Shane Rattenbury

Shane Rattenbury
MLA

Rattenbury, pictured in 2012
Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly
In office
5 November 2008 – 6 November 2012
Preceded by Wayne Berry
Succeeded by Vicki Dunne
Member of the
ACT Legislative Assembly
Assumed office
18 October 2008
Constituency Kurrajong
Personal details
Born (1971-08-25) 25 August 1971
Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality Australian
Political party Australian Greens
Alma mater Australian National University
Occupation Politician
Website shanerattenbury.com

Shane Stephen Rattenbury (born 25 August 1971), Australian politician and former Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, is a member of the multi-member unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Molonglo for the ACT Greens since 2008.[1] He was the first Speaker in any Parliament in the world representing a Green political party.[2]

Early life, education and career before politics

Rattenbury first moved to Canberra in 1984. He attended Canberra Grammar School and went on to gain a BEc and LLB(Honours) from the Australian National University[3] and commenced employment, working with the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Tourism. Prior to his election to the Assembly, Rattenbury travelled between Amsterdam and Australia as the International Political Director of Greenpeace International.[1] During this time, he gained publicity for his work on global campaigns on climate change and whaling.[4][5][6]

Political career

Rattenbury stood for election to the ACT Legislative Assembly at the 2001 ACT election,[2] as a candidate in the electorate of Ginninderra for the ACT Greens. After the distribution of preferences, Rattenbury was defeated by both Labor's Wayne Berry and the Australian Democrats' Roslyn Dundas.[7]

In June 2008, the ACT Greens announced that Rattenbury would again stand as a candidate for election in the electorate of Molonglo.[8] Independent polling released in October[9] suggested the Green vote had doubled since the last election at the expense of Labor,[10] with the Liberal vote remaining relatively unchanged. Commentators predicted the Greens would hold the balance of power and decide who forms government. The Greens stated they were willing to court both major parties.[11][12] With 82.1 per cent of the vote counted, Labor had obtained 37.6 per cent of the vote, with the Liberals at 31.1 per cent and the Greens at 15.8 per cent. Swings were recorded against both Labor (−9.3 per cent) and the Liberals (−3.7 per cent) with a +6.6 per cent swing towards the Greens, resulting in the election of Rattenbury, Meredith Hunter, Amanda Bresnan, and Caroline Le Couteur.

Parliamentary career and election as Speaker

After deliberations with both the Labor and Liberal parties, the Greens chose to support a Labor minority government. Hunter was a key negotiator of the Parliamentary Agreement between the ACT Greens and the Labor Party. Under the agreement, the Greens secured a range of policy outcomes in the areas of schools and education, health service provision, housing, public transport and gay rights. It also ensures that the Greens will Chair three of the Assembly's key committees. In exchange, the Greens agreed to maintain confidence in Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope.[13][14] The Greens also secured Government support for the nomination of Rattenbury as Assembly Speaker.[15][16] While on the cross bench in the 7th Assembly, Rattenbury held the portfolios of Attorney-General, Environment, Climate Change and Water, Energy, Police and Emergency Services, Tourism, Sport and Recreation.[1]

Post-2012 ACT election

Following the 2012 ACT election, Rattenbury was the only Greens MLA to retain his seat in the Assembly. With the election resulting in a hung parliament, Rattenbury, who held the balance of power, announced he would support Katy Gallagher and the Labor Party in the formation of government. The ACT Labor Caucus agreed to appoint Rattenbury as a minister in Gallagher's five-member cabinet, and to support 100 Greens policies.[17] Rattenbury served as the ACT Minister for Ageing, Minister for Housing, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, as well as, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. Rattenbury was reelected at the 2016 ACT election.

Return to Cabinet

Following the 2016 election, Rattenbury was joined by party colleague Caroline Le Couteur in the Legislative Assembly, taking the Greens tally to 2 out of 25 total seats in the Assembly. Rattenbury subsequently struck a deal with the minority Labor Government to retain a place in the Cabinet, though he has the right to withdraw from Cabinet discussions on divisive issues and vote independently in the Assembly.[18][19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Shane Rattenbury MLA". ACT Legislative Assembly. 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Shane Rattenbury: Inaugural Speech". ACT Hansard. ACT Legislative Assembly. 11 December 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  3. ↑ "Candidate profile: Shane Rattenbury". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 16 October 2001.
  4. ↑ "Whalers set collision course with Greenpeace ship". The Age. Fairfax Media. 6 January 2006.
  5. ↑ "Greenpeace, whalers clash at sea". CNN. Cable News Network. 9 January 2006.
  6. ↑ Miller, Barbara (17 December 2007). "Cautious optimism on Bali Declaration". The World Today. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  7. ↑ "Voting Data – 2001 Election". 2001 ACT general election – official results. ACT Electoral Commission. 2001. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  8. ↑ "Greens team of three tackles majority rule". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 5 June 2008.
  9. ↑ "Poll results no comfort to Labor or Liberals". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 4 October 2008.
  10. ↑ "Stanhope slump". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 5 October 2008.
  11. ↑ "Stanhope will need the Greens to hold power". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 4 October 2008. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008.
  12. ↑ Bowe, William (4 October 2008). "Patterson: Labor 7, Liberal 6, Greens 4". Crikey. Private Media Pty Ltd.
  13. ↑ Stockman, David; Rudra, Natasha (1 November 2008). "Greens' nod sees Stanhope keep job". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  14. ↑ "Parliamentary Agreement for the Seventh Legislative Assembly for the ACT" (PDF) (PDF). ACT Greens and ACT Labor. 1 November 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  15. ↑ "Greens' Shane Rattenbury elected ACT speaker". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  16. ↑ "Rattenbury elected Assembly speaker". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  17. ↑ "Bourke dumped for Rattenbury". ABC News. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  18. ↑ "Labor and Greens hammer out deal to see Shane Rattenbury in Cabinet, Joy Burch as Speaker". Canberra Times. 30 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "Full Text of the Parliamentary Agreement for the 9th Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory". ABC News. 30 October 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shane Rattenbury.
Political offices
Preceded by
Wayne Berry		 Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly
2008–2012 		Succeeded by
Vicki Dunne
Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
Preceded by
Deb Foskey		 Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Molonglo
2012 – present
Served alongside: Corbell, Barr, Gallagher, Hanson, Seselja/Doszpot, Le Couteur/Jones		 Incumbent
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