Rose Butler Jackson is an Australian Labor Party politician serving as a Member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

since 8 May 2019. She is a former Secretary of the New South Wales

Labor Left The Labor Left, also known as the Progressive Left or Socialist Left, is political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It competes with the more economically liberal Labor Right faction. The Labor Left operates autonomously in each s ...

faction and the former Assistant General Secretary of

NSW Labor The New South Wales Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) and commonly referred to simply as NSW Labor, is the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. The parliamentary leader is elect ...

. Jackson is a left member of NSW Labor calling on the party to legalise cannabis and drug law reform. Jackson has also called for strong industrial relations reform, like criminalising wage theft, and criminal justice reform in NSW.

Early life and education

Jackson is the daughter of the late

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

journalist

Liz Jackson Liz Jackson (1951 – 27 June 2018) was an Australian journalist and barrister noted for her work on the '' Four Corners'' and '' Media Watch'' television programs. She received nine Walkley Awards for excellence in journalism. Career Jac ...

and film maker Martin Butler. Jackson grew up in the

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

of Sydney, attended

Newtown High School of the Performing Arts The Newtown High School of the Performing Arts is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school in the suburb of Newtown in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is among a small number of performing a ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Economic and Social Sciences and a Bachelor of Laws from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

Student politics

Jackson was heavily involved in Labor Left student politics. She was originally a member of the Sydney University Socialist Left faction, which was an affiliate of the

National Organisation of Labor Students The National Union of Students (NUS) is the peak representative body for Australian higher education students. As of 2020, there are 21 student unionism in Australia, student unions in Australian campuses affiliated to NUS. A student union is eli ...

(NOLS). In 2005 she served as President of the

University of Sydney Students' Representative Council The University of Sydney Students' Representative Council (SRC) is the representative body for undergraduate students at the University of Sydney. In addition to a student-elected council and student advocacy portfolios, the SRC coordinates a fre ...

, where she gained national prominence for her part in organising the student campaign against the Howard government's

Voluntary student unionism Voluntary student unionism (VSU), as it is known in Australia, or voluntary student membership (VSM), as it is known in New Zealand, is a policy under which membership of – and payment of membership fees to – university student organisations ...

laws. In 2006 Jackson successfully advocated to re-unify both major Labor Left student factions, NOLS and the Victorian-based

Australian Labor Students The National Union of Students (NUS) is the peak representative body for Australian higher education students. As of 2020, there are 21 student unionism in Australia, student unions in Australian campuses affiliated to NUS. A student union is eli ...

, and subsequently became the first

National Labor Students The National Union of Students (NUS) is the peak representative body for Australian higher education students. As of 2020, there are 21 student unions in Australian campuses affiliated to NUS. A student union is eligible for membership by its c ...

President of the National Union of Students. After her involvement in student politics, she became the President of Young Labor Left and a member of the Young Labor State Executive. During this time she worked as a political staffer for state Minister for Education

Verity Firth Verity Helen Firth (born 28 August 1973) is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Inclusion) at the University of Technology Sydney. She was the chief executive officer of the Public Education Foundation in Australia and is a former poli ...

Career

For 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 ...

, Rose was the campaign manager for Labor's Candidate for the marginal Sydney seat of

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

George Newhouse George Newhouse is an Australian human rights lawyer and a former local councillor. He is the principal solicitor of the National Justice Project, a human rights and social justice legal service, and currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Ma ...

. On 21 November 2007, it was alleged Jackson had "espoused

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...

" during her tenure in the NUS. ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' reported on its front pageNewhouse and Wentworth: where did it go wrong? (29 November 2007)
/ref> a leaked email which Jackson had addressed to "Dear Activists", stating "I oppose Zionism because it calls for the creation of a Jewish state, and I think all governments should be secular". The incident attracted significant media coverage because of Jackson's role as a staffer for candidate

whose electorate of Wentworth has the highest Jewish population of any in Australia. The ''Australian Jewish News'' said Jackson's comments "attacked the heart and soul of every Jewish voter". Jackson said she had not understood the definition of

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

at the time she wrote the email, saying "I support Israel." In September 2008, Jackson was elected as a Councillor to Waverley local council. She also gained media attention in 2008 following her appearance on the ABC's Q&A program during which she confused the concept of

Pavlovian conditioning Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. food) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. a triangle). It also refers to the learni ...

for pavlova, a type of dessert. Jackson served as the National Political Coordinator of left-wing trade union

United Voice United Voice was a large Australian trade union, with over 130,000 members. United Voice members worked in a wide range of occupations including hospitality, childcare, teachers' aides, aged care, property services (cleaning, security, maintenan ...

until 2013, when she moved to a role as a campaign organiser at NSW Labor Office. She was the Secretary of the

faction from 2010 until 2016 and has been an Assistant General Secretary of

and State Convenor of the New South Wales

faction since 2016. Jackson was selected to fill the casual vacancy in the NSW state upper house, the

NSW Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

following

Lynda Voltz Lynda Jane Voltz (born 1965) is an Australian politician and Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Auburn since 2019. Voltz was previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2007 to ...

's election to the

NSW Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

for the seat of

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

and was appointed on 8 May 2019. In 2020 Jackson called for an end to the private prison system in NSW and criticised past Governments for privatising prisons. In 2020 Jackson publicly announced her support for the legalisation of cannabis in NSW. Jackson was the first NSW Labor MPs to support the legalisation of cannabis after the ACT legalised cannabis. On 11 June 2021 Rose was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Water, Housing and Homelessness. As the responsible Shadow Minister, Jackson opposed a motion moved by the

NSW Greens The Greens NSW, also known as the NSW Greens, is a green political party in New South Wales and a member of the Australian Greens. First formed in 1991, the Greens NSW began as a state-level party before joining with other green parties in Austr ...

which would have temporarily banned the

eviction Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgage ...

of tenants in coastal communities during the

COVID-19 Crisis The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Jackson supported a

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

amendment to the Greens' proposal which removed the proposal to ban evictions in coastal areas on the basis that restricting the rights of

landlords A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the te ...

would "throw that market into chaos weeks before the holiday season". Jackson supported the controversial Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 which made it an offence for protestors to cause "damage or disruption to major roads or major public facilities". The Coalition Government introduced the Bill in light of the increased use of

non-violent direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to othe ...

by members of Blockade Australia to disrupt logistics infrastructure at

Port Botany Port Botany is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Botany is located 12 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Port Bo ...

. Under the new legislation, individuals found guilty of disrupting 'major roads' or 'major infrastructure' are liable for fines of up to $22,000 "or imprisonment for 2 years, or both". In her

Second Reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming, ...

speech, Jackson argued that the new criminal penalties were necessary "...t''o target rogue individuals who completely disrupt peak hour traffic on the Spit Bridge, ndon our ports..."''. Jackson supported the legislation despite widespread opposition from civil liberties organisations including

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, The Australian Youth Climate Coalition, The Human Rights Law Centre,

Environmental Defender's Office NSW The Environmental Defender's Office (NSW) in Sydney, New South Wales, was one of nine EDO offices located across Australia, formerly known as the Australian Network of EDOs (ANEDO). In 2019, eight EDOs agreed to merge and form a single national ...

, and the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Rose Australian activists Living people Politicians from Sydney Australian feminists Labor Left politicians Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts Waverley Council Women local councillors in Australia Australian Labor Party councillors Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians