Anne Elizabeth Urquhart (; born 18 October 1957) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

(ALP) and has served as a Senator for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

since 2011. She was a senior official with the

Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), or more fully the Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union, is an Australian trade union. The AMWU represents a broad range of workers in the manufacturing se ...

(AMWU) prior to entering politics.

Early life

Urquhart was born in

Latrobe, Tasmania Latrobe is a town in northern Tasmania, Australia on the Mersey River. It is 8 km south-east of Devonport on the Bass Highway. It is the main centre of the Latrobe Council. At the 2006 census, Latrobe had a population of 2,843. By t ...

, the second of three children born to Tom and Betty Polden. After starting a family with her husband Graham, in July 1980 she began working as a process worker at the Edgell-

Birds Eye Birds Eye is an American international brand of frozen foods owned by Conagra Brands in the United States, by Nomad Foods in Europe, and Simplot in Australia. The former Birds Eye Company Ltd., originally named "Birdseye Seafood, Inc." had b ...

factory in Ulverstone, which was later taken over by

Simplot The J. R. Simplot Company (commonly referred to as Simplot) is an agribusiness company headquartered in Boise, Idaho. History Simplot was founded in 1929 by 20-year-old John Richard Simplot near the agricultural community of Declo in south ...

Australia. Urquhart joined the Food Preservers' Union of Australia, initially serving as a delegate and then from August 1990 as a full-time organiser. Her union was later merged into the

(AMWU), and she served as state president from 1998 to 2004 and state secretary from 2004 to 2010.

Politics

Urquhart served as a vice-president of the

Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch) The Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch), commonly known as Tasmanian Labor, is the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Labor Party. It has been one of the most successful state Labor parties in Australia in terms of electoral success. Hist ...

from 2004 and as a delegate to the ALP National Conference. She was elected to the Senate at the 2010 federal election, and re-elected to a second term in 2016. Her office is located in Devonport. In 2014 Urquhart was elected state president of the ALP, replacing

Rebecca White Rebecca Peta White (born 4 February 1983) is an Australian politician. She has been the Leader of the Opposition in Tasmania and Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party in Tasmania since July 2021, having previously served in that role from ...

. She has served on a variety of committees during her time in the Senate. She has been the Labor Party's chief whip in the Senate since 2016, having previously served as a deputy whip from 2013 to 2016. After the ALP's victory at the 2022 federal election she became chief government whip.

References

External links

*
Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Anne Urquhart on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urquhart, Anne 1957 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Left politicians Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania Women members of the Australian Senate Australian trade unionists People from Latrobe, Tasmania 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians