Patricia May Petersen is an Australian academic from Ipswich, Queensland.

Education

Petersen holds a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

and was awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

in 2002. Petersen has been a lecturer at

Central Queensland University Central Queensland University (alternatively known as CQUniversity) is an Australian public university based in central Queensland. CQUniversity is the only Australian university with a campus presence in every mainland state. Its main campus ...

Electoral history

Petersen has run unsuccessfully for political office thirteen times, and has been referred to as a serial candidate. Petersen ran as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate for the federal seat of Warringah in 2004 and 2007. She lost both times to

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

. Petersen also contested the mayoral election in Manly in 2008, and lost to Jean Hay. Petersen ran as an independent for the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

seat of

Bundamba Bundamba is a suburb of Ipswich in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. In the Bundamba had a population of 6,514 people. Geography The Bremer River forms the western part of the suburb's northern boundary. The Warrego Highway enter ...

in the 2009 state election, and lost to

Jo-Ann Miller Jo-Ann Roslyn Miller (born 22 August 1958) is an Australian politician. She was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland between February 2000 and February 2020, representing the electorate of Bundamba. Miller entered pa ...

. Petersen contested the seat of Blair at the 2010 federal election as an Australians Greens candidate, and lost to

Shayne Neumann Shayne Kenneth Neumann (born 26 August 1961) is an Australian politician. He was elected to the Federal seat of Blair in November 2007, and re-elected in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022. In March 2013, Shayne was appointed Parliamentary Secreta ...

. Petersen contested the seat of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

as an independent in the

2012 Queensland state election The 2012 Queensland state election was held on 24 March 2012 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament. The Labor Party (ALP), led by Premier Anna Bligh, was defeated by the opposition Liberal National P ...

, and lost to Ian Berry. In 2012 Petersen started her own political party, the Australian Independents. It was registered with the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

on 16 July 2013. In the 2013 federal election, the Australian Independents ran Senate candidates in every state and territory. The party also ran six candidates in the House of Representatives. In Queensland, with Petersen as lead candidate, the party placed 17th out of the 34 parties that ran having received 0.48% of the primary vote. Nationally, the party placed 7th out of the 72 parties that ran, with its senate candidates having received a total of 45,441 first preference votes, 0.34% of the total votes cast. Its House of Representatives candidates received 4,163 first preference votes, 0.03% of votes cast. The Australian Independents party was deregistered by the AEC on 4 February 2016, after failing to demonstrate the requisite 500 members to maintain registration.Australian Independents
AEC, 5 February 2016 Following her bid to be elected to the Senate, Petersen ran as an independent candidate for mayor of

Noosa The Shire of Noosa is a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of . It existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it wa ...

in late 2013. Petersen claimed to have " ent a third of my time on the coast as a child, lived in Peregian in my 20s, have been nurturing land on the coast for 12 years. 4th generation Noosa resident", yet, during her election campaigns in the Ipswich region she has also claimed to " ing a fifth generation member of the Ipswich community, I feel a strong attachment to the historical buildings and sites within the local area. Similar to the way in which aborigines have a deep connection to their land, I am emotionally tied to my home, everything and everyone in it." Previously, she had stated that she "headed off to Sydney to successfully model full-time," and whilst there "completed a BA (HONS) from the University of New South Wales." Petersen lost to Noel Playford. Petersen again contested the seat of Ipswich as an independent at the 2015 state election. Petersen lost to Jennifer Howard. After the loss to Jennifer Howard, Petersen told the local Ipswich newspaper, The Queensland Times, in an article dated 31 January 2015 that she would not run for office in the future. Petersen is quoted in the article as saying "But I am hanging my hat up after this," she said. "I have promised my partner I will not do this again." Despite quitting politics, Petersen ran for Division 3 of

Ipswich City Council The City of Ipswich is a local government area in Queensland, Australia, located within the southwest of the Brisbane metropolitan area, including the urban area surrounding the city of Ipswich and surrounding rural areas. Geography The C ...

in 2016, and lost to Kerry Silver. The Australian Independents was deregistered in February 2016 because it did not show sufficient membership to remain as a registered political party. Petersen again ran for office at the 2016 federal election for the seat of Blair. Once again she lost, polling the second fewest votes. Petersen also ran as a candidate for Ipswich Mayor, making this her third attempt to contest a Mayoral election (previously the Manly Council in 2008 and the Shire of Noosa in 2013). The election was held on 19 August 2017, where she received over 3,000 votes and came seventh out of the 11 candidates. Petersen contested the seat of

at the 2017 state election. Petersen was once again unsuccessful in her attempt, finishing behind all major party candidates.

Personal life

Petersen has written a self-published book, entitled ''Morality, Sexual Facts and Fantasies,'' and has written two plays based on her time running against Tony Abbott in 2004 and 2007. She has worked as a relationships counsellor, and has worked for Brisbane radio station

B105 FM B105 (call sign 4BBB) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on a frequency of 105.3 MHz, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. The station has undergone numerous branding changes ov ...

and Sydney radio station

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the ...

. She was a panellist on the Australian television show ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

''. Petersen has a black belt in karate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Patricia 1964 births University of Queensland alumni Australian women in politics Australian women writers Australian writers Living people