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O'Neil, Pamela Frances (1945 - )

BSc (Biochem), FIPAA
Published Resources
Bureaucrat and Educator
Born: 20 September 1945  Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Pamela O'Neil was Australia's first Sex Discrimination Commissioner.


Career Highlights

The youngest of six children, Pamela O'Neil was born in Brisbane and attended All Hallows School, Brisbane. Between 1963 and 1965 she attended Queensland University where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in physiology and biochemistry. She worked for a short time as a scientist at the Royal Brisbane Hospital before moving to the Northern Territory following her marriage in 1966.

Prior to her election to the Legislative Assembly O'Neil worked part-time for the Red Cross Blood Bank. Between 1966 and 1969, before the birth of her child, she was employed as a Biochemist with the Commonwealth Health Laboratory in Darwin.

O'Neil was the Australian Labor Party Member for Fannie Bay of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1983. She was deputy leader of the opposition from 1981-1983.

In 1984, after 18 years in Darwin, O'Neil and her family moved to Canberra upon her appointment as the first Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Commisioner. She attracted national attention when she insisted that she would be addressed as Ms! [1]

O'Neil resigned in 1988 and was appointed Director of the Australian Heritage Commission in 1989. At the end of that year she was invited to become the inaugural Principal Member of the newly created Immigration Review Tribunal. After six years in this position O'Neil resigned and has since held part-time appointments on a variety of tribunals.

Pamela O'Neil is a member of the National Gallery, the ACT Museum and Art Gallery and the Canberra Ornithologists Group. Her interests include food, wine, travel, music, art and sport.

[1] http://www.nwmc.org.au/history2/biogs/oneil.htm

Events
20 Sept. 1945

Born: daughter of John Patrick and Lurline Margaret Patfield Caffery

1958 - 1962

Attended All Hallows' School, Queensland

1963 - 1965

Attended Queensland University

1966 - 1969

Biochemist with the Commonwealth Health Laboratory, Darwin

20 May 1966

Married: Allan O'Neil, they were to have 2 sons

1977 - 1983

Member Legislative Assembly, Australian Labor Party, for Fannie Bay, Northern Territory

1981 - 1983

Deputy Opposition Leader, Northern Territory

c. 1983

Appointed, Northern Territory representative to the CSIRO Committee on Information and Social Impact

1984 - 1988

Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Commissioner

1986 - 1988

Member of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

1989

Director of the Australian Heritage Commission

1989 - 1995

Principal Member of the Immigration Review Tribunal

1991 - 1993

Member of the Executive Committee, Australian Institute Administrative Law

1992

Member of the Committee for the Review of the System of Review of Migration Decisions

1992 - 1993

President of the Royal Institute of Public Administration, ACT Division

1996 - 1997

Head of the Commonwealth Paedophile Inquiry

1996 - 1998

Chairperson of the Migration Agents Licensing Board

1996 - 1999

Member of the National Native Title Tribunal

1996 - 2001

Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, ACT

1998

Visiting Scholar of the Centre for International and Public Law at the Australian National University

 
Sources used to compile this entry: http://www.nwmc.org.au/history2/biogs/oneil.htm accessed 03032003, Who's Who in Australia 2002 p. 1434-1435 and Pamela O'Neil's CV.
 
Published Resources

See also


Google
Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Anne Heywood
Created: 3 March 2003
Modified: 2 March 2006

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 23 December 2008
http://womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0451b.htm

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