Nationality Australian Name Penny Wright Spouse Mark Parnell | Children 3 Party Australian Greens Profession Lawyer | |
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Born 19 January 1961 (age 63)
Red Cliffs, Victoria ( 1961-01-19 ) Alma mater University of Melbourne
University of Adelaide Books Marriage Visa Classes Education University of Adelaide, University of Melbourne Similar People Mark Parnell, Bob Brown, Drew Hutton Profiles | ||
Political party Australian Greens | ||
Introducing senator penny wright
Penelope Lesley "Penny" Wright (born 19 January 1961) is a former Australian Greens senator for South Australia, elected at the 2010 election and serving until her resignation in September 2015, succeeded by Robert Simms.
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Early life
Wright was born in 1961 at Red Cliffs in the Sunraysia region of Victoria, the sixth of seven children of Lesley and Hugh Wright. She spent much of her childhood growing up in Melbourne after her family moved there in 1968. Wright attended Wattle Park High School in Burwood before moving to MacRobertson Girls' High School for high achievers. After completing high school she studied arts/law at the University of Melbourne, later obtaining a graduate diploma in Environmental Studies in Adelaide.
Wright spent 20 years working as a lawyer prior to her election to parliament.
Political career
Wright is a founding member of the South Australian branch of the Greens (along with her husband Mark Parnell, a state MLC, generally considered the founder of the South Australian Greens). According to Wright, she postponed her political career at the time (1995) to raise children.
Wright was placed first on the South Australian Greens Senate ticket for the 2010 federal election. The party received a 6.8 percent swing in South Australia, finishing with 13.3 percent of the statewide Senate vote. Wright joined eight other Green Senators in the upper house from the start of July 2011, including incumbent South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
On commencing her senate term in July 2011, Wright was assigned the portfolios of Attorney-General, Native Title, Veterans' Affairs, Social Inclusion, Mental Health and Heritage within the federal Greens. She went on to hold the Attorney-General, Veterans' Affairs, Mental Health and Schools and Education Portfolios.
On 17 July 2015, Wright announced that she would be resigning from the Senate due to illness in her family. She gave her final speech on 19 August, and resigned on 9 September. Robert Simms was appointed to the casual vacancy by a joint sitting of the Parliament of South Australia on 22 September 2015.
Personal life
Wright is married to Mark Parnell with whom she moved to Adelaide in 1989 following 9 months in Europe. Wright and Parnell have three children, Felix, Eleanor and Mungo.