21 Facts About Amanda Rishworth

Amanda Louise Rishworth was born on 10 July 1978 and is an Australian politician who has served as the Australian Labor Party member for the House of Representatives seat of Kingston in South Australia since the 2007 election.

Amanda Rishworth was born in Adelaide at Flinders Medical Centre to Judith and Leslie, and has two siblings, Julian and Shannon.

Amanda Rishworth attended Unley High School and was a retail worker and swimming instructor while doing volunteer surf lifesaving duties at Seacliff.

Amanda Rishworth later worked as an organiser and trainer for the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association and was president of Australian Young Labor in 2000.

Amanda Rishworth studied psychology at Flinders University where she was president of the students' union before furthering her studies at Adelaide University with a master's degree in clinical psychology.

Amanda Rishworth then became a practising psychologist in 2005 working in the delivery of mental health care to the community.

Amanda Rishworth was a Labor candidate at the 2006 state election for the electoral district of Fisher, where she was defeated by sitting independent Bob Such.

In November 2006 Amanda Rishworth was preselected unopposed to contest the seat of Kingston at the 2007 federal election.

Amanda Rishworth was up against the sitting Coalition member Kym Richardson who held the most marginal seat for his party after winning it at the 2004 federal election by just 119 votes.

Amanda Rishworth gave her first speech to the House of Representatives in February 2008.

Amanda Rishworth spoke of the time when she was a retail worker at Toys "R" Us during her teenage years and was offered an Australian workplace agreement as a result of new laws introduced by the Howard government, which she refused to sign and as a result was put out of work.

In September 2008, Amanda Rishworth introduced a private member's bill in the parliament calling for a new agreement between the Australian and British governments concerning the need to index the British pension in Australia.

Amanda Rishworth was later re-elected with a 63.9 per cent two-party vote from a 9.5-point two-party swing, the largest margin of any party in Kingston's history, and the highest swing of any 2010 Labor candidate in the country, an election where the party suffered a 2.6-point swing against it nationally.

Amanda Rishworth was chair of the House of Representatives standing committee on education and employment as well as being a member of the Joint Standing electoral matters and Joint Select cyber-safety committees.

Amanda Rishworth was part of the Speaker's panel and was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water along with Disabilities and Carers in March 2013.

Amanda Rishworth retained her seat of Kingston at the 2013 election with a 59.7 per cent two-party vote from a 4.9-point swing, then the second-largest margin of any party in Kingston's history.

Amanda Rishworth was named Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health in the Shorten Shadow Ministry.

Amanda Rishworth again retained her seat at the 2016 election with a 67 per cent two-party vote from a 7.3-point swing, the largest margin of any party in Kingston's history.

In late 2017 Amanda Rishworth was named Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Development and was promoted to Shadow Cabinet.

Amanda Rishworth MP was sworn in as Minister for Social Services on 1 June 2022.

Amanda Rishworth married Timothy Walker in January 2013 and they have two sons.