Rachel Nolan Biography
Rachel Nolan was elected Member for Ipswich in 2001, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to the Queensland Parliament. She is currently the Minister for Transport, after successfully being re-elected at the 2009 State election. 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.
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 and is continuing her studies towards a Bachelor of 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 the environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Rachel believes that 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 Region Chamber of Commerce and, is Patron of the Association of School Tuckshops. Rachel founded the Ipswich Women's Development Network, an incorporated organisation promoting the status of women in Ipswich and the Sadliers Crossing River Group, a community organisation revegetating a small stretch of the Bremer River's banks. Rachel is a keen bushwalker, gardener and runner, having run her first marathon in 2004. She reads widely and plays guitar badly.