Kerryn Lyndel PhelpsAM (born 14 December 1957) is an Australian medical practitioner,public health and civil rights advocate,medical educator and former politician.
On 16 September 2018,Phelps announced she would run as an independent candidate in the 2018 Wentworth by-election,occasioned by the resignation from Parliament of Malcolm Turnbull following his removal as Prime Minister.[7] She was elected with a majority of 1,851 votes (1.2 points in two-party-preferred terms),constituting a 19-point swing in what had been a safe Liberal seat,[8] and was the first independent candidate to win the federal seat of Wentworth. However,on 20 May 2019,she was defeated in the 2019 federal election by the Liberal candidate Dave Sharma.[9]
Phelps is also a keen sportswoman,and in 2014,was appointed to the board of Hockey Australia.[10]
She is also an ambassador for Barnardos Australia.[11]
Early life
Phelps was born at Manly Hospital on 14 December 1957,and grew up in the Pittwater region of Sydney. Her father,George,was a refrigeration mechanic,and her mother,Shirley Phelps OAM,was a Councillor for Pittwater Council (1995–2002) and Deputy Mayor (1996–1997).[12][13] Shirley Phelps was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2013 and George Phelps was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2002.[14]
In 1999,Phelps was elected president of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA). The following year she was elected federal president of the AMA,where she served the maximum term of three years. Some of her more significant successes involved working with Australian State and Federal Governments on resolving an emerging medical indemnity crisis. The unresolved medical insurance issue threatened obstetrics and neurosurgery in particular,and was exacerbated by escalating medical malpractice claims. She was also instrumental in establishing an advisory committee on Indigenous health in Australia,and promoting debate on the importance of the public health system in response to the bioterrorism threat. Phelps' major areas of interest included integrative medicine,public health,and human rights issues. As AMA President,she convened an expert advisory committee and pioneered the AMA's first position statement on complementary medicine. She was also the first AMA President to publicly state the effects of climate change on public health,[16] and raised awareness of issues such as Aboriginal health problems,and the medical workforce shortage.
Phelps's time as AMA president was marked by a public clash with the federal Minister for Health,Michael Wooldridge. He publicly claimed that she had no specialist medical qualifications.[17] In rebuttal,Phelps contended that general practice is itself a medical specialty. After the Prime Minister,John Howard intervened to broker a truce,the minister still refused to apologise for his remarks.[18] In an interview on PM,the minister eventually issued a public apology.[19]
While President of AMA Phelps was also chairperson of pink media and property company Satellite Group. She resigned as chairperson of the troubled company in August 2000.[20]
Between 2009 and 2012,Phelps was President of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association. She is founder and principal clinician at Sydney Integrative Medicine and Cooper Street Clinic in Sydney and Conjoint Professor in the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the Western Sydney University. She is a regular speaker to health professionals and the general public on health and well-being,as well as leadership and strategy for professional organisations. She has been the health writer for The Australian Women's Weekly since 1991. She is a regular commentator on general practice,public health,medical politics and human rights issues.[21]
Phelps is the co-author,with Craig Hassed,of the textbook The Integrative Approach published in 2010;and has published on general wellness,cancer and on a range of other general health and health communication issues.[22]
Local government politics
Phelps was an independent Councillor for the City of Sydney until December 2021.[23]
Elected to the Council of the City of Sydney on 10 September 2016 as a member of the Clover Moore Independent Team,Phelps was elected Deputy Lord Mayor of the council.[24] However,membership of the Clover Moore team was short-lived. Phelps resigned to sit as an independent from 27 June 2017,after being told by Moore that she would not support Phelps' bid to continue as deputy lord mayor.[25]
Federal politics
Phelps ran as an independent candidate in the 2018 Wentworth by-election.[26] When announcing her campaign,she urged voters to "put the Liberals last".[27] She later published how-to-vote cards giving the Liberals a higher preference than Labor.[28] Phelps became a prominent candidate in the by-election[29] and has stated that her campaign cost around $300,000.[30] Reports suggested that,if Phelps won,she might provide confidence and supply to the government.[31]
Phelps stated that,if elected,she would continue as a member of the City of Sydney Council and to work as a GP;she said that she has received legal advice that these would not disqualify her under Constitution section 44(iv) and (v) respectively,although she has refused to release the advice.[32][33]
On 5 November,she was declared elected with a majority of 1,851 votes (1.2 points in two-party-preferred terms),constituting a 19-point swing in what had been a safe Liberal seat. She immediately stated that she would seek an urgent briefing on possible referral of Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton and Liberal MP Chris Crewther to the High Court under Constitution s 44(v).[34]
Upon getting elected Phelps became the seventh Jew serving concurrently in parliament,the most since federation.
