A former party staffer, the Coffs Harbour businesswoman became the party's youngest New South Wales member of parliament at the age of 33.[citation needed]
Pavey initially worked as a radio journalist with 2UW in Sydney, but soon became involved in the National Party, and in 1988 took up a position as a media officer for Matt Singleton, the then-Minister for Administrative Services. Over the next decade, she worked for a number of MPs, including Deputy Premier Wal Murray (1990–1993), Minister for Consumer Affairs Wendy Machin (1993–1994) and National Party leader Ian Armstrong (1994–1997).[5]
Pavey entered politics in July 2002, when long-serving Legislative Council member Doug Moppett died suddenly. In the subsequent weeks, Pavey announced her intention to nominate for the resulting casual vacancy. At the time, the party was recovering from a significant defeat at the 2001 election, and the party was keen to look for younger and more appealing candidates.[citation needed] Despite being nine months pregnant at the time, Pavey was ultimately successful in obtaining preselection, and was sworn in as an MLC in September 2002,[5] three weeks after the birth of her daughter, Emily.
She has dedicated much of her time to advocating for the people of the Queanbeyan region, in her role as The Nationals duty member for the Labor-held Legislative Assembly electorate of Monaro. She has also served on the Parliamentary Committee on Children and Young People since 2003.[citation needed]
After the 2011 state election, PremierBarry O'Farrell announced that Pavey would not enter Cabinet; despite previously holding the role of Shadow spokesperson for Emergency Services.[6] Pavey was subsequently appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Health. In December 2014, Pavey was preselected by the Nationals as the party's candidate for the lower house seat of Oxley at the 2015 state election.[7]
Following the resignation of Mike Baird as Premier,[8]Gladys Berejiklian was elected as Liberal leader and sworn in as Premier.[9][10][11] The Berejiklian ministry was subsequently formed with Pavey sworn in as the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight with effect from 30 January 2017.[1] Following the 2019 state election Pavey was appointed as the Minister for Water, Property and Housing in the second Berejiklian ministry with effect from 2 April 2019.[12]
^Smith, Alexandra; Cormack, Lucy; Rabe, Tom (5 October 2021). "Perrottet 'no extremist', says Barilaro as other MPs disagree". Sydney Morning Herald. Water Minister Melinda Pavey announced her intention to become the first female leader of the party, saying people across NSW were "begging" her to make a bid.
.jpg)
