Councillor McFarlane was born in 1944 in Sydney, Australia. After graduating from Macquarie University, she worked in community legal centres and welfare rights.
In 1978, Ms. McFarlane joined the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1998 federal election and was re-elected in 2001.
Councillor McFarlane served as a councillor for the City of Stirling from 1998 to 2004.
