Christabel Chamarette
{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Christabel Chamarette
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|OAM}}
| image = 300x300px
| title = Senator for Western Australia
| term_start = 12 March 1992
| term_end = 30 June 1996
| predecessor = Jo Vallentine
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1948|5|1}}
| birth_place = Hyderabad State
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| nationality = Indian Australian
| spouse =
| party = Greens WA
| relations =
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| occupation = Community worker
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Christabel Marguerite Alain Chamarette, sometimes known as Christabel Bridge (born 1 May 1948) is a former Greens Senator for Western Australia from 1992 to 1996.{{Cite Au Senate |Sen id=chamarette-christabel-marguerite-alain |name=CHAMARETTE, Christabel Marguerite Alain (1948– ) |first=Gwynneth |last=Singleton |access-date=30 November 2022}}
Personal life
Born in Hyderabad, India in 1948, Chamarette is of Anglo-IndianJames Jupp, 2001, The Australian People: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their origins, Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, pp. 437, 438. and French Huguenot ancestry.{{cite news |title=Who are the Green senators? |work=Sunday Age |date=1993-08-22 |page=6}} She has worked as a community worker in Bangladesh and later as a clinical psychologist at Fremantle Prison.
Politics
Chamarette was appointed to the Senate in 1992, following the resignation of Jo Vallentine. She was opposed to privatising Telstra{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Chamberlin |title=Telstra senate warning |work=The Age |date=1996-03-12 |page=6}} and delayed the Mabo legislation by demanding the inclusion of mineral rights in the compensation package for native title holders.{{cite news |title=The limits of power |work=The Age |page=19 |date=1993-12-11}}
She was defeated at the 1996 general election; her term ended on 30 June 1996. Chamarette said that when working in the Senate, she thought it was the most important work of her life, but she now refers to it as simply "useful experience".{{cite news |first=Helen |last=Crompton |title=Vision ends ex-senator's lavender days |work=The West Australian |date=2002-11-16}}
After politics
She was an expert consultant to the Department of Justice and was appointed to the Western Australian parole board in 2002. She was one of four members who resigned in 2005 in protest against the State Government's response to the Mahoney inquiry.{{cite news |first=Mark |last=Dodd |title=Parole board members resign |work=The Australian |date=2005-12-29 |page=5}}Mahoney, Hon. Dennis [http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/publications/publications.nsf/DocByAgency/4E6CCB9EE555DE8E482570C20012DB68/$file/Management+of+Offenders+Inquiry.pdf Inquiry into the Management of Offenders in Custody and in the Community] Parliament of Western Australia, November 2005 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190343/http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/publications/publications.nsf/DocByAgency/4E6CCB9EE555DE8E482570C20012DB68/$file/Management+of+Offenders+Inquiry.pdf |date=4 March 2016}}
Chamarette was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2025 Australia Day Honours for "service to community health, particularly as a psychologist".{{Cite web |title=Ms Christabel Marguerite CHAMARETTE |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/3044757 |access-date=2025-01-26 |publisher=Australian Honours Search Facility}}
References
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Category:Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
Category:Greens Western Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Category:Indian emigrants to Australia
Category:Members of the Australian Senate
Category:Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia
Category:Australian people of Anglo-Indian descent
Category:Australian people of French descent
Category:Women members of the Australian Senate
Category:20th-century Australian politicians