Penelope Lesley Wright (born 19 January 1961) is an Australian activist and former politician who is

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 ...

's Guardian for Children and Young People in Care. Formerly a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

mediator Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

, and

Tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a singl ...

Member, she was also an

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 ...

senator for South Australia, elected at the 2010 election. She resigned in September 2015.

Early life

Wright was born in 1961 at Red Cliffs in the

Sunraysia Sunraysia is a region located in northwestern Victoria and southwestern New South Wales in Australia. The region is renowned for its sunshine, intensive horticulture including grapes and oranges. Its main centre is Mildura, Victoria. The are ...

region of Victoria, the sixth of seven children of Lesley and Hugh Wright. She spent much of her childhood growing up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

after her family moved there in 1968. Wright attended Wattle Park High School in Burwood before moving to MacRobertson Girls' High School for high achievers. After completing high school she studied arts/law at 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 ...

, later obtaining a graduate diploma in Environmental Studies in Adelaide. Wright spent 20 years working as a lawyer prior to her election to parliament. She became the Guardian for Children and Young People in Care on 10 July 2017.

Political career

Wright is a founding member of the South Australian branch of the Greens (along with her husband

Mark Parnell 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. He was the first SA Greens representative to be elected to the Parliament o ...

, a state MLC, generally considered the founder of the South Australian Greens). According to Wright, she postponed her political career at the time (1995) to raise children. Wright was placed first on the South Australian Greens Senate ticket for the 2010 federal election. The party received a 6.8 percent swing in South Australia, finishing with 13.3 percent of the statewide Senate vote. Wright joined eight other Green Senators in the upper house from the start of July 2011, including incumbent South Australian Greens senator

Sarah Hanson-Young Sarah Coral Hanson-Young (née Hanson; born 23 December 1981) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since July 2008, representing the Australian Greens. She is the youngest woman to be elected to federal parlia ...

. On commencing her senate term in July 2011, Wright was assigned the portfolios of Attorney-General, Native Title, Veterans' Affairs, Social Inclusion, Mental Health and Heritage within the federal Greens. She went on to hold the Attorney-General, Veterans' Affairs, Mental Health and Schools and Education Portfolios. On 17 July 2015, Wright announced that she would be resigning from the Senate due to illness in her family. She gave her final speech on 19 August, and resigned on 9 September. Robert Simms was appointed to the

casual vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. It was Rowling's first publication since the ''Harry Potter'' series, her first novel apart fr ...

by a

joint sitting A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally separate decision-making groups meet, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose. Most often it refers to when both houses of a bicame ...

of 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 ...

on 22 September 2015.

Personal life

Wright is married to Mark Parnell with whom she moved to Adelaide in 1989 following 9 months in Europe. Wright and Parnell 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

*
Guardian for Children and Young People
*
Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Penny Wright on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Penny 1961 births Living people Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Women members of the Australian Senate Australian legal scholars Australian solicitors Academic staff of Flinders University University of Melbourne alumni University of Adelaide alumni 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Australian women legal scholars People educated at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School