Rebecca Vassarotti (born 1972) is a member of parliament in the

Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Sq ...

representing the ACT Greens. Vassarotti was born and raised in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. Her mother was a teacher and is an advocate for public schooling. Vassarotti spent ten years with the YWCA in Canberra, including as executive director. She worked as a consultant in the not for profit sector, and was director on the board of numerous companies. She was a finalist for the ACT

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

. She is also an advocate for a reduction in the access to

poker machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively as ...

and is the Greens spokesperson on that issue. At the

2020 Australian Capital Territory general election The 2020 Australian Capital Territory general election was held between 28 September and 17 October 2020 to elect all 25 members of the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly. The incumbent Labor/ Greens coalition government, led by Chief Minister ...

Vassarotti won one of the five seats in Kurrajong, taking the seat from the Liberals'

Candice Burch Candice Burch (born 26 August 1988) is an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party of Australia (Australian Capital Territory Division), Liberal member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. Candice Burch is not to be con ...

. Following agreement between Labor and the Greens that the latter have three ministerial portfolios, Vassarotti immediately was appointed Minister for Environment and Heritage, Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services, and Minister for Sustainable Building and Construction.

References

1972 births Living people Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Australian Greens members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians {{Australia-politician-stub