Steph Hodgins-May (born 23 August 1985)[1] is an Australian politician and environmental lawyer. She has been a Senator for Victoria since 2024, representing the Australian Greens. She was previously a Greens candidate for the House of Representatives on four occasions. Prior to entering parliament she held roles with the United Nations and Greenpeace.
Early life and career
Hodgins-May was raised in Blampied in rural Victoria on a farm.[2] Her father Rod May was a mayor of Hepburn Shire.[3] Her mother was a media studies and drama teacher in Ballarat.[4]
She has a Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Arts, and Master in International Relations from Deakin University.[2]
Hodgins-May founded the Vivien Hodgins Foundation in honour of her mother's commitment to education, and raised over $40,000 to assist disaster relief efforts for Samoa. She worked in particular on micro-finance projects for local women-led businesses.
She worked in property law before working in the Australian mission to the United Nations.[5] She was also her father's business partner in their family's farm.[3]
Following the 2019 election, Hodgins-May took up a position as Greenpeace's Head of Pacific. In this position she pushed for Australia to do more to prevent climate change and to help the Pacific Islands with the challenges that climate change causes.[6][7]
At the 2016 election, Hodgins-May contested the inner Melbourne seat of Melbourne Ports, a seat held by Labor since 1906. In a three cornered contest between the Greens, Labor and Liberal, Hodgins-May secured 23.79% of the primary vote.[9] The results of the election remained uncertain, with Hodgins-May closing in on the incumbent, Michael Danby with a strong preference flow.[10][11] However, Danby received strong support in the postal votes, and was ahead by fewer than 1000 votes on the seventh count of preferences. Hodgins-May was eliminated at that point, and her preferences allowed Danby to prevail in the final count over the Liberal candidate, Owen Guest.[9]
After initially accepting the invitation, Hodgins-May declined due to event co-sponsor Zionism Victoria calling the United Nations a “nuisance and sham organisation”.[13][14]
Hodgins-May subsequently accepted a number of invitations to speak at a number of other Jewish and Zionist organisations such as " Mount Scopus, Habonim Dror, Jews for Refugees, Limmud Oz".[15]
While campaigning for the election, Hodgins-May secured the endorsement of Gillian Triggs, who was the Australian human rights commissioner until 2017. The endorsement was a personal one and not an endorsement of the party as a whole.[16] Triggs came under fire from both the Liberal and Labor parties for giving the endorsement.[17]
While Hodgins-May increased her vote marginally, the new Labor candidate, Josh Burns increased his primary vote significantly, while the Liberal Party vote fell, meaning Burns won the seat comfortably.[18]
2022 election
Hodgins-May was again preselected for the Greens in the Melbourne seat of Macnamara for the 2022 election.[19] It was one of the key seats that the Greens were targeting in their hopes of increasing their representation in parliament.[20]
Hodgins-May increased her primary vote and finished second in primary votes behind Labor.[21][22]
Senator
2023 Senate pre-selection
In 2023, Hodgins-May was pre-selected by The Greens to replace Janet Rice upon Rice's retirement in the first half of 2024.[23] She was appointed in a joint sitting of the Parliament of Victoria on 1 May 2024.[24]
Political positions
Hodgins-May has taken a strong stance on climate policy, and has called on successive governments to do more. She has argued that government inaction has caused Australia to become a global pariah when it came to issues around the environment.[25]
She is also an advocate for Australia increasing its foreign aid budget and to focus more on international development.[5]
Personal life
Hodgins-May lives in Elwood with her partner Ogy and has a son, Otis.[26]
Hodgins-May's mother died in the 2009 Samoan tsunami while holidaying at a local resort.[27]
In 2017 her father, Rod May, was killed in a traffic collision. He was on a motorbike, while the driver of the car had methamphetamines in his system and was disqualified from driving at the time.[3]
