Donald Page OAM - 2025 UNE Alumni Community Award
In recognition of his parliamentary career championing coastal protection and community advocacy with unwavering public accessibility.
Former Member of Parliament Don Page OAM will never know how many preferences he attracted during his 27-year political career. He won outright the seven campaigns he contested for the seat of Ballina, in north-eastern NSW, and never had to rely on them.
That the National Party stalwart commanded votes from constituents across the political spectrum says much about the man, beyond the politics. A dedicated local member who became the fifth generation in his family to hold public office and for whom the community always came first.
“The seat was never a Country/National Party stronghold; over time I built a strong personal following that was not party related,” says Don, a Bachelor and Masters Economics graduate who has been awarded a 2025 UNE Alumni Community Award. “I always saw the Nationals as a political party based on geography not ideology, and every region is different. It’s not wise to put an ideological straight jacket on anybody, because politics is mostly about solving problems and ideology won’t always provide a sensible solution.”
When Don first took office, in March 1988, there was much that needed fixing in his fast-growing electorate in a “forgotten corner of NSW”. And, unlike many of his parliamentary colleagues, he commended colleagues across the aisle if he considered their policy in the best interests of his seat and its people.
“I always made decisions according to what was right for the community as a whole, and people knew and respected that,” he says. “If I thought the other side had a good idea, I’d give credit where it was due. Honesty and credibility were everything to me.
“I think that’s what a lot of people want in their politician – not some high-brow policy expert but someone on the ground, who understands where they’re coming from and is prepared to assist them in any way they can. That’s what I tried to do.”
It was at school that Don realised that with “a thoughtful and respectful approach to an issue, real change was possible”. A strong work ethic developed growing up on the family’s cattle property in the upper reaches of the Clarence Valley, the sixth of seven children, also helped. And let’s not forget Don’s DNA.
Don Page at one of his graduation ceremonies in the 1970s.
His father Don Senior was a local councillor for 27 years and his grandfather was Sir Earle Page, Australia’s eleventh Prime Minister (albeit briefly), Leader of the Federal Country Party, Deputy Prime Minister for 14 years and one of the architects of UNE.
“My mother was my grandfather’s private secretary in Canberra, before she married my father, and would often talk in glowing terms about what Sir Earle Page had done for Australia and the legislation he was responsible for,” Don says. “I was pretty much in awe. I thought if my life was to have any purpose, any real purpose, then if I could achieve only a fraction of what Sir Earle achieved, I would be happy.”
As the new Member for Ballina in March 1988, Don described himself as “warm, green and dry”: warm (a believer in helping those who genuinely needed it), a practical environmentalist and dry (proponent of fiscal responsibility). The commonsense reforms he foreshadowed in his maiden speech largely came to pass, including the prohibition of high-rise development on the NSW coastline, upgrades to the Pacific Highway, new schools and hospitals in his electorate. Management plans to protect koalas from new development and the appointment of the first Cross Border Commissioner and Small Business Commissioner were other notable achievements.
Despite what must have been a frustrating 16 long years in Opposition, Don said he always favoured “reasoned and constructive debate”. And as a spokesperson for some 12 portfolios, the former Deputy Leader of the NSW Nationals (2003-07) and Minister for Local Government and Minister for the North Coast (2011-14) was praised throughout the chamber for his strategic vision and high ethical standards.
“It helps in politics to have a good understanding of people and to be prepared to think things through, and a lot of that came from my UNE degrees,” Don said. “I wasn’t a firebrand; UNE gave me the discipline to do my homework and get on top of a subject. I could speak persuasively but I felt more comfortable if I could substantiate my argument with facts. That was the academic training.
“I didn’t always toe the party line; I often had my own views on things. But if you tell the truth, even if it’s uncomfortable at times, people appreciate it.”
With no security of tenure beyond the next election and responsibility for making major decisions that can impact thousands, Members of Parliament must tread a delicate line between popularity and progress. Don managed to do both, guided by a compass calibrated, he says, on “honesty, integrity, compassion and hard work”.
“I always tried to do the right thing by the community and to let the politics look after itself,” he said. “A lot of people in politics don’t realise that it’s not about them but the people they represent. It’s about doing the job.”
On Don’s retirement, his colleagues demonstrated their respect for his parliamentary contributions and significant legacy by passing a motion supported by all members in the Legislative Council – an act generally reserved for someone who has died.
But Don was not about to bury his community spirit, going on to chair Regional Development Australia (RDA) Northern Rivers – committed to regional job creation and industry rejuvenation – from 2016 until March 2025. And it says much about the man “raised on Country Party milk” in the bush that even with an OAM on his lapel – awarded this year for services to the NSW Parliament and to the community – it’s the coastal protection policy, new schools and Pacific Highway upgrade he championed as a fresh-faced MP that he prizes most.
