sarah hanson-young

Sarah Hanson-Young
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Senator
Sarah Hanson-Young
BSocSc

Senator Hanson-Young

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Senator for South Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 July 2008
Constituency South Australia

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Born 23 December 1981 (1981-12-23) (age 28)
Melbourne[1]
Nationality Australian
Political party Australian Greens
Website SarahInTheSenate.com

Sarah Coral Hanson-Young (born 23 December 1981) is an Australian politician. She has been a Greens member of the Australian Senate since July 2008, representing the state of South Australia. She is the youngest person ever elected to the Senate.

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Role as Senator
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography
Hanson-Young was born in Melbourne, and grew up near Orbost in East Gippsland. She was a student- politician, activist, and president of the Students' Association of the University of Adelaide.

Hanson-Young has been active in community groups and NGOs on issues related to the environment, human rights, women's rights and youth issues, primarily through Amnesty International. She worked on several community projects in Orbost including the establishment of the Orbost Youth Centre.[citation needed] In 1999 she was awarded "Australia Day Young Citizen of the Year" for Gippsland, Victoria. She was the Environment Officer of the Students' Association of the University of Adelaide in 2001 and in 2002 was elected its President ? the first time a candidate who ran an independent campaign had been elected since Natasha Stott Despoja in 1990.[citation needed]

Formerly a board member of Unibooks and Justice for Refugees (SA),[2] Hanson-Young has also mentored young people through The Smith Family Tertiary Mentor Program.[3]

At the 2007 federal election, she became South Australia's first Greens Senator, the youngest woman ever elected to the Australian Parliament,[4] and the youngest person (aged 25) ever elected to the Senate.[5] However, she is not the youngest person to become a senator: Bill O'Chee was appointed to a casual vacancy in 1990 when aged 24.

Although the SA Green primary vote was relatively unchanged, preferences from the Australian Labor Party got the required quota needed.[6][7] She was previously a candidate for the Legislative Council in the 2006 South Australian election.

Hanson-Young is also a student, partway through a postgraduate law degree and holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Adelaide. She has worked as the Community Campaigner for Amnesty International SA/NT, and has worked as a Greens media advisor.[8]

[edit] Role as Senator
Senator Hanson-Young's portfolio includes childcare, education, sexuality, human rights, gender identity and the status of women and youth.[9]

These issues became the focus of attention on 18 June 2009 when the Senate President ordered the removal of her two-year-old daughter from the Senate chamber during a division. Formal parliamentary procedures do not allow for senators or members to bring their children onto floor of the Senate and House of Representatives chamber.[10] Public reaction on the matter was divided, and ignited a debate on accommodating children and their carers in the workplace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Hanson-Young