Tracey Roberts

Biography

Tracey Roberts is a prominent Australian politician who was elected to the Division of Pearce in the Australian House of Representatives in 2022, succeeding Christian Porter. Prior to her election, Roberts was a councillor for the City of Wanneroo, where she served for 19 years, from 2003 to 2022. During her tenure as a councillor, she was elected Deputy Mayor in 2009 and Mayor in 2011. She was re-elected twice, in 2015 and 2019, receiving 67% and 68.82% of the vote, respectively. Roberts was also the president of the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) from March 2020 to 2022 and a vice president of the Australian Local Government Association.

Roberts was born in Manchester, England, and emigrated to Australia in the mid-1980s. Her political career began in 2003, when she was first elected to the Coastal Ward of the City of Wanneroo council. She then became Deputy Mayor in 2009 and Mayor in 2011. In addition to her mayoral duties, Roberts served as Deputy President of the Western Australian Local Government Association in 2015 and Vice President of the Australian Local Government Association in 2018. She was awarded life membership of WALGA in 2019.

Roberts became the President of WALGA in March 2020, succeeding Lynne Craigie. She also served on the State Recovery Advisory Group as a representative of WALGA, helping to guide Western Australia’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August 2021, Roberts was endorsed by the Australian Labor Party as their candidate for the Division of Pearce in the 2022 Australian federal election. The seat had been held by Christian Porter, who had faced several controversies, including a rape allegation and legal action against the ABC. Despite Porter winning the seat with a margin of 7.5% at the 2019 election, Roberts won the seat in 2022 with 59.4% of the two-party vote, a swing of 14.6%.

Roberts has been married twice and has a son from each marriage. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and renounced her UK citizenship in 2021 to comply with Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia. Roberts is part of the Labor Left faction.