There have been 153 women in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

since the establishment of the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

. Women have had the right to both vote and sit in parliament since 1902. The first woman to run for the House of Representatives was Selina Anderson at the 1903 election for Dalley, but the first woman elected to the House was Dame

Enid Lyons Dame Enid Muriel Lyons (née Burnell; 9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was an Australian politician who was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in federal cabinet. Prior to her own political ca ...

at the 1943 election for Darwin. At that election, the first woman member of the Senate was also elected, and there have been women members of the Senate continuously ever since. By contrast, the House of Representatives has had women members continuously only since 1980. All states and territories have been represented by women in the House of Representatives. In the 45th Australian Parliament there were 44 women.

List

* names in bold indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries * names in ''italics'' indicate entry into Parliament through a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

* * symbolises members who have sat as members in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:200 left:20 AlignBars = early DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1940 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1940 Colors = id:LP value:blue legend: Liberal Party of Australia id:AL value:red legend: Australian Labor Party id:UA value:darkblue legend: United Australia Party id:NP value:teal legend: National Party of Australia id:ON value:yellow legend: Pauline Hanson's One Nation id:ID value:gray(0.6) legend: Independent Legend = columns:3 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:200 BarData = bar:Lyons barset:MHRs bar:Child barset:MHRs2 bar:Bailey barset:MHRs3 bar:Gambaro barset:MHRs4 bar:Hanson barset:MHRs5 bar:Jackson barset:MHRs6 bar:Banks barset:MHRs7 barset:MHRs8 PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till bar:Lyons from:1943 till:1944 color:UA text:" from:1944 till:1951 color:LP text:"

(1943–1951)" barset:MHRs from:1946 till:1949 color:ID text:" Doris Blackburn (1946–1949)" from:1966 till:1969 color:LP text:" Kay Brownbill (1966–1969)" bar:Child from:1974 till:1975 color:AL text:" from:1980 till:1990 color:AL text:" Joan Child (1974–1975, 1980–1990)" barset:MHRs2 from:1980 till:1993 color:AL text:"

Elaine Darling Elaine Elizabeth Darling (''née'' Melloy; 6 June 1936 – 30 August 2019) was an Australian politician. The Labor member for Lilley from 1980 to 1993, she was the first woman from Queensland to be elected to the House of Representatives. Earl ...

(1980–1993)" from:1980 till:1995 color:AL text:"

Ros Kelly Roslyn Joan Kelly AO (née Raw; born 25 January 1948) is a former member of the Australian House of Representatives, having represented the Division of Canberra from 18 October 1980 to 30 January 1995. She was a minister in the governments ...

(1980–1995)" from:1983 till:1996 color:AL text:" Wendy Fatin (1983–1996)" from:1983 till:1987 color:AL text:" Helen Mayer (1983–1987)" from:1983 till:1996 color:AL text:"

Jeannette McHugh Jeannette McHugh (; born 18 December 1934) is a former Australian politician who was the first woman from New South Wales elected to federal parliament. She served in the House of Representatives from 1983 to 1996, representing the Australian L ...

(1983–1996)" from:1984 till:1993 color:AL text:" Carolyn Jakobsen (1984–1993) from:1984 till:2001 color:LP text:" Kathy Sullivan (1984–2001)" from:1987 till:1996 color:AL text:" Mary Crawford (1987–1996)" from:1987 till:1990 color:AL text:"

Elizabeth Harvey Elizabeth Robyn Harvey (born 19 October 1946) is an Australian politician. She was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1987 to 1990. Harvey was born in Adelaide on 19 October 1946. She completed a d ...

(1987–1990)" bar:Bailey from:1990 till:1993 color:LP text:" from:1996 till:2010 color:LP text:"

Fran Bailey Frances Esther Bailey (born 21 May 1946) is a former Australian politician. She is a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives from 1990 to 1993 and 1996 to 2010, representing the Division of McEwen in Victoria. Sh ...

(1990–1993, 1996–2010)" barset:MHRs3 from:1990 till:2004 color:AL text:"

Janice Crosio Janice Ann Crosio (; born 3 January 1939) is an Australian politician from the Labor Party. She was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and became the first woman Cabinet minister in New South Wales. Later she was a member of ...

(1990–2004)" from:1990 till:2004 color:LP text:"

Chris Gallus Christine Ann Gallus (born 6 April 1943) is a former Australian politician who served as a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1990 to 2004, representing two different seats in South Australia—the Division of Hawker ...

(1990–2004)" from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:" Maggie Deahm (1993–1996)" from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:"

Mary Easson Mary Louise Easson (née Alexander) (born 16 June 1955) is an Australian politician. She was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996, representing the Sydney-based electorate of Lowe. Ear ...

(1993–1996)" from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:" Marjorie Henzell (1993–1996)" from:1993 till:2013 color:LP text:"

Judi Moylan Judith Eleanor Moylan (born 24 February 1944) is a former Australian politician. She served in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2013, representing the Western Australian seat of Pearce for the Liberal Party. She served as Minister fo ...

(1993–2013)" from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:"

Silvia Smith Silvia Joy Smith (22 December 1939 – 6 March 2020) was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), serving in the Australian House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996 and the Tasmanian Legislative Council f ...

(1993–1996)" from:1993 till:2004 color:LP text:"

Trish Worth Patricia Mary Worth (born 21 April 1946), Australian politician, is a former Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1993 to October 2004, representing the Division of Adelaide, South Australia. She was born in Ri ...

