Cathryn Markey

Cathryn Meinwen Markey (born 14 April 1980) is a South African-born Australian former journalist, environmentalist, activist, and politician. She has been a member of the Legislative Council, representing the Adriana Bandt Team, since 13 May 2018. She also currently serves as the Deputy President of the Legislative Council, and has done so since 19 May 2018.

Early life
Markey was born in Sandton, a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa on the 14th of April 1980 to an Anglo South African father of Welsh and Irish descent and a German South African mother. She was the youngest of six siblings, three brothers and three sisters. The family moved to the western Perth suburb of Claremont in 1994, where Markey attended secondary school. Markey moved to Melbourne in 2000, and attended Victoria University, attaining a degree in journalism.

Journalistic career
After graduating from university, Markey applied for an internship at The Age in Melbourne, and was an intern for about 5 years before writing her first column for the paper in 2008. The same year, she became a regular contributor to the paper, and continued to write for the paper until April 2018, when she announced she would be pursuing a career in political advocacy and activism.

Politics
Markey announced that she intended to run for the Legislative Assembly electorate of Geelong in the May 2018 Victoria state election on 4 May 2018, and announced the same day that she would be joining the centre-left Adriana Bandt Team.

Markey had previously been considerably active in advocating for environmentalism and LGBT+ rights, and attributes this activism for inspiring her to start a career in state politics.

Markey describes herself as a progressive, a moderate socialist, and a feminist. She is in favour of an Australian republic, with a President elected by the people rather than one elected by the Commonwealth Parliament. Despite her republicanism, she holds the view that if Australia were to become a republic, it would be in a referendum held after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Markey is also a staunch anti-pokie activist, and calls for an eventual total ban on poker machines. Markey lists Paul Keating, Bob Hawke, John Curtin, Harold Wilson, Gough Whitlam, Jack Layton, Nelson Mandela, and Bob Brown as major political influences.

Prior to the party's dissolution, Markey was a member of the Australian Greens.

Markey failed to win a seat in the lower house, but was appointed as a member of the Legislative Council for the Rural division.

Personal life
Markey is a rugby fan, supporting both the Melbourne Storm of the National Rugby League, and the Johannesburg Lions in the intercontinental Super Rugby rugby union competition. Markey is also an avid painter, and a fan of Australian pub rock band Midnight Oil. Markey is a lesbian, and came out publically in 2011. Markey lives in the Melbourne suburb of Yarraville with her partner Eloise whom she entered a registered partnership with in 2012 and married in 2017 after the legalisation of same-sex marriages in Australia. Markey speaks four languages, English, Afrikaans, German, and French.