Claire Chandler

Claire Chandler (born 1 June 1990) is an Australian politician who was elected as a Senator for Tasmania at the 2019 Australian federal election.[1] She is a member of the Liberal Party.

Claire Chandler
Chandler in 2021
Senator for Tasmania
Assumed office
1 July 2019
Personal details
Born (1990-06-01) 1 June 1990
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Political partyLiberal
Other political
affiliations		Coalition
SpouseChris Edwards
EducationUniversity of Tasmania (BA)
WebsiteOfficial website

Personal life

Chandler grew up in the Huon Valley and attended St Michael's Collegiate, a Hobart private school for girls. She studied Arts/Law at the University of Tasmania where her interest in politics was furthered.[2] At university she was a member of the University of Tasmania Liberal Club where she met her future husband Chris Edwards.[3] Chandler later joined the Young Liberals and served as both the Tasmanian Division President, and Federal President.[2][4]

Politics

As Young Liberal President, Chandler led an internal review of the Tasmanian Division of the Liberal Party gender imbalance. Following the report, Chandler described the party's engagement with women as "sobering",[5] but rejected the idea of gender quotas as a solution to fix the divide.[6][7]

Chandler stood as a candidate for the seat of Franklin at the 2018 Tasmanian state election.[8][9][10] She was preselected in the second position on the Liberal Party's Senate ticket in Tasmania on 9 September 2018,[11] and was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election, for a term beginning on 1 July 2019.[1] At the time, aged 29, Chandler was Australia's youngest female senator.[12]

Political positions

Chandler is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party.[13]

Chandler has been described as a conservative.[14] She is a supporter of a conscience vote for members of parliament on euthanasia, but does not support any changes to the law as it currently stands in Tasmania.[15] Chandler also campaigns against the use of anti-discrimination laws and tax-payer funds to suppress free speech by those she calls "the woke".[16]

Chandler is against the expansion of transgender rights. As an ardent campaigner for women's "sex-based rights", she advocates that women's sports,[17] women's toilets, and women's change rooms are designed for, and should be reserved for, people of the female sex.[18][19] In June 2021, Chandler appeared at an online event alongside Walt Heyer, an American de-transitioned activist who has called gender reassignment surgery a "modern-day frontal lobotomy".[20]

Chandler criticised the attendance of 43 year old transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Chandler argued that the International Olympic Committee's decision to allow Hubbard to compete in women's events had displaced 18 year old Roviel Detenamo who had stood to become the first female Nauruan Olympian in 20 years and exemplified "why it's so unfair to female athletes to allow males into their categories".[21] In February 2022, Chandler introduced the Sex Discrimination and Other Legislation Amendment (Save Women's Sport) Bill 2022[22] to the Parliament of Australia.[23]

References
  1. "Senate Results". ABC News. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  2. "Tasmanian Senate hopeful Claire Chandler discusses female representations within the Liberal Party". The Examiner Newspaper. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  3. "History – University of Tasmania Liberal Students". University of Tasmania Liberal Club. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  4. "Claire Chandler preselected for the Senate". Young Liberal Movement of Australia. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  5. "Tasmanian Liberals' gender imbalance will hurt election chances, Hodgman warns". ABC News. 20 August 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  6. "Tasmanian Liberal senate hopeful Claire Chandler is taking a stand for women in power". The Mercury. 23 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  7. "Talking Point: The best six happen to be men". The Mercury. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  8. "Candidates A-Z – Tasmanian Election 2018". ABC News. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  9. "Distribution of Preferences – Franklin". The Tasmanian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  10. "Levelling the playing field". Eastern Shore Sun. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  11. "Richard Colbeck, Claire Chandler and Tanya Denison nominated in Liberal preselection battle". ABC News. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  12. Mason, Brett (27 January 2020). "As Australia's parliament returns, meet the youngest MPs doing things differently". SBS News Online. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020.
  13. Massola, James (20 March 2021). "Who's who in the Liberals' left, right and centre factions?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  14. Clark, Nick (23 September 2018). "Prime Minister's visit a chance to settle GST issues". The Mercury (Hobart). News Corp. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021.
  15. "Candidate Questioner - Claire Chandler – Liberal Candidate". Australian Christian Lobby. 2018. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018.
  16. Chandler, Claire (9 October 2020). "A Taxpayer-Funded War on Taxpayers' Free Speech". Quadrant Online. Sydney, NSW. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020.
  17. Lane, Bernard (10 October 2020). "Female pushback over trans sport rules". The Australian. News Corp. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021.
  18. Jarvie, Emily (4 September 2020). "Senator's comments on sex-based rights spark discrimination complaint". The Advocate (Tasmania). Archived from the original on 10 September 2020.
  19. McCann, Annie; Bickers, Claire (2 October 2020). "Discrimination complaint over transgender, female changerooms remarks against senator dropped". Herald Sun. Melbourne, Vic. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021.
  20. Wilson, Cam (22 June 2021). "The Liberal Party's rising star and her newfound fixation on trans women in sport". Crikey.com.au. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021.
  21. Chandler, Claire (3 April 2021). "Speech to Senate - "Laurel Hubbard and single-sex sporting competitions for women"". YouTube.com. Canberra: Australian Federal Senate. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021.
  22. "Sex Discrimination and Other Legislation Amendment (Save Women's Sport) Bill 2022". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  23. "Save Women's Sport Bill to be introduced". SenatorClaireChandler. 10 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
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