Zali Steggall OAM is the Independent Federal Member for the seat of Warringah in Sydney’s North. She is also Australia’s most successful alpine skier, winning a bronze medal in slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and a World Championship gold medal in 1999.
Upon her retirement from skiing in 2002, Zali completed a BA in communications and media studies from Griffith University and then went on to study law. She was admitted as a solicitor and then to the NSW Bar as a barrister in 2008. Her principal areas of practice have been family law, sports law, commercial law, real property law, local government and planning law, corporations and insolvency law, and equity. She was appointed to the Court of Arbitration for sport in 2017.
Zali received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2007. She was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport’s 'Best of the Best' in 2001 and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 2019, Zali contested the Federal Parliamentary Seat of Warringah as an Independent Candidate and won.
Here's an extract of her first speech, which you can read from her First Speech page:
"I believe Australia has always punched above its weight and never shied away from a challenge or doing its share. We live in a time where we are facing possibly our biggest challenge to date—to properly appreciate, respect and nurture our environment and evolve to a zero carbon economy. Our schoolkids are leading the way in pointing out that there is no second planet, no planet B."
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