Rebekha Sharkie
|
Rebekha Sharkie MP |
|
|---|---|
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Mayo |
|
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Assumed office 2 July 2016 |
|
| Preceded by | Jamie Briggs |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Rebekha Carina Che 1972 (age 44–45) Devon, England, UK |
| Political party |
Nick Xenophon Team (2013–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Democrat (1990–2002) Independent (2002–2010; 2012–2013) Liberal (2010–2012) |
| Spouse(s) | Nathan Sharkie (m. 1999) |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Birdwood, South Australia, Australia |
| Alma mater | Flinders University |
| Occupation |
Legal researcher (Liberal Party of Australia) Policy adviser (Department for Communities and Social Inclusion) |
| Profession |
Lawyer Politician |
Rebekha Carina Che Sharkie (born 1972) is an Australian politician. Representing the Division of Mayo since defeating Liberal Jamie Briggs at the 2016 federal election, she is the first Nick Xenophon Team member to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives.
Sharkie moved to Australia as a two-year-old. Her parents are British and American. She studied international relations and public policy at Flinders University.
Sharkie worked as a paralegal in Darwin and South Australia.
As a university student, Sharkie had handed out how-to-vote cards for Australian Democrats Janine Haines. In 2006, she worked as a researcher for then-South Australian Liberal opposition leader Isobel Redmond. In 2008, she worked as an electorate officer for Briggs for six months. She has also worked for South Australian state Liberal MP Rachel Sanderson.
Although she had worked for Liberals for some time, Sharkie did not formally join the party until 2010. She left it in 2012 when she was appointed the national Executive Officer Youth Connections. When that program was defunded by the Liberal government at the end of 2014, she became Senior Manager and Head of Donor relations at Helping Young People Achieve (HYPA) a NFP that assists young disadvantaged people in South Australia.
Sharkie considered running for the Liberals in the 2014 state election in the safe seat of Schubert, only to be told that she needed the blessing of federal minister Christopher Pyne and federal senator Cory Bernardi, the highest-ranking federal MPs from the moderate and conservative factions of the SA Liberals, before seeking preselection. Sharkie told The Australian that when she learned she couldn't stand without the "anointing" of Pyne and Bernardi, she was appalled. She asked, "Are you serious? A branch doesn't choose?" Combined with her anger at the "ditch the witch" campaign against Julia Gillard, she was thus very receptive when then-independent Senator Nick Xenophon announced he was forming his own party to stand candidates in the upcoming federal election. Initially serving as a volunteer for the newly-formed Nick Xenophon Team, she ultimately agreed to stand in Mayo. Although Mayo had been a very safe Liberal seat for most of its existence, polling suggested that if Labor directed its preferences to Sharkie, she could take the seat off the Liberals.
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