About Andrew Bartlett

Andrew Bartlett has lived all his life (so far) in Brisbane. He represented Queensland as a Senator in the Australian Parliament from 1997 to 30 June 2008. In August 2004, he became the first federal politician in Australia to establish a genuine blog, in an effort to  demystify and de-hype some of the political debates and processes, and to explore ways to engage more openly and directly with the wider community about social issues. His engaging personality has been widely praised, with Crikey founder Stephen Mayne describing him as “utterly colourless” and Age journalist Mark Forbes assessing him as “painfully shy”. Since leaving Parliament, he has continued blogging and remains active in policy, politics, media and music.

His current work includes being a research fellow in migration law at ANU’s Legal Workshop, an advocacy and policy worker with the Ethnic Communities Council of Qld, a consultant to not-for-profit groups on strategy, campaigning & organisation, a blogger – as well as serving on a number of Management Committees for community organisations and doing a weekly 3 hour shift on Brisbane’s alternative music & news station, 4ZzZ-FM.

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