27 Facts About Larissa Waters

Larissa Joy Waters was born on 8 February 1977 and is a Canadian-born Australian politician.

Larissa Waters is a member of the Australian Greens and has served as a Senator for Queensland since 2018.

Larissa Waters previously served in the Senate from 2011 to 2017, resigning during the parliamentary eligibility crisis due to her holding Canadian citizenship in violation of Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia.

Larissa Waters previously served as co-deputy leader from May 2015 to July 2017 and again from December 2018 to June 2022.

Larissa Waters was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, when her Australian parents were in Canada working and studying but left as an 11-month-old baby and grew up in Brisbane.

Larissa Waters attended primary school in Rainworth and completed her secondary schooling at Kelvin Grove State High School.

Larissa Waters has a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Laws from Griffith University and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the New South Wales College of Law.

Larissa Waters was the Greens' Brisbane Central Candidate in the 2006 Queensland state election running against then Premier Peter Beattie, securing almost 5,000 votes.

Larissa Waters was the lead Senate candidate for the Greens in Queensland at the 2007 federal election.

Larissa Waters again stood for office at the 2009 Queensland state election, running for the seat of Mount Coot-tha.

Larissa Waters polled 23.1 percent on first preferences, with Ronan Lee the only Greens candidate with a higher percentage.

Larissa Waters was again placed first on the Greens' senate ticket at the 2010 federal election.

Larissa Waters was elected with 12.8 per cent of the vote, an increase of 5.4 percentage points.

In May 2015, Larissa Waters was elected to the Greens' "leadership triumvirate".

Larissa Waters was made a "co-deputy leader" alongside Scott Ludlam, with Richard Di Natale replacing Christine Milne as the party leader.

Larissa Waters was re-elected to the senate at the 2016 double-dissolution election, winning a three-year term with 6.9 percent of the vote.

Larissa Waters was forced to resign from the Senate on 18 July 2017, after it was uncovered that she was a dual Canadian-Australian citizen, thereby making her ineligible to be elected under section 44 of the Australian Constitution.

Larissa Waters's resignation came four days after her fellow Greens co-deputy leader Scott Ludlam had resigned from the Senate over dual citizenship, which prompted several other MPs and Senators to clarify their citizenship status.

Larissa Waters had been born to Australian parents in Canada, and returned with them to Australia as a baby.

Larissa Waters's seat was filled by a recount, which saw former Australian Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett, who held the second position after Waters on the Greens' 2016 Senate ticket in Queensland, return to the Senate.

On 8 August 2017, Larissa Waters announced that she had renounced her Canadian citizenship and declared her intent to stand for Greens preselection and return to parliament at the next federal election.

The High Court handed down its decision on 27 October 2017 and ruled that Larissa Waters was invalidly elected.

On 3 April 2018, Larissa Waters was announced as the Queensland Greens lead Senate candidate for the next federal election, with Andrew Bartlett instead opting to contest the lower house seat of Brisbane.

On 16 June 2018, Bartlett announced that he would resign from the senate at the end of August, and Larissa Waters was preselected to fill the resulting casual vacancy ahead of the election.

Whilst serving as Co-Deputy Leader of the Greens alongside Senator Nick McKim and Leader of the Greens in the Senate, Larissa Waters represents the party in the following issues:.

Larissa Waters has one child born in 2009, with journalist Brendan O'Malley.

Larissa Waters has another child born in 2016, who made Australian political history becoming the first baby to be breastfed in the Senate chamber in 2017.