Susan Templeman MP
Member of theAustralian Parliament forMacquarie
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2016 (2016-07-02)
Preceded by	Louise Markus
Special Envoy for the Arts
Incumbent
Assumed office 31 May 2022
Prime Minister	Anthony Albanese
Preceded by	(position established)
Personal details
Born	Susan Raye Templeman
Party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse	Ron Fuller[1]
Children	Two (a son and a daughter)[1]
Residence(s)	Winmalee,New South Wales, Australia
Alma mater	University of Technology Sydney
Profession	Journalist (2UE,Austereo,LBC), Self-employed media trainer.[1]
Website	www.susantempleman.com.au

Susan Raye Templeman is an Australian politician. She is the member forMacquarie in theAustralian House of Representatives and is Australia's Special Envoy for the Arts. She is a member of theAustralian Labor Party and defeated theLiberalLouise Markus at the2016 federal election. She was re-elected in2019,2022 and2025.^[2] Templeman had previously run twice for the same seat, in2010 and2013.^[3]

At the2016 election, Templeman defeatedLouise Markus, winning theDivision of Macquarie with a 6.7-point two-party preferred swing towards her.^[4] On primary votes, Templeman saw a 4.5-point swing towards her.^[4] Reasons for the increased support included her stance on issues such as opposition to theWestern Sydney Airport and support for road infrastructure in theCity of Hawkesbury, including a third bridge over theHawkesbury River.^[5]

Templeman was re-elected in 2019 despite a 2.0-point two-party preferred swing against the Australian Labor Party in Macquarie.^[6] The result saw the seat become the most marginal federal seat in Australia, with just 371 votes separating the two major parties.^[6] Templeman was re-elected at the2022 Australian federal election with a 7.7% swing. Following her re-election, she was appointed by Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese as Special Envoy for the Arts.^[7] In the2025 Australian Federal Election she was re-elected again with a 1.4% swing.

Susan Raye Templeman^{[citation needed]} grew up inSydney. Her father, an accountant, and mother, a public school music teacher, were from the country. The family owned newsagencies inWest Lindfield andStrathfield, with Templeman regularly working the morning paper run with her father. Templeman credits her upbringing in the newsagency for her becoming a journalist.^[8]

Templeman attendedKillara High School andStrathfield Girls High School. She spent an additional six months of her secondary education at Colegio Mochis inLos Mochis,Sinaloa, Mexico as part of a year as a Rotary exchange student.^[9] Templeman stated that the exchange:

"Opened my eyes to the world and to the challenges of inequality and discrimination in a way my seven public schools had not."^[10]

Templeman graduated from theUniversity of Technology, Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in communications.

Templeman began her career in January 1985, during the second Hawke term, as a journalist in the Canberra Press Gallery, atOld Parliament House. At the time she was the youngest permanent journalist in the press gallery. She covered the 1987 election campaign.^[10]

In 1988, Templeman and her husband moved toNew York, and thenLondon working as radio journalist foreign correspondents for both2UE andAustereo. Templeman then became the News Editor forLBC, before moving back to Australia to work as the Media Relations officer forTelecom.^[11]

In 1991, Templeman became a media trainer, establishing Media Skills (which later became the company Templeman Consulting Pty Ltd). Templeman has been described as "one of Australia's most successful media trainers".^[12]

Templeman joined the Labor Party duringJohn Howard's term in office. Describing her reasons for joining the Party, Templeman said:

"I could not sit by and see Australia becoming a backwards-looking and defensive society. Apparently, we no longer cared about being a republic or about Aboriginal reconciliation. We moved away from inclusion and we distanced ourselves from Asia. That was not the Australia I wanted for my children. So I joined the Labor Party, with no clear ambition other than to help get rid of John Howard. Not a bad one."^[10]

Templeman sought to be preselected as Labor's candidate for Macquarie at the2010 federal election, and was the preferred candidate of the outgoing member, and former minister,Bob Debus.^[13] The preselection was marred with controversy, and required the intervention of the ALP's national executive, which ordered a rank-and-file preselection.^[14] Templeman, a member of theSocialist Left Faction, or hard left, of the ALP, was locked in a bitter battle with formerBlue Mountains mayor,Adam Searle, a member of theFerguson Left, or soft left.^[14] Searle was backed by the members of the soft left, members of theLabor Right faction and factional power brokerMark Arbib, but Templeman ultimately prevailed in the rank-and-file preselection, gaining 84 votes against the only other nominee, former policewoman Donna Ritchie.^[13]

At the 2010 election, Macquarie was the fourth most marginal Labor-held seat in the country.^[15] Templeman, who was touted as a "Western Sydney soccer mum",^[16] lost, with Labor suffering a 1.54-point two-party preferred swing, delivering the seat to former Member for Greenway and Liberal candidate for Macquarie, Louise Markus.

