Sarah Henderson


Sarah Moya Henderson is an Australian politician and former journalist. She has been a Senator for Victoria since September 2019, representing the Liberal Party. She previously held the Division of Corangamite in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019.

Early life

Henderson was born in Geelong and educated at Sacred Heart College before moving to The Geelong College, where she graduated in 1981. She is the daughter of Ann Henderson, who was the member for Geelong in the Victorian state parliament, from 1992 to 1999.

Journalism

In 1982, Henderson became a cadet reporter with Channel 7 in Melbourne. She went on to work with Channel 9 in Brisbane and then Channel 10 in Melbourne, where she presented the weekend news with Alister Paterson. She moved to ABC-TV where she worked as a presenter of the consumer advocacy program The Investigators. Her media career included working as a presenter of the ABC's Holiday program and Australia's Most Wanted in 1994, and she was the Victorian presenter of The 7.30 Report in 1995.
When The 7.30 Report became a national program in 1996, she continued working as the program's law correspondent and was also awarded a Walkley Award for her coverage of the Port Arthur massacre. In 1998, she obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from Monash University and moved to a career in the law with the Melbourne firm Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks. She worked as an attorney for News Corporation and was a weekly columnist with the Herald Sun newspaper from 2002 to 2004. At the same time she established the Kudos Management Group which led to business management roles with Network Ten and National Indigenous Television.

Politics

In 2009, Henderson was chosen as the Liberal Party candidate for the federal seat of Corangamite, but was defeated by ALP incumbent Darren Cheeseman in the 2010 election. She was preselected again as the Liberal Party's candidate for Corangamite at the 2013 federal election, and won the seat with a 4.6-point swing. Ahead of the 2019 election, a redistribution erased Henderson's majority and made Corangamite marginally Labor. Henderson sought another term, but was defeated by her 2016 opponent, Libby Coker.
On 26 May, Victorian Senator Mitch Fifield chose to accept a position as the Permanent Australian Representative in the United Nations, leaving the possibility that the Liberal Party would chose Henderson to fill the casual vacancy caused by Fifield's eventual resignation to accept the role. On 8 September, Henderson defeated Greg Mirabella in the preselection ballot 234 votes to 197. She was appointed to the Senate by a joint sitting of the Parliament of Victoria on 11 September 2019.