Natasha Stott Despoja
 Natasha Stott Despoja     (politician) | ||||||||||||
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| Born | 9 September 1969 Adelaide | |||||||||||
| Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | Pembroke School (Adelaide), University of Adelaide | |||||||||||
| Spouse | Ian Smith (lobbyist) | |||||||||||
| Member of | WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/2001 | |||||||||||
| Interests | Burnet Institute | |||||||||||
Australian politician, diplomat and advocate. WEF Global Leader for Tomorrow 2001
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Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja is an Australian politician, diplomat, advocate and author. She is the founding Chair of the Board of Our Watch, the national foundation to prevent violence against women and their children, and was previously the Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2013 to 2016. She was also a Member of the World Bank Gender Advisory Council from 2015 to 2017 and a Member of the United Nations High Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents in 2017. She is a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.[1]
She was selected a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2001.
Early life and education
Stott Despoja was born in Adelaide to Shirley Stott Despoja, an Australian-born journalist and Mario Despoja, who was from Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia), and (possibly a member of Ustaša which was active in Australia) independence activist. She attended Stradbroke Primary and Pembroke School[2] and later graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1991. She was President of the Students' Association of the University of Adelaide (SAUA) and the South Australian Women's Officer for the National Union of Students. She then went on to work as a political advisor to Senator John Coulter and Senator Cheryl Kernot.[3]
Politics
Stott Despoja began her parliamentary career after being appointed to the Senate at the age of 26 serving as an Australian Democrats Senator for South Australia from 1995 to 2008. She went on to serve as the Deputy Leader and Leader of the Australian Democrats. She holds the record for being the youngest woman to sit in the Parliament of Australia and the longest serving Australian Democrats Senator.[4]
Later career
She was on the board of the Burnet Institute (Australia's largest virology and communicable disease research institute) from 2008 until December 2013, when Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced the appointment of Stott Despoja as Australia's new Ambassador for Women and Girls, a role she held until 2016.
On 21 July 2015, Stott Despoja returned to the Burnet Institute as a Patron[5]
Her husband Richard Smith is a businessman, corporate advisor and former journalist. He is a founder of the firm Bespoke Approach, and is considered by The Power Index to be one of Australia's most influential political lobbyists.
Stott Despoja has also been an election observer for the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Nigeria (2011);[6] visited Burkina Faso for Oxfam (2012);[7] and went to Laos (2011)[8] and Burma (2013)[9] with The Burnet Institute.
References
- ↑ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-10/natasha-stott-despoja-elected-to-un-cedaw-committee/12866484
- ↑ https://www.afr.com/opinion/columns/a-penny-for-pembroke-20131128-ij92a
- ↑ https://www.theartofhealing.com.au/aushero-natasha.html
- ↑ Rob Lundie & Martin Lumb "Research Note 13 1998–99 Update on Selected Australian Political Records" (Parliament of Australia) Archived 23 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine.. Access date: 20 August 2013.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150723171223/https://www.burnet.edu.au/news/546_natasha_stott_despoja_returns_to_burnet
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130707164053/http://www.ndi.org/node/17512
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171030063417/https://www.oxfam.org.au/media/2012/08/natasha-stott-despoja-in-burkina-faso-with-oxfam-to-meet-families-affected-by-the-west-africa-food-crisis/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120321095149/http://www.burnet.edu.au/news/21_natasha_stott_despoja_am_reflects_on_her_recent_trip_to_laos
- ↑ http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/natasha-stott-despoja-meets-her-political-hero-aung-san-suu-kyi/story-e6frea83-1226572949353
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