Phelps was sworn in as a member of parliament on 26 November 2018.[35] Upon arriving in Parliament,she proposed amendments to government legislation which gave greater authority to doctors to allow the medical evacuation of asylum seekers to Australia from Nauru and Manus Island.[36] The government,which did not have a majority on the floor of either the House of Representatives or Senate,opposed the amendments. Phelps' amendments were able to pass the parliament with the support of the Labor Party,Greens and most of the other crossbenchers in the House. Human rights advocates hailed the legislation,with one reflecting on its passage a "tipping point as a country",in relation to the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.[37][38]
Kerryn Phelps Independents was a political party formed by Phelps in 2018.
The party's name was first mentioned when Phelps directed a reporter from The Weekend Australian to a man whose voicemail said he worked for 'Kerryn Phelps Independents'.[39]
After her election loss in 2019,it was reported Phelps applied to register a party under that name.[40] The party was deregistered by the NSW Electoral Commission in 2021,having never competed at a local,state or federal election.[41]
Personal life
Phelps is married to Jackie Stricker-Phelps,[2] a former primary school teacher. They were united in a religious ceremony in New York on 4 January 1998,[42] and later returned to New York City in 2011 for a legal marriage.
From her first marriage with Michael Fronzek,Phelps has a daughter and a son.[43] Phelps and Stricker-Phelps have an adopted daughter,[44] and were the first same-sex non-kin couple to adopt a child in NSW.[45] Phelps has a younger brother,Australian TV actor Peter Phelps.[12]
In 2009,Phelps was named one of the 25 most influential lesbians in Australia by readers of the website samesame.com.au.[46][47] During the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey period,Phelps appeared in an advertisement for the "Yes" campaign,[48] and was a high-profile figure in the debate.[49]
Stricker grew up in a liberal European Jewish household and Phelps converted to Judaism.[50][51]
In December 2022,Phelps said that she and her wife suffered from injuries related to the COVID-19 vaccine.[52]
Honours
Phelps was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to Australian society and medicine.[3][53] On 13 June 2011,she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to medicine,particularly through leadership roles with the Australian Medical Association in education and community health,and as a general practitioner.[4]
Phelps and Stricker-Phelps have been ambassadors for Barnardos Australia's Mother of the Year Award since 2013.[57]
In 2014,Phelps was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Western Sydney.[58]
In October 2019 she was named winner of the Public Policy category in The Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence awards[59] in recognition of her efforts in advocating for asylum-seeker health and lobbying Parliament for the Medevac law.[60]
In February 2020,it was announced she would be the NSW award winner of the Australian Award for Excellence in Women's Leadership[61] for her leadership on issues of city governance,inclusiveness,social justice and community wellbeing.
Phelps, Kerryn; Hassed, Craig, eds. (2011). General practice: the integrative approach. Chatswood: Elsevier Australia. p.993. ISBN978-0729538046.
Phelps, Kerryn (2013). Ultimate wellness: the 3-step plan. Sydney: Pan Macmillan. p.322. ISBN978-1742611921.
Phelps, Kerryn (2015). The cancer recovery guide: getting your life back. South Melbourne: Macmillan Australia. ISBN978-1743538623.
Notes
↑ While Phelps was a member of Kerryn Phelps Independents, she was elected and sat as an independent.
Related Research Articles
Brendan John Nelson is an Australian business leader and former politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NATO. He now has a global leadership role with Boeing, an aerospace company.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an Australian public company by guarantee formed as a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students. The association is not run by the Australian Government and does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. The association's national headquarters are located in Barton, Australian Capital Territory, in addition to the offices of its branches in each of the states and territories in Australia.
The Division of Wentworth is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division encompasses the suburbs to the east of Sydney CBD, mostly Woollahra and Waverley council in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.
Michael Richard Lewis Wooldridge is an Australian doctor, company director, and former politician. He served as deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 1993 to 1994, under John Hewson. In the Howard government, he held ministerial office as Minister for Health and Family Services (1996–1998) and Health and Aged Care (1998–2001). He represented the Liberals in the House of Representatives as the member for Chisholm (1987–1998) and Casey (1998–2001).
