Roma Clare Britnell (née Hussey; born 17 January 1967) is an Australian politician. She was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

as a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

member for South-West Coast, at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

in 2015. She was re-elected in 2018 and appointed to the opposition front bench as Shadow Minister for Rural Roads, and Shadow Minister for Ports and Freight. Britnell attended St Ann's College in Warrnambool, and trained as a nurse at Warrnambool Base Hospital. She worked as a nurse for almost 30 years and spend 15 years working in community health at the

Framlingham Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book and was part of Loes Hundred. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 census and an estimated 4,016 in 20 ...

Aboriginal Community. Prior to her election, Britnell was the vice-president of United Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV), chairwoman of WestVic Dairy and was a Nuffield Farming Scholar in 2011. Britnell also served on a number of boards including the Geoffrey Gardner Foundation, Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority, Australian Dairy Farmers Federation, was Policy Councillor with the Victorian Farmers Federation, was a member of the Great South Coast Group's Economic Pillar and a committee member of the Warrnambool City Council's Food and Agriculture into China project. She was named Victorian Rural Woman of The Year in 2009 and was named Australian Rural Woman of the Year in the same year.

2015 by-election

Britnell was pre-selected by the

to contest the by-election to replace the retiring member for South-West Coast, former Premier Denis Napthine. At the

held on 31 October 2015, Britnell obtained 40 per cent of the primary vote and claimed victory after preferences were distributed, winning 60.6 per cent of the

two-candidate-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Natio ...

against perennial candidate Roy Reekie, who secured 39.4 per cent.

2018 Victorian Election

Britnell re-contested the seat for the Liberal Party at the 2018 state election. A total of nine candidates nominated, including incumbent

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

for

Western Victoria Region Western Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created in ...

, James Purcell, and former mayors of the City of Warrnambool, Kylie Gaston (

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

) and Michael Neoh (independent), and former mayor of the Moyne Shire, Jim Doukas ( Australian Country Party). Britnell's primary vote dropped to 32 per cent, with Labor Candidate Kylie Gaston obtaining 24 percent (a 3 percent drop in the Labor vote) and James Purcell obtaining almost 17 per cent. After the distribution of preferences, Britnell was elected with an 8.66 percent swing on a two-party-preferred basis. Britnell was sworn in for her second term on 19 December.

Shadow minister

On 14 December 2018, the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

, Michael O'Brien, announced that Britnell had been appointed the Shadow Minister for Rural Roads, and Shadow Minister for Ports and Freight.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Britnell, Roma 1967 births Living people Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria 21st-century Australian farmers Dairy farmers 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians 21st-century Australian women farmers Farmers from Victoria (state)