Prior to her election, Tammy worked as a policy officer for the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia – the peak mental health community sector body in the state.
Tammy has also worked with non-government human rights agencies including Amnesty International and the YWCA of Adelaide and was appointed as YWCA of Australia NGO delegate to the United Nations Beijing +10 conference on women’s human rights in 2005.
Born in Dubbo in July 1968 and raised in Sydney, Tammy moved to Adelaide in the 1980s, where she completed her final year of high school at Parafield Gardens before attending the University of South Australia, where she studied Sociology, Australian Studies and Community Arts.
The closure of the university’s Salisbury campus in the early 1990s spurred Tammy to take action and began her formal involvement with politics. She held several elected positions, including as State President of the National Union of Students.
Politics remained an enduring theme for Tammy, with her subsequent employment as an adviser for then-Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, and later her secondment to the ‘Yes’ campaign for the Australian Republican Movement, under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull during the referendum campaign.
Tammy has been active in the South Australian Greens since 2006, serving two terms as State Convenor and undertaking the task of SA Election Campaign Committee Convenor for the 2007 federal election, which saw Sarah Hanson-Young enter the Senate as the first South Australian Greens member of federal Parliament.
An active member of the South Australian Parliament, Tammy is a strong advocate for social justice. She is passionate about many issues including mental health, animal welfare, industrial relations, Aboriginal affairs, the arts, health and education. Tammy is currently a member of the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee and other committees including: Budget and Finance; Damage Harm or Adverse Outcomes resulting from ICAC Investigations; Dolphins in Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary and Port River; Environment, Resources and Development; Hunting of Native Birds; Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation; and the Joint Committee on the Legalisation of Medicinal Cannabis.
Tammy has two adult children, Pippa and Geordie, and a young daughter, Millicent.
She enjoys contemporary art, live music, karaoke, quiz nights, cooking curries, reading and releasing books ‘into the wild’.
