Margaret Georgina Constance (McCartney) Guilfoyle DBE AC LLB (1926 - 2020)

Born 15 May 1926 in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Wife of Stanley Martin Leslie Guilfoyle — married 20 Nov 1952 in Victoria, Australia

Died 11 Nov 2020 at age 94 in Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Margaret (McCartney) Guilfoyle DBE AC LLB is Notable.

The Honourable Senator Dame Margaret Guilfoyle AC DBE LLB was a British-born Australian accountant and Senator for Victoria from 1971 to 1987, representing the Liberal Party. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet-level ministerial portfolio in Australia and served as a minister for the duration of the Fraser government; for Social Security (1975-80) and Finance (1980-83).

Margaret (McCartney) Guilfoyle DBE AC LLB was born in Ireland.

Margaret Georgina Constance McCartney was born on 15th May 1926 in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. She was the second of three children born to William McCartney, a civil servant, and Elizabeth Ellis, a schoolteacher before her marriage.

Margaret (McCartney) Guilfoyle DBE AC LLB migrated from Northern Ireland to Victoria.

The family migrated to Australia in 1928, settling in Melbourne, Victoria. Her father died when she was ten, after which Margaret and her siblings were raised by their mother; there being no other relatives in Australia.

Margaret attended the Fairfield State School, then attended a business college until the age of fifteen. Whilst working as a secretary she later took night classes, studying accountancy at Taylors Institute of Advanced Studies and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She eventually qualified as an accountant and chartered secretary, and in 1947 became the head accountant at Overseas Corporation Australia Ltd, an export firm.

Margaret married Stan Guilfoyle, a fellow accountant and, later, company director, on 20th November 1952 in Victoria. ^[1]

Margaret established a private practice following her marriage, so that she could spend more time with her family. The couple subsequently had two daughters and a son, Georgina, Anne and Geoffrey.

Margaret joined the Liberal Party in the early 1950s, being encouraged by mentors to seek leadership positions within the party's organisational wing. In 1967 she was chosen as chairperson of the state women's section and elected to the state executive. She also served as a delegate to the federal council. She won party preselection for the Senate against twenty male candidates and was elected from second place on the Coalition's ticket in Victoria at the 1970 half-Senate election. She was subsequently re-elected in 1974, 1975, 1980 and 1983. ^[2]

Soon after taking her seat on 1st July 1971, Margaret was appointed to the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Government Operations. She was appointed to the Senate Select Committee on Foreign Ownership and Control of Australian Resources in 1972, and the following year joined the Joint Committee on Prices. ^[2]

In November 1975, Margaret was appointed Minister for Education in Malcolm Fraser's caretaker ministry; following the 'sacking' of Gough Whitlam's Labor Government. That made her the second woman appointed to cabinet, after Enid Lyons, and the second to be given a ministerial portfolio, after Annabelle Rankin. In December 1975, following the Coalition's election victory, Margaret was appointed Minister for Social Security. During her tenure, she oversaw a major reform of the national child endowment scheme, introducing direct cash payments rather than tax rebates. She helped establish it as a permanent measure, renaming it the Family Allowance and resisting calls to introduce means-testing. ^[2]

In the New Year Honours 1980 Margaret was created Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for 'public and parliamentary service'. ^[3]

After the 1980 election, Margaret was appointed Minister for Finance. She viewed her position as that of 'chief accountant for the country'. She was a key member of the Review of Commonwealth Functions Committee, a cabinet subcommittee nicknamed the 'razor gang' that was tasked with cutting government expenditure. Its report, handed down in April 1981, recommended that hundreds of functions and programs be abolished, reduced, or transferred to state governments. After the Coalition lost government at the 1983 election, she was made spokesperson for finance and taxation in the shadow ministry, but resigned the position after the 1984 election and spent her remaining years in the Senate as a backbencher. ^[2]

After retiring from the Senate on 5th June 1987, Margaret obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the Australian National University (ANU). In 1990, she was nominated by the Hawke government as a member of the National Inquiry Into the Human Rights of People with Mental Illness, which issued its report in 1993. She served as chair of the Judicial Remuneration Tribunal from 1995 to 2001. As well as her public-sector appointments, Margaret served on the boards of a number of non-profit organisations, including the Australian Children's Television Foundation, the Victorian State Opera, the Mental Health Research Institute and the Infertility Treatment Authority. ^[2]

Margaret was awarded the Centenary Medal on 1st January 2001 for 'service to the advancement of Australia's young political leaders'. ^[4] She was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2005 for 'significant contributions to public life in Australia in support of hospital and health administration, social justice and education, to young people as a role model, and to the Australian Parliament'. ^[5]

Aged 94 years, she passed away on 11th November 2020 in Victoria. ^[6] She was survived by Stan (who passed in 2022), their children Georgina, Anne and Geoffrey, children-in-law Peter and Shelag, and grandchildren Hugo, Jennifer, Oliver and Elizabeth.

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #18869/1952
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} The Australian Women's Register; accessed 9 Jan 2024
3. ↑ Australian Honours: DBE; accessed 9 Jan 2024
4. ↑ Australian Honours: Centenary Medal; accessed 9 Jan 2024
5. ↑ Australian Honours: AC; accessed 9 Jan 2024
6. ↑ Obituary; accessed 9 Jan 2024

See also

• Fitzherbert, Margaret. 'GUILFOYLE, DAME MARGARET GEORGINA CONSTANCE (1926–2020)'. The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, online edition; accessed 9 Jan 2024.
• Wikipedia: Margaret Guilfoyle; accessed 9 Jan 2024.