Sallyanne Atkinson

Sallyanne Atkinson AO (born 23 July, 1942) is an Australian politician, former Lord Mayor of Brisbane and former chair of ABC Learning, Australia's leading childcare operator.

She is Special Representative for the Queensland Government in South-East Asia. [http://www.alumni.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=11436]

Early life

Atkinson was born in Sydney, New South Wales [ [http://ourhouse.ninemsn.com.au/ourhouse/factsheets/db/openhouse/05/517.asp Our House, Sallyanne Atkinson] ] . She completed her secondary education at St Hilda's school on Queensland's Gold Coast, as well as Bishop's College in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Prior to being elected Lord Mayor, Atkinson held a variety of jobs, including as a journalist for the Brisbane Telegraph from 1960 to 1962, the Sydney Telegraph from 1962 to 1963, and the Courier Mail from 1963 to 1964. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Queensland in 1967. She also wrote a number of books, including "Sallyanne Atkinson's Brisbane Guide" which was released in 1985. [ [http://www.alumni.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=11436 UQ Alumni - Sallyanne Atkinson, AO, former Brisbane Lord Mayor] ]

While living in Edinburgh, Scotland, she joined the Conservative Party [ [http://ourhouse.ninemsn.com.au/ourhouse/factsheets/db/openhouse/05/517.asp Our House, Sallyanne Atkinson] ] . Upon her return to Australia, she was elected to the Brisbane City Council, first as a Liberal Party councillor, and then as Lord Mayor.

Lord Mayor of Brisbane

Sallyanne Atkinson was elected to the Lord Mayoralty in 1985, after defeating the ALP candidate William Charles Roy Harvey. She became the first female Lord Mayor of Brisbane, as well as the first from the Liberal Party.

While popular with the media, Atkinson quickly began to receive criticism from the public for her expensive overseas trips, extravagant mayoral salary, and costly engineering projects [Tucker, Doug and Neylan, Mark, " Lord Mayor Superstar: Sallyanne Atkinson and the media" (1994) [http://eprint.uq.edu.au/archive/00000275/] ] .

She was eventually defeated in 1991 in a narrow upset election win by the virtually unknown Jim Soorley, whom received preferences from the Greens candidate Drew Hutton. This result was unexpected, as Atkinson was perceived to be very popular at the time. As a result, it took Atkinson many weeks afterwards to actually accept the election results, and hand the mayoralty over to Soorley.

Subsequent career

After leaving the position as Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Atkinson was Australia's Senior Trade Commissioner to France from 1994-1997. Her role was to promote Australian export and encourage investment in Australia. She was also Australia's representative to the International Chamber of Commerce. While a representative of the Australian Olympic Committee, she supported the Olympic bids of many cities around Australia, including the Brisbane bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics and the successful Sydney 2000 Olympics Bid. She was subsequently made the Deputy Mayor of the athletes' village.

Recent achievements

Atkinson was awarded Australian Catholic University's (ACU National) highest honour, Doctor of the University (honoris causa), at the Brisbane Campus graduation ceremony held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday April 2, 2004. ACU National Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Sheehan AO said the award recognises Ms Atkinson's extraordinary contribution to Australia's international reputation as a location for sporting events, and her contribution to government and the community.

“Through her many years of generous service, in particular her work on the Olympic bids for Brisbane and Sydney and as Deputy Mayor of the Olympic Village at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Ms Atkinson has contributed to Australia’s eminent status in world sport,” Professor Sheehan said.

“In 1993 Ms Atkinson was created an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to local government and the community, and in 2003 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for service to local government and to business. Sallyanne Atkinson is a most distinguished Australian, an eminent Queenslander, and has brought great credit to the city of Brisbane.” [ ACU Graduation Address (April 2, 2004) by Professor Peter Sheehan AO ]

Honours and Awards

* 1993 - Officer of the Order of Australia
* 2003 - Centenary Medal

Atkinson has been honoured with Rotary International's highest award, is an Honorary Fellow for the Australian Institute of Management, and is an honorary Life Member of the National Trust. She has served as founding member of the board of the United Nations' International Council for Local Environment Initiatives, a role in which she chaired the first meeting at the UN in New York.

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