| The Honourable Penny Sharpe MLC |
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|---|---|
| Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 11 Oct 2005 |
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| Personal details | |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
Penelope Gail Sharpe (born 22 October 1970) is an Australian politician. She has been an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since October 2005, when she filled a casual vacancy caused by the decision of Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt to move to the Legislative Assembly. Sharpe, a mother of three, is the first openly lesbian woman to serve in the New South Wales parliament.[1]
Sharpe was born in Canberra, but later shifted to Sydney. She studied food technology at the University of New South Wales,[2] where she became involved in student politics.[3] She was elected president of the University of New South Wales Student Guild in 1993, the same year that she met her long-term partner, Jo Tilly. Sharpe rose to national prominence the following year when she became president of the National Union of Students. As president, she was involved in a national campaign against the Keating Labor government's higher education reforms, as well as in the partially-successful Victorian battle against attempts by its Liberal government to introduce voluntary student unionism there.
Sharpe subsequently worked as a program officer for the Australian Student Traineeship Foundation where she assisted the development of over 100 school/industry partnerships across NSW and the ACT. During this time Sharpe and Tilly were foster carers for young women aged 15 – 17 through Barnados. She remained active in the Labor Party, and in 1999 took a position as a staffer for Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt. Sharpe was a co editor of Party Girls: Labor Women, a book about the role of women in politics.[4] In late 2004, Sharpe was elected to Marrickville council.[3] Around the same time, she and her partner became parents for a second time.
In August 2005, Deputy Premier Andrew Refshauge resigned from his state parliamentary seat of Marrickville, and Sharpe initially registered interest in becoming the Labor candidate in the subsequent by-election. However, she immediately stepped aside in favour of her employer when Tebbutt announced her interest in shifting from the upper house. Despite this initial setback, Tebbutt's victory in the by-election created a casual vacancy in the Legislative Council from their Socialist Left faction, and Sharpe immediately became the leading candidate to replace Tebbutt.
Sharpe's official appointment to the Legislative Council was announced in late September, which immediately caused substantial media attention due to her status as a lesbian mother - particularly as she would now be sitting alongside the likes of conservative Liberal David Clarke and Christian Democratic Party firebrand Fred Nile. She largely refused to comment on her private life in the subsequent fracas, but announced her policy goals as improving access to education and eliminating discrimination against gay parents. She has also made clear her intention to confront Clarke and Nile on gay rights issues; a stance that was heavily reflected in her maiden speech to parliament.[5]
In December 2005, Sharpe announced that she would donate the remainder of her local council salary until 2008 to two gay and lesbian charities, Guthrie House and Twenty10 Gay and Lesbian Youth Support.
Sharpe maintains her own blog, Red Leather,[6] and is one of only a handful of Australian politicians to do so.
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