Robyn Parker told her Parliamentary colleagues that she was leaving politics with her head held high – and the Mercury agrees.
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After 12 years in State Parliament, including eight in the upper house and four in the lower house as Maitland MP, she will bow out of politics at the next election in March.
Ms Parker passed a milestone on the way to the next phase in her life on Thursday , when she spent her final parliamentary sitting day in Macquarie Street.
The mayor of Maitland, Cr Peter Blackmore, told the Mercury it was disappointing that his friend was not going to represent the region at the state level after March.
He said Ms Parker’s success could be attributed to her ability to be tenacious while always managing to keep a smile on her face.
Cr Blackmore, who served two terms as Maitland MP in the 1990s, said he had known Ms Parker since she entered the upper house.
He said Ms Parker was a representative who led from the front and balanced her family life and public life well.
During her four years as Maitland MP, she has overseen the early stages of a number of major projects for the region such as the Lower Hunter hospital and the New England Highway overpass near Maitland train station.
Her decision to retire from politics means that she is unlikely to receive as much recognition for these projects as she would have had she been re-elected next March.
But whoever’s name goes on the official plaque of these new pieces of infrastructure across the region, the Mercury has it on record that Ms Parker was the MP knocking on ministers’ doors to get the projects moving.
