There have been 51 women in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

since its establishment in 1857. Women have had the right to vote and the right to stand as candidates since 1894. In 1895, South Australian

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

became the first state in Australia, and some of the first in the world, to be given the right to vote and stand for election to Parliament. The following year at the 1896 election, the first women in Australia voted. Ironically, South Australia was the last state to elect a female representative, at the 1959 election, when Jessie Cooper and

Joyce Steele Joyce Steele (29 May 1909 – 24 September 1991) was an Australian politician and one of the first two women elected to the Parliament of South Australia, the other being Jessie Cooper. Steele was elected to the House of Assembly and Coop ...

were elected to the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are ...

for the

Liberal and Country League Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and ...

(LCL). Molly Byrne was the first

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

woman in the House at the 1965 election. Women have been continuously represented in the House since. Steele would also become the first female minister in 1968. Only two women have represented minor parties, these being

Heather Southcott Heather Joyce Southcott, AM (15 November 1928 – 21 November 2014) was an Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Mitcham (now Waite) for the Australian Democrats. She was the first woman to lead a pa ...

for the Democrats in 1982, and

Karlene Maywald Karlene Ann Maywald (born 26 May 1961) is an Australian National Party politician who represented the seat of Chaffey in the South Australian House of Assembly from October 1997 until March 2010. Her election to the South Australian Parliame ...

for the Nationals from 1997 to 2010.

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Isobel Redmond Isobel Mary Redmond (born 8 April 1953) is a former Australian politician who was the member for the electoral district of Heysen in the House of Assembly from 2002 to 2018. She was the parliamentary leader of the South Australian Division of t ...

in 2009 became the first and only woman to lead a major party in South Australia when she became Leader of the Opposition. Labor's Lyn Breuer from 2010 to 2013 was the first and only female

Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly The Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly is the presiding officer of the South Australian House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of South Australia. The other presiding officer is the President of the South Australian Le ...

. South Australia has not had a female Premier or

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

List of women in the South Australian House of Assembly

Names in bold indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during their time in Parliament. Names in ''italics'' indicate women who were first elected at a by-election. An asterisk (*) indicates that the member also served in the Legislative Council.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:200 left:20 AlignBars = early DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1955 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1955 Colors = id:LP value:blue legend: Liberal & Country League/Liberal Party of Australia id:AL value:red legend: Australian Labor Party id:AD value:orange legend: Australian Democrats id:NP value:teal legend: National Party of Australia id:ID value:gray(0.6) legend: Independent Legend = columns:3 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:300 BarData = barset:MHAs bar:Bedford barset:MHAs2 PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:MHAs from:1959 till:1973 color:LP text:"

(1959–1973)" from:1965 till:1979 color:AL text:" Molly Byrne (1965–1979)" from:1977 till:1993 color:LP text:"

Jennifer Cashmore Jennifer Lilian Cashmore (born 5 December 1937) (previously, and for most of her political career, known as Mrs Jennifer Adamson) is a former Australian politician. She was a Liberal Party member of the South Australian House of Assembly betwee ...

(1977–1993)" from:1982 till:1982 color:AD text:"

(1982) from:1982 till:1989 color:AL text:" June Appleby (1982–1989)" from:1982 till:1993 color:AL text:" Susan Lenehan (1982–1993)" from:1985 till:1989 color:AL text:" Di Gayler (1985–1989)" from:1989 till:1993 color:AL text:" Colleen Hutchison (1989–1993)" from:1989 till:2006 color:LP text:"

Dorothy Kotz Dorothy Christine Kotz (born 3 January 1944) is a former Australian politician who was the sitting Liberal Party member for the electoral district of Newland of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1989 until her retirement in 2006. Care ...

(1989–2006)" from:1993 till:1997 color:LP text:" Julie Greig (1993–1997)" from:1993 till:2006 color:LP text:"

Joan Hall Joan Lynette Hall ( née Bullock) (born 22 December 1946) is a former member of the South Australian House of Assembly, serving in the electoral district of Coles from 1993 to 2002 and the renamed electoral district of Morialta from 2002 to ...

(1993–2006)" from:1993 till:2002 color:AL text:"

Annette Hurley Annette Kay Hurley (born 23 March 1955) is a former Australian politician. Elected at the 2004 federal election, she was a Labor member of the Australian Senate from July 2005, representing the state of South Australia. She announced in July 2 ...

(1993–2002)" from:1993 till:2010 color:LP text:"

Liz Penfold Elizabeth Meryl Penfold (born 15 September 1947) is an Australians, Australian retired politician who represented the seat of Electoral district of Flinders, Flinders in the South Australian House of Assembly for the Liberal Party of Australia ...

(1993–2010)" from:1993 till:1997 color:LP text:" Lorraine Rosenberg (1993–1997)" from:1994 till:2010 color:AL text:"

Lea Stevens Lea Stevens (born 15 June 1947) is a former South Australian politician. She was the Labor Party member for the electoral district of Little Para from the 1994 Elizabeth by-election to the 2010 state election. Before her political career, S ...

(1994–2010)" from:1994 till:2014 color:AL text:" Robyn Geraghty (1994–2014)" from:1994 till:2010 color:AL text:"

Trish White Patricia Lynne White (born 7 September 1964) is a company director and former Australian politician, who represented Taylor in the South Australian House of Assembly for the Labor Party. She first won the seat at a state by-election held on ...

