Deborah O'Neill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Senator

Deborah O'Neill
Deborah O'Neill - Portrait.jpg
Senator for New South Wales
Assumed office
13 November 2013
Preceded byBob Carr
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Robertson
In office
21 August 2010 – 7 September 2013
Preceded byBelinda Neal
Succeeded byLucy Wicks
Vice President of the New South Wales Labor Party
Assumed office
9 December 2011
Serving with Mark Boyd
PresidentMark Lennon
LeaderKristina Keneally
John Robertson
Luke Foley
Preceded byTara Moriarty
Personal details
Born
Deborah Mary O'Neill

(1961-06-04) 4 June 1961 (age 60)
Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyLabor Party
EducationSt Patrick's College
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
University of New England
Australian Catholic University
Deakin University
OccupationUniversity lecturer
(University of Newcastle)
ProfessionTeacher
Politician
Websitesenatoroneill.com.au

Deborah Mary O'Neill (born 4 June 1961) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for New South Wales since 2013. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party and formerly represented the seat of Robertson as a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2013.

Early life[]

O'Neill was born on 4 June 1961 in Parramatta, New South Wales.[1] She grew up in Western Sydney, one of six children born to Irish Catholic immigrants Mary and Jim O'Neill; her mother was born in Thomastown and her father in Cork. She held Irish citizenship by descent until renouncing it prior to the 2010 election.[2]

O'Neill attended Catholic primary schools in Marayong and Girraween and high school at St Patrick's College, Campbelltown. She began an arts degree, but withdrew following her younger sister Helen's diagnosis and eventual death from acute myeloid leukemia.[3] O'Neill eventually returned to university, completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney and University of New England, a Diploma of Teaching and Master of Arts at Australian Catholic University, and a graduate diploma at Deakin University.[1]

O'Neill taught at Mercy Catholic College Chatswood, St Edward's College, East Gosford, and Corpus Christi College.[3] She moved to the Central Coast when she got married.[4] Before entering politics, she was a local teacher and a lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Arts at The University of Newcastle, Central Coast Campus.[5]

Political career[]

At the NSW state election in 2003, O'Neill challenged Chris Hartcher in the seat of Gosford and lost by only 272 votes.[6] In 2007, O'Neill challenged Hartcher again in the state election for the newly created seat of Terrigal but was defeated.[7] In 2010, she was endorsed as Labor candidate for Robertson gaining preselection over incumbent Labor member, Belinda Neal.[8][9]

At the 2010 Australian federal election O'Neill was challenged by Liberal candidate Darren Jameson, but won the seat with an increased margin for Labor of 1 point.[10] At the 2013 election held on 7 September, O'Neill suffered a 4-point swing against her and was defeated by the Liberals' Lucy Wicks.[11]

Bob Carr had been re-elected to a six-year term in the Australian Senate, which would commence the following July; however, he resigned on 24 October 2013. O'Neill was selected by Labor to fill the casual vacancy, and was appointed by the NSW Parliament on 13 November 2013. In an unprecedented situation where Carr resigned both his current term and the following six-year term, the NSW Government sought legal advice regarding the tenure of O'Neill's appointment, and discovered that it could only fill the current vacancy, and would have to wait until July to fill the future vacancy.[12]

To mitigate the cost of recalling both houses of the New South Wales parliament for a joint sitting (estimated at AUD $300,000), Premier Mike Baird proposed to convene a sitting on 2 July of two government members and two opposition members before the President of the Legislative Council to appoint O'Neill to the Senate for the term which began on 1 July.[13] The joint sitting took just four minutes on 2 July 2014, and was attended by 13 lower house MPs and over 40 Legislative Councillors.[14] The anticipated six-year term did not immediately eventuate due to a double dissolution of parliament in 2016.

O'Neill was re-elected at the 2016 Australian federal election. The first sitting of the new Senate allocated which senators were elected for only three years and which received a full six-year term. O'Neill was one of two senators who received a six-year term as a consequence of which method was chosen to allocate the seats.[15]

In September 2016, she was appointed as Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation.[16] In March 2020, Senator O'Neill forced a member of the Fair Work Commission to defend his waifus, figurines of whom he had placed in his office.[17]

Political positions[]

In 2013, O'Neill stated that "I believe in the traditional definition of marriage".[3] It was reported that she would either vote against or abstain from the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 that would legalise same-sex marriage in Australia.[18] In 2019, O'Neill warned of an "ascendancy of language around secularity" that was causing a divide between religious and non-religious Australians. She called for a greater focus on religious studies in schools in order to further cultural literacy.[19]

Personal life[]

O'Neill has three children with her husband Paul and lives on the Central Coast.[20] She has been described in the Sydney Morning Herald as a "devout Catholic" who carries rosary beads in her handbag.[19]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Deborah O'NEILL profile". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  2. ^ Citizenship Register – 45th Parliament
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Politics a way of giving action to faith". Sisters of the Good Samaritan. December 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  4. ^ Rodgers, Emma (2010). "Robertson: What legacy will Belinda Neal leave?". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  5. ^ "Deborah O'Neill profile". Labor People. Australian Labor Party. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  6. ^ "2003 Legislative Assembly Results - Gosford". Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  7. ^ "2007 Legislative Assembly Results - Terrigal". Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Neal loses preselection challenge". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  9. ^ Morello, Vincent (7 March 2010). "Belinda Neal dumped from Central Coast seat in landslide pre-selection vote". news.com.au. News Limited. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  10. ^ Commission, Australian Electoral. "House of Representatives Division First Preferences". results.aec.gov.au.
  11. ^ "2013 House of Representatives Results - Robertson". Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  12. ^ Martin, Lisa (5 November 2013). "O'Neill to miss first week of Senate". Herald Sun. AAP. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  13. ^ Aston, Heath (19 June 2014). "Mike Baird finds a way to deal with Bob Carr Senate quirk". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  14. ^ Godfrey, Miles (3 July 2014). "Four-minute parliament session hauls in NSW MPs in bid to replace Bob Carr at taxpayers' expense". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Election 2016: Pauline Hanson secures six-year Senate term, Derryn Hinch has three years until re-election". ABC News. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  16. ^ "APPOINTMENT AS SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER". 13 September 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  17. ^ Ferguson, Kathleen. "Fair Work Commission senior official under fire for 'scantily clad' figurines in office". ABC News. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  18. ^ Koziol, Michael (28 November 2017). "'We're entitled to be heard': The Labor senators voting 'no' to same-sex marriage". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Ireland, Judith (7 October 2019). "Labor MP fears divide between religious and secular Australia". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  20. ^ "Deborah O'Neill". Australian Labor Party. Retrieved 6 June 2021.

External links[]

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
Belinda Neal 		Member for Robertson
2010–2013 		Succeeded by
Lucy Wicks
Preceded by
Bob Carr 		Senator for New South Wales
2013–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""