In the wake of the Queensland Labor Party's election win on the 21st March 2009, Premier Ms Anna Bligh has announced her new ministery which includes eight new faces, one of which is Ms Rachel Nolan appointed Minister for Transport. “I’m humbled and honoured that such great confidence has been placed in me,” Ms Nolan said. “I am really excited about the task ahead and about playing a major role in the governance of Queensland.”

Some of the significant portfolio allocations are:

  Anna Bligh - Premier and Minister for the Arts
  Paul Lucas - Deputy Premier and Minister for Health
  Andrew Fraser - Treasurer and Minister for Employment and Economic Development
  Rachel Nolan - Minister for Transport
  Craig Wallace - Minister for Main Roads
  Geoff Wilson - Minister for Education and Training
  Sterling Hinchliffe - Minister for Infrastructure and Planning

Ms Rachel Nolan was elected Member for Ipswich in 2001, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to the Queensland Parliament. She is currently the Minister for Transport, after successfully being re-elected at the 2009 State election.

Ms Nolan is passionately committed to Ipswich, having been born in the Ipswich, and has chosen to make Ipswich her home.
 
Prior to entering Parliament Ms Nolan worked as Senior Media Advisor to Clare Martin, then Leader of the Northern Territory Opposition and as a Policy Advisor to David Hamill, then Queensland Treasurer.
 
She has served on the Boards of The Brisbane Institute and the Save the Bilby Fund and on the Advisory Committees of UQ-Ipswich and its Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre. She is a Member of the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Ipswich Region Chamber of Commerce and, is Patron of the Association of School Tuckshops.