Deb Frecklington

{{short description|Australian politician (born 1971)}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Deb Frecklington | honorific_suffix = MP | image = 200px | office = Leader of the Opposition in Queensland Leader of the Liberal National Party Elections: 2020 | term_start = 12 December 2017 | term_end = 12 November 2020 | premier = Annastacia Palaszczuk | deputy = Tim Mander | predecessor = Tim Nicholls | successor = David Crisafulli | office2 = Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland Deputy Leader of the Liberal National Party | term_start2 = 6 May 2016 | term_end2 = 12 December 2017 | leader2 = Tim Nicholls | predecessor2 = John-Paul Langbroek | successor2 = Tim Mander | office6 = Assistant Minister to the Premier | leader6 = Campbell Newman | term_start6 = 28 May 2014 | term_end6 = 14 February 2015 | predecessor6 = Position established | successor6 = Stirling Hinchliffe | office7 = Assistant Minister for Finance, Administration and Regulatory Reform | leader7 = Campbell Newman | term_start7 = 18 May 2012 | term_end7 = 28 May 2014 | predecessor7 = Position established | successor7 = Lisa France | office8 = Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Nanango | term_start8 = 24 March 2012 | term_end8 = | predecessor8 = Dorothy Pratt | successor8 = | office9 = Attorney General of Queensland Minister for Justice | term_start9 = 1 November 2024 | term_end9 = | premier9 = David Crisafulli | predecessor9 = Yvette D’Ath | successor9 = | birth_name = Deborah Kay Stiller | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1971|9|3}} | birth_place = Miles, Queensland, Australia | party = Liberal National | education = {{plainlist| * Guluguba State School * Ipswich Girls' Grammar School }} | alma_mater = {{plainlist| * University of Southern Queensland (BBus) * Queensland Institute of Technology (LLB) }} | occupation = {{hlist|Solicitor|Politician}} | spouse = Jason Frecklington | children = 3 }}

'''Deborah Kay Frecklington''' (born 3 September 1971)<ref>https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Members/Current-Members/Member-List/Member-Details?id=1669673907</ref> is an Australian politician who serves as the member for Nanango in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, having won the seat at the 2012 state election.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/qld/2012/guide/nana.htm|title=Nanango - Queensland Votes 2012|date=5 April 2012|website=ABC News|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130220955/http://www.abc.net.au/elections/qld/2012/guide/nana.htm|archive-date=30 November 2017|url-status=live|access-date=10 August 2016}}</ref> She was the Leader of the Queensland Opposition and leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) before resigning as party leader following the LNP’s loss at the 2020 Queensland state election.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-02|title=Deb Frecklington resigns as Qld's opposition leader|url=https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/politics/deb-frecklington-resigns-as-lnp-leader-after-qld-state-election-defeat/news-story/13b70fffc1192f8cece13e9829aad145|access-date=2020-11-02|website=News.com.au|language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name="resign">{{Cite web|date=2020-11-02|title=Deb Frecklington stands down as LNP leader|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-02/qld-election-opposition-leader-deb-frecklington-steps-aside-lnp/12834976|access-date=2020-11-02|website=ABC News|language=en-AU}}</ref> She is currently serving as Attorney-General of Queensland as well as Minister for Justice and Minister for Integrity under David Crisafulli.

== Early life == Frecklington was born in Miles in south-west Queensland. She grew up on a cattle property at Guluguba and attended Guluguba State School. For her secondary schooling, she was a boarder at Ipswich Girls' Grammar School.<ref name=":0" />

Frecklington has a Bachelor of Business (University of Southern Queensland) and a Bachelor of Laws (Queensland University of Technology).<ref name=":0" />

She has worked in the clothing, motor vehicle and newspaper industries. Her career takes in the co-management of broad-acre cropping properties with her husband. During her time as a lawyer, she worked for Kelly & Frecklington Solicitors, specialising in family and property law.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://debfrecklington.com.au/content/8/meet-deb|title=Meet Deb|publisher=Deb Frecklington MP|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130220719/https://debfrecklington.com.au/content/8/meet-deb|archive-date=30 November 2017|url-status=live|access-date=29 November 2017}}</ref>

== Politics == Frecklington was appointed assistant minister for Finance, Administration and Regulatory Reform on 3 April 2012 and subsequently appointed to the role of assistant minister to the premier in June 2014. Following the LNP's defeat in 2015, she was appointed to the LNP front bench as Shadow Minister for Agriculture.

