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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Michael Parris

Sharon Claydon elected deputy speaker for new parliament

ELECTED: Sharon Claydon outside Parliament House on Monday.

Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon has been elected deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Labor caucus nominated Ms Claydon for the position at a meeting on Monday and she defeated West Australian Liberal MP Ian Goodenough in a house vote 85-57 on Tuesday afternoon.

Queensland MP Milton Dick is the new speaker.

"I am honoured to have been elected today," Ms Claydon said in a media statement after the vote.

"I would like to thank my Labor colleagues for nominating me for this position, as well as the whole of Parliament for their support in electing me as deputy speaker.

"I am especially humbled to be following in the footsteps of great Labor women Joan Child, deputy speaker from 1984 to 1986, and Anna Burke, deputy speaker between 2008 to 2012, in being just the third woman to occupy the role of deputy speaker."

One of Ms Claydon's focuses during the parliamentary term will be implementing the recommendations of the Jenkins report into workplace standards in Canberra.

"This is the parliament that is tasked with the serious work of implementing the recommendations of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins' Set the Standard report," she said.

"I look forward to working in partnership with the newly elected speaker on this important reform work to ensure that our parliament reflects and better serves our community."

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