The NSW Liberal Party has paid tribute to Senator Marise Payne on her announcement that she will retire from Parliament at the end of this month.
Entering parliament in 1997, Marise Payne has had a very distinguished and successful career as a Liberal Senator for New South Wales.
The longest serving female Senator in Australia's history, Marise had served the people of NSW and Australia for more than 25 years, including as the Minister for Human Services, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Women, and the first female Minister for Defence.
As a senior member of Coalition Governments, Marise oversaw the delivery of major policies and reforms including the delivery of a Defence White Paper and the creation of a $200 billion defence materiel program; the historic AUKUS partnership; close Quad partnership with US, India and Japan; largest ever investment in the relationship with our Pacific neighbours and Australia becoming the only nation with diplomatic representation in every country member of the Pacific Island Forum; delivery of the 2021 International Cyber and Critical Technology Engagement Strategy; $2B Pacific Maritime Security Programme; and introducing the Women’s Budget Statement.
A member of the Liberal Party since 1982, she was the National Young Liberal Movement's first female President, after serving as a political adviser to some of the most significant figures in Liberal politics of their time.
Quotes attributable to NSW Liberal Party President Jason Falinski:
“For more than two and half decades, Marise Payne has been an exemplar of public service.”
“She has always been someone who stood up for her principles, always working hard to make our state, our nation and our Party better.”
“Marise has served our community with honour and integrity, and her legacy is too great to recount and will not be forgotten.”
“On behalf of every Member of the NSW Division, I would like to express our strong gratitude to Marise for her outstanding service and wish her well in her post-politics future.”