Deborah O'Neill

Deborah Mary O'Neill (born 4 June 1961) is an Australian federal politician who has represented the state of New South Wales since 2013. O’Neill is a member of the Australian Labor Party and formerly represented the seat of Robertson as a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2013. After losing the seat of Robertson to the Liberal Party’s Lucy Wicks at the 2013 election O'Neill was chosen to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate, representing the state of New South Wales. In September 2016, O'Neill was appointed as Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation.

O'Neill grew up in Western Sydney, a child of Irish immigrants, before moving to the Central Coast when she got married. Before entering politics, O'Neill was a local teacher and a lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Arts at The University of Newcastle, Central Coast Campus. O'Neill attended the University of Sydney and the University of New England where she received a Bachelor of Arts. In addition, she has also completed a Master of Arts and a Diploma of Teaching from the Australian Catholic University as well as a Graduate Diploma in Literary Education from Deakin University.

At the NSW state election in 2003, O'Neill challenged Chris Hartcher in the seat of Gosford and lost by only 272 votes. In 2007 O'Neill challenged Hartcher again in the state election for the newly created seat of Terrigal but was defeated.

In 2010, O'Neill was endorsed as Labor candidate for Robertson gaining preselection over incumbent Labor member, Belinda Neal. At the 2010 federal election O'Neill was challenged by Liberal candidate Darren Jameson, but won the seat with an increased margin for Labor of 1%. At the 2013 election, O'Neill suffered a 4% swing against her and was defeated by the Liberals' Lucy Wicks.

Following the resignation of Bob Carr from the Australian Senate on 24 October 2013, O'Neill was selected by Labor to fill the casual vacancy, and was appointed by the NSW Parliament on 13 November 2013. In an unprecedented situation where Carr resigned both his current term and the following six-year term, the NSW Government sought legal advice regarding the tenure of O'Neill's appointment. To mitigate the cost of recalling both houses of the New South Wales parliament for a joint sitting (estimated at AUD $300,000), Premier Mike Baird convened a sitting on 2 July of two government members and two opposition members before the President of the Legislative Council to appoint O'Neill to the Senate for the term which began on 1 July.