The Honourable
Katrina Hodgkinson
JP
Member of the New South Wales Parliament
for Cootamundra
In office
28 March 2015 – 1 September 2017
Preceded bySeat re-established
Succeeded bySteph Cooke
Member of the New South Wales Parliament
for Burrinjuck
In office
27 March 1999 – 6 March 2015
Preceded byAlby Schultz
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Minister for Primary Industries
In office
3 April 2011 – 6 March 2015
PremierBarry O'Farrell
Mike Baird
Preceded bySteve Whan
Succeeded byNiall Blair
Minister for Small Business
In office
3 April 2011 – 17 April 2014
PremierBarry O'Farrell
Preceded byFrank Terenzini
Succeeded byAndrew Stoner
Personal details
Born
Katrina Ann Hodgkinson

(1966-03-10) 10 March 1966
Yass, New South Wales[1]
Political partyThe Nationals
ChildrenTwo[2]

Katrina Ann Hodgkinson (born 10 March 1966[1]) is an Australian former politician. She is the former Federal Vice President of the National Party of Australia and a former Australian Member of Parliament.[3] She was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Cootamundra for The Nationals from 28 March 2015 to 1 September 2017, and Burrinjuck from 27 March 1999 to 27 March 2015.

Early years and background

Hodgkinson was educated at Canberra Girls' Grammar School and Narrabundah College, and Metropolitan Business College of New South Wales. She was an executive officer in the Commonwealth Department of Transport and for Sydney property development companies, becoming Secretary of the Year for the North Sydney region in 1989. She was a Technical and Further Education instructor from 1989 to 1991, owned regional small businesses from 1989 to 1997 and she was Adviser to Senator the Hon Nick Minchin, Special Minister of State and Minister for Industry, Science and Resources from 1997 to 1999.[1][4]

Parliamentary career

In 1995, Katrina Hodgkinson sought election to the seat of Southern Highlands in a three-cornered-contest. Despite receiving the highest primary vote, The Nationals were defeated on preferences.[2] In 1998 Alby Schultz, then Member for Burrinjuck, resigned from NSW Parliament to contest the seat of Hume. Katrina Hodgkinson was elected to NSW Parliament at the subsequent 1999 election.

Between 2003 and 2011, Katrina Hodgkinson held a range of shadow ministerial responsibilities including Fair Trading and Small Business, Tourism, Major Events, Community Services, Families and Child Safety, Rural Affairs, and Natural Resource Management.[5] In 2007, a substantial redistribution of electorate boundaries saw her constituency base move from Goulburn, Yass and Tumut to Cowra, Cootamundra, Yass and Young.

Following the 2011 state election, Katrina Hodgkinson was appointed NSW's first female Minister for Primary Industries and also as Minister for Small Business.

In 2013 a further statewide electoral redistribution was announced by the NSW Electoral Commission that resulted in a substantial revision of Katrina Hodgkinson's seat of Burrinjuck, including the loss of her home town of Yass, and the seat renamed Cootamundra, with effect from the 2015 NSW State election.[6][7] At the same time, the neighbouring electoral district of Goulburn was pushed westward to take in portions of the Burrinjuck electorate, including her hometown of Yass.

Katrina Hodgkinson initially announced plans to seek Nationals preselection in Goulburn. This briefly touched off a dispute between the Liberals and Nationals.[6][7] Ultimately, Hodgkinson dropped plans to challenge Goulburn and contested Cootamundra, which she won easily.[8]

Due to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as Premier[9] and Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner in 2014 and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle[10] by new Premier Mike Baird and new Deputy Premier and Minister for Racing Troy Grant,[3] in addition to her existing responsibilities as Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson was appointed Assistant Minister for Tourism and Major Events[5][11]. She was appointed as NSW first Parliamentary Secretary for Southern NSW in the second Baird ministry following the 2015 state election.[12]

Following the introduction by the Baird-Grant Government in October 2016 of legislation to ban greyhound racing in NSW,[13] Katrina Hodgkinson, with fellow Nationals MPs for the seats of Barwon and Clarence, crossed the floor to vote against the ban. After months of intense public pressure from regional communities, Premier Baird introduced new legislation overturning the greyhound racing ban that he and Grant had introduced, and then retired from State Parliament.

Hodgkinson graduated from the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2015, and as a Master of Business Administration through the Australian Institute of Business in 2017. On 31 July 2017, she announced her intention to retire from the NSW Parliament effective 1 September 2017, resulting in a by-election for the seat of Cootamundra, which was comfortably retained by the Nationals.[14]

Hodgkinson was elected Federal Vice President of the National Party of Australia in August 2018.

At the 2019 federal election, Katrina Hodgkinson contested the seat of Gilmore.[15] She increased The Nationals margin in the seat by over 14%.

Katrina Hodgkinson is currently a Company Director, on the Boards of the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), Shake It Up Australia Foundation (in association with the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research), and she is Chair of NSW Small Business Advisory, Realise Business.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katrina Hodgkinson.
  1. 1 2 3 "Hodgkinson, Katrina Ann (1966 – )". The Australian Women's Register. 7 February 2006. Archived from the original on 30 August 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
  2. 1 2 Mills, Lee (14 May 2010). "My take on our Member, Katrina Hodgkinson". Yass Tribune. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  3. 1 2 Nicholls, Sean (22 April 2014). "Mike Baird's cabinet reshuffle a preparation for next election". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "Katrina Hodgkinson". The Nationals. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2007.
  5. 1 2 "Ms Katrina Ann Hodgkinson (1966 - )". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  6. 1 2 Nicholls, Sean (19 February 2014). "Katrina Hodgkinson to take on Pru Goward for Goulburn seat". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Katrina Hodgkinson to challenge Pru Goward in preselection fight to win NSW seat of Goulburn". Australia: ABC News. 19 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Vesey, Harrison (28 March 2015). "Katrina Wins Fifth Term". Cootamundra Herald. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Barry O'Farrell quits as NSW Premier over memory fail". The Australian. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  10. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (17 October 2014). "John Barilaro elevated as Andrew Stoner suddenly quits cabinet". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "Mike Baird's NSW cabinet". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (1 April 2015). "NSW premier Mike Baird announces new cabinet". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "NSW Premier Mike Baird announces ban on greyhound racing after Special Commission of Inquiry". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  14. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (31 July 2017). "Gladys Berejiklian faces another byelection test after Katrina Hodgkinson quits". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Former Nationals minister to run against Prime Minister's pick in Gilmore". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 February 2019.
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