Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Leader, 22 April 2024
Greens Announce Shadow Portfolio Responsibilities
It’s an honour to announce the new Green team’s shadow portfolios today. Tasmanians voted Green because we offered a pathway to change, asking us to fight for a fully funded health service, more homes, real climate action and environmental protection.
With some new faces, and a depth of talent, we are ready to return to Parliament and fight for real change.
Vica Bayley came into Parliament ready to represent the community and fearlessly take on the government, and is a natural fit for Deputy Leader – I’m proud to have him as my deputy. Vica’s diversity of life experience is an enormous asset to the Greens. An environmental campaigner and surveyor, with a business and teaching degree, Vica has an enormous breadth of knowledge.
In his first six months in Parliament, Vica defiantly represented Tasmanians who want much needed investment in housing instead of the Liberals’ stadium folly – and he will keep the heat on in the new parliament. Vica’s decades-long environmental track record stands for itself, and as the Greens’ Environment and Biodiversity spokesperson, lutruwita’s precious threatened species are in safe hands.
Anyone who has met Tabatha Badger has been impressed with her intelligence, drive and capacity to communicate. There is no doubt she will be a force to be reckoned with in the parliament.
Tabatha is an environmental campaigner and keen bushwalker, who cut her teeth in nature tourism. She will bring the passion and skills needed to protect lutruwita’s wild places through the Parks and Public Lands portfolio. Her commitment to working with rural and regional communities, and her business skills, will make her a great advocate for resilient, future-focussed primary industries.
The Greens’ commitment to health will be strengthened in the new Parliament. Registered nurse and counsellor, Cecily Rosol, will take on Health and Mental Wellbeing. She will stand against the Liberals’ failure to plan and resource, and push for the system changes and respect that patients and health workers deserve from government.
Cecily’s experience as a foster carer also gives her a unique real world perspective on the critical portfolio of Children and Young People.
After 19 years on Hobart City Council and her service as Deputy Lord Mayor, Helen’s experience in Local Government and Planning is unparalleled in Tasmania’s Parliament. Her intricate understanding of how communities should have their say on their local area will be critical as the Liberals continue their developer-first attack on planning.
A proud union member and allied health professional, Helen is also keen to focus on workers’ rights and community and preventative health solutions.
As Leader, I retain the responsibility for working with, and advocating for, Tasmanian Aboriginal people and working alongside them to progress the critical issues of truth-telling, Treaty, and justice.
We also acknowledge the importance of a whole of parliament priority to the Commission of Inquiry Response, and as such I will be taking that on as Leader.
Unlike the Liberals, the Greens recognise the climate emergency and our response to it will dominate our lives for generations to come. We have elevated its centrality, and the need to protect native forests for their carbon and biodiversity stores, with the portfolio of Climate Change and Forests.
Together, the Greens’ MPs will be a formidable force returning to Parliament. We will work to advance the policies and values of the Greens, on behalf of, and in consultation with, the Tasmanian people.
The full list of Greens’ portfolios can be found here – https://tasgreensmps.org/your-greens-mps/
