Anne Webster
Anne Elizabeth Webster is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2019 federal election. She is a member of the National Party and represents the Division of Mallee in Victoria. She was a social worker and non-profit executive before entering parliament.Career
Webster studied sociology and history at La Trobe University, followed by a Bachelor of Social Work with honours. In 2018, she completed a Ph.D. at the Australian National University with a doctoral thesis on adoption.
Before entering politics, Webster was a social worker in Mildura. She was elected to the board of the Mallee Accommodation and Support Program in 2005, and served as chair for a period. In 2011, Webster became the founding executive director of Zoe Support, an organisation assisting young mothers with education. She was named "Citizen of the Year" by the Mildura Rural City Council in 2019 for her work with the organisation.Politics
In January 2019, Webster won National Party preselection for the Division of Mallee, replacing the retiring MP Andrew Broad. She defeated five other candidates over three rounds of voting. She had earlier stood for preselection in Mallee prior to the 2013 federal election, but lost to Broad.
Webster retained Mallee for the Nationals at the 2019 federal election with a small negative swing on the two-party-preferred count. The party's primary vote halved from 56 percent to 28 percent, with large swings to the Liberal Party, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, and independents.
