Biography

Parliamentary service

• Elected to the Senate for South Australia, 2022.

Committee service

• Joint Statutory: Corporations and Financial Services served from 31.7.2023 to present; Public Accounts and Audit served from 31.7.2023 to present
• Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing: Finance and Public Administration: Legislation served from 26.7.2022 to present; Finance and Public Administration: References served from 26.7.2022 to present; Education and Employment: Legislation served as Substitute member from 11.9.2023 to 1.2.2024; Economics: References served as Substitute member from 10.10.2024 to present
• Senate Select: Work and Care served from 4.8.2022 to 8.8.2022; Work and Care served as Chair from 9.8.2022 to 9.3.2023

Parliamentary party positions

• Australian Greens. Served: 01.07.2022 to present
• Australian Greens Spokesperson for Finance, Employment and the Public Sector from 17.6.2022 to 25.3.2024.
• Australian Greens Spokesperson for Finance, Jobs and Employment, and Public Sector from 25.3.2024.

Other positions

• Emeritus Professor at the University of South Australia, 2015.

Personal

• Born: 22.3.1955, Berri, Australia
• Gender: Female
• Marital Status: Partner

Qualifications and occupation before entering Federal Parliament

• (BEc(Hons)) (University of Adelaide).
• (PhD) (University of Adelaide).
• Farm Worker and Shearing Shed Rouseabout from 1973 to 1974.
• Economist with the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1979 to 1981.
• Equal Employment Opportunity Officer at Hunter Vale from 1981 to 1983.
• Research and Project Officer from 1983 to 1989.
• University Teacher and Research Leader from 1989 to 2014.

Honours

• Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, 14.6.2010.

Publications

• Strife: sex and politics in labour unions, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, NSW, 1997.
• Demanding skill, women and technical education in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1998.
• The work-life collision: what work is doing to Australians and what to do about it, Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, 2003.
• The labour market ate my babies: work, children and a sustainable future, Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, 2006.
• Kids count: better early childhood education and care in Australia, University of Sydney Press, Sydney, 2007.
• Living low paid: the dark side of prosperous Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2008.
• Time bomb: work, rest and play in Australia today, New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2012.