Greens Senator Janet Rice Announces Her Retirement From Parliament

Janet Rice, out Greens Senator and a vocal advocate for LGBTQI rights in the Australian Parliament for over a decade, has announced her retirement. Senator Rice is one of the eight out LGBTQI members in the current Parliament. 

Senator Rice took to social media to announce her decision that she would not be contesting the next election. “I’ve decided it’s time to hang up my boots,” the Senator said and thanked her Victorian Greens colleagues and the state’s voters for electing her to the Senate for three consecutive terms. 

Senator Rice listed the fight for marriage equality as one of the milestones of her political career. 

“It was a privilege to fight for marriage equality as a Senator, crafting legislation across party lines and campaigning for YES with people all across the country. This huge milestone was the culmination of decades of tenacious campaigning, and I’m proud of the part I played in this historic win,” Senator Rice said. 

Coming Out

Rice met her partner Penny Whetton while they were studying at the University of Melbourne. Following Whetton’s gender transition, Rice came out as bisexual. Whettin passed away in 2019 and Rice lives with her two children in Footscray. 

Rice started her political career as a councillor for the City of Maribyrnong in 2003 and was elected mayor in 2006. She was elected to the Senate in 2013 and reelected in 2016 and 2019.  

“I entered the Senate with a mandate to represent Victorians who want to see urgent action on the climate crisis, and who want to see politics work for people, not billionaires and big corporations. Those fights are far from over,” said Rice. 

Fighting The Influence Of The Fossil Fuel Industry

Senator Rice said she would continue to work on issues including climate change. 

“People are still struggling to survive on income support payments below the poverty line. Labor are still opening new coal and gas projects and logging native forests.”

“The last decade I’ve spent in the Parliament has shown me just how much influence the fossil fuel industry, property developers, big banks, supermarkets and airlines have over the Labor and Liberal parties. I’m going to continue working on these urgent and important issues until my very last day on the job,” said Rice. 

Senator Rice said that her retirement date had not been finalised, but it would be in the first half of 2024, to give the new incoming Senator  “enough time to get their feet under the desk and campaign for their re-election.”