Judith Mary Edwards (born 10 April 1955) in

Beverley Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north-west of Hull city centre. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

is an Australian politician. She was the ALP member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

from May 1990 to September 2008, representing the electorate of Maylands. Edwards won

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

for the seat of Maylands following the resignation of Peter Dowding, and entered parliament at the 1990 Maylands by-election. She has subsequently been re-elected four more times in 1993, 1996, 2001 and 2005. Prior to entering Parliament Edwards was a general practitioner after completing her

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

from the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. Once in Parliament Edward was appointed as minister of the environment and heritage from 2001 to 2003, and minister of environment from 2003 to 2006. Edwards retired in 2008 and Lisa Baker won pre-selection for the seat, eventually winning the seat. She was appointed 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 ...

in the 2024 Australia Day Honours for her "significant service to the people and Parliament of Western Australia, and to the community".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Judy 1955 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Order of Australia Australian general practitioners People from Beverley, Western Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians