Cressida Clytie O'Hanlon (born 1972) is an Australian politician from the Labor Party. She has been a member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

since winning the

2024 Dunstan state by-election A by-election for the seat of Electoral district of Dunstan, Dunstan in the South Australian House of Assembly was held on 23 March 2024, following the resignation of incumbent member and former Premier of South Australia, premier Steven Marshal ...

. She contested the same seat against Premier

Steven Marshall Steven Spence Marshall (born 21 January 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 46th premier of South Australia between 2018 and 2022. He was a member of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the ...

in the 2022 state election losing by 260 votes. Cressida previously owned her own corporate mediating business and also worked part-time as a staff member to Reggie Martin MLC.

Political career

In the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 18 May 2019, to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissol ...

she was the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

candidate in the

Division of Sturt The Division of Sturt is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in South Australia. It was proclaimed at the South Australian redistribution of 11 May 1949. Sturt was named for Captain Charles St ...

running unsuccessfully against Liberal candidate James Stevens. In the 2024 Dunstan by-election, O’Hanlon made political history when she became the first government-backed candidate to win a seat from the opposition in a South Australian by-election in more than 116 years. Labor won the seat by 360 votes.

Family

Cressida is married to businessman and Army officer, James O'Hanlon, who is a 33-year veteran of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

. She is the daughter of a bricklayer and an artist. Her grandparents, part of the Boyd artistic dynasty, were the artists David Boyd and

Hermia Boyd Hermia Sappho Boyd ( Lloyd-Jones) (1931–2000) was an Australian artist, writer, and a member of the Boyd artistic dynasty. Boyd family The Boyd artistic dynasty began with the marriage of Emma Minnie à Beckett (known as Minnie) and Art ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OHanlon, Cressida Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Women members of the South Australian House of Assembly 21st-century Australian women politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia Boyd family