Deb Frecklington


Deborah Kay Frecklington is an Australian politician who is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Nanango, having won the seat at the 2012 state election. She is leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and Leader of the Queensland Opposition.

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.
Frecklington has a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Law.
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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

Community interests

Frecklington is a member of:
Frecklington lives with her husband and three children in Kingaroy.