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Helen Dalton
Helen Jennifer Dalton is an Australian politician. She has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since March 2019, representing the electoral district of Murray as an independent.[2][3][4][5][6] Since her election Dalton has been a vocal critic of NSW government corruption, water mismanagement, and the under-funding of rural hospitals, mental health services, and infrastructure.[7] She has frequently clashed with government MPs in NSW Parliament, notably former Health Minister Brad Hazzard[8] and Water Minister Melinda Pavey, who has labelled Dalton a "disgrace".[9] Former Deputy Premier John Barilaro called her a "disgusting human" on Twitter.[10] Dalton has campaigned strongly for the establishment of a public register listing all water owners in NSW.[11] She has reported a number of matters to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, including a land sale by Murray River Council[12] and the NSW Government's failure to release a report on re-opening the Narrandera to Tocumwal rail line.[13] Dalton has been interviewed several times by YouTube comedian Friendlyjordies, whom she praised "for covering regional council corruption, water, grants and environmental issues that are being overlooked by mainstream media".[14] Early life and careerDalton was born in 1959 and raised on a sheep and wheat farm north of Rankin Springs in the Melbergen District.[15] Dalton studied education and worked as a primary school teacher from 1981 to 1987. She owns a family farming business that produces maize, rice, cereals, cotton, beef cattle, wool and fat lambs.[15] In 2007, she was awarded a Nuffield Australia Farming Scholarship.[16] Political careerDalton ran for parliament unsuccessfully in 2015 and 2017 as an independent with the support of the Country Party of Australia[17] and for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, respectively. In March 2019, Dalton won the seat of Murray by a 26.2-point swing, breaking 35 years of National Party incumbency.[6] Bookmakers had her as a 9 to 1 outsider just two months before the election. In her campaign Dalton presented a plan to address water mismanagement and corruption,[18] argued for a royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan, and pushed for better rural health and hospital services.[19] She has continued to raise these themes as a state MP. Her maiden speech in NSW parliament highlighted the rapid decline in service provision and living standards across rural NSW.[20] Dalton has written a bill to improve transparency on who owns water in NSW[21] The Bill would have forced all state MPs to declare their water interests, and provided for a public water register allowing the public to search for the names of companies and individuals who own water.[22] The legislation passed the NSW Upper House, but was opposed by the NSW Government, who voted it down in the lower house.[23] A parliamentary speech Dalton gave on the destruction of family farms across Australia has been viewed more than 330,000 times.[24] She has also criticised excessive foreign ownership of Australian water and farmland,[25] and campaigned for mental health services in the bush.[26] On 3 March 2022 Dalton resigned from the Shooters Fishers and Farmers after disagreeing with the party's Legislative Council members' failure to show up to vote against a bill regarding water usage that she believed would "disadvantage communities and irrigators in the lower Darling and Murray river system".[27] Personal lifeDalton married in 1984 and has four adult children and three grandchildren.[16] References
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