Margetts attended John Curtin Senior High School, graduating in 1972. She went on to the University of Western Australia, beginning an arts degree and majoring in anthropology and English. While at university she worked part-time as a sales agent with Qantas. In 1979, Margetts moved to England and enrolled in development studies at the University of East Anglia. She graduated Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in 1982, with her honours thesis exploring "the hypothesis that multinational companies invested in developing countries for their own profit".[1]
Margetts then returned to Australia to complete a Diploma in Education at the University of Western Australia and was a teacher and librarian at high schools until 1988,[1] when she became Coordinator for People for Nuclear Disarmament, a position which she held until 1991.[3]
Political career
At the 1989 Western Australian state election, Margetts stood as a candidate for the Alternative Coalition, a precursor to the Greens, in the seat of Fremantle.[1] At the 1990 federal election, Margetts stood as a Greens candidate for the seat of Swan. In 1991, Margetts stood as a candidate for the mayor of Perth in the local government elections, earning 9.5% of the vote.
Margetts was then elected to the Senate in 1993. She acted as Australian Greens Whip in the Senate from 25 May 1996 until 30 June 1999.[3] She lost her seat at the 1998 federal election,[3] and after 2 weeks in completing her Senate in mid 1999, she commenced her Masters Thesis on "Competition Policy, State Agreement Acts and the Public Interest" which was completed and approved in 2001.
Margetts was elected to the Western Australian state parliament in 2001, again losing her seat at the 2005 state election.[4]
After politics
After politics, Margetts commenced a PhD at the University of Western Australia in early 2006 due to her concerns about a major Federal policy change on competition policy which had been pushed through the Federal Parliament in 1994. This was completed and approved in 2013, "A Critique of Australia's National Competition Policy: Assessing its outcomes in a range of major sectors". Her thesis looks at the impacts of the National Competition Policy, and she has written extensively on the area.[citation needed]
In 2012 Margetts was interviewed by Mary Anne Jebb for the Old Parliament House oral history project.[5]
