Senator Kate Lundy To Quit Federal Politics

We love Senator Kate Lundy here at Gizmodo Australia. The self-professed geek and passionate politician, the Senator is a passionate advocate of tech issues in the Australian Senate. Sadly, the Senator Lundy announced last night that she wouldn’t contest the next election. In short: she’s quitting, and that’s sad.

Image: Mark Kolbe / Staff

In her time in Federal politics, Senator Lundy has held several Ministerial positions and Shadow Ministerial positions, with portfolio interests ranging from IT and tech through to sport, multicultural affairs and youth affairs.

She was the politician who took 90,000 of your signatures to the floor of Federal Parliament to show lawmakers why this country needed an R18+ rating for games.

She took Telstra to task back in 2002 for dragging its feet on broadband infrastructure.

She’s passionate about open source, teleworking and when she became a Senator back in the late 1990’s, she was officially the youngest woman in the Australian Labor Party to achieve the position (a title which has since been passed to Kate Ellis MP).

And despite the fact that she was a member of the same party that proposed the legislation, she openly campaigned against Labor’s proposed mandatory internet filter.

Here’s her full statement announcing her decision:

I have decided that I will not contest the ACT Senate seat at the next federal election.

This decision has come after a period of deep reflection.

It has been an honour to serve the people of Canberra for almost two decades and to witness the continuing evolution of our city as a wonderful, dynamic and vibrant community.

I would like to thank the people of Canberra who have put their faith in me to represent their interests in the Australian Parliament for the past seven terms.

With political battles raging on a range of fronts for the Australian community – challenges such as fighting against APS cuts and condition reductions, protecting Medicare, keeping university fair and accessible, defending the CSIRO and research funding and fighting ABC/SBS cuts make it more important than ever to have a strong opposition.

I am heartened that we have a Federal Labor Leader of the calibre of Bill Shorten and Caucus of great depth and substance to take up this fight.

Next March will mark 19 years since I was first elected to represent the ACT in the Australian Senate. I will work with the ACT ALP to ensure a smooth transition over the next six months.

Thanks for all your hard work, Senator Lundy.


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