1. Kerryn Lyndel Phelps was born on 14 December 1957 and is an Australian medical practitioner, public health and civil rights advocate, medical educator and former politician.
44 Facts About Kerryn Phelps
1. 2.
Kerryn Phelps was the first woman and first openly LGBT person to be elected president of the Australian Medical Association.
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Kerryn Phelps is Conjoint Professor in the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the Western Sydney University.
4.
Kerryn Phelps resigned as Deputy on 26 June 2017 and is an independent politician.
5.
On 16 September 2018, Kerryn 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.
6.
Kerryn Phelps was elected with a majority of 1,851 votes, constituting a 19-point swing in what had been a safe Liberal seat, and was the first independent candidate to win the federal seat of Wentworth.
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Kerryn Phelps is a keen sportswoman, and in 2014, was appointed to the board of Hockey Australia.
8.
Shirley Kerryn Phelps was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2013 and George Kerryn Phelps was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002.
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Kerryn Phelps graduated from the University of Sydney in 1981 and completed postgraduate training at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, and at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
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Kerryn Phelps started working in health communications in the mainstream media in 1985, bringing messages about healthy lifestyle to the attention of the general public.
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Kerryn Phelps has been the subject of stories on 60 Minutes, Australian Story and This Is Your Life.
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Kerryn Phelps has presented a variety of health and fitness programs on radio and has been a regular newspaper and magazine columnist.
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In 1999, Kerryn Phelps was elected president of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association.
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Kerryn Phelps was 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.
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Kerryn Phelps was the first AMA President to publicly state the effects of climate change on public health, and raised awareness of issues such as Aboriginal health problems, and the medical workforce shortage.
16.
Kerryn Phelps publicly claimed that she had no specialist medical qualifications.
17.
In rebuttal, Kerryn Phelps contended that general practice is itself a medical specialty.
18.
Kerryn Phelps resigned as chairperson of the troubled company in August 2000.
19.
Between 2009 and 2012, Kerryn Phelps was President of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association.
20.
Kerryn Phelps 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.
21.
Kerryn Phelps 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.
22.
Kerryn Phelps has been the health writer for The Australian Women's Weekly since 1991.
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Kerryn Phelps is a regular commentator on general practice, public health, medical politics and human rights issues.
24.
Kerryn 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.
25.
Kerryn Phelps was an independent Councillor for the City of Sydney until December 2021.
26.
Kerryn Phelps resigned to sit as an independent from 27 June 2017, after being told by Moore that she would not support Kerryn Phelps' bid to continue as deputy lord mayor.
27.
Kerryn Phelps ran as an independent candidate in the 2018 Wentworth by-election.
28.
Kerryn Phelps later published how-to-vote cards giving the Liberals a higher preference than Labor.
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Kerryn Phelps became a prominent candidate in the by-election and has stated that her campaign cost around $300,000.
30.
Reports suggested that, if Kerryn Phelps won, she might provide confidence and supply to the government.
31.
Kerryn 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 and respectively, although she has refused to release the advice.
32.
Kerryn Phelps 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.
33.
Kerryn Phelps was sworn in as a member of parliament on 26 November 2018.
34.
Kerryn 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.
35.
On 20 May 2019, Kerryn Phelps conceded defeat in the 2019 federal election to the Liberal candidate Dave Sharma.
36.
Kerryn Phelps Independents was a political party formed by Phelps in 2018.
37.
Kerryn Phelps is married to Jackie Stricker-Kerryn Phelps, a former primary school teacher.
38.
From her first marriage with Michael Fronzek, Kerryn Phelps has a daughter and a son.
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Kerryn Phelps has a younger brother, Australian TV actor Peter Kerryn Phelps.
40.
In 2009, Kerryn Phelps was named one of the 25 most influential lesbians in Australia by readers of the website samesame.
41.
Stricker grew up in a liberal European Jewish household and Kerryn Phelps converted to Judaism.
42.
In December 2022, Kerryn Phelps said that she and her wife suffered from injuries related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
43.
Kerryn Phelps was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to Australian society and medicine.
44.
In 2014, Kerryn Phelps was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Western Sydney.