The Greens have five Members of Parliament in the NSW Upper House, one in the NSW Lower House and a Senator representing NSW in the Federal Senate. In local government we have 4 Mayors and 76 councillors working hard throughout the state (search by name or council).
We have worked hard in the NSW Parliament since Ian Cohen was first elected in 1995 to give a strong voice to the community and the environment. Greens MPs have worked together to expose the corrupting influence of corporate donations on our democracy, oppose privatisation and the sale of our public assets, helped to stop the closure of public schools, been a strong, consistent voice for the protection of high conservation land and waterways, and moved legislation to protect prime agricultural land and water from mining. See The Greens' Achievements in NSW Parliament.
NSW State MPs Portfolios |
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David Shoebridge MLC
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Jan Barham MLC
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Cate Faehrmann MLC
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Jeremy Buckingham MLC
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John Kaye MLC
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Jamie Parker MLAMember for Balmain
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David Shoebridge MLC
David is a Greens MP in the NSW Parliament and led the party’s Upper House ticket in the March 2011 State election.
David’s portfolios as an MP include Planning, Housing, Industrial Relations, Attorney General, Police, Corrective Services and Local Government. Recently David took a strong stance in support of the independence of the Parliament by ensuring that an Upper House inquiry sits to scrutinise the NSW Government’s privatisation of the State’s electricity industry.
Since 2004 David has been an elected Greens Councillor on Woollahra Council where he has served a term as Deputy Mayor. Before entering Parliament David worked as a lawyer, acting for a broad range of people and organisations with a focus on employment, discrimination, industrial and tort law. He lives in Sydney with his partner Patricia and their two daughters.
Read David's profile | Visit David's website | Facebook | Twitter
John Kaye MLC
John Kaye has been a NSW Greens MP since 2007. He is the Greens spokesperson on Energy, Education, Treasury, Finance, Health Services, Water Utilities, Consumer Affairs, Gambling and Donations.
John has been a leading opponent of electricity privatisation and a vocal spokesperson for public schools and TAFE colleges. Since being elected, he has played a key role in defeating the unnecessary, expensive and damaging Tillegra Dam proposal in the Hunter valley. John helped shepherd through the ethics alternative to scripture in public schools and the ban on political donations from the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries.
Before entering parliament, John taught and researched electrical engineering at the University of NSW where he specialised in sustainable energy and greenhouse issues. John has a PhD from the University of California Berkeley and over twenty years of research and teaching experience.
Read John's profile | Visit John's website | Facebook | Twitter
Cate Faehrmann MLC
Cate joined the NSW parliament in September 2010. Cate has travelled NSW meeting with communities impacted by the unsustainable expansion of the coal industry. Aside from mining, Cate's other key portfolios include Healthy Communities, Transport, Roads, Ports, Women, Sexuality and Gender Identity, Multiculturalism and Young People.
Prior to entering the NSW Upper House in September 2010, Cate headed up the environmental peak body, the Nature Conservation Council from 2004-2010. During her time at the Nature Conservation Council, Cate volunteered as a Director of the online campaigning organisation GetUp! as well as for the public interest environmental law firm, the Environmental Defenders Office of NSW.
Cate has also worked as an adviser to the Greens in Victoria, SA and New Zealand. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) from La Trobe University in Victoria. Growing up in Queensland's Lockyer Valley, Cate has been a passionate environmentalist since her childhood, speaking out for the protection of nature, including action on climate change, at every opportunity.
Read Cate's profile | Visit Cate's website | Facebook | Twitter
Jan Barham MLC
Jan Barham was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in 2011. She is in her second term as the popularly elected Greens Mayor of Byron Shire.
Jan has 20 years of regional experience as a grassroots campaigner, working with locals to protect and preserve special places in her region from overdevelopment. She was elected Vice President General of the NSW Local Government Association Executive and has been a member of many state boards and committees, including Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, the Natural Resources Advisory Sub Committee on Coasts and Natural Environment and the Northern Rivers Tourism Board.
Jan proudly lives in Bundjalung Aboriginal country and has worked closely with the Arakwal People since 1994. This has resulted in the first Indigenous Land Use Agreement in NSW and the establishment of the joint Aboriginal/National Parks and Wildlife Service management of the Arakwal National Park
Read more about Jan Barham and watch Jan's video.
Jeremy Buckingham MLC
Jeremy Buckingham was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in 2011. He serves as a Greens Councillor on Orange City Council and is the Greens NSW rural and regional spokesperson.
Jeremy lives with his partner Sarah and their two school-aged sons. They have made Orange in the central west their home for the last 15 years and love the lifestyle, clean air, great parks and warm community.
In 2004 Jeremy became the first Green elected to a NSW council west of the Great Dividing Range. In 2008 he was again elected for a second term on Orange City Council. He has worked and travelled throughout the central west as a stonemason and has tertiary qualifications in land management and ecological agriculture.
Read more about Jeremy Buckingham. | Visit Jeremy's website | Facebook | Twitter
Jamie Parker MLA, Member for Balmain
Jamie Parker was elected as the first Greens MP in the lower house as the Member for Balmain in 2011. Jamie was the Mayor of Leichhardt Council from September 2008, stepping down after his election to the NSW Parliament. He was first elected to Leichhardt Council in 1999 and was subsequently re elected in 2004 and 2008.
His family emigrated to Australia from England in 1968 where his father took up employment in the Balmain Ship yards. He has been active in social justice and environmental issues for many years and was elected the NSW President and subsequently the National Environment Officer of the National Union of Students.
He has an undergraduate Economics degree from Macquarie University and Masters Degree with Honours in Political Economy from the University of Sydney. He spent part of his Masters Degree living in Bangkok, Thailand and studied at Thammasat University. When he left university he worked in The Greens Parliamentary office for several years then left to establish his own business. He has also served as the Convener of the NSW Greens.
Jamie is committed to human and cultural rights and has a particular interest in Burma. He has worked for democracy and freedom in Burma for over 20 years working with the Burma Labour Solidarity Organisation in particular. He is a founding member of the Australian Coalition for Democracy in Burma.
Read more about Jamie Parker | Visit Jamie's website.
Senator Lee Rhiannon
Lee Rhiannon is a Senator representing NSW in the Federal parliament in Canberra. She is the Australian Greens parliamentary spokesperson on Democracy; Local Government; Higher Education; Assisting on National Security; Women; International Aid & Development; Animal Welfare; and Forests. Lee joined The Greens NSW in 1991 and was elected to the NSW parliament in 1999 and served as a NSW Upper House MP until her election to the Federal parliament in 2010. She took up her seat in the Senate in July 2011.
During her time in NSW Parliament Lee campaigned on a broad range of issues including reforming the funding of public education, advocating for more sustainable public transport and no new motorways, protecting workers’ rights, opposing over-development, working for equality, and promoting animal rights. Lee initiated the Greens Democracy4sale.org project that exposes how donations distort democracy, helping to drive substantial reform of electoral funding laws in NSW.
Lee holds a strong personal belief that social change and environment protection come from people’s movements, not politicians. Lee has three adult children and lives with her partner in Sydney.
Read Lee's profile | Visit Lee's website | Facebook | Twitter
To view past MPs, please click here.