Larissa Joy Waters (born 8 February 1977) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

and has served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

since 2018. She previously served in the Senate from 2011 to 2017, resigning during the parliamentary eligibility crisis due to her holding Canadian citizenship in violation of

Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia Section 44 of the Australian Constitution lists the grounds for disqualification on who may become a candidate for election to the Parliament of Australia. It has generally arisen for consideration by the High Court sitting in its capacity as the ...

. Waters serves as her party's Senate leader, in office since February 2020. She previously served as co-deputy leader from May 2015 to July 2017 and again from December 2018 to June 2022.

Early life

Waters was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada, when her Australian parents were in Canada working and studying but left as an 11-month-old baby and grew up in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. She has a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the New South Wales College of Law. From 2000 to 2001 she was a legal researcher at the Queensland Land and Resources Tribunal (predecessor of the Land Court of Queensland), from 2001 to 2002 a lawyer at

Freehills Freehills was a commercial law firm operating in the Asia-Pacific region.Dun and BradstreeCompany360(database online), entry: Freehills Services Pty Ltd. Accessed 13 August 2011 It was known as one of the " Big Six" Australian law firms. In 20 ...

, and from 2002 to 2011 was a lawyer with the

Environmental Defenders Office Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) is an Australian law centre that encourages and enables litigation, law reform, and community engagement on environmental issues. EDO formed in late 2019 with the merger of eight separate state and territor ...

Political career

Waters was the Greens' Brisbane Central Candidate in the 2006 Queensland state election running against then Premier Peter Beattie, securing almost 5,000 votes. Waters was the lead Senate candidate for the Greens in Queensland at the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

. The party received 7.3 percent of the statewide vote (an increase of 1.9 points), but this was not enough to secure her election. Waters again stood for office at the

2009 Queensland state election The 2009 Queensland state election was held on 21 March 2009 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National ...

, running for the seat of Mount Coot-tha. The seat was held by the sitting

Treasurer of Queensland The Treasurer of Queensland is the title held by the Cabinet minister who is responsible for the Queensland Treasury, and by extension, all financial matters of the Queensland Government. List of Queensland treasurers See also *Politics of ...

, Andrew Fraser of the Labor Party. She polled 23.1 percent on

first preferences In certain ranked-voting systems, a first-preference vote (or first preference, 1st preference, or primary vote) is the individual voter's first choice amongst (possibly) many. In certain ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Single T ...

, with

Ronan Lee Ronan Oliver Lee (born 4 January 1976) is an Irish Australian former politician and research fellow in the at . He was previously a visiting scholar at Queen Mary University of London's International State Crime Initiative. His research focuss ...

(25.9 percent in

Indooroopilly Indooroopilly is a riverside suburb 7km west of the Brisbane CBD, Queensland, Australia. In the , Indooroopilly had a population of 12,242 people. Geography Indooroopilly is bounded to the south and south-east by the median of the Brisbane Riv ...

) the only Greens candidate with a higher percentage. Waters was again placed first on the Greens' senate ticket at the 2010 federal election. She was elected with 12.8 per cent of the vote, an increase of 5.4 percentage points. In May 2015, Waters was elected to the Greens' "leadership

triumvirate A triumvirate ( la, triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs ( la, triumviri). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are ...

". She was made a "co-deputy leader" alongside

Scott Ludlam Scott Ludlam (born 10 January 1970) is a New Zealand-born Australian former politician. A member of the Australian Greens, he was a senator in the Australian Senate from July 2008 to July 2017 and served as deputy leader of the Greens. Ludlam ...

, with

Richard Di Natale Richard Luigi Di Natale (born 6 June 1970) is a former Australian politician who was a senator for Victoria. He was also the leader of the Australian Greens from 2015 to 2020. Di Natale was elected to the Senate in the 2010 federal election. A ...

replacing

Christine Milne Christine Anne Milne (; born 14 May 1953) is an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Tasmania. She was the leader of the parliamentary caucus of the Australian Greens from 2012 to 2015. Milne stepped down as leader on 6 May 2015, ...

as the party leader. Waters was re-elected to the senate at the 2016 double-dissolution election, winning a three-year term with 6.9 percent of the vote.

