<P> In 1897, in South Australia, Catherine Helen Spence was the first woman to stand as a political candidate, after standing (unsuccessfully) for the Federal Convention held in Adelaide . </P> <P> The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which enabled women to vote at federal elections, also permitted women to stand for election for the Australian Parliament . Four women stood for election at the 1903 federal election . They were Mary Moore - Bentley and Nellie Martel from New South Wales, and Vida Goldstein from Victoria, all of whom stood for the Senate, and Selina Anderson who contested the Sydney House of Representatives seat of Dalley . All failed to get major party endorsement and stood as independents, and all were unsuccessful . Goldstein stood for the Senate again in 1910, 1913, 1914 and 1917, all without success . Eva Seery contested Labor Party preselection for the Senate in 1916 but was unsuccessful . She and Henrietta Greville were endorsed Labor candidates at the 1917 federal election, though for safe conservative seats . Though unsuccessful they were the first women to stand for the Australian Parliament with major party endorsement . </P> <P> The first woman elected to any Australian Parliament was Edith Cowan, elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in 1921 . Dame Enid Lyons, in the Australian House of Representatives and Senator Dorothy Tangney, became the first women in the federal Parliament in 1943 . Lyons was in 1949 appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council by Robert Menzies . She was described as Minister without Portfolio, with no departmental duties, but the appointment gave her a seat in Cabinet . She held the position between 19 December 1949 and 7 March 1951, and is the only woman to have occupied the position . </P> <P> Rosemary Follett of the Australian Labor Party was elected Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory in 1989, becoming the first woman elected to lead a state or territory . The state parliamentary Labor Parties of Western Australia and Victoria selected women to replace their incumbent leaders in 1990: Carmen Lawrence was Premier of Western Australia between 12 February 1990 and 16 February 1993; and Joan Kirner was Premier of Victoria between 10 August 1990 and 6 October 1992 . Both leaders suffered defeat at the subsequent state elections . Clare Martin became Labor Opposition Leader in the Northern Territory in 1999, and won a victory at the 2001 territory election, becoming the first ALP and first female Chief Minister of the Northern Territory . At the 2005 NT election, she led Territory Labor to the second - largest majority government in the history of the Territory, before resigning as Chief Minister on 26 November 2007 . Anna Bligh became the leader of the Queensland Labor Party and Premier of Queensland on 12 September 2007 and then led the party to victory in the 2009 Queensland State Election . After Bligh's loss at the 2012 Queensland State Election, Annastacia Palaszczuk succeeded her as party leader, and led the ALP to victory at the 2015 Queensland State Election, to become the second Labor Premier of Queensland on 14 February 2015, leading the party to victory from Opposition . Palaszczuk's ministry has a female majority of 8 of 14, a first in Australia . Kristina Keneally was the Labor Premier of New South Wales between 4 December 2009 and 28 March 2011 . Julia Gillard was the Labor Prime Minister of Australia between 24 June 2010 and 27 June 2013 . Lara Giddings was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 24 January 2011 to 31 March 2014 . Gladys Berejiklian became Liberal Premier of New South Wales on 23 January 2017 . </P>

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