Charlotte Walker celebrated her 21st birthday on election night. Now, she is a senator for South Australia.
The Australian Electoral Commission has announced Walker’s election alongside Marielle Smith and Karen Grogan from the Labor Party, Alex Antic and Anne Ruston from the Liberal Party, and Sarah Hanson-Young from the Greens.
Walker is now the youngest person to ever hold a seat in Australia’s upper house and is the first federal politician born in this millennium.
Who is Charlotte Walker?
Walker was born on 3 May 2004 and grew up in the rural town of Yankalilla.
Walker was the president of Young Labor in South Australia and working at the Australian Services Union when she was preselected in the usually unwinnable third spot on Labor’s South Australian ticket.
In the lead-up to the election, she campaigned on social media and targeted young voters, with a focus on issues including access to education, HECS debt reductions and the cost of living.
“I know what it’s like to have to balance work, study and paying rent, that’s why it’s important wehave more young voices in parliament, people who actually understand what it’s like,” she said in a campaign video.
“I put my hand up because I want to be part of the change, and I believe we can keep moving in the right direction.”
She also campaigned alongside other South Australia Labor candidates, including Louise Miller-Frost, Penny Wong and Marielle Smith.
Walker told the ABC she hopes to bring a young perspective to parliament.
“Having a young person actually there in caucus meetings and in parliament, is sort of going to bring a different perspective,” she said.
“None of the sitting members know what it is to be 21 right now — but I do, because I am living through that.”
Western Australian Jordon Steele-John from the Greens Party was previously the youngest senator elected to the upper house at the age of 23 in 2017.
The youngest person to be elected to an Australian parliament was Liberal Wyatt Roy, who was 20 when he became a member of the lower house in 2010.
— Additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press
