Susan Templeman

Templeman began her career in January 1985, during the second Hawke term, as a journalist in the Canberra Press Gallery, at Old Parliament House. At the time she was the youngest permanent journalist in the press gallery. She covered the 1987 election campaign.[9]

In 1988, Templeman and her husband moved to New York, and then London working as radio journalist foreign correspondents for both 2UE and Austereo. Templeman then became the News Editor for LBC, before moving back to Australia to work as the Media Relations officer for Telecom.[10]

In 1991, Templeman became a media trainer, establishing Media Skills (which later became the company Templeman Consulting Pty Ltd). Templeman has been described as "one of Australia's most successful media trainers".[11]

Templeman joined the Labor Party during John Howard's term in office. Describing her reasons for joining the Party, Templeman said:

"I could not sit by and see Australia becoming a backwards-looking and defensive society. Apparently, we no longer cared about being a republic or about Aboriginal reconciliation. We moved away from inclusion and we distanced ourselves from Asia. That was not the Australia I wanted for my children. So I joined the Labor Party, with no clear ambition other than to help get rid of John Howard. Not a bad one."[9]

Templeman sought to be preselected as Labor's candidate for Macquarie at the 2010 federal election, and was the preferred candidate of the outgoing member, and former minister, Bob Debus.[12] The preselection was marred with controversy, and required the intervention of the ALP's national executive, which ordered a rank-and-file preselection.[13] Templeman, a member of the Socialist Left Faction, or hard left, of the ALP, was locked in a bitter battle with former Blue Mountains mayor, Adam Searle, a member of the Ferguson Left, or soft left.[13] Searle was backed by the members of the soft left, members of the Labor Right faction and factional powerbroker Mark Arbib, but Templeman ultimately prevailed in the rank-and-file preselection, gaining 84 votes against the only other nominee, former policewoman Donna Ritchie.[12]

At the 2010 election, Macquarie was the fourth most marginal Labor-held seat in the country.[14] Templeman, who was touted as a "Western Sydney soccer mum",[15] lost, with Labor suffering a 1.54-point two-party preferred swing, delivering the seat to former Member for Greenway and Liberal candidate for Macquarie, Louise Markus.

Templeman was pre-selected again in 2013, suffering a 3.32-point swing against her. She was pre-selected for a third time in 2016. At the 2016 election, Templeman defeated the incumbent Louise Markus, winning the Division of Macquarie with a 6.7-point two-party preferred swing towards her.[3] On primary votes, Templeman saw a 4.5-point swing towards her, as well as the largest swing at an ordinary polling booth on Election Day in the country, where she recorded a 31.55-point swing in Kurrajong East[3]

In the 45th Parliament, Templeman was appointed to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.[9] Templeman is a member of the Joint Standing Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings, and the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts.[16] Following her re-election in 2019, Templeman was appointed as the Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network.

Templeman announced that she would seek preselection to recontest the seat of Macquarie in 2019 Australian federal election.[17] Templeman was preselected unopposed.[18]

In 2019, Templeman defeated Liberal candidate and Hawkesbury City Councillor Sarah Richards, with the vote so close that counting continued for 16 days before a result was announced. Despite a 2.0-point two-party preferred swing against Labor in Macquarie, Templeman saw a 2.75-point swing towards her in the primary vote. Templeman was returned to the seat with a margin of 0.38 points, or 371 votes making it the most marginal Federal seat in Australia.[19]

Following her re-election in 2019, Templeman was appointed as the Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network, and the Standing Committee on Petitions.[20] In 2021 she was named as a member of the House Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. .[16]