Samantha Ratnam

Cr
Samantha Ratnam
Councillor for City of Moreland
Assumed office
October 2012
Personal details
Born 1977
Sri Lanka
Nationality Australian
Political party Australian Greens
Occupation Politician, Social Worker
Website Samantha Ratnam Greens Candidate website

Samantha Ratnam is a Social worker and an Australian politician, member of the Australian Greens, a councillor and mayor of City of Moreland.

Early life

Born in Sri Lanka, Samantha Ratnam and her family left the country after the 'Black July' 1983 riots in Colombo that gave rise to the country’s 30-year internal war between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils. The family eventually settled in Australia after spending time in Europe and Canada.[1]

From 1995 to 2001 Samantha Ratnam completed a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and a Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) from University of Melbourne. She completed in 2015 her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Youth Sociology - Young People and Citizenship, also from the University of Melbourne.

Ratnam has worked in various roles in assisting migrants and asylum seekers including at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, in the fields of drug and alcohol rehabilitation, mental health and international development.[1]

In April 2014 Samantha Ratnam explained in The Indian Sun online Indian community in Australia how she is a product of diaspora and her motivations for entering politics.[2]

Moreland Council

Ratnam first stood for and was elected to the City of Moreland Council for South Ward in 2012 as one of three Ward Councillors.[1] In 2016 she was re-elected with her vote more than doubling to over 55 percent of the ward vote.[3]

In 2015 she was elected by councillors as the first Greens mayor of Moreland for 2016 in a 6 to 5 vote with Independent Councillor Helen Davidson and Socialist Alliance Councillor Sue Bolton supporting her bid for the mayor.[1] Her election as Mayor was even noted in her country of birth, Sri Lanka,[4] and by the Indian community in Australia,[5] and in Tamil culture.[6]

2016 Federal election campaign

With 2016 federal election the Greens preselected Ratnam to stand in the Division of Wills, where the sitting MP Kelvin Thomson was retiring.[7]

During the election campaign Ratnam was invited as a speaker to address an anti-racism rally in the Victoria Street mall in Coburg. With the threat of violence raised by right wing racist groups such as the United Patriots Front organising a counter rally in Bridge Reserve nearby, Ratnam withdrew from attending just two days before the rally.[8] The advertised anti-racism rally occurred without violence, however at Bridge Reserve and on Bell street, Coburg other left-wing anti-racist protesters confronted the right wing protestors with the police taking the opportunity to use pepper spray.[9] Subsequently, Samantha Ratnam wrote an opinion article for SBS on Racism and why she chose not to attend the rally.[10] One of the organisers of the rally, Cr Sue Bolton, also wrote an opinion article on why it was essential for the anti-racism rally to be held, despite right wing threats to disrupt it and calls by others on Council to cancel it.[11]

Although Ratnam substantially increased the Greens vote by greater than 10 percent in Wills, the Labor candidate Peter Khalil won the seat with a 4.88 percent margin.[12][13]

Academic Research

As a Social Work PhD student Samantha Ratnam contributed to a number of peer reviewed research papers and academic books including:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Reynolds, Peter (30 October 2015). "Moreland Council elects first Green mayor Samantha Ratnam". Moreland Leader/Herald Sun. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  2. ↑ Kallivayalil, Tanu (24 April 2014). "Taking a Stand". The Indian Sun. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Choahan, Neelima (23 October 2016). "Greens vote surges in Victorian council elections". The Age. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Lankan born woman elected Mayor of Australian city". Weekend Nation (Sri Lanka). 30 October 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Samanta Ratnam – New Mayor for Moreland City Council". India2Australia. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  6. ↑ Kandiah, Shanelle (22 March 2016). "Meet the Mayor of Moreland, Australia: Samantha Ratnam". TamilCulture. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  7. ↑ Willingham, Richard (30 January 2016). "Greens enlist Moreland mayor for assault on Wills". The Age. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  8. ↑ Willingham, Richard (26 May 2016). "Greens candidate pulls out of anti-racism protest over violence fears". The Age. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  9. ↑ Preiss, Benjamin (31 May 2016). "Move to give police more power to crack down on extreme protesters". The Age. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  10. ↑ Ratnam, Samantha (1 June 2016). "Comment: Racism in our streets demands leadership, not pepper spray". SBS. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  11. ↑ Bolton, Sue (1 June 2016). "Why we went ahead with the Coburg rally: organiser Sue Bolton". The Age. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  12. ↑ "Wills, Vic. AEC Tallyroom". Australian Electoral Commission. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  13. ↑ Heath, Tamara (4 July 2016). "Labor’s Peter Khalil claims Wills, but Samantha Ratnam and the Greens the big winners". Moreland Leader/Herald Sun. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
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