Gladys Berejiklian MP (born 22 September 1970), an Australian politician, is the Minister for Transport

Minister for Transport (New South Wales)

The New South Wales Minister for Transport has responsibilities which includes bus and ferry policy, contracting and regulation, rail policy, fares and concessions, and taxi and hire car policy and regulation...

 in the O'Farrell

Barry O'Farrell

Barry Robert O'Farrell MP, is an Australian politician and is the 43rd Premier of New South Wales, Minister for Western Sydney, Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Ku-ring-gai for the Liberal Party since 1999.Born in...

 Government. Berejiklian is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 representing Willoughby

Electoral district of Willoughby

Willoughby is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Gladys Berejiklian of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...

 for the Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 since 2003.

Early years and background

Berejiklian was born in Sydney and has a Bachelor of Arts (1992), a Graduate Diploma in International Studies (1996) from the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 and Master of Commerce from the University of New South Wales

University of New South Wales

The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 (2001). She served a term on the Armenian National Committee of Australia. In 2000, she visited the US as a delegate from the Australian Political Exchange Council.

Berejiklian joined the Liberal Party in 1993 and was President of the New South Wales Young Liberal Party in 1996. This was a most notable victory as there have only been four female Young Liberal Presidents in the party's history. She also served as a Delegate to State Council (1996–2003), Urban Representative of the NSW Liberal Party State Executive (1997–2003), Campaign Director for State seat of Willougby (1999) and Chair of Convention Committee (2002). Berejiklian worked for Peter Collins

Peter Collins (Australian politician)

Peter Edward James Collins, AM, RFD, QC was the Leader of the Opposition in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 4 April 1995 to 8 December 1998.-Early years and background:...

 and Senator Helen Coonan

Helen Coonan

Helen Lloyd Coonan is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011.-Early life:...

 as well as the National General Manager to Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Fiji, Asia, USA and the United Kingdom. Commonwealth Bank provides a variety of financial services including retail, business and institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance,...

 before entering politics.

Parliamentary career

Elected as the Member for Willoughby in 2003, Berejiklian is the first Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n descendant to be elected to the New South Wales Parliament. She joined the frontbench in 2005 as Shadow Minister for Mental Health and was appointed to the opposition frontbench portfolio of Transport by Peter Debnam

Peter Debnam

Peter John Debnam , is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Vaucluse between 1994 and 2011. Debnam is a former Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Western Sydney,...

 in 2006. Following the 2007 State election, Berejiklian was given the portfolio of Citizenship by Opposition Leader O'Farrell. Berejiklian has been outspoken against the former Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 Government's handling of trains, buses and ferries.

Following the election of the O'Farrell government at the 2011 State election

New South Wales state election, 2011

Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal-National coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.New South Wales has...

, on 3 April 2011 Berejiklian was appointed Transport Minister.