Patricia Lynne White (born 7 September 1964) is an Australian

company director A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

and former politician who served as the member for

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...

in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

, representing the Labor Party. She first won the seat at a state by-election held on 5 November 1994, following the retirement of former premier

Lynn Arnold Lynn Maurice Ferguson Arnold, (born 27 January 1949) is an Anglican priest and a former Australian politician, who represented the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, serving as Premier of South Australia between 4 Septembe ...

, serving for 16 years. She was a senior cabinet minister in the Rann government.

Career

Born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, White gained degrees in Engineering and Arts, from the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, after which she worked as an engineering

project manager A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the Project planning, planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined star ...

in the transport and communications industries, then with the

Defence Science and Technology Organisation Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

Parliamentary career

From 1995 to 2002, White held various Shadow Ministries including Education and Children's Services, Further Education and Training, Higher Education, Regional Development, Tourism, Racing, Sport, Youth, Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs. When Labor took power in 2002, she became a minister. From 2002 to 2005, White has held Ministries including Education and Children's Services, Member of the Executive Council, Transport, Science and Information Economy, and Urban Development and Planning. She stepped down to spend more time with her young family. She has been a member of several parliamentary committees, including Chair Economic and Finance, Industry Development, Public Works, Social Development, Select Committee into Building Surveyors / Private Certifiers, Select Committee into DETE funded schools. The 2006 election saw White increase her margin to 27.4%. White announced she would not re-contest her seat at the 2010 state election.'Golden girl' to quit parliament: The Advertiser 6/5/2009
/ref> Labor preselected former Labor assistant secretary Leesa Vlahos who retained the seat.

Post-Parliamentary career

Post politics, White took up a senior executive role with ASX 50 global engineering services company,

WorleyParsons Worley Limited is an Australian engineering and professional services company which provides consulting and project delivery expertise to the resources and energy sectors, and complex process industries. History Early history John Grill (c ...

. She has been a non-executive director of several corporations, including

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...

. In March 2017, White signed an open letter calling for the Government of South Australia to continue to investigate the "opportunity to develop an international used nuclear fuel management industry" identified by the

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission is a Royal Commission into South Australia's future role in the nuclear fuel cycle. It commenced on 19 March 2015 and delivered its final report to the Government of South Australia on 6 May 2016. The Commis ...

in 2015–16. From 2018 she has been president and board chairman of

Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA), known formally as the Institution of Engineers, Australia, is an Australian professional body and Non-profit organization, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineerin ...

, the peak professional body for the engineering profession in Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Trish 1964 births Living people Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia University of Queensland alumni University of South Australia alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the South Australian House of Assembly Members of the Order of Australia