Templeman was pre-selected again in 2013, suffering a 3.32-point swing against her. She was pre-selected for a third time in 2016. At the 2016 election, Templeman defeated the incumbent Louise Markus, winning theDivision of Macquarie with a 6.7-point two-party preferred swing towards her.^[4] On primary votes, Templeman saw a 4.5-point swing towards her, as well as the largest swing at an ordinary polling booth on Election Day in the country, where she recorded a 31.55-point swing inKurrajong East^[4]

In the 45th Parliament, Templeman was appointed to theJoint Standing Committee on Treaties.^[10] Templeman is a member of the Joint Standing Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings, and the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts.^[17] Following her re-election in 2019, Templeman was appointed as the Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on theNational Broadband Network.

Templeman announced that she would seek preselection to recontest the seat of Macquarie in2019 Australian federal election.^[18] Templeman was preselected unopposed.^[19]

In 2019, Templeman defeated Liberal candidate and Hawkesbury City Councillor Sarah Richards, with the vote so close that counting continued for 16 days before a result was announced. Despite a 2.0-point two-party preferred swing against Labor in Macquarie, Templeman saw a 2.75-point swing towards her in the primary vote. Templeman was returned to the seat with a margin of 0.38 points, or 371 votes making it the most marginal Federal seat in Australia.^[20]

Following her re-election in 2019, Templeman was appointed as the Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network, and the Standing Committee on Petitions.^[21] In 2021 she was named as a member of the House Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.^[17]

Templeman is a supporter of marriage equality and LGBTIQ+ rights,^[22] and is a supporter of theAustralian Republican Movement, citing the push for Australia to become a republic as one of the driving forces for her membership of theAustralian Labor Party.^[10] She is a member ofEMILY's List Australia, an organisation dedicated to the election of Labor women.^[23]

Following the closure of theManus Island Detention Centre, Templeman declared opposition toAustralia's system of offshore detention – a stance directly at odds with the platform of the Labor Party.^{[24][non-primary source needed][25]} Templeman has expressed similar opposition, contrary to party policy, to theAustralian live export industry following the release of footage showing 2,400 live export sheep dying during the journey.^{[26][non-primary source needed]}

Templeman was the subject of media criticism for opposing the plannedWestern Sydney Airport.^[27] The proposed airport is a topic of debate within Templeman's electorate, with many residents opposed to the project for environmental and quality of life reasons.^[28][29]

In January 2018, Templeman and other community activists joined alock-on protest atWindsor Bridge to stop theRoads & Maritime Services from beginning dig works at Thompson Square, the oldest public square in Australia. Templeman was forcibly and controversially removed from the protest by police, and was issued with two infringement notices for failing to move on from the protest site.^[30]

Templeman has been an advocate for the unilateralrecognition of a Palestinian state, and has describedIsraeli settlements in thePalestinian Territories as imprisoning Palestinians.^{[31][non-primary source needed][32]} She was a critic of Australia's decision to vote against an independent inquiry intoIsrael's response to the2018 Gaza border protests,^[32] and joined with other parliamentarians in signing a statement against Israel's treatment ofPalestinian children in the military detention system.^[33] Templeman has been a supporter of theAustralia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), and visited Palestine in November 2017 as part of a study tour sponsored by APAN.^[34]

Templeman has been an ongoing critic of theTrans-Pacific Partnership and its successor, theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (or TPP-11).^{[35][non-primary source needed]} A member of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties – the committee with principal oversight over the TPP and TPP-11 –^[10] Templeman was the first Labor MP to publicly criticise the Agreement during debate, raising significant concerns about theinvestor-state dispute settlement provisions, skills testing of foreign workers, the waiving of labour market testing and the lack of independent modelling as to the benefits of the agreement.^[36] She said that she would push forside letters with parties to the TPP-11 to be sought to remove the ISDS provisions.^[37]

Templeman lives in the Blue Mountains with her husband, Ron Fuller – the former Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV News Chief of Staff.^[38] In 2013, just two months after her defeat in the2013 Australian Federal Election, Templeman's family home inWinmalee was destroyed in the2013 Blue Mountains bushfires.^[1]

A former board director of Family Planning NSW^[39] and Sexual Health Australia, Templeman was the P&C president of her children's schools, Winmalee Public School and Winmalee High School.^[9]

Templeman and her husband are both members of theMedia, Entertainment and Arts Alliance union.^[34]

This section is an excerpt fromResults of the 2022 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Macquarie.[edit]

2022 Australian federal election:Macquarie^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Susan Templeman	41,025	42.98	+4.71
	Liberal	Sarah Richards	32,980	34.55	−10.30
	Greens	Tony Hickey	9,115	9.55	+0.40
	One Nation	Tony Pettitt	4,955	5.19	+5.19
	United Australia	Nicole Evans	2,774	2.91	−1.09
	Animal Justice	Greg Keightley	2,013	2.11	−1.61
	Informed Medical Options	Michelle Palmer	1,318	1.38	+1.38
	Liberal Democrats	James Jackson	1,272	1.33	+1.33
Total formal votes			95,452	94.93	−0.79
Informal votes			5,095	5.07	+0.79
Turnout			100,547	93.05	−0.77
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Susan Templeman	55,143	57.77	+7.58
	Liberal	Sarah Richards	40,309	42.23	−7.58
	Laborhold		Swing	+7.58

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