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Rebekha Sharkie

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Rebekha Sharkie
MP
Sharkie speaking in the House of Representatives in 2018
Member of the Australian Parliament for Mayo
Incumbent
Assumed office
28 July 2018
In office
2 July 2016 – 11 May 2018
Preceded byJamie Briggs
Second Deputy Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 July 2022
Serving with Ian Goodenough [1]
SpeakerMilton Dick
Preceded bySharon Claydon
Personal details
Born
Rebekha Carina Che

(1972-08-24) 24 August 1972 (age 52)
Torbay, England
Nationality
  • Australian (since 19 March 2007)
  • British (until 29 June 2016)[1]
Political partyCentre Alliance (2013–present)
Other political
affiliations		Liberal (2010–2012)[2]
Spouses
Kain Selby-Fullgrabe
​
​
(m. 1998; div. 2008)​
Nathan Sharkie
​
(m. 2009)​
Children3[2]
ResidenceBirdwood, South Australia
Alma materFlinders University
OccupationLegal researcher
(Liberal Party of Australia)
Policy adviser
(Department for Communities and Social Inclusion)
ProfessionParalegal
Signature
Websitewww.rebekhasharkie.com.au

Rebekha Carina Sharkie (née Che; born 24 August 1972) is an Australian politician and member of the Centre Alliance party. She is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Mayo in South Australia.

At the 2016 federal election she defeated Liberal Jamie Briggs, and was the first Nick Xenophon Team member to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives.[3] On 11 May 2018,[4] Sharkie resigned from the House of Representatives as a part of the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis.[5] She contested the 2018 Mayo by-election on 28 July, and was returned to parliament.[6]

Early life and education

Sharkie was born on born 24 August 1972[1] in Torbay, England in 1972 to British and American parents. The family moved to Australia when Sharkie was two years old.[2] She attended Eyensbury Senior College for her high school education and went on to study international relations and public policy at Flinders University.[7] Sharkie became a naturalised Australian on 19 March 2007, and formally renounced her British citizenship in 2016.[1]

Career

Sharkie worked as a paralegal in Darwin and South Australia.[7]

Political life

As a high school student, Sharkie had handed out how-to-vote cards for Australian Democrats Janine Haines.[2] In 2006, she worked as a researcher for then-South Australian Liberal opposition leader Isobel Redmond.[7] In 2008, she worked as an electorate officer for Briggs for six months.[8] She has also worked for South Australian state Liberal MP Rachel Sanderson.[2]

Although she had worked for Liberals for some time, Sharkie did not formally join the party until 2010. She left it in 2012 when she was appointed the national Executive Officer Youth Connections. When that program was defunded by the Liberal government at the end of 2014, she became Senior Manager and Head of Donor relations at Helping Young People Achieve (HYPA) a NFP that assists young disadvantaged people in South Australia.[7][2]

Sharkie considered running for the Liberals in the 2014 state election in the safe seat of Schubert, only to be told that she needed the blessing of federal minister Christopher Pyne and federal senator Cory Bernardi, the highest-ranking federal MPs from the moderate and conservative factions of the SA Liberals, before seeking preselection. Sharkie told The Australian that when she learned she couldn't stand without the "anointing" of Pyne and Bernardi, she was appalled. She asked, "Are you serious? A branch doesn't choose?" Combined with her anger at the "ditch the witch" campaign against Julia Gillard, she was thus very receptive when then-independent Senator Nick Xenophon announced he was forming his own party to stand candidates in the upcoming federal election. Initially serving as a volunteer for the newly-formed Nick Xenophon Team, she ultimately agreed to stand in Mayo. Although Mayo had been a very safe Liberal seat for most of its existence, polling suggested that if Labor directed its preferences to Sharkie, she could take the seat off the Liberals.[9]

In the 2 July 2016 election, Sharkie defeated her former boss, Briggs, 55% to 45% in the two-party-preferred vote.[10] On the first count, she finished only three percent behind Briggs, who lost over 16 percent of his primary vote from 2013. This allowed her to ultimately defeat Briggs on Labor preferences.

She became the first NXT member of the Australian House of Representatives,[8] joining a cross-bench of five members not aligned to either major party.[11] She is the first woman and the first non-Liberal member to represent Mayo.[12]

On 9 May 2018, Sharkie announced her resignation from the House of Representatives following the High Court of Australia ruling that Senator Katy Gallagher was ineligible to contest the 2016 election as a consequence of the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis. Like Gallagher, Sharkie had failed to complete renunciation of her British citizenship before nomination in the 2016 federal election.[5] She contested the 2018 Mayo by-election on 28 July, and was returned to parliament with a swing in her favour.[6]

Sharkie successfully defended her Mayo seat in the May 2019 federal election winning her seat with a two party preferred vote of 55.14%, up 2.22% on the previous election.[13]

Sharkie was re-elected in the 2022 Australian federal election with the support of the Teal independents.[14]

Achievements

Sharkie approached finance minister Mathias Cormann in 2019 about funding a research centre in the region that includes the complex ecosystems of the Coorong, Lower Lakes, and Murray Mouth. The Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLMM) Research Centre in Goolwa, run by the Goyder Institute for Water Research, was officially opened by Sharkie in early February 2024.[15]

Personal

As of 2016 Sharkie is married to Nathan.[8] They live in Birdwood, South Australia.[10] She has three children from a previous marriage, which ended around 2008.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sharkie, Rebekha Carina Che" (PDF). Statement in relation to citizenship - 45th Parliament. Parliament of Australia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hyland, Anne (11 June 2016). "Rebekha Sharkie puts the election bite on Jamie Briggs". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  3. ^ Shepherd, Tory (30 October 2017). "Senator Nick Xenophon to be replaced by longtime adviser Rex Patrick in Senate". The Advertiser. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2017.(subscription required)
  4. ^ "Ms Rebekha Sharkie MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b Brown, Greg; Owens, Jared; Varga, Remy (9 May 2018). "PoliticsNow: Rebekha Sharkie, Justine Keay quit over citizenship". The Australian. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Super Saturday: Antony Green calls by-election wins for ALP, Centre Alliance". ABC. 28 July 2016. Archived from the original on 16 September 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d O'Malley, Nick (3 July 2016). "Election 2016: Meet Jamie Briggs slayer Rebekha Sharkie". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 16 September 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Evans, Simon (3 July 2016). "New Nick Xenophon MP Rebekha Sharkie says she no one-term wonder". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  9. ^ Puddy, Rebecca (30 May 2016). "Federal election 2016: 'ditch the witch' drove Lib to Team Xenophon". The Australian.
  10. ^ a b Starick, Paul (3 July 2016). "Malcolm Turnbull courting new Mayo MP, Nick Xenophon Team's Rebekha Sharkie". The Advertiser. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  11. ^ Dye, Josh (2 July 2016). "Australian federal election 2016: the crossbenchers likely to swing a hung Parliament". Archived from the original on 16 September 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  12. ^ Brooks, Emily (2 July 2016). "NXT Candidate Rebekha Sharkie Wins Mayo, Knocks Off Briggs". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Mayo, SA". 2019 Federal Election. Canberra: Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  14. ^ "ALP set to gain Boothby for first time in more than 70 years". ABC News. 21 May 2022. Archived from the original on 16 September 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  15. ^ Horn, Caroline (4 February 2024). "Goolwa research centre to focus on climate change solutions for Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth". ABC News (Australia). Archived from the original on 16 September 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  16. ^ Griffiths, Luke (25 July 2018). "Ex-husband denies threatening to contact Libs over Rebekha Sharkie". The Australian.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Mayo
2016–2018, 2018–present 		Incumbent
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