Joanna Maria Lindgren (born 5 November 1969) is an Australian politician who served as a

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

for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

from May 2015 to July 2016. Lindgren was appointed to the Senate on the nomination of the

Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major conservative political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. In most other states ...

to fill the casual vacancy caused by

Brett Mason Brett John Mason (born 5 March 1962) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was a Liberal/ Liberal National of Queensland member of the Australian Senate from 1 July 1999 to 15 April 2015, representing the state of Queensland. ...

's resignation. She sat with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in federal parliament until her defeat at the 2016 federal election. She was the second

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

woman to serve in the Senate, after

Nova Peris Nova Maree Peris (born 25 February 1971) is an Aboriginal Australian athlete and former politician. As part of the Australian women's field hockey ( Hockeyroos) team at the 1996 Olympic Games, she was the first Aboriginal Australian to win a ...

. Lindgren joined the

Australian Conservatives Australian Conservatives was a conservative political party in Australia formed in 2017. It was led by Cory Bernardi, who had been elected to the Senate for the Liberal Party, but resigned citing disagreements with the Liberal/National Coa ...

in 2018 and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate at the 2019 federal election.

Early life

Born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Lindgren attended Brigidine College in

Indooroopilly Indooroopilly ( , colloquially Indro ) is a riverside suburb south-west of the Brisbane CBD, Queensland, Australia. In the , Indooroopilly had a population of 13,622 people. Geography Indooroopilly is bounded to the south and south-east by ...

and St Peter Claver College in Riverview, and subsequently went on to

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

, receiving a graduate diploma in education after her initial arts degree. Before entering politics, she worked as a high-school teacher in Brisbane, and was also a member of the

Australian Army Reserve The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the military reserve force, reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citize ...

. Lindgren is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

with Jagera and Mununjali ancestry. Her granduncle,

Neville Bonner Neville Thomas Bonner AO (28 March 19225 February 1999) was an Australian politician, and the first Aboriginal Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia. He was appointed by the Queensland Parliament to fill a casual vacancy ...

, was also a senator for Queensland, and was the first

in the Australian Parliament.

Politics

At the 2012 state election, Lindgren contested the seat of Inala, a safe

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat held by

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 unt ...

(a future

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

). She failed to win the seat, but did record a

two-party preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Natio ...

(2PP) swing of 14.63 points towards the LNP, finishing with 43.10% of the final 2PP vote. Following the resignation of LNP

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

in April 2015, Lindgren was one of nine candidates to contest the casual vacancy, with her chief opponent being

Bill Glasson Bill Glasson may refer to: * Bill Glasson (golfer) (born 1960), American golfer * Bill Glasson (politician) (1925–2012), Australian politician * Bill Glasson (surgeon) (born 1953), Australian ophthalmologist {{hndis, Glasson, Bill ...

, a former president of the

Australian Medical Association The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an independent professional association for Australian physician, doctors and medical school#Medical students, medical students. The association is not a government authority and does not regulate or ...

. She won the vote, and at the same time, was also preselected for the third position on the LNP senate ticket at the 2016 federal election.Cameron Atfield (16 May 2015)
"Neville Bonner's great-niece Joanna Lindgren appointed Queensland senator by LNP"
– ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

''. Retrieved 18 May 2015. A sitting of the Queensland Parliament formally appointed Lindgren to fill the vacancy on 21 May 2015. She chose to join the federal

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

partyroom (rather than the Nationals), as LNP members may choose between the two. The ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'' reported that Lindgren was a "surprise candidate" who "opposes gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia" after the LNP opposed Glasson's support for homosexual activism. She was defeated at the 2016 federal election. Lindgren joined

Cory Bernardi Cory Bernardi (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian conservative political commentator and former politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of the Australian Conservatives, a minor political party h ...

in 2018 and ran on the party's Queensland

Senate 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 el ...

ticket at the 2019 federal election.

Personal life

Lindgren's husband Peter Anderson-Barr is a policeman, and was briefly an LNP candidate for the seat of Logan at the 2012 state election, but withdrew before the close of nominations.Michael McKenna and Sean Parnell (28 January 2012)
"Campbell Newman blindsided by jockeying for spoils of government"
– ''The Australian''. Retrieved 18 May 2015.

References

External links

Parliamentary profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindgren, Joanna 1969 births Living people Griffith University alumni Australian schoolteachers Politicians from Brisbane Indigenous Australian politicians Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Women members of the Australian Senate Liberal National Party of Queensland members of the Parliament of Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Australian Conservatives members