Lynda Jane Voltz (born 1965) is an Australian politician. She is a Labor Party 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 Auburn since 2019.

Career

Voltz joined the

Australian Army Reserve The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the military reserve force, reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citize ...

in 1984, and in 1987 she became one of the first women to the join the regular

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

as one of the second group of women to train alongside men at Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka. She joined the

Royal Australian Corps of Military Police The Royal Australian Corps of Military Police (RACMP) is a corps within the Australian Army. Previously known as the Australian Army Provost Corps, it was formed on 3 April 1916 as the ANZAC Provost Corps. It is responsible for battlefield traf ...

, as it was one of the few field force units women were allowed to join. After leaving the army, she worked as a political staffer for state MP Sandra Nori, federal member for Sydney Peter Baldwin, and then as an electoral officer for Senator

John Faulkner John Philip Faulkner (born 12 April 1954) is an Australian former Labor Party politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 1989 to 2015. He was a Cabinet Minister in the Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments. After his election to ...

. At the 1995 New South Wales state election, she contested the district of North Shore but was defeated by the Liberal candidate,

Jillian Skinner Jillian Gell Skinner (born 5 August 1944) is an Australian politician who was the New South Wales Minister for Health in the Baird government. Skinner was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing North Shore for the ...

. Voltz was elected as a 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 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and re-elected in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. In 2016, Voltz replaced

Guy Zangari Gaetano "Guy" Zangari (; born 1970 or 1971) is an Australian former politician. He was a Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from March 2011 to March 2023, representing ...

as Shadow Minister for Sport and Veterans' Affairs in the shadow Ministry of Luke Foley, a position she retained in the shadow Ministry of Michael Daley. Voltz resigned from the Legislative Council in February 2019 to contest the Legislative Assembly district of Auburn following the vacation of that seat by

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 ...

. Voltz was elected to the Assembly and appointed as Shadow Minister for Police and Counter Terrorism and Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation in the

shadow Ministry of Jodi McKay The shadow ministry of Jodi McKay was the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor opposition from July 2019 to May 2021, opposing the Second Berejiklian ministry, Berejiklian government in the Parliament of New South Wales. It was ...

She retained these positions until the constitution of the

shadow Ministry of Chris Minns The shadow ministry of Chris Minns was the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), NSW Labor shadow cabinet from 2021 to 2023. It opposed the Second Berejiklian ministry, Berejiklian and First Perrottet ministry, Perrottet governments in ...

, to which she was not appointed. In October 2023, Murphy signed an open letter which condemned attacks against Israeli and Palestinian civilians during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

Personal life

Voltz was born in Hornsby on Sydney's North Shore, and attended Birrong Girls High School. She has two daughters, Katerina and Anastasia.

References

External links

Lynda Voltz - Member for Auburn (NSW Labor)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voltz, Lynda 1965 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Politicians from Sydney Australian Army soldiers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Labor Left politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council