Berejiklian, Gladys (1970 - )

Gladys Berejiklian is the first Armenian descendant to be elected to the NSW Parliament. As a member of the Liberal Party she was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (Willoughby seat) in 2003.

Gladys Berejiklian was born and raised in Sydney, where her parents had immigrated to in 1960. She attended local schools and studied the Armenian language at Saturday School held in the Willoughby Primary School.

Gladys joined the Liberal Party in 1993 and was President of NSW Young Liberals in 1995-6. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Constitutional Convention of 1997 for the Australian Republican Movement. She has been active in Armenian community organizations in the Willoughby-Chatswood area and served a term on the Armenian National Committee of Australia. In 2000 she visited the USA as a delegate from the Australian Political Exchange Council.
She worked on the staff of the Liberal Senator Marise Payne.

In 2003 Gladys Berejiklian was elected in a close race for Willoughby after the retirement of former Liberal leader Peter Collins, and in her maiden speech, thanked those who had voted for her even though they could not pronounce her surname. She was a member of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in 2003 and in 2005 held the shadow portfolios of Mental Health, Youth Affairs, Cancer and Medical Research and was Shadow Minister assisting the Leader on Ethnic Affairs.

She has graduated with a BA (1992) and
Grad Dip International Studies (1996) from the University of Sydney and a M.Comm (2001) from the University of New South Wales.