New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. The Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory are enclaves within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In December 2023, the population of New South Wales was over 8.3 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Almost two-thirds of the state's population, 5.3 million, live in the Greater Sydney area.
The University of Newcastle is a public university in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1965, it has a primary campus in the Newcastle suburb of Callaghan. The university also operates campuses in Central Coast, Singapore, Newcastle City in the Hunter as well as Sydney.
John Arthur Watkins is a former Deputy Premier of New South Wales, serving between 2005 until his resignation from Parliament in 2008. Watkins was the Chief Executive Officer of Alzheimer's Australia (NSW) from 2008 – 2017 when it merged into Dementia Australia; the Chairman of Calvary healthcare from 2011 – 2019; and the eighth Chancellor of the University of New England, serving between 2013 and 2014.
Shelley Elizabeth Hancock, an Australian politician. Hancock was the Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly seat of South Coast from 2003 until 2023.
Robert James Heffron, also known as Bob Heffron or R. J. Heffron, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, union organiser and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1959 to 1964. Born in New Zealand, Heffron became involved in various Socialist and labour movements in New Zealand and later Australia before joining the Australian Labor Party. A prominent unionist organiser, we was gaoled for "conspiracy to strike action". He was later elected to the Parliament of New South Wales for Botany in 1930. However his disputes with party leader Jack Lang led to his expulsion from the ALP in 1936 and Heffron formed his own party from disgruntled Labor MPs known as the Industrial Labor Party. The success of his party enabled his readmission to the party and his prominence in a post-Lang NSW Branch which won office in 1941.
John Hatzistergos is an Australian jurist and former politician who has served as a judge of the District Court of New South Wales since 16 October 2014 and Chief Commissioner of the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) since 7 August 2022. He was previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council representing the Labor Party between 1999 and 2011, and a minister in various Labor governments.
Matthew Ryan Mason-Cox is an Australian politician who served as President of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 4 May 2021 until 9 May 2023. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council for the Liberal Party from 28 September 2006 until 3 March 2023, with a short two-week stint as an Independent in May 2021. Mason-Cox was the Minister for Fair Trading between May 2014 and April 2015 in the first Baird ministry and served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in the Legislative Council during 2014 and 2015.
John Francis Ryan is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1991 to 2007. He was the Liberal Deputy Leader in the Legislative Council from 2003 to 2007.
Jodi Leyanne McKay is an Australian former politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Strathfield for the Labor Party from 2015 to 2021. McKay also previously represented Newcastle for one term from 2007 until her defeat at the 2011 election. Between 2008 and 2011, McKay held a number of junior ministerial responsibilities in the Rees and Keneally governments, including serving as the Minister for the Hunter, Tourism, Small Business, Science and Medical Research, Commerce, and Women, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer). On 17 October 2021, McKay announced she would resign from the parliament, which triggered a by-election in her seat of Strathfield. McKay subsequently became National Chair of the Australia India Business Council.
Virginia Anne Chadwick AO was a Liberal Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1978 to 1999. She was the first NSW female Minister for Education; the first female President of the New South Wales Legislative Council; and Chair and CEO of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Jennifer Ann Gardiner is an Australian politician and former Nationals member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1991 to 2015.
Donald Thomas Harwin is an Australian politician. He was the New South Wales Special Minister of State and the Minister for the Public Service and Employee Relations, Aboriginal Affairs, and the Arts in the second Berejiklian ministry since April 2019; and the Vice-President of the Executive Council, and the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council since January 2017 in the Berejiklian government. He briefly resigned from his roles with effect from 15 April 2020, however was reinstated on 3 July 2020.
Robyn Mary Parker, is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Maitland for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2015 and was previously a member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales between 2003 and 2011. Parker was the New South Wales Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Heritage in the O'Farrell government from 2011 until April 2014. Parker was succeeded by Rob Stokes in the Baird cabinet.
Robyn Read is a former Australian politician. She was the Independent member for North Shore in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1991.
Eleni Marie Petinos is an Australian state politician in New South Wales. She served as the Minister for Small Business and the Minister for Fair Trading in the Perrottet ministry from December 2021 until her service was ceased on 31 July 2022 by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet after allegations of her mistreatment and bullying of staff came to light. Petinos was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Miranda for the Liberal Party at the 2015 New South Wales state election.
Damien Francis Tudehope is an Australian politician. Tudehope served as the New South Wales Minister for Finance in the second Berejiklian and Perrottet ministries from April 2019 to March 2023. He was also the Minister for Employee Relations, the Vice-President of the Executive Council, and the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council in the Perrottet ministry since December 2021. Tudehope has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since the 2019 state election, representing the Liberal Party.
Sir John Beverley Peden was an Australian jurist and politician. Born in Randwick to farmer Magnus Jackson Peden, a mayor of Randwick, and Elizabeth Neathway Brown, he attended public school at Bega before studying at Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1892 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1898. He was an assistant lecturer in Latin at the university from 1896 to 1898, when he was called to the bar. He lectured in law from 1903 and became a professor and faculty dean in 1910. Appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council as a Nationalist in 1917, from 1929 to 1946 he was president of the council; he was both the last president appointed directly by the governor, and the first elected by his fellow councillors. Peden died in Paddington in 1946.
Michael Joseph Holland is an Australian politician and former obstetrician in southern NSW. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was elected at the 2022 Bega state by-election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
Aileen MacDonald is an Australian politician who is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, representing the Liberal Party. She was first appointed in 2022 to replace Catherine Cusack. MacDonald was a member of the NSW Liberal party's State Executive from 2011 to 2012 and 2018 to 2022. She was Country Vice President of the NSW Liberal Women's Council from 2000 to 2003, 2005 to 2007, 2012 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. She was appointed Shadow Minister for Youth Justice in 2023.
