Kate Lynne Thwaites (born 19 January 1980) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) and has been a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since the 2019 federal election, representing the

Division of Jagajaga The Division of Jagajaga is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and lies north of the Yarra River. It covers an area of approximately 104 square kilometres and c ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. She was a journalist and public servant before entering parliament.

Early life

Thwaites was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on 19 January 1980. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was a schoolteacher. Thwaites grew up in the suburb of Rosanna. She holds the degrees of

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and Master of International Development from

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

Career

In 2002, Thwaites began working at

2CUZ 2CUZ FM is an Indigenous community radio station in the North-Western NSW town of Bourke. It has been on air since 1996. The station broadcasts to the regional towns of Brewarrina, Goodooga, Lightning Ridge, Walgett Walgett is a town i ...

, an Indigenous community radio station in

Bourke, New South Wales Bourke is a town in the north-west of New South Wales, Australia. The administrative centre and largest town in Bourke Shire, Bourke is approximately north-west of the state capital, Sydney, on the south bank of the Darling River. it is also ...

. She later worked for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

until 2008, when she joined

Oxfam Australia Oxfam Australia is an Australian, independent, not-for-profit, secular, community-based aid and development organization, and is an affiliate of the Oxfam International confederation. Oxfam Australia's work is divided into four broad categories co ...

as a media adviser. She later worked as a senior adviser to Labor MP

Jenny Macklin Jennifer Louise Macklin (born 29 December 1953) is an Australian former politician. She was elected to federal parliament at the 1996 federal election and served as the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2001 to 2006, unde ...

and as communications director at the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. She also worked with the National Disability Insurance Agency in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Politics

In July 2018, Thwaites won Labor

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

for the Division of Jagajaga, following Macklin's retirement. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', her victory was "almost a direct result of

Josh Burns Josh Burns (born May 15, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial artist and current bare-knuckle boxer. Since 2017, Burns has competed in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts career Bellator MMA Burns faced TNA ...

' win in

Macnamara Mac Conmara (anglicised as MacNamara or McNamara) is an Irish surname of a family of County Clare in Ireland. The McNamara family were an Irish clan claiming descent from the Dál gCais and, after the O'Briens, one of the most powerful families ...

, with the Labor left concerned about its female representation". She retained Jagajaga for the ALP at the 2019 federal election with a small positive swing. Thwaites was returned as the member for Jagajaga at the 2022 Federal Election with an increased margin of over 62% of the two party preferred vote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thwaites, Kate 1980 births Australian journalists Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Jagajaga Members of the Australian House of Representatives RMIT University alumni Women members of the Australian House of Representatives