Amanda Stoker

Stoker studied arts and law at Sydney University, graduating with first-class honours, and began her career as a clerk and solicitor in Brisbane with Minter Ellison.[1][2]

Stoker served as a Commonwealth prosecutor, as well as a judge's associate to Philip McMurdo in the Supreme Court of Queensland and to Ian Callinan in the High Court of Australia.[3]

Immediately prior to her appointment to the Senate, Stoker was a member of Level 27 Chambers, a sessional academic at Central Queensland University and Vice-President of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland.[2][4]

From 2014 to 2018, Stoker was a director at the Brisbane based, 'right wing' think tank, the Australian Institute for Progress (AIP).[2][5] The Courier-Mail said it to be "bristling with dangerous ideas" that the "Left will hate".[6] During this time, the AIP had been an advocate for the tobacco industry, criticising plain packaging and the World Health Organisation.[7][8][9]

Leading up to the 2009 Queensland state election, Stoker sought pre-selection for the electoral district of Cleveland, which she lost to Mark Robinson who went on to win the seat.[10] She was an unsuccessful LNP Senate candidate at the 2013 federal election.[11]

On 10 March 2018, the Queensland LNP chose Stoker to succeed high-profile cabinet member George Brandis as a Senator for Queensland.[12] Endorsed by the LNP State Executive Council, she did not face a vote by rank-and-file members.[13] Prior to Stoker's selection all federal LNP senators were men.[14][3] The Australian reported that LNP members were threatening to push for gender quotas if the party did not preselect a woman,[14] but the LNP president denied this was a motive saying Stoker was chosen on merit.[12][3] The Parliament of Queensland appointed Stoker to the casual vacancy left by Brandis on 21 March 2018 and she was sworn in as a Senator the following day.[15][16] As an appointed Senator, she will face her first election in 2022.[11]

In 2020, The Australian named Stoker a "free speech champion and rising star of conservative politics".[17] She is aligned with the LNP's christian right.[18]

Stoker is a self-described "proud conservative" Christian who believes Christian values are "under attack". Her political heroes are former prime minister John Howard and former UK leader Margaret Thatcher.[19] In 2019, Crikey reported that she is a socially and fiscally conservative who had positioned herself as a conservative champion of free speech and religious freedom. She claims conservatives are "misunderstood".[19]

As an outspoken Christian, Stoker has publicly spoken out against abortion and transgender activism,[17][20][19] says sexuality is a "choice", and has stated that her political opponents prioritise the human rights of the LGBTIQ community over the "rights to freedom of conscience, religion and speech".[19] As a Senator, Stoker launched a petition against an alleged transgender activist agenda.[17]

Stoker has said she disapproves of women in politics "playing the gender card",[21] and has implied that women with children were "baggage" from an employer's perspective.[19]

Stoker blames unions for the casualisation of workplaces, and argues against raising minimum wages and penalty rates because doing so would "reduce job opportunities for those most in need". She has pushed for nannies to be tax-deductible.[19]

Stoker advocates for the repeal of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. In 2018 she said: "I think 18C has got to go. I think 18C is a drag on our society."[19] The Opposition responded by saying this would "water down protections against racist hate speech."[22] On the other hand, Stoker is a proponent for the introduction of a 'religious discrimination bill'.[23]

Stoker supports the development of an Australian nuclear energy industry.[24]

In June 2020 during a televised interview on Sky News, Stoker likened the Queensland border closure during the COVID-19 pandemic to the killing of George Floyd. She said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk "knows she is absolutely choking our economy by having these borders shut – she is the knee on the throat of businesses of Queensland, stopping them from breathing".[25] Indigenous Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy labelled the comments as "abhorrent and insensitive".[25] Stoker apologised for any offence or hurt caused saying it was not intentional nor premeditated.[26]

The Courier-Mail reported that in 2019-2020 Stoker had been using a second and pseudonym social media account on her official Facebook site to defend and argue the Senator's political views on topics including race, family law and religious freedom. Stoker's pseudonym 'Mandy Jane' profile had referred to Stoker in the third person and had changed the use of pronouns so so as to appear as a different person. It's profile photo was that of a storybook character.[27]

Stoker and her husband Adam have three daughters.[28] She is a Christian and member of the Anglican church.[19][17][20] Stoker was born in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool to Mark and Cornelia Fell. Her father was born in Australia, and her mother in Sweden.[29]