High-profile SA Greens pollie to quit
A leading South Australian Greens politician has announced she will leave politics following her partner’s health diagnosis.
Greens Senator for South Australia Barbara Pocock has announced she is not contesting a second term in the 2028 federal election.
The economist and Emeritus Professor said the decision was prompted for personal reasons, following her partner’s brain cancer diagnosis.
Pocock will see out the remaining term, continuing the Australian Greens’ fight for housing equality, workers’ rights and cleaning up the finance sector, including on upcoming inquiries into housing, superannuation and KPMG.
“After much consideration, I have made the decision that I will not be nominating for preselection for a second term in the Senate,” she said.
“The reasons are personal: for the past year my partner has had brain cancer and despite his good prognosis, I’ve reached the view that running for a second term is not right for me.
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“The next federal election is a long way off and I still have plenty of work to do on housing, securing super for under 18-year-olds, holding KPMG to account and reforming the Big Four firms. I remain committed to continuing my work on climate and environmental justice.”
Pocock was elected as a Greens Senator for South Australia in the federal election in 2022 and is the federal spokesperson for Housing, Homelessness, Finance, Workplace Relations, Jobs, Employment, and the Public Sector.
She grew up on a mallee farm near Lameroo and have worked in universities, shearing sheds, the Reserve Bank, on farms, in unions, for the government and as a mother and carer.
“I’ve spent my life fighting for the rights of women. As an Emeritus Professor at UniSA, I led a team of researchers studying how work affects women, men, children and the households and communities in which we live,” Pocock says on her website.
“Now more than ever we need more women in our parliament to stand up for important issues such as women’s safety, closing the gender pay gap, childcare and so much more that affects the daily lives of women across the country.”
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