In 2016, she was elected unopposed as deputy leader of the LNP—and hence deputy leader of the opposition—after Tim Nicholls ousted Lawrence Springborg as leader.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-06/tim-nicholls-wins-lnp-leadership-spill-over-lawrence-springborg/7389500|title=Tim Nicholls wins LNP leadership spill against Lawrence Springborg|date=6 May 2016|work=ABC News|access-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130221159/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-06/tim-nicholls-wins-lnp-leadership-spill-over-lawrence-springborg/7389500|archive-date=30 November 2017|url-status=live|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ref=abcborgbyebye}}</ref>

===Leader of the LNP=== After Nicholls led the party to a loss at the 2017 state election, Frecklington was elected the leader of the LNP at a party-room meeting on 12 December 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-12/lnp-leadership-challenge-queensland-parliament/9249452|title=LNP chooses first female party leader Deb Frecklington to take on Premier Palaszczuk|work=ABC News|date=12 December 2017}}</ref> Frecklington secured 25 votes out of a possible 39 in the first round of voting. Former leader John-Paul Langbroek received 10 votes while outsider Mark Robinson received three votes, and there was one informal vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/deb-frecklington-to-lead-lnp-tim-mander-deputy/news-story/05ae4c282cb1e2ee7b1a16750619063d|title=Deb Frecklington to lead LNP, Tim Mander deputy|work=Australian|date=12 December 2017|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Frecklington became only the second female Queensland opposition leader in history, and the first woman to lead the non-Labor side in Queensland. She is also the second LNP leader from a long-held national seat; Nanango was the seat of former long-serving National Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who held it and its successor seat, Barambah, from 1947 to 1987.

Frecklington took the LNP into the 2020 Queensland state election. The LNP was heavily defeated, suffering a five-seat swing and winning only five seats in Brisbane. Frecklington initially indicated she would stay on as leader, but on 2 November announced she would call a leadership spill which she would not contest.<ref name="resign" /> On 12 November, David Crisafulli was elected leader.<ref name="crisafulli">{{cite news |last1=Lynch |first1=Lydia |title=LNP elects new leader and deputy while recount starts in two seats |url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/lnp-elects-new-leader-and-deputy-while-recount-starts-in-two-seats-20201112-p56dyw.html |access-date=12 November 2020 |work=Brisbane Times |date=12 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Soon afterward, Frecklington became shadow minister for water and shadow minister for regional development in Crisafulli's shadow cabinet. She is one of the few state politicians in Australia to have never spent a day on the backbench, having spent her entire career as a junior minister (2012-2015), shadow minister (2015-2016, 2020–present), deputy opposition leader (2016-2017) and opposition leader (2017-2020).

After the LNP's victory in the 2024 Queensland state election, Frecklington was appointed Attorney General, Minister for Justice and Minister for Integrity by newly elected premier, David Crisafulli.

==Personal life== Frecklington lives with her husband in Esk.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

== External links == * {{official website|http://www.debfrecklington.com.au}} * {{Cite web|url=http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/members/InauguralSpeech/frec2012_05_29_37.pdf|title=Maiden speech in the Queensland Legislative Assembly by the Member for Nanango|last=Frecklington|first=Deb|date=29 May 2012|publisher=Queensland Parliament|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130222432/http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/members/InauguralSpeech/frec2012_05_29_37.pdf|archive-date=30 November 2017|url-status=live|access-date=1 December 2017}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Tim Nicholls}} {{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Opposition (Queensland)|years=2017–2020}} {{s-aft|after=David Crisafulli}} {{s-par|au-qld}} {{s-bef|before=Dorothy Pratt}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Nanango|years=2012–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Tim Nicholls}} {{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland|years=2017–2020}} {{s-aft|after=David Crisafulli}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frecklington, Deb}} Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians Category:Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Category:Australian solicitors Category:Women members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Category:21st-century Australian politicians Category:21st-century Australian women politicians Category:Women deputy opposition leaders Category:Deputy opposition leaders Category:People from Nanango Category:University of Southern Queensland alumni Category:Queensland University of Technology alumni Category:Attorneys-general of Queensland