Statement from the family of the Honourable Jocelyn Margaret Newman AO
Campbell Newman & Kate Roff are sad to advise the passing of their Mother – former Senator for Tasmania – The Honourable Jocelyn Margaret Newman, AO.
Jocelyn Margaret Newman was born in Melbourne on 8 July 1937 to Lyndhurst & Margaret Mullett.
She attended PLC Melbourne and was one of a handful of women to study law at the University of Melbourne at that time (the 1950’s).
A resident of Women’s College she enjoyed her years at University becoming an editor of the campus newspaper, Farrago, and a rather beguiling Miss University. Upon graduation she became a solicitor and went on to practise in the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania.
In 1961 Jocelyn married Kevin Eugene Newman, a graduate of the Royal Military College and serving infantry officer, whom she met on a blind date at an army ball at Puckapunyal.
Then commenced a loving and unique partnership that ended with Kevin’s untimely death in July 1999.
Both served as senior members of Coalition Governments – Kevin in the Fraser Ministry from 1975 to 1983 and Jocelyn in John Howard’s Cabinet from 1996 to 2001.
In the early years of her marriage Jocelyn devoted herself to supporting her husband’s military career and the upbringing of their children whilst battling to maintain her fledgling career as a solicitor.
Her practice included family law in the tough years before Gough Whitlam introduced the Family Law Act of 1975. This exposed her to the plight of women and children suffering from poverty and domestic violence - a harsh reality she would never forget — and it informed her commitment to the establishment of the Launceston Women’s Shelter - her unsuccessful application to become Gough’s first women’s adviser - and her later work as Shadow Minister and then Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the status of women and Minister for Social Security.
Upon Kevin’s election to the Federal Parliament Jocelyn turned down the opportunity of a partnership in a Launceston law firm and committed herself to running the couples’ mixed farm in NW Tasmania and to volunteering for community organisations such as the Northern Tasmania regional child protection assessment committee, the National Trust, the Launceston Grammar School Board, and the Independent Schools Association of Tasmania.
However, with Kevin’s early retirement due to ill health in 1984 the baton was passed and the roles of husband and wife had reversed.
Following in the footsteps of Dame Enid Lyons, someone she knew personally and admired greatly, Jocelyn entered the Federal Parliament in 1986, filling a casual Senate vacancy for Tasmania. She served for 10 years in Opposition filling a number of Spokesperson roles.
During the 1990s she prevailed in two quite separate battles with cancer.
As the wife of a Vietnam veteran and serving defence force member she had a passion for all Defence matters but was particularly concerned to improve the lot of Defence families. She carried this passion into her roles as shadow minister for defence science and personnel, and later shadow minister for defence, to fiercely advocate for servicemen and their families. However when, in 1996, the coalition finally sat in the Government benches she was instead asked by John Howard to serve as Cabinet Minister for Social Security & then Family & Community Services.
As was her way, she embraced this new challenge with great purpose overseeing substantial reforms to the welfare system. During her time in Cabinet she was passionate about ensuring that the system was directed wholeheartedly to helping people that properly needed support for she shared Enid Lyons’s view that ill directed welfare could be corrosive for both the individual and society. She hated the idea of people that gamed the system and was relentless in her pursuit of men that didn’t obey court orders to support their children.
After retirement in early 2001 Jocelyn continued her support to organisations such as The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, The War Memorial Canberra and the Breast Cancer Network.
Jocelyn Newman, army wife, mother, grandmother, lawyer, farmer, hotelier, community volunteer, women’s advocate, senator and cabinet minister - a true feminist - died peacefully at Berry, south coast of NSW on the morning of Easter Sunday 1 April 2018 after a long struggle with Alzheimers.
Her family would like to pay special thanks to the exceptional staff members at Bupa Aged Care Berry for their considerable kindness and care to both Jocelyn and her family.
Jocelyn is succeeded by her children Campbell & Kate and her wonderful granddaughters Rebecca, Sarah, Emma and Samantha - four impressive young women who she loved dearly and of whom she would be ever so proud.
A memorial service is to be held in Canberra in the next fortnight.
In her own words: "Onward Christian Soldiers"
Biography
Parliamentary service
Chosen by the Parliament of Tasmania on 13.3.1986 under section 15 of the Constitution to represent that State in the Senate, vice PE Rae (resigned).
Elected 1987 (term deemed to have begun 1.7.1987), 1990 and 1996. Resigned 1.2.2002.
Ministerial appointments
Minister for Social Security from 11.3.96 to 21.10.98.
Minister for Family and Community Services from 21.10.98 to 30.1.01.
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women from 11.3.96 to 9.10.97 and from 21.10.98 to 30.1.01.
Committee service
Senate Standing: Scrutiny of Bills from 17.4.86 to 5.6.87.
Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing: Education and the Arts from 3.6.86 to 5.6.87; Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade from 24.9.87 to 8.5.90.
Participating member, Finance and Public Administration: Legislation Committee from 17.10.94 to 29.4.96; Participating member, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade: Legislation Committee from 17.10.94 to 29.4.96; Participating member, Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport: Legislation Committee from 17.10.94 to 29.4.96.
Senate Select: Education of Gifted and Talented Children from 22.9.87 to 18.5.88; Public Interest Whistleblowing from 27.9.93 (Chair from 18.10.93) to 31.8.94.
Senate Estimates: D from 20.3.86 to 5.6.87; E from 24.9.87 to 29.9.89 and from 20.8.92 to 6.5.93; B from 9.5.90 to 20.8.92; C from 6.5.93 to 9.6.94.
Conferences, delegations and visits
Official visits to UK, France, Spain and Portugal, November 1996; New Zealand, July 1997; China and India, September 1997; UK, Italy and USA, July 1999; China, September 1999; USA, June 2000; New Zealand, July 2000.
Parliamentary Delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention, Canberra, February 1998.
Study tour, Cambodia and Vietnam, March 2001.
Parliamentary party positions
Member, Opposition Shadow Ministry from 16.9.88 to 22.5.94 and from 25.9.94 to 11.3.96. Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel from 16.9.88 to 11.4.90; Defence Personnel from 11.4.90 to 28.4.92; Defence Science and Personnel from 28.4.92 to 7.8.92; Status of Women from 11.6.89 to 11.4.90; Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader of the Opposition on the Status of Women from 11.4.90 to 7.4.93; Veterans' Affairs from 11.4.90 to 7.4.93; the Aged from 7.8.92 to 7.4.93; Family and Health, and Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader of the Opposition on Family Matters from 7.4.93 to 22.5.94; Defence from 25.9.94 to 11.3.96.
Chair, Health, Welfare and Veterans' Management Group from 7.4.93 to 22.5.94.
Personal
Born 8.7.1937, Melbourne, Vic.
Married.
Qualifications and occupation before entering Federal Parliament
LLB (Melb) .
Barrister and solicitor.
Heritage developer.
Hotelier.
Farmer.
Founding Member, Women's Shelters in Hobart and Launceston.
Member, State Executive, National Trust (Tas).
Member, Federal Executive, Australian Garden History Society.
Deputy Chair, Association of Independent Schools of Tasmania.
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