Tabatha Badger

{{short description|Australian politician}}

{{Use Australian English|date=March 2024}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| honorific-suffix = MP

| name =

| image = Tabatha Badger portrait 1 (cropped).jpg

| nationality = Australian

| order =

| office =

| term_start =

| term_end =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| deputy =

| constituency_AM1 = Lyons

| assembly1 = Tasmanian House of

| term_start1 = 23 March 2024

| term_end1 =

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1993|06|08|df=y}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/resources/about-parliament/historyindex/members/parliament-of-tasmania-tabatha-badger|title=Parliament of Tasmania – Tabatha Badger|website=Parliament of Tasmania|location=Hobart|access-date=12 November 2024}}

| birth_place = Hobart, Tasmania

| party = Greens

| spouse =

| profession =

| website = https://tasgreensmps.org

| religion =

| signature =

| footnotes =

| office2 = Tasmanian Greens Spokesperson

| termstart2 = 23 March 2024

| 1namedata2 = Primary Industries, Police, Fire and Emergency Management, Parks and Public Land, Skills and Training, Tourism and Hospitality, Prevention of Family Violence, Small Business, Science and Information Technology, Mining

| 1blankname2 = Portfolios

}}

Tabatha Badger (born 8 June 1993) is an Australian politician who has represented the division of Lyons since 23 March 2024. Badger is a member of the Tasmanian Greens and is representing several portfolios for the party.

Pre-politics

Badger is a small business owner and environmental campaigner.{{Cite web |title=Tabatha Badger |url=https://greens.org.au/tas/person/tabatha-badger |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=Tasmanian Greens |language=en}} In 2023, Badger was appointed Convenor of the Wilderness Society.{{Cite web |date=June 5, 2023 |title=Tabatha Badger is New Convenor of Wilderness Society |url=https://tasmaniantimes.com/2023/06/tabatha-badger-is-new-convenor-of-wilderness-society/ |website=Tasmanian Times}}

Political career

In the 2022 Australian Senate election, she was the 3rd green candidate in Tasmania but was not elected.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-11 |title=Greens ready to fight for the future in lutruwita/Tasmania |url=https://greens.org.au/news/media-release/greens-ready-fight-future-lutruwitatasmania |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=Australian Greens |language=en}}

= 2024 state election =

At the 2024 Tasmanian state election, Badger was the lead candidate for the Tasmanian Greens in Lyons.{{Cite web |last=MPs |first=Tasmanian Greens |title=Tabatha Badger |url=https://tasgreensmps.org/your-greens-mps/tabatha-badger/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=tasgreensmps.org/ |language=en-AU}} At the end of first-preference counting, she received the 5th highest vote count in Lyons, and the highest of a Greens candidate for the division, at 4,044 votes.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-04 |title=Lyons - TAS Electorate, Candidates, Results |url=https://abc.net.au/news/elections/tas/2024/guide/lyon |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=abc.net.au |language=en-AU}} This was not enough to be elected on first-preferences, however. As the Hare–Clark counting went on Badger, along with the Lambie candidates, received significant leakage from the Labor ticket, via Rebecca White's large surplus.{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Antony |date=2024-04-02 |title=2024 Tasmania Election Results – Lyons Updates |url=https://antonygreen.com.au/2024-tasmania-election-results-lyons-updates/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=Antony Green's Election Blog |language=en-AU}} This boosted Badger's own quota, and by the end of the counting after all the other Greens candidates were excluded, she had a total of 0.93 quotas, leading for her to be elected in the last spot for Lyons.{{Cite web |title=Lyons results - 2024 State Election Tasmania |url=https://www.tec.tas.gov.au/house-of-assembly/elections-2024/results/lyons/index.html |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=www.tec.tas.gov.au |language=en}}

She is the youngest member of the 51st Parliament of Tasmania.{{Cite web |last=Badger |first=Tabatha |date=2024-05-21 |title=Tabatha Badger – Inaugural Speech |url=https://tasgreensmps.org/parliament/tabatha-badger-inaugural-speech/ |access-date=2024-06-05 |website= |language=en-AU}}

Personal life

Badger lives in Ellendale, Tasmania and grew up around Table Cape.

References