Joan Sheldon

Joan Sheldon

Biography

Liberal politician Joan Sheldon was the first woman Deputy Premier and first woman Treasurer of Queensland in the Borbidge Government.

Joan Sheldon was born in Bundaberg in 1943 but grew up in greater Brisbane area. She trained and worked as a physiotherapist but in 1990 she decided to seek preselection as the Liberal member for Landsborough. Sheldon and her husband joined the Liberal Party during the Whitlam Government era when, she says, ‘things were in a total mess’.  She was successful and rose quickly through the depleted Liberal Party ranks. In 1991 she became the leader of the Liberal Party in Queensland, a position she retained until 1998.

The 1996 Mundingburra by-election precipitated the fall of the Goss Government. In the new Borbidge Government Sheldon became the Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for the Arts. As Treasurer she grappled with a range of challenging issues, including debates around privatisation, Queensland’s status as a low tax state and difficulties associated with balancing infrastructure and human service priorities.

In government she continued to promote the arts and instigated the conceptual and site development of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). Sheldon also advocated equality of employment for women, and supported the decriminalisation of homosexuality. 

After the fall of the Borbidge Government Sheldon continued to serve on the opposition benches. She held numerous shadow portfolios: the Arts, Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs, Employment, Training, Industrial Relations, Tourism, Health, and Indigenous Affairs. In 2004 she retired from parliament and since then has held positions on several boards. In 2006 she became an Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast. In 2010 she became a Member of the Order of Australia.