40 Facts About Amanda Stoker

Amanda Jane Stoker is an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Queensland from 2018 until 2022.

Amanda Stoker is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sat with the Liberal Party in federal parliament.

Amanda Stoker was appointed to the Senate after the retirement of George Brandis.

Amanda Stoker was unsuccessful in her re-election bid in the 2022 federal election and departed the Senate on 30 June 2022.

Amanda Stoker was born in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool to working-class parents, Mark and Cornelia Ingrid Fell.

Amanda Stoker's father was born in Australia and her mother in Sweden.

Amanda Stoker grew up in Campbelltown, an outer-southern suburb of Sydney.

Amanda Stoker began her career as a clerk and solicitor in Brisbane with Minter Ellison in 2006.

Amanda Stoker went on to serve as a Commonwealth prosecutor, as well as a judge's associate to Philip McMurdo in the Supreme Court of Queensland, and to Ian Callinan in the High Court of Australia.

Amanda Stoker was vice-president of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland from 2016 to 2018.

From 2014 to 2018, Amanda Stoker was a director at the non-profit, Brisbane-based conservative think tank, the Australian Institute for Progress.

In 2010, Amanda Stoker was the treasurer of the Young LNP.

Amanda Stoker was concurrently a member of the Liberal National Party Policy Standing Committee and chair of the Media and Communications Policy Committee from 2009 to 2016.

Amanda Stoker unsuccessfully sought LNP pre-selection for the electoral district of Cleveland at the 2009 Queensland state election, and was an unsuccessful LNP Senate candidate at the 2013 federal election.

Amanda Stoker was a member of the party's state executive from 2014 to 2017.

The Australian reported that LNP members were threatening to push for gender quotas if the party did not preselect a woman, and the Daily Mercury reported that LNP sources had said Amanda Stoker was one of the standouts, because she was based in Brisbane and would increase the LNP's percentage of females.

The LNP president denied gender was a motive, saying Amanda Stoker was chosen on merit.

Amanda Stoker was appointed to the casual vacancy left by Brandis on 21 March 2018 and she was sworn in as a senator the following day.

On 22 December 2020, Amanda Stoker was appointed as the Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General.

Amanda Stoker said Tame's comments were "passionate but not informed", adding the comments did not correspond with Amanda Stoker's long history of work in the area of women's safety.

Amanda Stoker commenced hosting her own weekly program on Sky News Australia called Sunday with Amanda Stoker in January 2023.

Amanda Stoker is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party.

Amanda Stoker is part of the Liberal Party's conservative faction and is aligned with the LNP's Christian right.

Amanda Stoker is a self-described "proud conservative" Christian who believes Christian values are "under attack".

Amanda Stoker has been a speaker at a number of centre-right conservative conferences.

Amanda Stoker has spoken out against abortion and has opposed the introduction of voluntary euthanasia legislation.

Amanda Stoker is a proponent of the introduction of a "religious discrimination bill".

Amanda Stoker has advocated the repeal of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Amanda Stoker blames unions for the casualisation of workplaces, and argues against raising minimum wages and penalty rates because doing so would "reduce job opportunities for those most in need".

Amanda Stoker has described unfair dismissal laws as a "block to growth".

Amanda Stoker opposed the Government ban on the personal import of liquid nicotine used for vaping.

Amanda Stoker has implied that women with children were "baggage" from an employer's perspective.

Amanda Stoker said that it was an "important signal to women that their safety matters to the LNP".

In 2020, Amanda Stoker faced criticism when she said former Queensland LNP leader Deb Frecklington "should not be playing the gender card" by speaking out against bullying from within the party.

Amanda Stoker has opposed the transgender rights movement, and has said that her political opponents prioritise the rights of the LGBTIQ community over the "rights to freedom of conscience, religion and speech".

Amanda Stoker's spokesman initially said she would not be backing away from her comments, but in a subsequent speech to parliament, Amanda Stoker apologised to anyone genuinely hurt or offended, stating it was an "unfortunate turn of phrase" used to emphasise her hurt for local Queensland businesses harmed by prolonged lockdowns.

In 2020, Amanda Stoker admitted to using the pseudonym "Mandy Jane" to post comments in the third person on her own official Facebook site which defended and argued for the senator's views on topics including race, family law and religious freedom.

Amanda Stoker's spokesman said the "Mandy Jane" account was the senator's personal profile but did not concede that she should have disclosed that before posting the material on her own page.

Amanda Stoker married her husband, Adam, in 2005 and they have three daughters.

Amanda Stoker is a Christian and attends an Anglican church in inner-city Brisbane.