Taking action - getting results
Tammy has a compassionate and progressive vision for a better world paired with the courage to lead and has long tackled the difficult issues.
Tammy also had worked with communities as their champion to bring forward change where often the Parliament has lagged far behind their communities.
In 2018 Tammy led the Parliament in reforming South Australia’s abortion laws with legislation designed to remove abortion from the criminal code and regulate abortion as healthcare. Attorney General, Vickie Chapman MP, then referred to issue of abortion decriminalisation to the SA Law Reform Institute (SALRI) for report back to the Parliament.
The resultant SALRI report provided a road map for the difficult debate that led to the eventual progressive law reform.
Tammy, working with Nat Cook MP then also successfully for legislated abortion ‘safe access zones’ which ensures patients and doctors no longer need to run the gauntlet of protest as they access or administer health care.
Tammy has a deep commitment to reconciliation and one of her first bills led the move for a Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme. A Joint House Committee inquiry gained support from first the Marshall Liberal Opposition then after a sustained campaign the then Labor Weatherill Government to roll out the Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme. Tammy also played a leading role in support for the SA First Nations Voice to Parliament and continues to work for further Truth Telling and Treaty.
Tammy has courageously championed many community concerns, large and small, over her time in the South Australian Parliament in her first months as a legislator overturning laws designed to criminalise families and carers of mental health consumers should they offer comfort in times of distress. She has also campaigned for better mental health care, most notably for expanded disordered eating supports, BPD understanding and tailored services and most recently for life changing and lifesaving Trans Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to be accessible in the public health system.
Worker’s rights have been an ongoing focus of her work and Tammy long advocated for industrial manslaughter laws finally adopted by Government in recent years, successfully secured enhanced training for SA Health and Safety Reps and led the charge that eventually saw CFS volunteers given the respect of firefighter’s presumptive cancer compensation consideration should their work see their health compromised long after the carcinogenic smoke they fought had dispersed.
Tammy has long led the debate in the SA Parliament supporting a number of ‘rainbow reforms’ for the LGBTQIA+ community and their families including creating Hate Crimes protections in sentencing co-sponsoring (with Ian Hunter MLC) the first bill for state Marriage Equality several attempts to end the ‘Gay Panic Defence’, repealing the well-intentioned but outdated and harmful Sexual Reassignment Act 1988 and gaining presumptive parentage recognition on birth certificates for same sex parents.
One of Tammy’s proudest Parliamentary achievements is the establishment of the Coorong Environmental Trust (CET) to the Trust at she is passionate about empowering local communities to work together regardless of the politics of ‘water wars’. The CET acts as a driver and a repository for research and empowers local people with a genuine desire to protect, preserve and improve the ecology of the Lakes and Coorong Ramsar site to do so.
“Anything plastic can do hemp can do better” is just one reason why Tammy also worked tirelessly to effect the Legalisation of Industrial Hemp and establish the former Office of Medicinal Cannabis and Industrial Hemp.
Tammy remains steadfast in fighting for medicinal cannabis patients to not be treated as criminals and for science not stigma to guide public policy around cannabis and medicinal cannabis and she introduced the historic first bill to Legalise Cannabis since its prohibition amidst the ‘Reefer Madness’ campaigns of the 1930s.
Persistence pays and after several attempts it was Tammy’s bill which eventually banned cruel and archaic Jumps Racing from South Australia. Tammy has long been the only SA Parliamentarian to have a dedicated Animal Welfare portfolio and has led reform in a number of animal welfare areas including pushing to ban duck hunting,
Tammy’s Parliamentary push and exposure of cruelty in Greyhound Racing saw the Malinauskas Government commission the Ashton Review which has led to that industry being put on notice. Tammy continues the fight to end greyhound racing and is currently working towards holding the industry accountable under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws.
Tammy has long championed the Arts and in 2013 secured a significant annual boost to live music funding under the Weatherill Government.
Tammy also led the charge against the ‘culture cops’ and championed the rise of small bars and fought to remove the bizarre ‘entertainment consent’ provisions in SA which saw venues heavily policed over content and genres or live performance in licensed venues.
Tammy currently chairs an inquiry into Local and Live Creative Venues that was spurred on by the successful Save the Cranker campaign designed to support artists and venues to keep the arts ecosystem strong from the grassroots up – accepting you can’t get to the stadium stages without supporting the sticky carpet floors.
Sex Work is Work and Tammy has long advocated for sex workers’ rights and continues to fight for the decriminalisation of sex work for adult consensual commercial sexual services. This remains unfinished business she will continue to campaign for.