Bridget Archer

Biography

Bridget Kathleen Archer is an Australian politician and a member of the House of Representatives representing the Division of Bass in Tasmania. She was born on May 18, 1975, in Hobart, Tasmania. Archer attended Ravenswood Primary School and Launceston Church Grammar School before dropping out of the University of Tasmania. She later completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and political science, followed by a graduate certificate in international politics. Archer worked at the Tasmanian Herbarium and later worked in a variety of mostly casual administrative and hospitality jobs, including at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Archer was elected to the George Town Council in 2009 and served as deputy mayor from 2011 to 2014 and then as mayor until resigning in 2019 to enter federal politics. She served as secretary and treasurer of the Liberal Party’s George Town branch from 2012 to 2013. Archer stood unsuccessfully in Bass at the 2018 state election before winning Liberal preselection and being elected to parliament at the 2019 federal election.

Archer is a member of the moderate faction of the Liberal Party. She publicly criticized the Morrison government’s trial of a cashless debit card to deliver welfare payments and has crossed the floor several times, including to support a motion for a national anti-corruption commission, to include protection for transgender students in the government’s modifications to the Sex Discrimination Act, and to vote in favor of the government’s 43% carbon emissions reduction target legislation and the government’s motion to censure former prime minister Scott Morrison over his secret appointment to several other ministries.

Archer is married to Winston, and they have five children. They live on his family property outside George Town, where they farm sheep and beef cattle.