Peter Stuart Whish-Wilson (born 24 February 1968) is an Australian politician who has been 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

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

since 2012, representing 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 ...

. Formerly a lecturer in economics at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

, Whish-Wilson was appointed to the Senate to fill a

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 ...

caused by the retirement of former party leader

Bob Brown Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is an Australian former politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a Australian Senate, senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian ...

and has since won election in his own right in 2013, 2016 and 2022.

Early life and education

Whish-Wilson was born in Singapore in 1968 to Australian parents. He attended the

Australian Defence Force Academy The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military academy that provides military and Tertiary education in Australia, academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ...

from 1986 to 1988, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Politics. He also attended

Royal Military College, Duntroon The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon, is the Australian Army's Officer (armed forces), officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory, Duntroon in Canberra, Australian Capi ...

in 1989, and was medically discharged from the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

shortly afterwards. From 1991 to 1992, he studied for a

Master of Economics The Master of Economics (MEcon or MEc) is a postgraduate master's degree in economics comprising training in economic theory, econometrics, and/or applied economics. The degree is also offered as an MS or MSc, MA or MCom in economics; var ...

degree at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

Career

After graduation, Whish-Wilson worked for

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

in New York and Melbourne, serving as Vice-President from 1994 to 1998. He then worked in international sales for

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

from 1998 to 2004, and as Lecturer in Economics and Finance at the

from 2005 to 2012. He jointly owned Three Wishes Vineyard with his family in the Tamar Valley, Tasmania, serving as its director from 2003 to 2012. The vineyard has now been sold and is no longer operating.

Political career

Whish-Wilson was chosen by the Parliament of Tasmania under section 15 of the Constitution to represent the State in the Senate in 2012. He was elected Senator for Tasmania in 2013, with his term beginning on 1 July 2014. He was Chair of Committees from 2013 to 2016, and has been a member of various joint, legislation, references, select and statutory committees. He currently serves on the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport references and legislation committees, and since 2022 has been a substitute member of the Environment and Communications references committee. He currently holds the following portfolios for the

: Healthy Oceans, Waste and Recycling, and Agriculture. He has previously held the portfolios of Treasury, Consumer Affairs, Defence, Veterans Affairs, Small Business and Competition, Finance, Tourism, Trade, Marine (Tasmania), Fisheries, Whaling and Antarctica. In September 2023, Whish-Wilson joined a cross-party delegation of Australian MPs to Washington, D.C., to lobby the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

to abandon its attempts to extradite Australian publisher

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...

from the United Kingdom. The other members were Alex Antic,

Barnaby Joyce Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who was the leader of the National Party of Australia from 2016 to 2018 and again from 2021 to 2022. Joyce was the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia during both ...

, Monique Ryan,

David Shoebridge David Martin Shoebridge (born 17 September 1971) is an Australian politician and former barrister. He is a member of the Australian Greens and was elected to the Senate as the party's lead candidate in New South Wales at the 2022 federal elect ...

, and Tony Zappia.

Personal life

Whish-Wilson's brother is the author David Whish-Wilson. The Australian classical

tubist The tuba has been played since the mid-19th century, in the midst of the Romantic music, Romantic period of Western Classical music. Along with classical music, the instrument appears in a variety of jazz styles as well Film music, film and circus ...

also named Peter Whish-Wilson is a second cousin. He has revealed that he takes

medical cannabis Medical cannabis, medicinal cannabis or medical marijuana (MMJ) refers to cannabis products and cannabinoid molecules that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has a long history, but has not ...

as a part of his

shingles Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zona, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. T ...

treatment.

References

External links

Peter Whish-WilsonPeter Whish-Wilson, GreensParliamentary biographySummary of parliamentary voting for Senator Peter Whish-Wilson on TheyVoteForYou.org.auQuarterly Essay, September 2016Huffington Post
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whish-Wilson, Peter 1968 births Living people University of New South Wales alumni University of Western Australia alumni Academic staff of the University of Tasmania Australian economists Australian winemakers Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania 21st-century Australian politicians