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 represented the state of Western Australia and resigned when it was found that he had been
ineligible to sit in the Senate due to holding dual citizenship of New Zealand and Australia.
Early life and education
Ludlam was born in
Palmerston North
Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. He left New Zealand with his family aged three and settled in Australia at eight years old.
In
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
he studied design at
Curtin University, and then policy studies at
Murdoch University.
He worked as a film-maker, artist and graphic designer. In the 1980s after participating in the experiential
deep ecology training of
Joanna Macy
Joanna Rogers Macy (born May 2, 1929) is an environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. She is the author of twelve books.
She was married to the late Francis Underhill Macy, the activist ...
, Ludlam worked for a while as co-editor of the ''Gaia Journal'' and assisted in the design of its website. He subsequently became involved in anti-nuclear issues in Western Australia, before becoming increasingly involved in the Western Australian Greens.
Political career
At the
2001 state election, Ludlam was the unsuccessful second candidate on the Greens ticket for the upper house Mining & Pastoral region. From 2001 to 2005, Ludlam worked for Greens state parliamentarian
Robin Chapple
Robin Howard Chapple (born 11 February 1947) is an Australian politician.
From 2001 to 2005 Chapple represented the Mining and Pastoral Region for the Greens. He was defeated in the 2005 state election but was re-elected in the 2008 electio ...
. From 2005 to 2007, he worked as a communications officer for
Australian Greens Senator
Rachel Siewert
Rachel Mary Siewert (born 4 November 1961) is an Australian politician. She was a senator for Western Australia from 2005 to 2021, representing the Australian Greens, and served as the party's co-deputy leader from 2017 to 2018. She previously w ...
.
At the
2005 state election, Ludlam unsuccessfully contested the seat of
Murchison-Eyre, obtaining 4.98 percent of the primary vote.
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 ...
, Ludlam was elected to the Australian Senate, representing Western Australia. His term commenced on 1 July 2008, and he took his place on 26 August with other incoming Senators.
Following the
2013 federal election, it was initially announced that Ludlam had lost his bid for re-election, eliminated by
Palmer United Party
The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...
candidate
Zhenya Wang, with his term due to expire on 30 June 2014. However an
Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
recount of votes raised some controversy over the loss of ballot papers, and resulted in Ludlam and
Wayne Dropulich
Wayne Dropulich (born ) is a former member of the Australian Sports Party who was elected to the Australian Senate in the final count of the 2013 federal election prior to the Western Australian Senate count being declared void by the Court o ...
of the
Australian Sports Party
The Australian Sports Party was a registered federal political party of Australia formed in 2013 and officially deregistered in August 2015. The party aimed "for every Australian to be involved in sport and recreation to assist in living a health ...
winning the fifth and sixth Senate spots respectively. After the recount, it came to light that there were 1375 missing votes and the
High Court of Australia ruled that the recount results were invalid because the number of votes lost far exceeded the margin between candidates. At the
5 April 2014 re-election, Ludlam safely held his seat in the Senate.
Ludlam has been involved in numerous political campaigns, including
opposition to uranium mining at
Jabiluka and in Western Australia, nuclear weapons, foreign military bases, and support for
Aboriginal land rights
Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...
, peace and disarmament, recognition of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
, advocacy of fair trade and equitable
globalisation, and energy market reform.
After taking his seat in the Senate, Ludlam campaigned against
internet censorship
Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as Wikipedia.org) but exceptionally may extend to all Int ...
, for strengthened protections for public ownership of the
National Broadband Network
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is an Australian national wholesale open-access data network. It includes wired and radio communication components rolled out and operated by NBN Co, a Government-owned corporation. Internet service provide ...
, and for the fair treatment of
Julian Assange and the
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
publishing organisation.
In 2011 he successfully advocated to restore $264 million to the
National Rental Affordability Scheme which funded the construction of thousands of affordable rental homes.
A former film maker, artist and graphic designer by trade, Ludlam has employed some communications tools to help with campaigns. He created the Bike Blackspot App, a smart phone application that enabled cyclists to lobby for better bike funding. In 2007, he created a 30-minute documentary on why he believes nuclear energy is not the solution to climate change, titled "Climate of Hope".
At the
2014 Western Australian Senate election the Greens won in excess of a quota with the primary vote increasing from 9.5 to 15.6 percent, re-electing Ludlam.
On 6 May 2015, Ludlam was elected unopposed to serve as Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, serving alongside Senator
Larissa Waters
Larissa Joy Waters (born 8 February 1977) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Greens and has served as a Senator for Queensland since 2018. She previously served in the Senate from 2011 to 2017, resigning during the ...
. This followed
Christine Milne resigning her leadership of the party.
On 3 November 2016, Ludlam announced that he would be taking a leave of absence to seek treatment for depression and anxiety.
On 14 July 2017, Ludlam resigned from the Senate after it was brought to his attention by barrister John Cameron that he held dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship, rendering him ineligible to hold elected office in the Federal Parliament 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 ...
, becoming the first casualty of the
2017 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
*Seventeen (American magazine), ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazi ...
.
Ludlam stated that he had previously assumed he lost his New Zealand citizenship when he naturalised as an Australian citizen in his mid-teens.
Ludlam's resignation led to a number of MPs and Senators publicly clarifying their citizenship status, and also led to fellow Greens senator and deputy leader
Larissa Waters
Larissa Joy Waters (born 8 February 1977) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Greens and has served as a Senator for Queensland since 2018. She previously served in the Senate from 2011 to 2017, resigning during the ...
's resignation four days later, after discovering she held Canadian citizenship.
On 7 October 2019, Ludlam was arrested at an
Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk o ...
protest.
In May 2021 his book, ''Full Circle: A search for the world that comes next'', was published by Black Inc.
References
External links
*
Website at The GreensParliamentary biographySummary of parliamentary voting for Senator Scott Ludlam on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludlam, Scott
1970 births
Living people
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
Naturalised citizens of Australia
Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Australian Senate
Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia
People from Palmerston North
Curtin University alumni
Murdoch University alumni
21st-century Australian politicians