1950) is a former Australian politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other po ...

of 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 ...

, becoming parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Lands, and also assistant minister to the Minister for State Development and the

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

.Ms Wendy Maxine Duncan MLA BA, GradDipSecStud, GradDipBus
– Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 9 July 2016. In April 2012, Duncan won

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

for the seat of Kalgoorlie at the 2013 state election. At the election, in April 2013, she received 56.3 percent of the

two-candidate-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

, becoming the first member of the party to win the seat since its creation in 1901. After the election, she was elected deputy speaker to

Michael Sutherland Michael William Sutherland (born 23 October 1954) is an Australian politician who was the Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. He was a Liberal Party of Australia (West ...

. Duncan stood for the deputy leadership of the National Party in November 2013, following the resignation of party leader

Brendon Grylls Brendon John Grylls (born 5 June 1973) is an Australian politician who was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 2001 to 2017. Grylls became leader of the National Party in Western Australia from 2005 to ...

, but was defeated by

Mia Davies Mia Jane Davies (born 3 November 1978) is an Australian politician who is the current Leader of the Opposition and leader of the National Party in Western Australia. She has been a member of the state Legislative Assembly since 2013, having pr ...

. Davies was also Grylls' replacement in cabinet. In December 2014, Duncan stated that she might consider becoming an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, having been overlooked a second time for a ministerial position during a cabinet reshuffle. She also warned her party not to "get too focused on agriculture. Royalties for Regions comes from mining and petroleum royalties, so don't turn your back on the regions they come from." However, she re-affirmed her commitment to the party shortly after. Duncan announced in December 2015 that she would retire from parliament at the 2017 state election.Andrew Brosnan
"Wendy Duncan bows out of politics"
''The West Australian'', 7 December 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Wendy 1954 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Perth People from Kalgoorlie University of Western Australia alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Women members of the Western Australian Legislative Council

Early life

Politics

See also

References