Background
O'Neill grew up in Western Sydney, a child of Irish immigrants, before moving to the Central Coast when she got married.
politician Member of the Australian House of Representatives member of the Australian Senate
O'Neill grew up in Western Sydney, a child of Irish immigrants, before moving to the Central Coast when she got married.
On 13 November 2013, O'Neill was chosen to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate, representing the state of New South Wales. O'Neill is linked with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA). At the NSW state election in 2003, O'Neill challenged Chris Hartcher in the seat of Gosford and lost by only 272 votes.
After that seat was redistributed, O'Neill again challenged Hartcher for the new seat of Terrigal but was defeated. In 2010, O'Neill was endorsed as Labor candidate for Robertson following a very public process that saw incumbent Labor member, Belinda Neal, lose preselection. At the 2013 election, O'Neill suffered a 3.8% swing against her and was defeated by the Liberals' Lucy Wicks.
Following the resignation of Bob Carr from the Australian Senate on 24 October 2013, O'Neill was selected by Labor to fill the casual vacancy, and was appointed by the NSW Parliament on 13 November 2013. In an unprecedented situation where Carr resigned both his current term and the following six-year term, the NSW Government sought legal advice regarding the tenure of O'Neill's appointment. O'Neill was re-appointed to the Senate by the New South Wales Parliament after the commencement of the 2014–2020 Senate term.
To mitigate the cost of recalling both houses of the parliament for a joint sitting (estimated at AUD $300,000), Premier Mike Baird convened a sitting on 2 July of two government members and two opposition members before the President of the Legislative Council to appoint O'Neill to the Senate for the term which began on 1 July. In March 2016, Deborah O'Neill is the only NSW Labor Australian Senator to still personally oppose same-sex marriage. Her reason is that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.