Jessica Cecille Walsh (born 16 May 1971) is an Australian politician and trade unionist. She is a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

(ALP) and has served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

for Victoria since 2019. Prior to her election to parliament she was the state secretary of

United Voice United Voice was a large Australian trade union, with over 130,000 members. United Voice members worked in a wide range of occupations including hospitality, childcare, teachers' aides, aged care, property services (cleaning, security, maintenan ...

Early life

Walsh was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

. She grew up in the suburb of

North Balwyn Balwyn North, also known as North Balwyn, is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Boroondara and Whitehorse local government areas. Balwyn North r ...

. She holds the degrees of

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 yea ...

( Hons.) from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

, and

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 ...

in labour studies from the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Organising the low-wage service sector: labour, community and urban politics in the United States". Walsh is one of eleven MPs in the

46th Parliament of Australia The 46th Parliament of Australia was a meeting of the legislative branch of the Australian federal government, composed of the Australian Senate and the Australian House of Representatives. The 2019 federal election gave the Coalition of th ...

who possesses a PhD, the others being Katie Allen,

Fiona Martin Fiona Barbouttis Martin (born 16 November 1977) is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was elected as Member of Parliament for Reid at the 2019 federal election. She lost her seat to Labor MP Sally Sitou at the 2022 federal elect ...

Anne Aly Anne Azza Aly (born Azza Mahmoud Fawzi Hosseini Ali el Serougi, 1967) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 election, representing the electorate of Cowan in Western Australia ...

Andrew Leigh Andrew Keith Leigh (born 3 August 1972) is an Australian politician, author, lawyer and former professor of economics at the Australian National University. He currently serves as the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. ...

Daniel Mulino Daniel Mulino (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the Eastern Victoria Region from 2014 to 2018. In the 2019 federal election he was elected as the inau ...

Jim Chalmers James Edward Chalmers (born 2 March 1978) is an Australian politician, currently serving as Treasurer of Australia since 23 May 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served as a member of parliament for the divisi ...

Adam Bandt Adam Paul Bandt (born 11 March 1972) is an Australian politician and former industrial lawyer who is the leader of the Australian Greens and federal MP for Melbourne. Previously, he served as co-deputy leader of the Greens from 2012 to 2015 and ...

Mehreen Faruqi Mehreen Saeed Faruqi (born 8 July 1963) is an Australian politician and former engineer who has been a Senator for New South Wales since 15 August 2018, representing the Greens. She was chosen to fill a casual vacancy caused by the resignation ...

Anne Webster Anne Elizabeth Webster (née Smithers; born 19 May 1959) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2019 federal election. She is a member of the National Party and represents the Division of M ...

and

Helen Haines Helen Mary Haines (born 21 September 1961) is an Australian politician who has served as the independent MP for the Victorian seat of Indi since the 2019 federal election. Early life and education Haines grew up on a dairy farm in Colac in ...

Career

From 1998 to 2000 Walsh was a research fellow at two progressive think tanks in the United States, the

Institute for Policy Studies The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American progressive think tank started in 1963 that is based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 2021 Tope Folarin was announced as new Executive Director. I ...

and the

Economic Policy Institute The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit American, left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C., that carries out economic research and analyzes the economic impact of policies and proposals. Affiliated with the labor m ...

. There she researched "the loss of decent, stable manufacturing jobs and the growth in their place of low-paid and insecure work in service industries". After returning to Australia, Walsh worked as a researcher and organiser for the Victorian branch of

from 2002 to 2006. She then served as assistant state secretary from 2006 to 2007 and as state secretary from 2007 to 2019.

Politics

Walsh joined the ALP in 2005. In 2018 she won ALP

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

for the Senate in second position on the party's ticket in Victoria. The party's left faction demoted incumbent senator Gavin Marshall to the third spot after

Raff Ciccone Raffaele "Raff" Ciccone (born 1 November 1983) is an Australian politician who is a Senator for Victoria, representing the Australian Labor Party. He was appointed to the Senate on 6 March 2019 following the resignation of Jacinta Collins, bec ...

and Walsh. She was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election, with Marshall losing his seat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Jess 1971 births Living people Australian trade unionists 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Australian Senate Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria University of Melbourne alumni University of Melbourne women University of Southern California alumni People from Balwyn, Victoria Politicians from Melbourne