Kerry Nettle
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Kerry Michelle Nettle (born 24 December 1973) is an Australian Senator.
She was born in Sydney, New South Wales, attended the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney (Croydon), and was educated at the University of New South Wales, where she obtained a degree in environmental science and was active in student politics, caucusing with the group known as the Non-Aligned Left. She worked as office coordinator for The Greens (NSW) and then as a youth worker. She joined the Australian Greens in 1998 and was elected to the Australian Senate for New South Wales in November 2001, joining Senator Bob Brown.
When United States President George W. Bush visited Canberra on 23 October 2003, Nettle and Brown took their opposition to the war in Iraq to the point of interjecting during his address to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament. They wore signs referring to David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, two Australian citizens who were then being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, following their apprehension by United States forces in either (this is disputed) Afghanistan or Pakistan. Habib has since been released.
Bush accepted the interjections with good humour, but the Speaker of the House, Neil Andrew, formally "named" Nettle and Brown and they were suspended from the Parliament for 24 hours. Nettle tried to hand Bush a letter from Habib's wife but was stopped by Liberal MPs and Senators who jostled her and prevented her from approaching Bush. Liberal Senator Ross Lightfoot reportedly told Nettle to "Fuck off and die."[1]
During a debate on the abortion drug RU486 in February 2006, Senator Nettle wore a t-shirt into parliament bearing the slogan "Mr Abbott get your rosaries off my ovaries", in reference to the Catholic faith of Health Minister Tony Abbott.
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Current members of the Australian Senate
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