Resignation

Waters was forced to resign from the Senate on 18 July 2017, after it was uncovered that she was a dual Canadian-Australian citizen, thereby making her ineligible to be elected under

section 44 of the Australian Constitution Section 44 of the Australian Constitution lists the grounds for disqualification on who may become a candidate for election to the Parliament of Australia. It has generally arisen for consideration by the High Court sitting in its capacity as th ...

. Her resignation came four days after her fellow Greens co-deputy leader

had resigned from the Senate over dual citizenship, which prompted several other MPs and Senators to clarify their citizenship status. Waters had been born to Australian parents in Canada, and returned with them to Australia as a baby. She stated that she had previously believed she was solely an Australian citizen, and if she had wished to gain Canadian citizenship she would have needed to take active steps before age 21—but now discovered she had in fact held dual citizenship since birth. Her seat was filled by a recount, which saw former

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia ...

leader

Andrew Bartlett Andrew John Julian Bartlett (born 4 August 1964) is an Australian politician, social worker, academic, and social campaigner who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1997 to 2008 and from 2017 to 2018. He represented the Australian Democrats ...

, who held the second position after Waters on the Greens' 2016 Senate ticket in Queensland, return to the Senate. On 8 August 2017, Waters announced that she had renounced her Canadian citizenship and declared her intent to stand for Greens preselection and return to parliament at the next federal election. The High Court handed down its decision on 27 October 2017 and ruled that Waters was invalidly elected.

Return

On 3 April 2018, Waters was announced as the

Queensland Greens The Queensland Greens is a Green party in Queensland, Australia, and a state member of the Australian Greens. The party is currently represented in all three levels of government, by Larissa Waters and Penny Allman-Payne in the federal Senate; ...

lead Senate candidate for the next federal election, with

instead opting to contest the lower house seat of

. On 16 June 2018, Bartlett announced that he would resign from the senate at the end of August, and Waters was preselected to fill the resulting casual vacancy ahead of the election. On 6 September 2018, the

Parliament of Queensland The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...

re-appointed Waters to the Senate. The Greens party room returned Waters to the co-deputy leadership on 4 December 2018. Waters was re-elected as a Senator for Queensland at the 2019 federal election, where she received 9.9% of the state's vote, as well as a 3.12-point swing in her favour. In February 2020, Greens leader Senator Di Natale resigned and was succeeded by Adam Bandt. Unlike his predecessors as Greens leader including Di Natale, Bandt is a member of the House of Representatives and this resulted in Senator Waters as one of the co-deputy leaders becoming the leader of the Greens in the Senate. Although not the leader of the Greens overall, the appointment of Senator Waters as leader in the Senate makes her the second woman to lead the Greens in the Senate after Christine Milne. In March 2021, Larissa Waters issued an apology to Federal Minister Peter Dutton for comments made on Twitter accusing him of being an "inhuman, sexist rape apologist". Larissa Waters stated in her apology "I accept that there was no basis for those allegations and that they were false. I unreservedly apologise to Minister Dutton for the hurt, distress and damage to his reputation I have caused him."

Portfolio positions

Whilst serving as Co-Deputy Leader of the Greens alongside Senator

Nick McKim Nicholas James McKim (born 11 June 1965) is an Australian politician, currently a member of the Australian Senate representing Tasmania. He was previously a Tasmanian Greens member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly elected at the 2002 election ...

and Leader of the Greens in the Senate, Waters also represents the party in the following issues: * Women * Mining & Resources * Democracy

Personal life

Waters was married to journalist Brendan O'Malley and they have one child together born in 2009. Waters and O'Malley separated in 2013 and share care of their daughter. Waters has another child born in 2016 to former partner Jeremy Gates.

References

External links

* *
Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Larissa Waters on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Larissa 1977 births Living people Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Australia LGBT rights activists from Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Women members of the Australian Senate 21st-century Australian lawyers Canadian emigrants to Australia Naturalised citizens of Australia People from Queensland Politicians from Winnipeg Griffith University alumni Australian women lawyers 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians