Madeleine Ogilvie


Madeleine Ruth Ogilvie is an Australian lawyer and politician. She was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly for the Labor Party in the Division of Denison at the 2014 state election. She ran as a Labor candidate and was defeated at the 2018 state election, but re-entered parliament as an Independent MP in September 2019, replacing Scott Bacon who quit the Parliament.

Early life and education

Ogilvie grew up in Lenah Valley, Tasmania. She was educated at The Friends' School, Hobart College and the University of Melbourne, where she resided at Ormond College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies. She later obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tasmania, and a Graduate Certificate in Business from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Legal career

Ogilvie was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1994. She was a lawyer at the Insurance and Superannuation Commission, Allens and CSIRO.
She then worked for UNESCO in France on international cultural heritage law, Indonesia on telecommunications infrastructure projects, and the United States of America, in Silicon Valley. She was later General Manager Commercial and Contracts with Telstra Corporation responsible for some of Australia's largest telecommunications deals. Ogilvie returned to Hobart, Tasmania to raise her family.
In 2006 she established a legal practice in Hobart, Ogilvie and Associates. Ogilvie is known for her advocacy of refugee rights.

Political career

Ogilvie first stood for election to the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the 2010 state election. She received 522 first preference votes, but was not elected.
She was elected at the March 2014 election, receiving 2,156 votes and being the fifth of five candidates elected for the Denison division under the state's Hare-Clark system. Ogilvie was the only new Labor member elected in an election that saw the Labor Party lose government and several seats.
Following the 2014 election, Ogilvie was appointed Shadow Minister for Corrections, Aboriginal Affairs, Small Business, Information Technology and Innovation, and Multicultural Affairs, as well as being appointed Opposition Whip.
Ogilvie briefly made local headlines in December 2015 after voting, in a free vote, against a Tasmanian Greens party motion supporting marriage equality on the basis that it is a federal legislative reform, and in particular her online reaction to the Left faction of the Tasmanian Labor Party drawing a chalk rainbow outside her electorate office and writing defamatory messages on her office. Members of the Left called for Ogilvie to be expelled from the party for not supporting the Greens motion.
Ogilvie again came under fire from Labor's Left faction at the Party's 2017 State Conference when she voted against a bill to allow euthanasia in Tasmania. Labor leader Rebecca White allowed a conscience vote, as the motion was put forward as a private member's bill.
Ogilvie is a passionate advocate against pokies and revenge porn. Her stance on pokies was later adopted by the Party. She has also advocated for statewide discussion on Aboriginal treaty rights.

Personal life

Ogilvie is the granddaughter of former Member of the House of Assembly Eric Ogilvie, great-niece of former Premier of Tasmania Albert Ogilvie and stepdaughter of former Governor of Tasmania Peter Underwood. She is married to William Doyle, with four children.