Former federal Minister for Local Government Margaret Reynolds has a background in education and public policy. She was elected to the Townsville City Council in 1979 and spent four years as the councillor responsible for community and cultural development. During those years she worked closely with state and federal governments to introduce a number of innovations in community based services, heritage and formal liaison with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. In 1983 Margaret was elected as the first woman to represent the Australian Labor Party as Senator for Queensland and she remained in that position for sixteen years. Bob Hawke appointed her Minister for Local Government and Regional Development in 1987 and she held that portfolio for three years together with that of Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women where she was responsible for monitoring new anti discrimination legislation. During her term as minister Margaret focused on access and equity in training and employment opportunities. She led the campaign for constitutional recognition of local government in 1990 and initiated the annual meeting between the Federal Cabinet and senior representatives of Australian Local Government. Margaret Reynolds has held a number of national and international positions, including the Australian Government Representative on the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1991-1996, Chair of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative 1993-2004 and National President of the United Nations Association of Australia 1999-2005. She has a long standing commitment to actively pursing social justice and human rights. Since leaving the Australian Parliament in 1999 Margaret has lectured in human rights and international relations at the University of Queensland and has worked with UNIFEM to develop citizenship and good governance programs for women and young people. Margaret is currently State Manager for National Disability Services in Hobart. In this role she has developed a Disability Budget Impact Statement process to monitor state government performance in implementing social inclusion policies in their annual budgets. She was recently appointed to chair the Board for the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government based at the University of Technology in Sydney. She also chairs the Screen Tasmania Advisory Board overseeing development of the local screen industry. Margaret has contributed to a range of public policy debates and publications over several decades and in 2007 published a political memoir "Living Politics" (UQP)