RISING BACKBENCHERS (PART 3 OF 4): SENATORS TO WATCH

The third and penultimate instalment of our Rising Backbencher articles has arrived!

Over the past months, Nexus has continued to watch those Senators in the ‘Class of 2019’, who are already making waves in Parliament House and we are predicting will continue to in the years to come.

We have previously mentioned a few of the new Senators including Senator Andrew Bragg (LPA) and Senator Marielle Smith (ALP), but there are more ‘rising stars’ in the Senate the Nexus team have identified and profiled below.

Senator the Hon Sarah Henderson – Senator for Victoria, Liberal Party of Australia

The Parliament of Victoria chose Senator Henderson to represent the state in the Senate in September 2019, after former Senator Mitch Fifield resigned.

Prior to entering the Senate, Senator Henderson served as the Member for Corangamite in the House of Representatives from 2013-2019.

Senator Henderson had a career as a reporter and presenter for NINE and TEN networks before joining ABC-TV.

She was awarded the Walkley Award in 1996 for her coverage of the Port Arthur Massacre.

Senator Henderson also worked as a commercial lawyer for Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks (now Allens) and became an attorney for News Corporation in New York for establishing her own media consultancy.

She is currently the Chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee and Deputy Chair of Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee.

Three Things You Should Know

1. Senator Henderson is up for re-election on the 30^th of June 2022.
2. Senator Henderson was co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Surf Living Saving Group during her time as Member for Corangamite.
3. Senator Henderson is aligned with the moderate wing of the Liberal Party.

Senator James Paterson – Senator for Victoria, Liberal Party of Australia

The Parliament of Victoria chose Senator Paterson to represent the state in the Senate in March 2016, after former Senator Michael Ronaldson resigned.

Prior to entering politics, Senator Paterson worked as the Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs from 2011-2016.

He was also a writer in the Public Affairs Department at the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI).

He also worked as an adviser in former Senator Mitch Fifield’s Office from 2006-2010.

Senator Paterson is currently serving as the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and the Deputy Chair of the Select Committee on COVID-19.

He also was previously the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services from 2020-2021.

Three Things You Should Know

1. Senator Paterson is up for re-election on the 30^th of June 2022.
2. Senator Paterson is co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Museums, Libraries, and Galleries group.
3. Senator Paterson is generally aligned with the national right wing of the Liberal Party.

Senator Jess Walsh – Senator for Victoria, Australian Labor Party

Senator Walsh was elected to the Senate for Victoria in 2019.

Prior to entering politics, Senator Walsh was the Victorian Secretary of United Voice, which looks after hospitality and childcare workers from 2007-2019.

She was also a Research Fellow at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington DC from 1999-2000 and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies at the John Hopkins University from 1998-1999.

She is currently a member of the Select Committee on Job Security, the Select Committee on the National Broadband Network.

Three Things You Should Know

1. Senator Walsh is up for re-election on the 30^th of June 2025.
2. Senator Walsh holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, specialising in labour studies.
3. Senator Walsh is aligned with the United Voice left faction of the Victorian Labor Party, aligning her with people such as Mr Andrew Giles MP and Senator the Hon Penny Wong.

Senator Lidia Thorpe – Senator for Victoria, Australian Greens

The Parliament of Victoria chose Senator Thorpe to represent the state in the Senate in September 2020, after former Senator Richard Di Natale resigned.

Prior to entering politics, Senator Thorpe worked as the Managing Director for Clan Corporation. She was also the CEO of Victorian Traditional Owners Land Justice Group from 2016-2017.

She worked as an adviser for the Municipal Association of Victoria and became the Indigenous Program Lead at Amnesty International in 2020.

Senator Thorpe was awarded the Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership in 2008.

She also served as the Member for Northcote in the Parliament of Victoria from 2017-2018.

Senator Thorpe currently serves as the Australian Greens Spokesperson on First Nations, Justice, and Sport and co-founded the Australian Greens First Nations Network.

Two Things You Should Know

1. Senator Thorpe is up for re-election on the 30^th of June 2022.
2. When sworn into the Senate, Senator Thorpe held a message stick burned with 441 marks, one for each death in custody since the handing down of the Royal Commission’s findings into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991.