Helen Mary Westwood AM is a former Australian politician and Labor Party member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

. Westwood was a member of the council from 2007 to 2015.

Personal and early life

Westwood was born to Harry and Cecily Wray. Her brother David is known in the music industry as crooner Frank Bennett. Westwood married Bob in 1973, and they have two daughters and four grandchildren. She attended Catholic schools, but in her final year she attended Birrong Girls High School along with fellow politician

Lynda Voltz Lynda Jane Voltz (born 1965) is an Australian politician. She is a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Auburn since 2019. Career Voltz joined the Australian Army Reserve in 1984, and in 1987 she becam ...

. She began her working life at 15 years of age and she has had a variety of jobs including shop assistant, accounting machinist, clerical assistant, stay-at-home mum, community worker and electorate officer. Westwood was previously married and is currently in a same-sex relationship.

Political career

Helen Westwood joined the Bargo-Picton Branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1976 (and which is now subsumed into the

Wollondilly Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area that is located on the far southwest fringe of the Greater Sydney area in New South Wales, Australia. The local government area is part of the Macarthur and Blue Mountains regions. The Wol ...

Branch). She became the Secretary of the Sefton Branch in 1977 and has remained an active member ever since. She was a Councillor of Bankstown City Council between 1995 and 2007. She was its Deputy Mayor between 1997 and 1998, and between September 2002 to May 2006, she was the Mayor of Bankstown. She claims to be the first mayor of Bankstown to be elected to the New South Wales Parliament. She was a board member of the

Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils is one of the oldest Regional Organisations of Councils or ROCs in NSW, Australia. It was formed in November 1973 to represent the councils of Western Sydney and to advocate for the people of the r ...

(WSROC) since 2001 and chair from 2004 to 2005. She was also a member of the Executive of the New South Wales Local Government Association.Who's Who Australia She was a Director of the Board of Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation from 1996 to 2007. In 2006, she resigned as Mayor to become an adviser to State Fisheries Minister

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...

as a prelude to her nomination on the Labor Party ticket for the Legislative Council. She was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 2007 as a

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

faction candidate. She received the twelfth highest quota for the council. Shortly after her election, she raised allegations about politician Paul Gibson assaulting fellow MP

Sandra Nori Sandra Christine Nori (born 16 June 1953) is a former Australian politician and presently a company director and Member of Macquarie University Council. Nori was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electoral di ...

resulting in Gibson standing down from the Ministry whilst the allegations were investigated. Gibson never returned to the Ministry and another Minister,

Phil Koperberg Philip Christian Koperberg (born 28 April 1943), is the Chairman of the New South Wales Emergency Management Committee, responsible for advising the New South Wales government on emergency response strategies, since 2011. Koperberg is a for ...

, was briefly stood aside in a related historical domestic violence allegations. These matters caused significant damage to the Iemma Labor Government. In 2008, she was one of a number of Australian politicians who backed besieged politician

Belinda Neal Belinda Jane Neal (born 10 January 1963) is an Australian politician who currently serves as a councillor for Gosford West Ward on Central Coast Council since 2024. She was a member of the Senate from 1994 to 1998, before later serving as the ...

. In 2011, she was deputy chair of a parliamentary inquiry into domestic violence which pushed for an integrated response to domestic and family violence by the NSW Government. In 2014, Helen Westwood participated in a move by the Labor-affiliated Australian Services Union to allow the membership to vote on who the Union's delegates would preselect for the Labor ticket in the Legislative Council. Despite winning the endorsement of the ASU rank and file Helen ultimately failed in her bid to regain preselection on the back of other Left-affiliated unions (the AMWU,

CFMEU The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) is Australia's largest Trade union, union in the construction, forestry, wikt:maritime, maritime, Textile manufacturing, textile, Clothing industry, clothing and Shoemaking, footw ...

and CPSU) voting for

Luke Foley Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 June 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...

and

Mick Veitch Michael Stanley Veitch (born 19 December 1962) is an Australian politician who served as a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Veitch was a member of the council from 2007 to 2023. Early life Veitch was born at Gu ...

. Allegations were raised that this was the final payback for the earlier allegations against Paul Gibson.

Awards

In 2001, she was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2001 for service to Local Government. In 2006, she was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) for her services to Local Government. In 2007, she was commended in the Women of the West Award for her commitment and dedication to improving social balance, equity, opportunity and community harmony.Women of the West Award 2007 , University of Western Sydney
UWS (21 November 2008). Retrieved on 14 March 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood, Helen Living people Labor Left politicians Australian lesbian politicians Members of the Order of Australia Mayors of Bankstown Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Year of birth missing (living people) LGBTQ legislators in Australia Place of birth missing (living people) Women mayors of places in New South Wales Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council