Janelle Saffin

Saffin was born into a working-class family in Ipswich in Queensland. She left school at thirteen, and worked in a range of unskilled jobs before gaining her Intermediate Certificate at TAFE. She moved to Lismore at the age of 24, and began working as the co-ordinator of a women's refuge. She also established a domestic violence liaison committee with the local police, which was the first of its kind outside Sydney. She later gained a teaching qualification at the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education, and taught for a period before deciding to retrain as a lawyer and gaining a degree by correspondence from Macquarie University. ==Political career==

Saffin ran as the Labor candidate for the seat of Lismore at the 1991 state election, but was defeated by incumbent National Party MP Bill Rixon. Four years later, she contested and won preselection for the eighth and last winnable position on the Labor ticket for the Legislative Council at the 1995 state election. Labor's victory at the election thus saw her comfortably elected, albeit on preferences, on election day. On 21 March 2013 Saffin resigned as Government Whip after an attempt to replace Prime Minister Julia Gillard with the previous Prime Minister Kevin Rudd failed. The attempt foundered when Rudd unexpectedly announced that he would not contest the position. Saffin had indicated support for Rudd. Saffin was defeated at the 2013 election by Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan in a rematch of the 2010 election. At a TAFE rally on 23 September 2015, with Labor's Shadow Minister for Vocational Education, Sharon Bird, Saffin announced that she would again contest the federal seat of Page at the 2016 election. Despite achieving a small swing in her favour, Saffin was defeated by Kevin Hogan in their third consecutive election against each other. On 22 April 2018 Saffin won pre-selection to contest the NSW State seat of Lismore, which she won on 23 March 2019. This was one of just two seats Labor won off the Coalition in the election and represented the first time Labor had won the Lismore electorate since 1962. In doing so, Saffin became the first woman to represent the seat. Saffin received prominent media coverage during the 2022 Lismore floods, both for her support of residents stranded by the flood and where she was forced to swim through flood waters herself after being trapped by rising water at a friend's home. Saffin won re-election at the 2023 New South Wales state election increasing her primary vote by over 19 points and delivering a 2PP swing of over 12 points in her favour, one of the largest swings in the state. Saffin was sworn in as Minister for Recovery, Minister for Small Business, and Minister for the North Coast. ==Notes==