Sarah Hanson-Young

Biography

Sarah Coral Hanson-Young is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since July 2008, representing the Australian Greens. She was born on December 23, 1981, in Melbourne, and grew up near Orbost in East Gippsland. Hanson-Young graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in 2002. She was the Environment Officer from 2001 to 2002, and then President from 2002 to 2003, of the Students’ Association of the University of Adelaide. Prior to her entry into politics, she worked as a bank teller, media advisor to Mark Parnell (SA Greens) in the 2006 South Australian election, and was a campaigner with Justice for Refugees (SA). She was a candidate for the South Australian Legislative Council in the 2006 state election, ranked fourth on the Greens’ ticket. Hanson-Young was elected senator for South Australia at the 2007 federal election. She was the youngest person—at 25—ever popularly elected to the Australian Senate, and the youngest woman ever elected to the Australian parliament. She was the youngest person ever elected to the Senate (although several others have been appointed at younger ages), until Jordon Steele-John was elected in 2017. Hanson-Young won a further six-year senate term in the 2019 federal election, with her party receiving 10.9% of first preference votes. As of 2021, Hanson-Young acts as the spokesperson for Arts, Media & Communications, Tourism, Transport and Infrastructure, Environment & Water, and Gambling. Hanson-Young is a graduate of the WEF young global leaders program.