Representative Rebekha Sharkie Contact information

Rebekha Carina Sharkie is an Australian politician who has made her mark on the national political stage as a member of the Centre Alliance party. Born on 24 August 1972 in Torbay, England, she was raised in Australia by British and American parents, and became an Australian citizen in 2007. Sharkie attended Eyensbury Senior College and later studied international relations and public policy at Flinders University.

Before entering politics, Sharkie worked as a paralegal in Darwin and South Australia. Her political career began as a high school student when she handed out how-to-vote cards for Australian Democrats Janine Haines. In 2006, she worked as a researcher for then-South Australian Liberal opposition leader Isobel Redmond. She went on to work for several state and federal Liberal MPs, including Jamie Briggs, for whom she served as an electorate officer for six months in 2008.

Although she worked for the Liberal Party for some time, Sharkie did not formally join the party until 2010. She left in 2012 when she was appointed the national Executive Officer for Youth Connections, a program that was defunded by the Liberal government in 2014. She then became Senior Manager and Head of Donor relations at Helping Young People Achieve (HYPA), a non-profit that assists young disadvantaged people in South Australia.

Sharkie considered running for the Liberals in the 2014 state election in the safe seat of Schubert, but was told she needed the blessing of federal minister Christopher Pyne and federal senator Cory Bernardi before seeking preselection. This experience, combined with her anger at the “ditch the witch” campaign against Julia Gillard, made her receptive to the idea of joining the newly-formed Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), a political party founded by the independent Senator Nick Xenophon. She became a volunteer for the party and ultimately agreed to stand as its candidate in the Division of Mayo in the 2016 federal election.

In a historic victory, Sharkie defeated her former boss Jamie Briggs with 55% of the two-party-preferred vote. She became the first NXT member of the Australian House of Representatives, joining a cross-bench of five members not aligned to either major party. She was also the first woman and the first non-Liberal member to represent Mayo.

In 2018, Sharkie resigned from the House of Representatives as part of the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis. She had failed to complete renunciation of her British citizenship before nomination in the 2016 federal election, which led to her disqualification from holding office. However, she successfully contested the 2018 Mayo by-election and was returned to parliament. She then defended her seat successfully in the May 2019 federal election, winning with a two-party-preferred vote of 55.14%.

Sharkie is married to Nathan and they have made their home in Birdwood, South Australia. She has three children from a previous marriage. In the 2022 Australian federal election, Sharkie was re-elected with the support of the Teal independents.