'No small feat': Berejiklian's historic win garners praise from female politicians

Female politicians say the popular election of Gladys Berejiklian as premier in NSW is a historic feat to be celebrated.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian

Gladys Berejiklian has become the first woman to be elected premier in NSW. (AAP)

Gladys Berejiklian has been congratulated by all sides of politics for making history by becoming the first woman to be.

She followed in the footsteps of Queensland's Annastacia Palaszczuk who became the first woman to be popularly elected as premier at the 2017 Queensland election.

At a time when women in politics has been in focus, former prime minister Julia Gillard led the congratulations, despite coming from the Labor side of the political divide.

"In a world of far too few women leaders, I congratulate @GladysB on being the first woman to win a NSW state election," Ms Gillard, the first woman to be an Australian prime minister, tweeted.

NSW Labor frontbencher Jodi McKay also congratulated Ms Berejiklian during the ABC's election night broadcast.

"I think the fact that she's been able to be the first elected female premier of NSW, every woman in this state should be feeling pretty pleased about that," Ms McKay said.



Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Ms Bereklian's personal win was no small feat.

"The more women we have in politics, across all parties the better our democracy and parliaments will be," Senator Hanson-Young tweeted.

"Working across party lines to make the political culture more respectful must be a priority."

Kristina Kenneally, now a Labor senator, became the first woman premier in NSW when she succeeded Nathan Rees in a partyroom ballot in 2009. She lost the 2011 election.

Western Australia's Carmen Lawrence was the first woman to be premier of an Australian state in 1990. 


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Published 24 March 2019 8:00am
Updated 24 March 2019 10:17am


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