21 Facts About Sue Hickey

Susanne Lynnette Hickey was born on 25 July 1958 and is an Australian politician.

Sue Hickey represented the electorate of Denison from the 2018 state election until her defeat at the 2021 election, sitting with the Liberal Party until March 2021, when she quit the party and became an independent.

At the time of the election Sue Hickey had been Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly since May 2018, having unexpectedly won the Speaker position with the support of the opposition Labor and Greens parties over the Liberal government's nominee Rene Hidding.

Sue Hickey previously served as Lord Mayor of Hobart from 2014 until 2018.

Sue Hickey first entered public life when she won the Miss Tasmania Quest in 1979.

Sue Hickey was a television weather girl on TVT6 for many years.

Sue Hickey later worked in a number of retail and service positions, before starting a career in marketing.

Sue Hickey won the Tasmanian Businesswoman of the Year award in 2007.

Sue Hickey obtained an MBA from the University of Tasmania in 2012 whilst running her own business, being an Alderman on the Hobart City Council and being President of the Rotary Club of Hobart.

Sue Hickey was a successful candidate for the Hobart City Council in the 2011 Tasmanian local government elections, elected as Alderman.

Sue Hickey defeated incumbent Lord Mayor Damon Thomas at the 2014 local government elections, serving in the role until her election to State Parliament.

In 2018, Sue Hickey successfully ran as a Liberal candidate for Denison in the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

Sue Hickey unexpectedly won the Speaker position with the support of the opposition Labor and Greens parties over Liberal nominee Rene Hidding, and has stated that she will not attend Liberal Party meetings and will "mostly" vote with the Government, but will assess bills "on their merit".

Sue Hickey was elected Speaker with the support of Labor and the Greens.

On 22 March 2021, Sue Hickey announced that she would quit the Liberal party and sit as an independent, criticising the state Liberals as "unable to accommodate strong women" after being told by Premier Peter Gutwein that she would not be endorsed for the next election.

Sue Hickey unsuccessfully ran again as an independent in the snap election.

Abetz "categorically denied" making the comments and accused Sue Hickey of "trying to destroy the [Liberal] party".

Sue Hickey responded in reply to Abetz accusing him of "grubby politics" and that she stood by her statement.

Later on the same day, Premier Peter Gutwein wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, stating that Sue Hickey raised the matter of Abetz's comments with him weeks earlier and requested Morrison to "consider the matters raised".

Sue Hickey ran again in the 2022 Tasmanian local elections, was re-elected alderman and was elected deputy mayor of Glenorchy.

Sue Hickey won the resulting 2024 Glenorchy City Council by-election, becoming mayor of Glenorchy City Council in June 2024.