Kerrie Robyn Tucker (born 15 September 1948) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

for the environment and human rights who was a member of the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly, is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building, Canberra, Leg ...

representing the multi-member electorate of Molonglo for the

ACT Greens The ACT Greens is a green politics, green political party located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and a member of the federation of the Australian Greens. Both parties were formed in 1992, three years after the ACT achieved self-gover ...

between 1995 and 2001. Tucker was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

representing the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

(ACT) for the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...

at the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

federal elections.

Early years

Prior to entering politics, Tucker was employed by the Canberra and South East Region Environment Centre to work in the library and edit the ''Bogong'' magazine. She was a founding member of ACT Greens.

Political career

Tucker was elected to the

ACT Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly, is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Squa ...

, representing the

Molonglo electorate The Molonglo electorate was one of the three electorates for the unicameral 17-member Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly between 1995 and 2016. It had seven seats, and was the largest of the three electorates in terms of populat ...

for the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, and was re-elected in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. During her term as a Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly, Tucker used her staffing allowance to employ part-time staff, who shared her political views. In 1999–2000, her office produced more legislation and amendments than any other non-government office. Her term was marked by a progressive social agenda, including advocating for public housing, pro-choice and same-sex anti-discrimination laws, review of competition policy, substance abuse and progressive drug reform, and increasing the size of the Assembly from 17 members to 21 members. Tucker resigned her seat one month before the 2004 ACT general election in order to contest the 2004 federal election. She ran for election to the

representing the

for the

at the 1993 federal election, gaining 5.9% of the primary vote; falling well short of a quota. Tucker ran again at the 2004 federal election gaining 16.4% of the primary vote, and was again unsuccessful. Tucker ran again for the Senate at the 2007 federal election gaining 21.5% of the primary vote, and was unsuccessful in gaining election, amidst significant media speculation that Tucker would defeat sitting

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 ...

Senator,

Gary Humphries Gary John Joseph Humphries (born 6 July 1958) is a Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. He was a member of the Australian Senate representing the Australian Capital Territory for the Liberal Party of Australia from 2003 to 2 ...

. Humphries had earlier been ACT Chief Minister and ironically Tucker was among the MLAs holding the balance of power after the 2001 election who voted to oust Humphries as Chief Minister.

Career post-politics

Since 2004, Tucker has worked as the Executive Officer of ACT Shelter, advocating for the needs of people experiencing homelessness and housing stress. In 2005 and 2006, she was co-chair of Anti-Poverty Week in the ACT and continues to contribute to the community on a voluntary basis through her work as an individual member of the ACT Collaboration. Tucker works part-time with the progressive

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

The Australia Institute The Australia Institute is an Australian public policy think tank based in Canberra, with offices also in Hobart and Adelaide. Since its launch in 1994, it has carried out research on a broad range of economic, social, and environmental issues. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Kerrie Australian Greens members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Australian Greens candidates 1948 births Living people Women members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians