Carol Louise Brown (born 19 July 1963), an Australian politician, has been an

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 ...

member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a t ...

representing the state of

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since 25 August 2005.

Early life

Brown was born in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

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

. She is the eighth of thirteen children born to Julia and Rex Brown. In her maiden speech she recalled "a proud history, on both sides of my family, of union and Labor activism". Her great-grandmother Mary Butler was a founding member of the Hobart branch of the ALP, her uncle Leo Brown was state president of the ALP, and her niece Allison Ritchie served in the

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, ...

. Brown grew up in the suburb of Warrane. She joined the ALP at a young age and worked as an administrative officer with the party from 1984 to 1996. She later worked as an adviser to Senator Sue Mackay (1996–1998) and then held various positions with the Tasmanian state government, including portfolio services manager within the Department of Premier and Cabinet (1998–2002), office manager for the Minister for Primary Industries, Water and Environment (2002–2004), and office manager for the Minister for Infrastructure, Energy and Resources (2004–2005). She served as an assistant secretary 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 ...

and acted as state secretary in 2000.

Senate

Brown was appointed to the Senate on 25 August 2005 to fill a

casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disquali ...

caused by the resignation of Sue Mackay. She was elected in her own right 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 ...

and re-elected in 2013, 2016 and 2019. She is a member of the ALP's

left faction The Left Faction ( he, סיעת שמאל, ''Siat Smol'') was a short-lived political party in Israel. History The Left Faction was formed on 20 February 1952 (during the second Knesset) as a breakaway from Mapam in the aftermath of the Prague Tr ...

. Brown was elected Deputy Government Whip following the 2010 election. Following the 2013 election she was added to

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition ...

's shadow ministry as a shadow parliamentary secretary. She was promoted to Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers in 2016, but in 2019 was returned to the rank of shadow assistant minister. With Labor winning government in the 2022 Federal election, Brown was appointed Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in the Albanese government.

References

External links

Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Carol Brown
on TheyVoteForYou.org.au * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Carol 1963 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania Women members of the Australian Senate Labor Left politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians