Samantha Ratnam

Samantha Shantini Ratnam (born 1977) is an Australian social worker, politician and the current leader of the Victorian Greens. Since October 2017 Ratnam has been a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the Northern Metropolitan Region. Prior to this she was a councillor and mayor for the City of Moreland.

Early life

Born in England and raised in Sri Lanka, Samantha Ratnam and her family left the country after the 'Black July' 1983 riots in Colombo that gave rise to 30-year Sri Lankan Civil War between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil separatist group. The family eventually settled in Australia after spending time in Europe and Canada.

From 1995 to 2001 Samantha Ratnam completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) from the University of Melbourne. In 2014, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy, titled 'Young people and global citizenship: New possibilities for civic participation', also from the University of Melbourne.

Ratnam has worked in various roles in assisting migrants and asylum seekers including at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, in the fields of drug and alcohol rehabilitation, mental health and international development.

In April 2014 Samantha Ratnam explained in ''The Indian Sun'', an online publication for the Australian-Indian community how she is a product of diaspora and her motivations for entering politics.

Moreland Council

Ratnam first stood for and was elected to the City of Moreland Council for South Ward in 2012 as one of three Ward Councillors. In 2016 she was re-elected with her vote more than doubling to over 55 percent of the ward vote.

In 2015 she was elected by councillors as the first Greens mayor of Moreland for 2016 in a 6 to 5 vote with Independent Councillor Helen Davidson and Socialist Alliance Councillor Sue Bolton supporting her bid for the mayor. Her election as Mayor was even noted in the country of her heritage, Sri Lanka, and by the Indian community in Australia, and in Tamil culture.

In her time on the council, Ratnam was instrumental in removing official council references to Australia Day, saying “this is a gesture of respect and an important step in healing”. Ratnam resigned from the council on 11 October 2017.

2016 Federal election campaign

Ahead of the 2016 federal election the Greens preselected Ratnam to stand in the Division of Wills, where the sitting MP Kelvin Thomson was retiring.

Although Ratnam substantially increased the Greens vote with a swing greater than 10 percentage points in Wills, the Labor candidate Peter Khalil won the seat with a 4.88 point margin.

State politics

Ratnam filled the vacant Legislative Council seat of former Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber, who announced his retirement from politics on 28 September 2017. On 12 October 2017, prior to having officially filled Barber's seat, Ratnam was appointed as leader of the Victorian Greens, becoming the first woman to lead the party at a state level. She was officially sworn in as a member of the Legislative Council on 19 October 2017. Ratnam was re-elected in the Northern Metropolitan region at the 2018 state election, though her four party colleagues failed to win back their seats and she became the only Greens member of the Legislative Council.

During her time in state politics, Ratnam has led calls for action on climate change, affordable housing for all, integrity in politics and justice for First Nations people. She has introduced the legislation into the Victorian Parliament to:
*Transition Victoria out of coal by 2030
*Give IBAC more powers and strengthen integrity in politics
*Protect the rights of LGBTIQA students
*Transition from gas to clean energy
*End homelessness and ensure housing is a human right
*Stop new coal and gas projects
*End native forest logging
*Reduce gambling harms
*Stop the over incarceration of First Nations people and women by reforming our bail laws
*Stop evictions of renters during the COVID-19 pandemic
*Set targets for public housing to help end homelessness
*Improve bike safety with safe overtaking distances for cars
*Create a pill testing pilot program to reduce the harm of drug use
*Give public housing residents greater rights and access to an Ombudsman
*Improve recycling through a cash for cans scheme
*Raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 to stop First Nations children being incarcerated

Ratnam also established Parliamentary Inquiries into the growing threat of far-right extremism (2022), into the biodiversity extinction crisis (2019), the waste and recycling crisis (2019).

According to The Age, between November 2018 and November 2021, Ratnam voted with the Andrews Government's position 62.4% of the time, the fourth-most of any Legislative Council crossbencher.

Academic research

As a social work PhD student, Ratnam contributed to a number of peer-reviewed research papers and academic books, including:
*The Nobody's Clients Project: Identifying and Addressing the Needs of Children with Substance Dependent Parents: Full Report – 2004 – Odyssey Institute of Studies
*Identifying Children's Needs When Parents Access Drug Treatment: The Utility of a Brief Screening Measure – 12 October 2008 – Taylor and Francis Onlin


*Global Connections: ‘A Tool for Active Citizenship’ – 20 October 2009 – Taylor and Francis Onlin

*Youth-led Learning: Local Connections & Global Citizenship. Australian Youth Research Centre, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, 2008
*Chapter 12 Young People and the future in ''For We Are Young And ...: Young People in a Time of Uncertainty'' (Book) By Johanna Wyn, Roger Holdsworth, Sally Beadle – Melbourne Univ. Publishing, 15 March 2011
* Chapter 4 Citizenship beyond status: New paradigms for citizenship education, in ''Educating for Global Citizenship: A Youth-led Approach to Learning and Partnership'' by Ani Wierenga, Jose Roberto Guevara. Melbourne Univ. Publishing, 1 February 2013
*Young people and global citizenship: new possibilities for civic participation. 2015 (PhD thesi

References

External links

2016 Council Candidate websiteSamantha Ratnam launches the Australian Greens #Wills2016 election campaign #ausvotes
– YouTube video
An interview with Cr Samantha Ratnam, Moreland Mayor 2015–16
– YouTube video

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratnam, Samantha
Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Victoria
Members of the Victorian Legislative Council
1977 births
Living people
Australian social workers
Politicians from Melbourne
Mayors of places in Victoria (Australia)
University of Melbourne alumni
University of Melbourne women
Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia
Sri Lankan emigrants to Canada
English people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent
Australian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent
Women members of the Victorian Legislative Council
Women mayors of places in Victoria (Australia)
21st-century Australian politicians
21st-century Australian women politicians