Robyn Read

{{Short description|Australian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}

{{Use Australian English|date=October 2014}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Robyn Read

| honorific-suffix =

| image =

| constituency_MP = North Shore

| parliament = Australian

| predecessor = Ted Mack

| successor = Phillip Smiles

| term_start = 5 November 1988

| term_end = 3 May 1991

| office1 = Deputy Mayor of North Sydney

| term_start1 = 25 September 1974

| term_end1 = 22 September 1976

| 1blankname1 = Mayor

| 1namedata1 = David Wyllie

| predecessor1 = David Wyllie

| successor1 = Carole Baker

| office2 = Alderman of the Municipality of North Sydney
for Kirribilli Ward

| term_start2 = 18 September 1971

| term_end2 = 17 September 1977

| office3 = Alderman of the Municipality of North Sydney
for East Ward

| term_start3 = 26 September 1987

| term_end3 = 14 September 1991

| birth_date =

| birth_place = St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse =

| party = Independent

| relations =

| children =

| alma_mater = University of Sydney

| occupation =

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Robyn Read is a former Australian politician. She was the Independent member for North Shore in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1991.

Read was born in St Leonards, the daughter of Norman Read and Edith Gordon. She was educated in Sydney and received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Town and Country Planning from the University of Sydney, becoming a journalist and university tutor. Moving into public service, she was Head of the Central Policy Unit in the New South Wales Department of Planning, Commissioner of Water Resources in New South Wales, and Director of the New South Wales Land Co-ordination Unit. Federally she was Executive Director of City Services in Canberra. She sat on North Sydney Municipal Council 1970–77 and 1987–91, and was General Manager of Byron Shire Council.{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=193 |name=Ms Robyn Read |former=Yes |access-date=12 April 2019}}

In 1988, the Independent MP for the state seat of North Shore, Ted Mack, resigned from Parliament to avoid qualifying for a parliamentary pension. Read contested the resulting by-election as an independent with Mack's endorsement, and easily defeated her nearest rival, Liberal candidate Jillian Skinner.{{Cite NSW election |year=1988 |district=NorthShore_1 |title=1988 North Shore by-election |accessdate=25 July 2020}} In the 1991 redistribution, however, the neighbouring seat of Mosman was abolished, and Read was challenged by its Liberal MP, Phillip Smiles and Smiles won narrowly.{{Cite NSW election |year=1991 |district=North Shore |accessdate=25 July 2020}} Read contested North Shore one more time unsuccessfully in the by-election held in 1994 in which she was defeated in a rematch by her old Liberal rival Jillian Skinner.{{Cite NSW election |year=1991 |district=NorthShore_1 |title=1994 North Shore by-election |accessdate=25 July 2020}}

A crime novel written by Read, The More Things Change, was published in 1996 by Random House. In the novel the body of a member of parliament is found floating in the pool in parliament house. Set in Sydney, the journalist Kate Corbett investigates the murder, uncovering endemic corruption and vice along the way. The original manuscript is in the National Library of Australia Trove collection.{{cite web

| last = Read

| first = Robyn

| authorlink =

| title = The More Things Change

| publisher = Random House

| year = 1996

| url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/30164470?versionId=36623927

| format =

| doi =

| accessdate = 19 February 2013}}

{{Cite book |title=The more things change |last=Read, Robyn. |date=1996 |publisher=Arrow |isbn=0091833302 |location=Milsons Point, N.S.W. |oclc=221890828}}