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Katrina Ann Hodgkinson (born 10 March 1966) is an Australian former politician. She is the former Federal Vice President of the
National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia, commonly known as the Nationals or simply the Nats, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. Traditionally represe ...
and a former Australian Member of Parliament. She was a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...
, representing
Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. I ...
for The Nationals from 28 March 2015 to 1 September 2017, and Burrinjuck from 27 March 1999 to 27 March 2015.


Early years and background

Hodgkinson was educated at
Canberra Girls' Grammar School Canberra Girls Grammar School (CGGS) is an Independent school, independent, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, Day school, day and boarding school predominantly for girls, located in Deakin, Australian Capital Territory, Deakin, a suburb of ...
and
Narrabundah College Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB), starting the progr ...
, and Metropolitan Business College of New South Wales. She was an executive officer in the Commonwealth Department of Transport and for Sydney property development companies, becoming Secretary of the Year for the North Sydney region in 1989. She was a
Technical and Further Education Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...
instructor from 1989 to 1991, owned regional small businesses from 1989 to 1997 and she was Adviser to Senator the Hon
Nick Minchin Nicholas Hugh Minchin (born 15 April 1953) is an Australian former politician and former Australian Consul-General in New York. He previously served as a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing South Australia from July 1993 to J ...
, Special Minister of State and Minister for Industry, Science and Resources from 1997 to 1999.


Parliamentary career

In 1995, Katrina Hodgkinson sought election to the seat of Southern Highlands in a three-cornered-contest. Despite receiving the highest primary vote, The Nationals were defeated on
preferences In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...
. In 1998
Alby Schultz Albert John Schultz (29 May 193914 July 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from October 1998 to August 2013, representing the Division of Hume in New South Wales. Biography E ...
, then Member for Burrinjuck, resigned from NSW Parliament to contest the seat of Hume. Katrina Hodgkinson was elected to NSW Parliament at the subsequent 1999 election. Between 2003 and 2011, Katrina Hodgkinson held a range of shadow ministerial responsibilities including Fair Trading and Small Business, Tourism, Major Events, Community Services, Families and Child Safety, Rural Affairs, and Natural Resource Management. In 2007, a substantial redistribution of electorate boundaries saw her constituency base move from Goulburn, Yass and Tumut to Cowra, Cootamundra, Yass and Young. Following the 2011 state election, Katrina Hodgkinson was appointed NSW's first female Minister for Primary Industries and also as Minister for Small Business. In 2013 a further statewide
electoral redistribution Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral distr ...
was announced by the NSW Electoral Commission that resulted in a substantial revision of Katrina Hodgkinson's seat of Burrinjuck, including the loss of her home town of Yass, and the seat renamed
Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. I ...
, with effect from the 2015 NSW State election. At the same time, the neighbouring
electoral district of Goulburn Goulburn is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Wendy Tuckerman of the Liberal Party. Goulburn is a regional electorate. It encompasses all of Goulburn Mulwaree ...
was pushed westward to take in portions of the Burrinjuck electorate, including her hometown of Yass. Katrina Hodgkinson initially announced plans to seek Nationals preselection in Goulburn. This briefly touched off a dispute between the Liberals and Nationals. Ultimately, Hodgkinson dropped plans to challenge Goulburn and contested Cootamundra, which she won easily. Due to the resignation of
Barry O'Farrell Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is an Australian former politician who was Australia's List of Australian High Commissioners to India, High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan from February 2020 to 30 June 202 ...
as Premier and Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner in 2014 and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by new Premier
Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Mini ...
and new Deputy Premier and Minister for Racing Troy Grant, in addition to her existing responsibilities as Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson was appointed Assistant Minister for Tourism and Major Events. She was appointed as NSW first Parliamentary Secretary for Southern NSW in the
second Baird ministry The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...
following the 2015 state election. Following the introduction by the Baird-Grant Government in October 2016 of legislation to ban greyhound racing in NSW, Katrina Hodgkinson, with fellow Nationals MPs for the seats of Barwon and Clarence,
crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...
to vote against the ban. After months of intense public pressure from regional communities, Premier Baird introduced new legislation overturning the greyhound racing ban that he and Grant had introduced, and then retired from State Parliament. Hodgkinson graduated from the
Australian Institute of Company Directors The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) is a non-profit membership organization for directors. The AICD is a founding member of the Global Network of Director Institutes (GNDI). History The origins of the AICD can be traced ba ...
in 2015, and as a Master of Business Administration through the
Australian Institute of Business The Australian Institute of Business (AIB) is a private business school based in Adelaide, South Australia. It is registered by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). AIB's programmes are accredited within the Australian Qua ...
in 2017. On 31 July 2017, she announced her intention to retire from the NSW Parliament effective 1 September 2017, resulting in a by-election for the seat of Cootamundra, which was comfortably retained by the Nationals. Hodgkinson was elected Federal Vice President of the
National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia, commonly known as the Nationals or simply the Nats, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. Traditionally represe ...
in August 2018. At the 2019 federal election, Katrina Hodgkinson contested the seat of
Gilmore Gilmore or Gillmore may refer to: *Gilmore (surname) Places Australia *Gilmore, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Tuggeranong * Gilmore Avenue, a road in southern Perth, Western Australia *Division of Gilmore, a ...
. She increased The Nationals margin in the seat by over 14%. Katrina Hodgkinson is currently a Company Director, on the Boards of the
Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation, spanning across five states and 39 worksites. ARTC continues to expand the networ ...
(ARTC), Shake It Up Australia Foundation (in association with the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research), and she is Chair of NSW Small Business Advisory, Realise Business.


References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgkinson, Katrina 1966 births Living people National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales People from Yass Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Fellows of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Australian Institute of Business alumni 21st-century Australian women politicians People educated at Canberra Girls Grammar School Ministers for agriculture (New South Wales)