Scott Michael Ryan is an Australian former politician and diplomat who is the 26th and current high commissioner of Australia to Canada since December 2021. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Ryan served as Senator for Victoria from 2008 to 2021 and as president of the Australian Senate from 2017 to 2021, having previously been a minister in the Turnbull government from 2016 to 2017.
This is a list of electoral results for the Division of Wentworth in Australian federal elections from the division's creation in 1901 until the present.
William John Glasson is an Australian ophthalmologist. He was President of the Australian Medical Association 2003–05. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberal National Party of Queensland in the contest for the seat of Griffith, held by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in the 2013 federal election. He was again unsuccessful in the by-election held on 8 February 2014 as a result of Rudd's resignation from Parliament.
The Friends of Science In Medicine (FSM) is an Australian association which supports evidence-based medicine and strongly opposes the promotion and practice of unsubstantiated therapies that lack a scientifically plausible rationale. They accomplish this by publicly raising their concerns either through direct correspondence or through media outlets. FSM was established in December 2011 by Loretta Marron, John Dwyer, Alastair MacLennan, Rob Morrison and Marcello Costa, a group of Australian biomedical scientists and clinical academics.
Kevin John Hogan is an Australian politician. He has been a Nationals member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Page in New South Wales, since September 2013.
Devanand Noel "Dave" Sharma is an Australian politician and former public servant and diplomat who has served as Senator for New South Wales since November 2023. Prior to that, he served as the member for Wentworth in the House of Representatives from 2019 to 2022, when he lost the seat to independent challenger Allegra Spender. He is a member of the Liberal Party.
Loretta Josephine Marron, OAM is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Friends of Science in Medicine organization. Popularly known as the "Jelly Bean Lady", she has promoted an evidence-based approach to medicine since being diagnosed with cancer herself in 2003. In the media, she has presented exposés of unproven treatments, some of which have resulted in successful legal prosecutions. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to health, and she has been "Skeptic of the Year" three times.
This is a list of members of the Australian House of Representatives of the 45th Parliament of Australia (2016–2019).
David Joshua Handelsman, (AO) is trained in Medicine and Endocrinology. His expertise is in testicular function and androgen physiology, pharmacology, and toxicology. His experience spans basic, clinical, and public health domains including a recent focus on genetic models of androgen action, steroid mass spectrometry, and anti-doping science. He was Australia's first Professor in Reproductive Endocrinology and Andrology. He has worked in the US, Australia, and Germany. His professional involvement includes the World Health Organisation (WHO) Human Reproduction Programme's Male Task Force, WHO Human Reproduction Programme, United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Endocrine Society of Australia, World Anti-Doping Agency's Health, Medicine and Research Committee, and Australian Drug Evaluation Committee.
A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Wentworth took place on 20 October 2018 after the parliamentary resignation of the former Prime Minister of Australia and incumbent Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull.
Lisa Rae Jackson Pulver is an Aboriginal Australian epidemiologist and researcher in the area of Aboriginal health who has been Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Sydney since October 2018.
Elizabeth Jane Elliott is an Australian clinician scientist. She is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), for services to paediatrics and child health, as well as an Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science (AAHMS), Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, and Fellow of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Health. She was the first female to win the James Cook Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of NSW for contributions to human welfare. She is a Distinguished Professor of paediatrics at the University of Sydney and a Consultant Paediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Westmead, and regarded as a "pioneer in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, advocacy and patient care".
The Voices for or Voices of groups are a series of loosely related political community engagement groups in Australia. Some of the groups have endorsed candidates to run as candidates in federal elections. The independence of some of the candidates endorsed by some groups has been disputed, with some candidates receiving significant funding from the Climate 200 fund backed by energy investor Simon Holmes à Court.
Teal independents, simply known as teals and also called community independents, are a loosely-aligned group of centrist, independent or minor party politicians in Australian politics. They have been characterised as strongly advocating for increased action to mitigate climate change by reducing carbon emissions along with improved political integrity and accountability. They also generally share socially liberal outlooks, including on issues such as LGBT rights, and have harnessed grassroots campaigning to achieve strong swings towards them.
Jacqueline Amy Munro is an Australian politician who is a member of the New South Wales Liberal Party. She was elected as a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council at the 2023 state election.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
