Mark Charles Parnell (born 9 September 1959) is an Australian former politician and parliamentary leader of the SA Greens in the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, H ...

. He was the first SA Greens representative to be elected to the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat South Australian House of Assembly, House of Assembly (lower house) and the 22-seat South Australian Legislati ...

, at the 2006 election. He was re-elected for another eight-year term in the Legislative Council at the 2014 election. Parnell announced he would retire at the 2022 state election, but resigned from the parliament early to give his successor ( Robert Simms) an "opportunity to make his mark in Parliament ahead of the election".

Early life

Parnell holds a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

and

Commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, and a Master of

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

and

Urban Planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

from the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

. He is admitted as

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and

Solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

of the Supreme Courts of Victoria and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Early career

Parnell was a founding member of the South Australian Greens and, prior to being elected, was a solicitor with the Environmental Defenders Office, a free community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental law. In ten years with the Environmental Defenders Office, Mark helped many hundreds of clients on a wide range of state and national planning, pollution, biodiversity or resource matters. In 1999, he successfully represented the Conservation Council of South Australia in the State's longest ever environment trial, over tuna feedlots in Louth Bay. He also represented the Whyalla Red Dust Action Group Inc in its long-running campaign for

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

over OneSteel (formerly BHP) dust emissions from the Whyalla Steelworks. Prior to his 10 years with the Environmental Defenders Office, Parnell was a campaign co-ordinator with The Wilderness Society (2 years) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (4 years). Parnell also spent 4 years working as a solicitor in private practice in country Victoria in the mid-1980s.

Political career

On 8 May 2008 Parnell delivered a record-breaking filibuster of more than 8 hours in the Legislative Council. His speech, and that of No Pokies MLC Ann Bressington which followed, were designed to highlight the lack of opposition by either major party to a bill changing the workers compensation scheme known as WorkCover. Parnell denied his speech deserved the label of "filibuster" as he considered himself and Bressington responsible for presenting the entire opposing case. ''See: 2008 Parnell–Bressington filibuster'' In February 2011 Parnell condemned policy decisions by the state

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 ...

government such as approval of the Mount Barker redevelopment and the renewal of the uranium exploration company Marathon Resources' right to drill in Arkaroola sanctuary. He said "The left-right stuff doesn't really work for me anymore, there's fewer and fewer things to distinguish them ndmembers are carefully watching the performance of the major parties".

Personal life

Parnell is married to

's Guardian for Children and Young People in Care, Penny Wright. In 1989 they moved to Adelaide following 9 months in Europe. Parnell and Wright have three children, Felix, Eleanor and Mungo. Following Mungo's

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

at the age of 21 in September 2016, his parents used his death to raise awareness of

organ donation Organ donation is the process when a person authorizes an organ (anatomy), organ of their own to be removed and organ transplantation, transplanted to another person, #Legislation and global perspectives, legally, either by consent while the d ...

after donating his

cornea The cornea is the transparency (optics), transparent front part of the eyeball which covers the Iris (anatomy), iris, pupil, and Anterior chamber of eyeball, anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and Lens (anatomy), lens, the cornea ...

References

External links