36 Facts About Margaret Reynolds

Margaret Reynolds is a former Australian politician.

Margaret Reynolds was a Senator for Queensland from 1983 to 1999, representing the Australian Labor Party.

Margaret Reynolds held ministerial office in the Hawke government as Minister for Local Government and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women.

Margaret Reynolds was the only child of Jess and Walter Rodis "Rod" Lyne.

Margaret Reynolds's father was a farm labourer and soldier who served in New Guinea during World War II.

Margaret Reynolds died in 1947, after which she and her mother relocated to Launceston to be closer to her maternal grandparents.

Margaret Reynolds attended Trevallyn Primary School and Launceston State High School, matriculating in 1957.

Margaret Reynolds subsequently studied teaching for two years at the University of Tasmania.

Margaret Reynolds's first teaching post was at the small rural locality of Natone in the state's north-west.

Margaret Reynolds subsequently undertook further training in special education and taught at schools in Launceston, Devonport, and the Derwent Valley.

In Townsville, Margaret Reynolds taught for periods at Cootharinga, a special needs school, and at Aitkenvale State School.

Margaret Reynolds completed a diploma in education at James Cook University in 1977 and was appointed as a tutor in language and literature at the local College of Advanced Education.

Margaret Reynolds subsequently completed the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland in 1982.

In 1966, Margaret Reynolds joined the One People of Australia League, becoming secretary of the Townsville branch.

Margaret Reynolds helped establish an OPAL kindergarten for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, working with Indigenous activists Bobbi Sykes and Eddie Mabo.

Margaret Reynolds was a founding member of the Townsville branch of the Women's Electoral Lobby and served as its publicity officer.

Margaret Reynolds joined the ALP in 1971 and unsuccessfully sought preselection for a state parliament seat in 1976.

Margaret Reynolds was elected to the Townsville City Council in 1979 and served for four years until her election to the Senate.

Margaret Reynolds served on the ALP state council from 1981 to 1983 and was a campaign director for federal elections.

Margaret Reynolds was elected to the Senate at the 1983 federal election, winning a "short" term expiring on 30 June 1985 under the provisions for double dissolution elections.

Margaret Reynolds was the ALP's first female senator in Queensland.

Margaret Reynolds was re-elected to another six-year term at the 1987 election, which followed another double dissolution.

Margaret Reynolds was appointed as a parliamentary secretary in the third Hawke ministry on 24 July 1987, with responsibility for local government.

Margaret Reynolds was elevated to Minister for Local Government on 18 September 1987.

Margaret Reynolds was a leader of the government's campaign for the "Yes" vote in the 1988 referendum on local government, which sought to enshrine local government in the constitution but was heavily defeated, along with the other referendum proposals put forward at the same time.

On 19 January 1988, Margaret Reynolds was appointed Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women.

Margaret Reynolds secured cabinet approval to implement the policies outlined in the Hawke government's National Agenda for Women, despite "resistance to the agenda from some Labor ministers who dismissed it as indulgent middle class feminism".

Margaret Reynolds opted not to seek re-election to the ministry after the 1990 election, citing health reasons, and was replaced in both her portfolios by her left-faction colleague Wendy Fatin.

Margaret Reynolds was re-elected to a final six-year term at the 1993 election and retired when her term expired on 30 June 1999.

Margaret Reynolds was an assertive backbencher, joining Bruce Childs and John Coates in abstaining in the vote on Australian participation in the Gulf War in 1991.

Margaret Reynolds served as an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland and University of Tasmania.

Margaret Reynolds later worked as state manager of a Tasmanian disability services provider from 2004 to 2012.

In 1995, Margaret Reynolds published a book titled The Last Bastion: Labor women working towards equality in the parliaments of Australia, which is a compilation of biographical details about ALP women from the Party's inception till the year it was published.

Margaret Reynolds had three children with her husband Henry Margaret Reynolds, whom she married in 1963.

In December 2016, Margaret Reynolds became the founding President of ABC Friends National Inc.

Margaret Reynolds was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in the 2023 Australia Day Honours for "eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, to social justice, gender equality and Indigenous rights, to local government, and to the community".