(1993–2004)" from:1994 till:2007 color:AL text:"

Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian academic and former politician who was the Premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. A member of the Labor Party, sh ...

(1994–2007)" from:1994 till:2016 color:LP text:" Bronwyn Bishop (1994–2016)" from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:" Trish Draper (1996–2007)" from:1996 till:2010 color:AL text:"

Annette Ellis Annette Louise Ellis (born 13 October 1946), Australian politician, was a Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from the Australian Capital Territory, from March 1996 to August 2010, representing the Division of Namadgi ...

(1996–2010)" from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:" Kay Elson (1996–2007)" bar:Gambaro from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:" from:2010 till:2016 color:LP text:" Teresa Gambaro (1996–2007, 2010–2016)" barset:MHRs4 from:1996 till:2013 color:LP text:"

Joanna Gash Joanna Gash (born 21 July 1944) is a former Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives representing the Division of Gilmore for the Liberal Party from 1996 to 2013. In 2012, Gash was directly elected as the ...

(1996–2013)" from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:" Elizabeth Grace (1996–1998)" bar:Hanson from:1996 till:1997 color:ID text:" from:1997 till:1998 color:ON text:" Pauline Hanson (1996–1998)" barset:MHRs5 from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:" Susan Jeanes (1996–1998)" from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:"

Ricky Johnston Henrike "Ricky" Johnston (; born 29 September 1943) is a former Australian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, she represented the Western Australian seat of Canning in the House of Representatives from 1996 to 1998. Early life Johnston ...

(1996–1998)" from:1996 till:2007 color:NP text:"

De-Anne Kelly De-Anne Margaret Kelly (née Park; born 21 March 1954) is an Australian former politician. Kelly was a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until November 2007, representing the Division of Dawson, ...

(1996–2007)" from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:"

Jackie Kelly Jacqueline Marie Kelly (born 18 February 1964) is a former Australian politician who served as a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until November 2007, representing the Division of Lindsay, New South Wale ...

(1996–2007)" from:1996 till:2019 color:AL text:"

Jenny Macklin Jennifer Louise Macklin (born 29 December 1953) is an Australian former politician. She was elected to federal parliament at the 1996 federal election and served as the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2001 to 2006, unde ...

(1996–2019)" from:1996 till:2016 color:LP text:"

Sharman Stone Sharman Nancy Stone (née Bawden; born 23 April 1951) is a former Australian politician who represented Murray in the Australian House of Representatives between March 1996 and July 2016 as a member of the Liberal Party. She currently serves a ...

(1996–2016)" from:1996 till:2010 color:LP text:" Danna Vale (1996–2010)" from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:" Andrea West (1996–1998)" from:1998 till:2019 color:LP text:"

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Curtin ...

(1998–2019)" from:1998 till:2016 color:AL text:" Anna Burke (1998–2016)" from:1998 till:2001 color:AL text:" Jane Gerick (1998–2001)" from:1998 till:2013 color:AL text:" Julia Gillard (1998–2013)" from:1998 till:2016 color:AL text:"

Jill Hall Jill Griffiths Hall (born 16 November 1949) is an Australian former politician who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives, from 1998 until 2016, representing the seat of Shortland, New South Wales for the Labor Party. S ...

(1998–2016)" from:1998 till:2007 color:AL text:"

Kelly Hoare Kelly Joy Hoare (; born 1 July 1963) is a former Australian politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2007, representing the New South Wales seat of Charlton for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She succeeded h ...

(1998–2007)" from:1998 till:2010 color:NP text:"

Kay Hull Kay Elizabeth Hull (born 3 February 1954) is a former Australian politician who served as a National Party member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2010, representing the Division of Riverina in New South Wales. Hull was born in Gu ...

(1998–2010)" from:1998 till:2010 color:AL text:"

Julia Irwin Julia Claire Irwin (; born 8 November 1951) is a former Australian politician. She represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives from 1998 to 2010, holding the New South Wales s ...

(1998–2010)" from:1998 till:2001 color:AL text:"

Cheryl Kernot Cheryl Zena Kernot (née Paton, formerly Young; born 5 December 1948) is an Australian politician, academic, and political activist. She was a member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland for the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 199 ...

(1998–2001)" from:1998 till:2013 color:AL text:" Kirsten Livermore (1998–2013)" from:1998 till:2004 color:AL text:" Jann McFarlane (1998–2004)" from:1998 till:2010 color:LP text:" Margaret May (1998–2010)" from:1998 till:2004 color:AL text:"

Michelle O'Byrne Michelle Anne O'Byrne (born 6 March 1968) is Australian politician for the Australian Labor Party. She was elected in the 2006 state election to the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the division of Bass. Prior to her election to state parliamen ...

(1998–2004)" from:1998 till:2025 color:AL text:"

Tanya Plibersek Tanya Joan Plibersek (born 2 December 1969) is an Australian politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sydney since 1998 ...

(1998–present)" from:1998 till:2013 color:AL text:"

Nicola Roxon Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967) is a former Australian politician, who was a member of the House Representatives representing the seat of Gellibrand in Victoria for the Australian Labor Party from the 1998 federal election until he ...

(1998–2013)" barset:skip

Proportion of women in the House

Numbers and proportions are as they were directly after the relevant election and do not take into account by-elections, defections or other changes in membership. State-based Coalition parties that caucus with one of the major parties ( Liberal National Party,

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

) have been included in the Liberals' or Nationals' totals.

References

* * {{Women in national government Women, House of Representatives Representatives

List

Timeline

Proportion of women in the House

See also

References