The first female for Robertson

Ms Belinda Neal will become the first female Member for Robertson.

Ms Neal will be the 13th member to hold the seat and the only female in more than a century to have won the seat of Robertson.

The Peninsula will now be represented at both Federal and State levels by female members of parliament.

The Peninsula is currently represented at a State level by Member for Gosford Ms Marie Andrews.

"I wasn't aware that I had achieved such an historic milestone," Ms Neal said.

"It is great to see more and more women in Parliament.

"Over the past 100 years [women] have been greatly underrepresented."

The Division of Robertson was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 75 divisions to be contested at the first Federal election.

"I think a female leadership will be very beneficial to the community," Ms Neal said.

"A female perspective will allow me to be more in tune with the community.

"Being a women and a mother, one of my main priorities will be education.

"I strongly believe in getting the best education that we can afford for our children."

Australia became the first country for a woman to secure the right to vote and the right to stand for election to Parliament.

However, it took almost 20 years before the first woman was elected to state parliament and 41 years for a woman to enter federal parliament.

The first woman to enter any Australian Parliament was Edith Cowan in 1921.

She was a pioneer for women's and children's rights and was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly.

In 1943, Australia finally elected two women to Australia's Federal Parliament.

Dorothy Tangney became a Senator for Western Australia and Enid Lyons was elected to the House of Representatives.

Ms Neal said it was still too early to tell where her office would be located.

"I hope to have an information office on the Peninsula. I think that is very important," Ms Neal said.

While the seat had not been formally declared, at the time of going to press with 95.74 per cent of the vote counted, Ms Neal had won with 50.10 per cent of the votes while the sitting Liberal Member Mr Jim Lloyd had won 49.90 per cent.

All polling booths on the Peninsula, with the exception of Patonga and Woy Woy Bay, recorded higher two-party preferred votes for Ms Neal.

Ettalong West recorded the highest vote for her with 64.68 per cent.

Patonga recorded 52.44 per cent for Mr Lloyd and Woy Woy Bay recorded 52.25 per cent for him.

Clare Graham, 7 Dec 2007