Pru Goward

Early life and personal background

Goward was born to Gerald Goward and Zipporah Riggs, and was raised in Adelaide. She attended Morphett Vale Primary School, Willunga High School and gained entrance to Woodlands Church of England Girls Grammar School on a half scholarship. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Econ) (Hons) in 1974 from Adelaide University.

She was married from 1973 to 1983 to university lecturer Alastair Fischer, whom she met while studying at Adelaide University.

Goward married journalist David Barnett in 1986. Goward and Barnett have maintained a close personal friendship with former prime minister John Howard for many years, and jointly authored a biography of Howard in 1997.

She is the mother of three daughters, former model and actor Kate Fischer, Penny Fischer, and Alice Barnett. She has two granddaughters.

Career

Goward joined ABC TV and Radio in 1980, firstly as a reporter with Nationwide, then as a political correspondent on the 7.30 Report, and later as host of the Morning Show and Daybreak on Radio National. She has also worked as a high school teacher, a university lecturer in economics, a broadcast journalism lecturer at University of Canberra, a media consultant and freelance writer.

She was Executive Director of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1997 to 1999. In this position, Goward criticised the business community for the "primitive attitudes" that kept women out of senior executive ranks and boardrooms. At the time of her appointment, she was criticised by Anne Summers, a previous Executive Director, and Carmen Lawrence, a prominent female politician, for her perceived inexperience and political connection to the Howard government.

Goward was the Sex Discrimination Commissioner at HREOC, a five-year tenure she began in July 2001. In this role, she called for the introduction of paid maternity leave, a position rejected by the Howard government. Howard extended her tenure for an additional three years in July 2006. However, she successfully ran for New South Wales state parliament in March 2007.

Pru Goward, while Minister for the Department of Family and Community Services, initiated the Going Home Staying Home reforms which redistributed funding for youth refuges across the state.

Parliamentary career

In 2006, Goward nominated for Liberal Party preselection for the New South Wales state parliament in seat of Epping in Sydney's north-west, but was defeated by the former President of the Right to Life Association, Greg Smith. She was subsequently preselected unopposed for the seat of Goulburn, to replace retiring Liberal frontbencher Peta Seaton. Goward was expected to win the seat, however an unexpectedly strong swing to Labor in the Southern Highlands area of the seat put her victory in doubt on election night. Her main contender, the Independent Mayor of Goulburn, Paul Stephenson, conceded defeat on 29 March 2007. Goward was quoted as saying that she "didn't expect to win it. I knew I was behind the whole time, even four days before the election we were told I was five points behind, so I'm just so grateful.">

As the minister responsible for child protective services there have been reports of inadequate staffing and services to meet the need.

As the state's Community Services Minister, Goward announced in mid-March 2014 that around 300 harbourfront public housing properties will be sold under the management of Government Property NSW, with the proceeds reinvested into the public housing system. Considered historic structures, the harbourfront properties are located at Millers Point, The Rocks and on Gloucester Street, and include the Sirius complex, a high-rise, 79-unit apartment complex near the Harbour Bridge. The government expects to generate hundreds of millions of dollars from the sales and Goward explained, as a justification of the sale: "In the last two years alone, nearly [A]$7 million has been spent maintaining this small number of properties. That money could have been better spent on building more social housing, or investing in the maintenance of public housing properties across the state."

Due to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as premier, and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the new Liberal Leader, in April 2014 in addition to her existing responsibilities as a minister, Goward was appointed as the Minister for Planning; and lost the portfolio of Family and Community Services. Following the 2015 state election, Goward was sworn in as the Minister for Mental Health, the Minister for Medical Research, the Minister for Women, the Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (a newly created portfolio), and the Assistant Minister for Health in the second Baird government. Following the resignation of Baird as premier and the election of Gladys Berejiklian as Liberal leader, in January 2017 Goward was sworn in as the Minister for Family and Community Services, the Minister for Social Housing, and the Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

Controversy

After being in Parliament a single day, Goward told a symposium of women in leadership in Sydney that "I have never worked in any profession as male-dominated or as ruthlessly sexist as this. I was quite shocked by it." These comments have not been supported by other female MPs from both sides of politics, who generally said Parliament had improved.

In May 2007, Goward was caught speeding in a school zone. This was her second driving offence for 2007. Goward said "It was extremely careless on my part and like thousands of other drivers I deeply regret it."

In February 2014, Katrina Hodgkinson, the Nationals member for Burrinjuck, a neighbouring electorate of Goulburn, announced that she would be contesting Goward's seat of Goulburn. Her decision followed a statewide electoral redistribution by the NSW Electoral Commission that resulted in a substantial revision of Hodgkinson's seat of Burrinjuck and the seat renamed as Cootamundra, with effect from the 2015 state election. Her announcement resulted in a dispute between the Nationals and Liberals; and on 28 February, Hodgkinson announced she would withdraw her nomination for Goulburn. Hodgkinson subsequently contested the newly constituted seat of Cootamundra, and won the seat for the National Party.

Awards

Goward was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 for services to journalism and women's rights.

Publications