Zali Steggall facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Zali Steggall
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Steggall in 2019
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Warringah |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 18 May 2019 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Tony Abbott | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 April 1974 Manly, Australia |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Independent | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses |
David Allan Cameron
(m. 1999; div. 2007)Tim Irving
(m. 2008) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Jack Steggall (grandfather) Zeke Steggall (brother) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Griffith University (BA) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zali Steggall (born 16 April 1974) is an Australian politician, lawyer, and former Winter Olympic athlete. She is an independent member of the Australian Parliament. She represents the area of Warringah in New South Wales. She was first elected in 2019. She won against the former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.
Before becoming a politician, Zali Steggall was a very successful alpine skier. She won a bronze medal in slalom skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. She also won a gold medal at the World Championships in 1999. She was the first Australian woman to win an individual medal at the Winter Olympics. Her Olympic career lasted from 1992 to 2002. After skiing, she studied law and became a lawyer. She also worked with several sports organizations. In 2019, she ran for parliament as an independent candidate and won. She won again in the 2022 election.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Zali Steggall was born in Manly, New South Wales, Australia, in 1974. From 1978 to 1989, her family lived in France. She started ski racing there at a young age. She trained at the ski resort of Morzine in the French Alps. Her mother wrote a book about their time in France called Alpine Beach. A Family Adventure.
Zali won European championships for her age group when she was 10 and 13. By age 14, she was part of the French junior skiing team. When her family returned to Australia in 1989, she went to Queenwood School for Girls in Sydney.
Sports run in Zali's family. Her grandfather, Jack Steggall, played rugby for Australia. Her father also played rugby. Her brother, Zeke Steggall, is an Olympic snowboarder.
Skiing Career (1992–2002)
Even after moving back to Australia, Zali and her brother often traveled to the northern hemisphere to train. She also trained with an Austrian coach, Helmut Spiegl.
Zali Steggall first competed in the Olympics in 1992 in Albertville, France. She was 17 years old. She finished 23rd in the giant slalom event. At the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, she finished 22nd in slalom.
In 1995, Zali started to achieve top results in World Cup events. She placed 10th in a slalom event. In 1996, she came very close to a medal at the World Championships, finishing fourth.
Zali was a favorite to win a medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. A few months before, she had won her first World Cup event in Utah, USA. She won by a large margin. At the Nagano Olympics, she won Australia's first individual Winter Olympic medal. She earned a bronze medal in slalom skiing. Her time was 1 minute 32.67 seconds.
Her success helped create the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. This institute received a lot of money to support full-time training for winter sports athletes. This led to many Australian athletes winning medals in winter sports.
In 1999, Zali won the slalom event at the World Championships in Vail, USA. This was a huge win for an athlete from the Southern Hemisphere. Her Olympic career ended at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA. She did not finish her first race there.
Zali also carried the Olympic torch for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. She carried it again for the Athens Olympics in 2004, even taking it to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Legal Career (2002–2019)
Zali Steggall stopped skiing in 2002. She earned a degree in communications and media studies. Then, she studied law. She became a solicitor, working at her father's law firm. In 2008, she became a barrister. She mainly worked on family law, sports law, and business law cases.
From 2014 to 2019, Zali was a director for the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. She was also a director for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. In 2017, she became an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). This court helps settle disputes in sports. She even worked at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in 2018 as an arbitrator.
Entering Politics (2019 Election)
On 27 January 2019, Zali Steggall announced she would run for parliament. She ran as an independent candidate in the area of Division of Warringah. She was running against Tony Abbott, who was the former Prime Minister. Her main goals were to take action on climate change, improve mental health support, and promote honest government.
During her campaign, Zali faced some challenges. There was an online campaign that spread false information about her. She asked Tony Abbott to speak out against this. She also wanted new laws to make sure political advertising was truthful. Zali and Tony Abbott had a televised debate where they discussed their ideas.
They disagreed on how to deal with climate change. Zali supported stronger rules for vehicle emissions and more support for electric cars. She believed emissions could be greatly reduced by 2030. She also wanted an independent group to help Australia move away from coal and use more renewable energy.
Zali Steggall raised a lot of money for her campaign. She received $1.1 million AUD from many different donors. This was the most money raised by any independent candidate in that election.
On 18 May 2019, Zali Steggall defeated Tony Abbott. He had held the seat of Warringah since 1994. Zali won with 57.24% of the vote. Her win was historic because Warringah had always been held by the Liberal Party or its earlier forms since 1922. Zali Steggall is seen as a leader for the "teal independent" movement. These are independent politicians who have conservative economic views but strong environmental views. Many more "teal independents" won seats in the 2022 election.
Member of Parliament (2019–present)
First Term (2019-2022)
Zali Steggall served on committees related to the environment, energy, and family law. In 2020, she spoke against merging the Family Court with another court. She believed it would make judges too busy and hurt the special support the Family Court offers. She said the law should focus on children's rights.
She also joined a group that wanted to "Bring Julian Assange Home." This group was against sending Assange to the United States for publishing information. In 2021, Zali introduced a bill to stop false information in politics. However, no major party supported it. She also said she did not support Australia's diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She felt athletes should not be pressured to make political statements.
Second Term (2022-Present)
During the 2022 election, Zali Steggall criticized comments made by another candidate, Katherine Deves. Zali described these comments as "toxic" and "offensive." She also criticized the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, for choosing Deves as a candidate.
Zali received funding from a group called Climate 200 for her campaign. She was also criticized for not immediately reporting a large donation from a family trust in the previous election. However, when auditors found the mistake, she publicly reported the donation. Zali kept her seat in the 2022 election, winning against Deves. She increased her winning margin.
Since August 2022, Zali has been on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water. In her second term, she has spoken about making housing more affordable and helping businesses. In 2023, she supported rules to stop large companies from avoiding taxes. She also supported protecting retirement savings from too much tax. She was in favor of the "Yes" vote in the 2023 referendum. This vote was about creating an advisory body for First Nations Australians. She was very disappointed when the referendum did not pass.
In November 2023, Zali reintroduced her bill to stop political misinformation, but it was again unsuccessful. In January 2024, she criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for changing planned tax cuts. She was not against changing the tax cuts because the economy had changed. However, she was critical because the government had promised not to change them.
In 2024, Zali Steggall accused Liberal leader Peter Dutton of racism. This was because he supported stopping people from Gaza from getting Australian visas during the Israel–Hamas war.
Personal Life
Zali Steggall was married to Olympic rower David Cameron from 1999 to 2006. They have two children together. In 2007, she met Tim Irving, a marketing executive. They got engaged in 2008 and married later that year.
Honours and Recognition
Zali Steggall has received several awards for her achievements. She received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000. In 2007, she received a Medal of the Order of Australia. She was also inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best' in 2001. In 2004, she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
A ski trail at Blue Cow, Perisher in Australia is named after her. It is called "Zali's."
See also
In Spanish: Zali Steggall para niños
- Skiing in Australia
- Voices groups in Australia
