The Honourable
Jeannette McHugh
McHugh in 2014
Minister for Consumer Affairs
In office
27 May 1992 – 11 March 1996
Prime MinisterPaul Keating
Preceded byMichael Tate
Succeeded byGeoff Prosser
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Grayndler
In office
13 March 1993 – 29 January 1996
Preceded byLeo McLeay
Succeeded byAnthony Albanese
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Phillip
In office
5 March 1983 – 13 March 1993
Preceded byJack Birney
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born
Jeannette Goffet

(1934-12-18) 18 December 1934
Kandos, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
Spouse
​
(m. 1960)​
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
OccupationTeacher

Jeannette McHugh (née Goffet; born 18 December 1934) is an Australian former 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 Labor Party (ALP), and was Minister for Consumer Affairs in the Keating government from 1992 to 1996. She was a schoolteacher and political activist prior to entering parliament.

Early life and education

Born in Kandos, New South Wales, McHugh was educated at the University of Sydney, where she resided at the Women's College.[1]

Career

Early career

She worked as a languages teacher and on social justice issues for many years through her involvement in housing, environment, anti-nuclear, peace and women's organisations before gaining ALP pre-selection for the Division of Phillip, a seat she won at the 1983 Australian federal election, making her the first woman from New South Wales to sit in the federal parliament.

Parliamentary career

She was made Minister for Consumer Affairs in 1992, making her the first female federal minister from New South Wales. When the Division of Phillip was abolished after an electoral redistribution, it was arranged for McHugh to move to the Division of Grayndler, as she was entitled to a seat as a minister. The sitting member Leo McLeay agreed to move to the new neighbouring electorate of Watson.[2]

McHugh announced her retirement from parliament, to be effective at the time of the 1996 Australian federal election, at which the ALP lost government. Anthony Albanese won pre-selection for Grayndler, and retained the seat for Labor at the election. McHugh was a member of Labor's Left faction.[3]

Post-parliamentary career

McHugh is Chair of the Jessie Street Trust, and was Secretary of the Evatt Foundation until November 2006.[4]

Personal life

Jeannette McHugh is married to former High Court of Australia justice Michael McHugh.[5]

Her parents were Charles Richard "Charlie" Goffet (1909–91), who taught French at Newcastle Boys High School from 1942 to 1978, and Neta Jean Goffet (née Walsh) (1909–83).[6][7][8][9] Her younger sister is former Labor and Independent local councillor and Mayor of Warringah, Julie Sutton.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Ian Glachan: Women's College Amendment Bill, Legislative Assembly Hansard, Parliament of New South Wales, 6 May 1997.
  2. ↑ "Grayndler Electorate Profile". 2004 Federal Election. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2004.
  3. ↑ "Jeannette McHugh". Evatt Foundation. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  4. ↑ Jeannette McHugh: Member of the Executive Committee Archived 22 June 2005 at the Wayback Machine, Evatt Foundation.
  5. ↑ Michael Pelly: A higher justice, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October 2005.
  6. ↑ "Newcastle's idiosyncratic educator", Newcastle Herald, 11 November 1991. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  7. ↑ Charles Goffet, myheritage.com. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  8. ↑ "CHARLES GOFFET MISCELLANEA". Newcastle Boys' High School Old Boys' Association. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  9. ↑ N.S.W. Teachers' Federation.; New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. (9 December 1991), "v.", Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation., Sydney: The Federation, p. 22, ISSN 0013-1156, nla.obj-726684262, retrieved 5 June 2020 – via Trove
  10. ↑ Loane, Sally (23 April 1992). "She ain't Labor, she's my sister". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1.
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