Rachel Carling-Jenkins (née Carling) (born 2 September 1975) is an Australian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. She was a member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...

from 2014 to 2018, representing

Western Metropolitan Region Western Metropolitan Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was create ...

for the Democratic Labour Party (2014-2017),

Australian Conservatives The Australian Conservatives was formed in July 2016 as a conservative political activist group in Australia and as a political party in February 2017. It was led by Cory Bernardi, who had been elected to the Senate for the Liberal Party, b ...

(2017-2018) and as an independent (2018). She did not recontest her Legislative Council seat at the 2018 election, instead unsuccessfully contesting the Legislative Assembly seat of

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham Local government areas of Victoria, local government a ...

Career and party affiliations

Carling-Jenkins has a Ph.D. in Social Science; she has worked as an academic and social worker. Carling-Jenkins is the author of ''Disability and Social Movements'', which was published in November 2014. She was elected as a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) member in the

of the

at the 2014 state election. On 26 June 2017, Carling-Jenkins resigned from the DLP to join

Cory Bernardi Cory Bernardi (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian conservative political commentator and former politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of the Australian Conservatives, a minor political party ...

. Carling-Jenkins said of the move, “I think it’s time for minor parties, like-minded parties, to unite because the conservative vote has been fractured." On 3 August 2018 Carling-Jenkins quit the Australian Conservatives after the party announced it would not contest the Victorian election in 2018.

Policy positions

In Carling-Jenkins' inaugural parliamentary speech, she described herself as a social justice campaigner, committed to raising awareness about gender selection abortions, cracking down on the

sex industry The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...

, and rights for people with a disability and the elderly. In a speech to the Victorian Legislative Council in September 2017, Carling-Jenkins disclosed that her former husband had been convicted and imprisoned for possession of

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

, describing her shock at discovering the material on his computer and how she had reported him to the police. Carling-Jenkins has campaigned widely against child exploitation. Carling-Jenkins is widely credited with being the force behind the introduction of Jalal's Law, which provides that any unlicensed driver involved in a crash where someone is killed or injured will be presumed to have been driving dangerously. The change follows community lobbying over the death of 13-year-old boy Jalal Yassine-Naja, who was killed after being struck by a four-wheel-drive with an unlicensed driver behind the wheel in March 2017.

Personal life

On 22 October 2021, Carling married former Liberal MP Graham Watt.

References

External links

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Official profile: parliament.vic.gov.au
1975 births Living people Democratic Labour Party (Australia) politicians Democratic Labor Party (New) members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council James Cook University alumni 21st-century Australian politicians Australian Conservatives members Women members of the Victorian Legislative Council 21st-century Australian women politicians {{Australia-politician-stub