Sharman Stone

Sharman Stone

Dr. Sharman Nancy Stone née Bawden (born 23 April 1951), Australian politician, has been an Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Murray, Victoria. She was born in Pyramid Hill, Victoria, the daughter of Harvey Bawden and Nancy Chalmers, and was educated at Monash University, where she gained a PhD, and La Trobe University. She was Manager of International Development at the University of Melbourne, Director of Communications at the Victorian Farmers Federation, and a farmer before entering politics.

Stone was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage in October 1998. Following the re-election of the Howard Government in October 2004, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration and was promoted to Minister for Workforce Participation on 27 January 2006. After the defeat of the Howard Government in November 2007, Stone took up the role of Shadow Minister for Environment, Heritage, the Arts and Indigenous Affairs. Following Malcolm Turnbull's defeat of Brendan Nelson for the Leadership of the Liberal Party, and the retirement of Senator Chris Ellison, Stone was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship in the subsequent reshuffle.

She is an author of numerous publications on race relations, environment and geology (with Doug Stone). Amongst other, Aborigines in White Australia (London and Melbourne, 1974).