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'{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2015}} {{Infobox MP | honorific-prefix = | name = Jenny Aitchison | honorific-suffix = [[Member of the Legislative Assembly#Australia|MP]] | image = | caption = | constituency_MP = [[Electoral district of Maitland|Maitland]] | parliament = New South Wales | term_start = [[New South Wales state election, 2015|28 March 2015]] | term_end = | predecessor = [[Robyn Parker]] | successor = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = [[Canberra]], Australian Capital Territory | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = [[Australia]]n | party = [[Australian Labor Party]] | spouse = Councillor Robert Aitchison | relations = | children = two | residence = | alma_mater = [[Australian National University]]<br />[[University of Canberra]]<br />[[University of Sydney]] | occupation = Previously retail worker, Public servant, Political Advisor, Managing Director of an award winning tour company including a cafe and conference centre | profession = | religion = | signature = | website = www.jennyaitchison.com.au | footnotes = }} '''Jennifer Kathleen Aitchison''' ('''Jenny Aitchison''') is an [[Australia]]n politician who was elected to the [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly]] as the member for [[Electoral district of Maitland|Maitland]] for the [[Australian Labor Party]] at the [[New South Wales state election, 2015|2015 New South Wales state election]]. After her election, in June 2015, Aitchison was elected as the NSW Chair of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP). In 2016 she was elected as Deputy Chair of the CWP National Steering Committee. In 2016 Aitchison was appointed as Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and Shadow Minister for Small Business. Aitchison was a policy officer in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural affairs in the early 1990's in Social Justice, focusing on women's issues and access and equity. She managed the consultations for the Department's Agenda for Women, helped develop an information resource for women marrying and migrating to Australia to try and address serial sponsorship and reduce domestic violence in migrant communities. As Managing Director of award winning tourism company Northern Highland Travel Pty Ltd Aitchison operated package coach tours as All Australian Journeys and Hunter Valley Coaches and Woody's Cafe and Conference Centre. The company employed up to 35 employees and undertook tours all over Australia as well as overseas. The company specialised in providing unique itineraries that showcased regional and remote destinations and events. Aitchison has won approximately 20 local, regional, state and national tourism and business awards including the NSW Tourism Awards three years in a row, and in 2003 her company was inducted into the Tourism NSW Hall of Fame. In 2006 Aitchison won the BusNSW and the Bus Industry Confederation's National Young Achiever Award and her business was a finalist in the Telstra Business Awards. In 2005 Aitchison was awarded the Lower Hunter Business Woman of the Year. Her family received an Australia Day award for their contribution to tourism in Walcha in 1999. Aitchison was active in a number of business and industry organisations, including BusNSW, the national Bus Industry Confederation and Hunter Tourism, the Maitland Business Chamber and the Lower Hunter Business Enterprise Centre. In 2005 Vicki Woods and Bronwyn Ridgway founded the non-party political Women's Network Hunter NSW with the aim of increasing the number of women participating in decision making roles in the community. At the time there were no female representing Maitland at the State or Federal level and only two female councillors on Maitland City Council. Woods and Ridgway asked Aitchison to be the Foundation President of the organisation, which she led for seven years. On the resignation of Woods as Secretary Aitchison then took on the role for another two years. In 2015, Aitchison was elected as the second female representative for the state seat of Maitland. In 2016 Meryl Swanson was elected as the first female Member for Paterson which covers most of the Maitland local government area. In 2017, former Women's Network Hunter (NSW) committee member Loretta Baker became the first female Mayor of Maitland City Council after 154 years of men holding the role. The 2017 election also saw the Council double its representation of women to four, its first Councillor of Indian origin and its first openly gay Councillor. ==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|au-nsw}} {{s-bef|before=[[Robyn Parker]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for [[Electoral district of Maitland|Maitland]] | years=2015–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}} {{NSWCurrentMLAs}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Aitchison, Jenny}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales]] [[Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly]] [[Category:Australian National University alumni]] [[Category:University of Canberra alumni]] [[Category:University of Sydney alumni]] [[Category:Australian women in business]] [[Category:Australian public servants]] [[Category:People from Canberra]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]'