Margaret Reid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Hon. Margaret Elizabeth Reid AO (born 28 May 1935) was an Australian politician. She was the first woman to be President of the Australian Senate.

Born near Adelaide, South Australia, Reid was educated at the University of Adelaide. There she joined the Liberal Party, becoming the first female president of the Australian Liberal Students Federation. After graduating Reid became a barrister by trade, specialising in family law. She moved to Canberra in 1965.

On 5 May 1981 Reid was elected by a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate, following the sudden death of her close friend, Senator John Knight. This was the first of only two occasions on which a Senate casual vacancy was filled in this manner, as the law was later changed to provide for the relevant territory (ACT or NT) legislative assembly to appoint a replacement senator.^[1]

She became Liberal Whip in the Senate in 1987 and held the office until 1995. In 1996 she was elected President of the Senate, retiring from the position in 2002 after six years.

Margaret Reid resigned from the Senate on 14 February 2003, and was replaced by the former Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Gary Humphries.

An active patron of over eighty community organisations in Canberra, in 2004 she was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia for her service to the Australian Parliament and the community.