# Shane Rattenbury

Shane Stephen Rattenbury (born 25 August 1971) is an Australian politician who currently serves as the Attorney-General of the Australian Capital Territory and a member of the multi-member district unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Molonglo from 2008 to 2016 and the electorate of Kurrajong since 2016 for the ACT Greens. He was previously the Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, and was the first Speaker in any parliament in the world representing a Green political party.

## Early life, education and career before politics

Rattenbury first moved to Canberra in 1984. He attended Canberra Grammar School and went on to gain a BEc and LLB(Honours) from the Australian National University and commenced employment, working with the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Tourism. Prior to his election to the Assembly, Rattenbury travelled between Amsterdam and Australia as the International Political Director of Greenpeace International. During this time, he gained publicity for his work on global campaigns on climate change and whaling.

## Political career

In the 1996 federal election, Rattenbury was the Greens candidate for the newly created Division of Namadgi in the southern suburbs of Canberra. He came in 3rd with 7.22% of the primary vote.
Rattenbury stood for the ACT Greens in the 1998 Australian Capital Territory election in the seat of Ginninderra, attracting 1896 primary votes, or 3.76% of the formal vote, and narrowly missing winning the electorate's fifth seat on preferences behind the Osborne Independent Group's Dave Rugendyke.
Rattenbury again stood for election to the ACT Legislative Assembly at the 2001 ACT election, as a candidate in the electorate of Ginninderra for the ACT Greens. After the distribution of preferences, Rattenbury was defeated by both Labor's Wayne Berry and the Australian Democrats' Roslyn Dundas.
In June 2008, the ACT Greens announced that Rattenbury would again stand as a candidate for election in the electorate of Molonglo. Independent polling released in October suggested the Green vote had doubled since the last election at the expense of Labor, with the Liberal vote remaining relatively unchanged. Commentators predicted the Greens would hold the balance of power and decide who forms government. The Greens stated they were willing to court both major parties. With 82.1 per cent of the vote counted, Labor had obtained 37.6 per cent of the vote, with the Liberals at 31.1 per cent and the Greens at 15.8 per cent. Swings were recorded against both Labor (−9.3 per cent) and the Liberals (−3.7 per cent) with a +6.6 per cent swing towards the Greens, resulting in the election of Rattenbury, Meredith Hunter, Amanda Bresnan, and Caroline Le Couteur.

### Parliamentary career and election as Speaker

After deliberations with both the Labor and Liberal parties, the Greens chose to support a Labor minority government. Hunter was a key negotiator of the Parliamentary Agreement between the ACT Greens and the Labor Party. Under the agreement, the Greens secured a range of policy outcomes in the areas of schools and education, health service provision, housing, public transport and gay rights. It also ensures that the Greens will Chair three of the Assembly's key committees. In exchange, the Greens agreed to maintain confidence in Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope. The Greens also secured Government support for the nomination of Rattenbury as Assembly Speaker. While on the cross bench in the 7th Assembly, Rattenbury was Greens spokesperson in the portfolios of Attorney-General, Environment, Climate Change and Water, Energy, Police and Emergency Services, Tourism, Sport and Recreation.

### Ministerial roles

Following the 2012 ACT election, Rattenbury was the only Greens MLA to retain his seat in the Assembly. With the election resulting in a hung parliament, Rattenbury, who held the balance of power, announced he would support Katy Gallagher and the Labor Party in the formation of government. The ACT Labor Caucus agreed to appoint Rattenbury as a minister in Gallagher's five-member cabinet, and to support 100 Greens policies. Rattenbury served as the ACT Minister for Ageing, Minister for Housing, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, as well as, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services in the Second Gallagher Ministry and the First Barr Ministry.
Rattenbury was re-elected at the 2016 ACT election. Following the election, Rattenbury was joined by party colleague Caroline Le Couteur in the Legislative Assembly, taking the Greens tally to 2 out of 25 total seats in the Assembly. Rattenbury subsequently struck a deal with the minority Labor Government to retain a place in the cabinet as the Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety, Minister for Corrections, and Minister for Mental Health. Although a member of the Barr government, he reserved the right to withdraw from Cabinet discussions on divisive issues and vote independently in the Assembly.
Re-elected again at the 2020 ACT election with six Greens elected to the then 25 member Assembly, the Greens negotiated a Parliamentary and Governing Agreement with Labor which saw three Greens enter the Ministry. Rattenbury held the portfolios of Attorney-General, Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Minister for Gaming and Minister for Consumer Affairs in the Third Barr ministry.

## Personal life

In 2019, Rattenbury admitted that he had tried the drug MDMA once in his 20s.