Marie May Bignold (14 September 1927 – 11 October 2018) was an Australian politician. Born in

Kiama Kiama may refer to: * Electoral district of Kiama, a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Kiama, New South Wales, a town * Kiama (spider), a genus of spiders *Municipality of Kiama The Municipality of Kiama is a local government ar ...

, the daughter of solicitor Owen James Thomas and Sylvia May Reid, she studied law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

before being admitted as a solicitor in 1950. She married Justice Neal Bignold, a Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, with whom she has one daughter, Alicia. In 1984, she was appointed to 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 ...

for the Call to Australia Group, which was led by

Fred Nile Frederick John Nile (born 15 September 1934) is an Australian former politician and Ordination, ordained Minister (Christianity), Christian minister. Nile was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1981-2023, except for a perio ...

. Her appointment was the result of the resignation, due to ill health, of fellow party member Jim Cameron. She was the first female lawyer to take her seat in the Legislative Council. A committed

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, she campaigned strongly against

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

. She was expelled from Call to Australia in November 1988 after a disagreement with the Niles over industrial relations policy. She thereafter held her seat as an Independent Member until 1991, when she was one of three sitting Members whose seats were abolished by a Government sponsored Constitutional Amendment Bill which received majority approval at a Referendum held in conjunction with the 1991 General Election. Her legal challenge to the validity of that Bill was unsuccessful in the Courts. Thereafter she did not seek re-election to the Legislative Council. At the 1991 state election, the Marie Bignold Team received 0.5% of the upper house vote. Bignold later ran in the 1992 Gordon state by-election and received 6.42% of the vote.

References

1927 births 2018 deaths Australian solicitors Australian women lawyers Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Christian Democratic Party (Australia) politicians Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council People from Kiama, New South Wales {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub