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Nita Green

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Senator
Nita Green
Senator for Queensland
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 July 2019
Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 June 2022
Preceded by(position established)
Personal details
Born (1983-06-23) 23 June 1983 (age 41)
Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyLabor
Alma materUniversity of Wollongong
University of Canberra
OccupationLawyer, trade unionist
Websitewww.nitagreen.com.au

Nita Louise Green[1] (born 23 June 1983) is an Australian politician who was elected as a Senator for Queensland at the 2019 federal election. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).[2]

Early life

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Green was born in Camperdown, New South Wales.[3] She was raised by a single mother who worked as a nurse.[4] Her mother was born in the United States and arrived in Australia at the age of nine.[1] She holds the degrees of Bachelor of Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong and Juris Doctor from the University of Canberra.[3] While at university she worked in the retail and hospitality sectors.[4]

Career

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After being admitted as a solicitor in 2015, Green worked as an employment lawyer for Maurice Blackburn (law firm). In 2017, she was the Queensland field director for Australian Marriage Equality during the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey. She subsequently became an organiser for the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union,[4] and also worked as a staffer for Senator Murray Watt.[5]

Politics

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In August 2018, Green won preselection for Labor's Senate ticket in Queensland, as the representative of the Labor Left faction.[5] She was living on the Gold Coast at the time of her preselection, but later in the year she and her wife relocated to Cairns so that her party would have a senator based in Far North Queensland.[6] She was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election in first position on the ALP ticket.[2]

Green is a leader of the LGBTQ group Rainbow Labor. She is an advocate for transgender rights in sport, and has said that women who argue that women's sport should be reserved for cis women are transphobic and that such debates are incredibly hurtful for LGBT youth.[7]

On 1 June 2022, Green was appointed as Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.[8]

Following the rise in antisemitic events on Australian University (and especially Go8) campuses in 2023-2024, Green Chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities Bill 2024 of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, as part of their inquiry on Antisemitism in Australian universities in 2024.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Qualification checklist" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Senate Results". ABC News. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Senator Nita Green". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Nita Green". Australian Labor Party. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Former Speaker slams Labor Senate preselection". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Cairns politics: Labor's top senate candidate Nita Green moves to FNQ". Cairns Post. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  7. ^ Bernard, Lane (1 September 2020). "Women in sport 'afraid' to speak up against trans activists: Senator Claire Chandler". The Australian. News Corp. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  8. ^ Albanese, Anthony. "Statement on new Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery". Prime Minister of Australia. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
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