Biography
Rachel Nolan was elected Member for Ipswich in 2001, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to the Queensland Parliament. Following her re-election in 2009, Rachel held the portfolio of Minister for Transport and is currently Minister for Finance and The Arts.
Rachel is passionately committed to Ipswich, having been born in the Ipswich Hospital and educated at Silkstone State Pre-School, Ipswich East State School and Ipswich Girls' Grammar School. While she has lived both overseas and interstate, she has chosen to make Ipswich her home.
Believing education forms the cornerstone of success, Rachel has advocated strongly for government investment in local schools. During her time representing Ipswich, the city has welcomed two new state-of-the-art schools - Amberley District State School and Bremer State High School. The government's State Schools of Tomorrow initiative has also seen considerable investment in other schools in the Ipswich area. Rachel has been a tireless supporter of the University of Queensland, Ipswich Campus.
In 2006, Rachel founded the Ipswich Women's Development Network (IWDN), an organisation promoting the status of women in Ipswich. The IWDN raises funds for the Heather Bonner Scholarship in honour of that remarkable Ipswich woman. The scholarship is awarded each year to a local woman attending UQ Ipswich campus. Also in 2006, the University of Queensland named Rachel as its Young Alumnus (past student) of the Year.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from that university specialising in government and economics.
Prior to entering Parliament, Rachel worked as Senior Media Advisor to Clare Martin, then Leader of the Northern Territory Opposition and as a Policy Advisor to David Hamill, then Queensland Treasurer. She has also worked as a nanny, library aide and accounts clerk. As a student, she worked for many years at Big W, Booval.
Rachel's policy interests centre on environmental, social and economic sustainability. As Minister for Transport, Rachel oversaw a hard fought restructure and partial privatisation of Queensland Rail. In her current portfolio as Minister for Natural Resources, Finance and The Arts, Rachel is excited about new challenges.
Rachel believes values and ideas are important in politics and she has published articles on peak oil, sustainable urban design and the need to protect green space. She has served on the Boards of The Brisbane Institute and the Save the Bilby Fund and on the Advisory Committees of UQ Ipswich and its Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre. She is a Member of the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Ipswich Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is Patron of the Association of School Tuckshops. Rachel also helped establish Sadliers Crossing River Care Group.
Rachel is a keen bushwalker, gardener, cyclist and runner, having run her first marathon in 2004.
She reads widely and plays guitar badly.