Tanya Rachelle Gadiel, ''née'' Barber (born 21 November 1972), a former Australian politician, 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 ...

between 2003 and 2011, representing the electorate of

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

for the Labor Party. During her term in Parliament, Gadiel was Deputy Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in the

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who served as the first female Premier of New South Wales from 2009 to 2011 and was later a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 u ...

Labor Government. On 8 December 2010, Gadiel announced that she would not contest the 2011 state election.

Early years and background

Gadiel was born in Cessnock, New South Wales and attended public schools, including Cessnock High School. She studied arts and law at university before becoming involved in the trade union movement, serving as an organiser with the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia and as an industrial officer with the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

. She was subsequently employed as a senior policy adviser to then-Police Minister Michael Costa. She was married, but has been divorced for a number of years.

State politics

In late 2002, Gabrielle Harrison, the Member for Parramatta, announced she would retire from parliament at the upcoming 2003 state election. Harrison conceded that she had lost support among her branch members. It was reported that, :''Right-wing party bosses want to replace former sports minister Gabrielle Harrison in Parramatta with Tanya Gadiel, a member of the staff of Police Minister Michael Costa...... Mrs Gadiel

oes not Oes or owes were metallic O-shaped rings or eyelets sewn on to clothes and furnishing textiles for decorative effect. Made of gold, silver, or copper, they were used on clothing and furnishing fabrics and were smaller than modern sequins. They were ...

have the support to win local rank-and-file preselection ballots''. Gadiel was preselected to take her place after a bitter internal contest against

Lord Mayor David Borger. In 2007, Borger went on to be elected as the Member for Granville. With Borger not contesting the election, Gadiel had a relatively clear run, as the protest vote split between an independent and the Green candidate. While many commentators predicted a larger swing considering the amount of adverse press coverage, it nevertheless caused a small swing to the Liberal Party in what was otherwise a landslide victory for Labor. Gadiel was re-elected at the

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 ...

state election and, in December 2010, announced her decision to not seek re-election at the 2011 state election, citing family reasons. Gadiel was the 19th NSW Labor member to stand aside at the March 2011 state election.

Post-political career

Since leaving politics, Gadiel has been the CEO of Community Services at Parramatta Mission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadiel, Tanya 1972 births Living people Australian chief executives Australian trade unionists People from Cessnock, New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Deputy and assistant speakers of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Women legislative deputy speakers