(1994–2010)" bar:Bedford from:1997 till:2017 color:AL text:" from:2017 till:2022 color:ID text:"

Frances Bedford Frances Ellen Bedford (born 5 November 1953) is an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Florey from 1997 state election until 2022, first for the Labor Party and from 2017 as an independent. E ...

(1997–2022)" barset:MHAs2 from:1997 till:2014 color:AL text:" Lyn Breuer (1997–2014)" from:1997 till:2010 color:AL text:"

Vini Ciccarello Vincenzina "Vini" Ciccarello (born 1947) is a former Australian Labor Party MP for the electoral district of Norwood in South Australia. She was also the mayor of the City of Kensington and Norwood for seven years. Ciccarello first won the sea ...

(1997–2010)" from:1997 till:2018 color:AL text:" Steph Key (1997–2018)" from:1997 till:2010 color:NP text:"

(1997–2010)" from:1997 till:2018 color:AL text:" Jennifer Rankine (1997–2018)" from:1997 till:2014 color:AL text:" Gay Thompson (1997–2014)" from:2002 till:2023 color:LP text:"

Vickie Chapman Vickie Ann Chapman is a former Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bragg for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia between the 2002 election and May 2022. Chapman served ...

(2002–present)" from:2002 till:2010 color:AL text:"

Jane Lomax-Smith Jane Diane Lomax-Smith, AM (born 19 June 1950, in the United Kingdom) is an Australian politician and histopathologist who has been the Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide since 14 November 2022. She was previously in local government for nine ...

(2002–2010)" from:2002 till:2018 color:LP text:"

(2002–2018)" from:2006 till:2014 color:AL text:"

Chloë Fox Chloë Catienne Fox (born 22 February 1971) is an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bright from 2006 to 2014 for the Labor Party. Personal life Fox is the daughter of Australian children's auth ...

(2006–2014)" from:2006 till:2014 color:AL text:" Grace Portolesi (2006–2014)" from:2006 till:2010 color:AL text:" Lindsay Simmons (2006–2010)" from:2010 till:2022 color:LP text:"

Rachel Sanderson Rachel Sanderson is an Australian politician who represented the seat of Adelaide in the South Australian House of Assembly for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from the 2010 election to the 2022 election. Sande ...

(2010–2022)" from:2010 till:2018 color:AL text:"

Leesa Vlahos Leesa Anne Vlahos, ''née'' Chesser (born 1966) is a former Australian politician. She represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Taylor for the Labor Party from the 2010 election until her retirement in 2018. Background Vlah ...

(2010–2018)" from:2012 till:2023 color:AL text:"

Zoe Bettison Zoe Lee Bettison is an Australian politician representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Ramsay for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party since the 2012 Ramsay by-election. Bettison has served as the Mini ...

(2012–present)" from:2012 till:2023 color:AL text:"

Susan Close Susan Elizabeth Close (born 12 November 1967) is an Australian politician, who is currently the Deputy Premier of South Australia since March 2022. She also holds the ministerial portfolios of Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Minist ...

(2012–present)" from:2014 till:2018 color:AL text:"

Annabel Digance Annabel Faith Catford Digance is an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Elder for the Labor Party from the 2014 state election until her defeat at the 2018 state election. She was an independen ...

(2014–2018)" from:2014 till:2023 color:AL text:"

Katrine Hildyard Katrine Anne Hildyard (born 1 April 1970) is an Australian politician representing the electoral district of Reynell in the Parliament of South Australia as a member of the South Australian Labor Party since the 2014 state election. Hildyar ...

(2014–present)" from:2014 till:2023 color:AL text:" Dana Wortley (2014–present)" from:2014 till:2023 color:AL text:"

Nat Cook Natalie Fleur Cook is an Australian politician and anti-violence campaigner. She became an anti-violence campaigner after the death of her son in a one-punch attack in 2008. Cook is a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly, r ...

(2014–present)" from:2018 till:2022 color:LP text:"

Paula Luethen Paula Maria Luethen is an Australian politician. She was a Liberal member of the South Australian House of Assembly from the 2018 state election, representing King, until she lost it at the 2022 state election. Luethen was a City of Tea Tree ...

(2018–2022)" from:2018 till:2022 color:LP text:" Carolyn Power (2018–2022)" from:2018 till:2023 color:AL text:" Jayne Stinson (2018–present)" from:2019 till:2023 color:AL text:"

Andrea Michaels Andrea Michaels (born 24 May 1975) is an Australian politician representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Enfield for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party since the 2019 Enfield by-election. Michaels has ...

(2019–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:AL text:" Sarah Andrews (2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:AL text:" Nadia Clancy (2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:AL text:" Lucy Hood (2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:LP text:" Ashton Hurn (2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:AL text:" Catherine Hutchesson (2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:AL text:"

Rhiannon Pearce Rhiannon Kate Pearce is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 state election, representing King. Early and personal life Pearce grew up in Telowie in the state's Mid Nort ...

(2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:LP text:"

Penny Pratt Penelope Kate Pratt is an Australian politician. She has been a Liberal member of the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 state election, representing Frome. Pratt had previously contested two state elections. She stood for the s ...

(2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:AL text:"

Olivia Savvas Olivia Madison Savvas is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 state election, representing Newland. She replaced the Liberal politician, Richard Harvey, who had held th ...

(2022–present)" from:2022 till:2023 color:AL text:" Erin Thompson (2022–present)" barset:skip

List of women in the South Australian House of Assembly

Timeline

See also