Wendy Machin is the president of the National Roads and Motorists' Association

NRMA

NRMA refers to either of two historically related Australian companies:*The National Roads and Motorists' Association, known as NRMA Motoring and Services, is a member-owned mutual organisation offering , motoring advice and other services in New South Wales and the Australian Capital...

 (NRMA). She was the first woman member of the National Party of Australia

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 elected to the New South Wales Parliament

Parliament of New South Wales

The Parliament of New South Wales, located in Parliament House on Macquarie Street, Sydney, is the main legislative body in the Australian state of New South Wales . It is a bicameral parliament elected by the people of the state in general elections. The parliament shares law making powers with...

 and was Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister Assisting the Minister for Roads and Assisting the Minister for Transport between 1993–1995.

Early life

Machin studied at Wingham High School before earning a Bachelor of Arts (Communications) at the New South Wales Institute of Technology She also holds a Masters of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.

Political career

Machin worked for the Young National Party as a field organiser, serving on its State Executive, and as Communications Officer for the National Party of Australia from 1981-82. In 1983 she was elected as to North Sydney Municipal Council an independent alderman at age 25, serving until 1985 when she contested a by-election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 seat of Gloucester

Electoral district of Gloucester

Gloucester was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, originally created in 1880, partly replacing Williams, and named after Gloucester or Gloucester County . In 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation, it was absorbed into...

 on 12 October.

Winning the safe National Party seat, she become the first woman to represent the National Party in the Legislative Assembly. She founded her company Machin Consulting in the same year.

Her original seat of Gloucester was abolished before the 1988 state election

New South Wales state election, 1988

Elections to the 49th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 19 March 1988. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...

, so she stood for the newly recreated seat of Manning

Electoral district of Manning

Manning was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1894 to 1904 and from 1988 to 1991 in the Manning River area.-Members for Manning:...

 which covered the a portion of the same area. Manning was subsequently abolished and she won the seat of Port Macquarie

Electoral district of Port Macquarie

Port Macquarie is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Leslie Williams of the National Party....

 at the 1991 state election

New South Wales state election, 1991

Elections to the 50th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 May 1991. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...

.

Machin was Deputy Speaker

Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly, New South Wales's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is Shelley Hancock, who was elected on 3 May 2011...

 and became the first woman to chair the New South Wales Parliament. She appointed Minister for Consumer Affairs in the coalition government of John Fahey

John Fahey (politician)

John Joseph Fahey, AC is a former Premier of New South Wales and Federal Minister for Finance in Australia. John Fahey is currently the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1984 to 1996 and the federal House of Representatives...

 on 26 May 1993.

The election of the Carr

Bob Carr

Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...

 Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 government in 1995 saw the coalition in opposition. Machin was appointed shadow minister for Consumer Affairs, Roads and Fisheries until she resigned from Parliament on 28 August 1996 after the birth of her second child. Her resignation prompted the 1996 Port Macquarie by election, won by then National Party member Rob Oakeshott

Rob Oakeshott

Robert James Murray "Rob" Oakeshott is an Australian politician. He is the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales, which he won in the 2008 by-election following the resignation of former Nationals leader and Howard minister Mark Vaile...

.

Post-parliamentary career

Machin became the President of Save the Children

Save the Children

Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...

 Fund NSW in 1996, remaining in that position until 2000, as well as serving on the National Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Between 1997 and 2000 Machin was the Deputy Chair of the Australian Republican Movement

Australian Republican Movement

The Australian Republican Movement is a non-partisan lobby group advocating constitutional change in Australia to a republican form of government, from a constitutional monarchy.-Foundation:...

. She was an delegate to the Constitutional Convention in February 1998, elected by a voluntary ballot run by the Australian Electoral Commission

In 2005, Machin was elected to the board of the NRMA to represent the Coghlan region, which stretches from the Hunter River

Hunter River

The Hunter River is a major river in New South Wales, Australia. The Hunter River rises in the Liverpool Range and flows generally south and then east, reaching the Pacific Ocean at Newcastle, the second largest city in New South Wales and a major port....

 to the Queensland border. Following her re-election to the NRMA board on 8 December 2008, Machin became President on 10 December.

Private life

Wendy Machin married David Bell, the former chief executive of the Australian Bankers' Association and now a senior executive at Westpac

Westpac

Westpac , is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian "big four" banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand....

on 20 July 1991 and they have 3 children; James, Georgia and Emma. Her only sibling, Janne, was left profoundly disabled after a difficult birth.