Larissa Waters

Senator
Larissa Waters
Co-Deputy Leader
of the Australian Greens
Assumed office
6 May 2015
Serving with Scott Ludlam
Preceded by Adam Bandt
Senator for Queensland
Assumed office
1 July 2011
Personal details
Born (1977-02-08) 8 February 1977
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Political party Greens
Residence Bardon, Queensland
Alma mater Griffith University
Website Larissa Waters

Larissa Joy Waters (born 8 February 1977) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for Queensland since 2011, representing the Australian Greens. She is currently a co-deputy leader of the party, alongside Scott Ludlam. Waters worked as a lawyer before entering politics.

Biography

Waters was born in Winnipeg, Canada, grew up in Brisbane and as of 2010 lived in Bardon with her partner and their daughter.[1]

She has a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Laws from Griffith University and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the New South Wales College of Law. From 2000–2001 she was a Legal Researcher at the Queensland Land and Resources Tribunal (predecessor of the Land Court of Queensland), from 2001–2002 a Lawyer at Freehills, and from 2002–2011 was a Lawyer with the Environmental Defenders Office.[2]

Political career

At the 2007 federal election, Waters was the lead senate candidate for the Greens in Queensland. The party received 7.3 percent of the statewide vote (an increase of 1.9 points), but this was not enough to secure her election. Waters again stood for office at the 2009 Queensland state election, running for the seat of Mount Coot-tha. The seat was held by the sitting Treasurer of Queensland, Andrew Fraser of the Labor Party. She polled 23.1 percent on first preferences, with Ronan Lee (25.9 percent in Indooroopilly) the only Greens candidate with a higher percentage.[3]

Waters was again placed first on the Greens' senate ticket at the 2010 federal election. She was elected with 12.8 per cent of the vote, an increase of 5.4 percentage points.[4] In May 2015, Waters was elected to the Greens' "leadership triumvirate". She was made a "co-deputy leader" alongside Scott Ludlam, with Richard Di Natale replacing Christine Milne as the party leader.[5] Waters was re-elected to the senate at the 2016 double-dissolution election, winning a three-year term with 6.9 percent of the vote.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Dennehy, Kate (25 July 2010). "History beckons for Greens Senate contender". Brisbane Times. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  2. ↑ Gillett, Patrick (5 February 2009). "Queensland state Green party to run environmental lawyer in treasurer's electorate". Wikinews. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "QLD State Election Results – Mount Coot-tha". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Senate Results – Queensland – 2010 Federal Election". Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  5. ↑ "Newly elected co-deputy Larissa Waters wants Greens to stick to environmental ethos", ABC News, 7 May 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  6. ↑ "Federal Election 2016: Senate Results". Australia Votes. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
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