The Honourable Marie Ficarra MLC is the Parliamentary Secretary to the NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell. She brings to the Parliament, professional and corporate experience together with many years in community service and welfare organisations.

Ficarra served for 16 years on Hurstville City Council becoming Mayor and Deputy Mayor during this time. She was elected President of the Australian Local Government Women’s’ Association reflecting her deep commitment to assisting more women to serve their communities in public life.

In 1995 she was elected to the NSW Parliament Legislative Assembly as the Member for Georges River and held the position until 1999. In her first term of the NSW Parliament, Ficarra was appointed Shadow Minister for the Environment.

Ficarra graduated from the University of Sydney with an Honours degree in Science. She has spent many years in sales and marketing management within the pharmaceutical and diagnostics area of healthcare. Her passion is women’s health and before returning to the NSW Parliament being elected into the Legislative Council in 2007, she was part of the team responsible for the introduction of new cervical cancer screening technology along with the cervical cancer vaccine in Australia.

Chairing the Parliament’s General Purposes Standing Committee No 2, Ficarra oversees expenditure, performance and effectiveness into numerous government departments including health and medical research, education, mental health, ageing, aboriginal affairs, disability services, family and community services, women, citizenship and communities, western NSW, sports and recreation.