Marie Breen

Dame Marie Freda Breen DBE (3 November 1902 – 17 June 1993) was an Australian politician who, following her election in 1961, became the second woman in the Australian Senate to represent the state of Victoria and the sixth female senator in Australia overall. In 1965, she became the first woman to chair an Australian Senate committee. She was noted for her commitment to improving the wellbeing of Australian women, children, and family units, as well as her commitment to community service. She worked towards greater inclusion of women in official positions and was a major advocate for the strengthening of Australia–Asia relations.

The daughter of a town clerk in St Kilda, Victoria, Breen was interested in politics from an early age; she became more politically involved after her husband, Robert Tweeddale Breen, was elected mayor of Brighton. She and her husband joined the Liberal Party when it was established in 1945. With the Liberal Party, she ran for a seat in the Senate at the 1961 federal election; she defeated Frank McManus and took office in July 1962. After retiring from the Senate in 1968 in order to care for her grievously injured husband, she devoted her life to community service and humanitarian efforts; she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her achievements in 1979. Breen died in 1993; she was memorialised by senator Rod Kemp as a "remarkable woman with great strength of character".

Early life Marie Freda Chamberlin was born in St Kilda, Victoria, on 3 November 1902. Her mother, Jane Maud Conquest, was the Australian-born daughter of English parents and a native of Melbourne. Her father, Frederick William Chamberlin,

Political career

Early years In 1933, Breen became the secretary of the Brighton Auxiliary for the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She also became the secretary of the Australian Women's National League's (AWNL's) Brighton branch, where she met AWNL president Elizabeth Couchman. Couchman had a considerable influence on Breen, who later described Couchman as a great mentor and a brilliant leader. Breen was additionally a member of the Melbourne Marriage Guidance Council, which later became the Marriage Guidance Council of Victoria,

Senator (1962–1968) During Breen's period in the Senate, she heavily promoted her main focus, the wellbeing of Australia's women, children, and families, interests which she outlined in her initial speech to the Senate. Furthermore, she took an interest in the content of child-oriented television programs, concerned about their suitability for children. She also served on committees regarding topics such as housing, education, and immigration.

After the Senate Following her husband's death, Breen dedicated much of her life towards philanthropy and humanitarianism; she raised funds for the United Nations Children's Fund and coordinated the care of students relocated to Australia as part of the Colombo Plan. She was also the founder and president of the Victorian Association of the Citizens Advice Bureau from 1970 and 1978. She was further appointed as a Dame Commander on 16 June 1979 in general recognition of her community service. Margaret Guilfoyle, an Australian senator elected shortly after Breen, described Breen's time in the Senate as an "extension" of her long history of community service. At her funeral, Phyllis Frost was among those who paid tribute to her. She was memorialised in the Parliament of Australia by senator Rod Kemp two months after her death, who called her a "remarkable woman with great strength of character". In 2010, she was posthumously added to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.