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Time is right for a female governor
by Luke McIlveen * NSW political reporter
The Australian,
21 December 2000, p3
governor Marie Bashir
Courtesy of News Ltd. Photo Library

IT'S time. That was the chief reason NSW Premier Bob Carr gave for appointing the state's first female governor yesterday.

After clearing his idea with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, Mr Carr named Marie Bashir as the replacement for Gordon Samuels.

"It was time. Women are 50 per cent of the population and there has never been a woman governor," Mr Carr said.

"NSW is very fortunate to have someone of the calibre of Dr Bashir to agree to accept the position."

There was never any question about Dr Bashir's suitability for the job -- a quick look at her curriculum vitae reveals a list of interests as broad as it is long.

Professor of clinical psychiatry at Sydney University, she is also a devoted campaigner for the prevention of youth suicide, a member of the Wagner Society and one-time Mother of the Year.

"For me it's an absolutely awesome experience and one that I'm going to take a little while to adjust to," she said.
There was little time for adjustment -- about an hour -- before she was required to make her first address to the media yesterday. Predictably enough, the softly spoken grandmother of six found herself embroiled in the debate about where she would live.

In 1996, the newly appointed Mr Samuels sent the traditionalists into a spin by insisting on staying home, rather than following protocol and moving to Government House.

Dr Bashir confirmed she would follow suit. Was she a republican, then? No, just an Australian content to stay in the house she has lived in for 30 years with her husband Nicholas Shehadie, a former lord mayor of Sydney.

Determined to "take a seat at the table on social issues", she spoke of the subjects dear to her heart -- the impoverished, equality for women and the plight of Aborigines. Born to well-off Lebanese migrants, Marie Roslyn Bashir grew up in Narrandera, south-west NSW.

She said yesterday the many Aboriginal friends she made in the town were the driving force behind her
quest to improve indigenous health. Dr Bashir will be sworn in on March 1 after leaving her academic post in February.

She is only the third woman appointed to the position, after former governors Leneen Forde in Queensland and the late Dame Roma Mitchell in South Australia.

HEALTHY PAST
Dr Marie Roslyn Bashir, AO

  • Born in Narrandera NSW.
  • Married to Sir Nicholas Shehadie.
  • Mother of three and grandmother of six.
  • Mother of the Year in 1971.
  • Officer of the Order of Australia, AO, for services to child and adolescent health in 1988.
  • Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Sydney University since 1993.
  • Mental health services director, Central Sydney Area Health Service, since 1994.
  • Senior Consultant, Aboriginal Medical Service, Redfern and Kempsey since 1996.