senator Barbara Pocock Contact information

Barbara Ann Pocock AM is an Australian politician, professor, and economist. She was born on March 22, 1955, in Berri, South Australia, and grew up on a farm near Lameroo. She attended Wilderness Girls High School and Norwood High School, graduating in 1972. After working on farms in Australia and New Zealand, Pocock earned a Bachelor of Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Adelaide in 1978 and completed her PhD at the same institution in 1997, with a thesis titled “Analysis of male power in Australian unions, its effects and how to combat it.”

Pocock began her professional career at the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1979 as a Research Officer in the International Department. She then worked as an Equal Employment Opportunity Officer at the Department of Industrial Relations in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley Region in 1981. In 1989, she joined academia as a Lecturer at the South Australian College of Advanced Education. She was later promoted to Senior Lecturer and then Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide in 1997 and 2002, respectively. Pocock became a Professor at the University of South Australia in 2006 and established and led the Centre for Work and Life there from 2006 to 2014. She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2010 for her services to industrial relations and social justice.

Pocock is a strong supporter of the feminist movement and the labor movement. Her research focuses on industrial relations, work and family, pay equity, and inequality in the workplace. She is a critic of the legislative restrictions on strikes and the outlawing of secondary boycotts. Pocock advocates for equality through fair labor law, increased access to sick leave and holiday leave for casual workers, and fairer conditions for working carers, including parental leave and early childhood education and care. She has called for JobSeeker unemployment payments and all forms of income support to be increased to $88 a day and for an improvement in rental rights and the availability of public housing. Pocock argues for free university and TAFE and the forgiveness of student debt, citing the burden on young Australians.

Pocock was the Greens candidate for the Division of Adelaide in the 2019 Australian federal election and was elected as a Senator representing South Australia in the 2022 Australian federal election. She was officially declared elected by the Australian Electoral Commission on June 15, 2022. Pocock is also a campaigner for urgent climate change action, LGBTQ+ rights, refugee rights, and anti-nuclear policies. She has two children and lives with her partner, Ian Campbell. In her free time, Pocock enjoys gardening, painting, sewing, and writing. She is a fan of the Port Adelaide football team. Pocock’s published works include “Demanding skill: women and technical education in Australia.”