Jenny Leong Explained

Jenny Leong
Honorific-Suffix:MP
Constituency Mp:Newtown
Parliament:New South Wales
Term Start:28 March 2015
Predecessor:New seat
Birth Place:Adelaide, South Australia
Nationality:Australian
Party:Greens
Residence:Newtown[1]
Alma Mater:Flinders University, University of Sydney, University of Technology, Sydney
Occupation:Politician

Jenny Leong (born 1977), an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Newtown for the Greens since 2015.[2] Leong is the first person to represent Newtown in its current form, as it was created for the 2015 election.

Political career

Leong served as the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association President between February 2006 and July 2007. Leong was elected to the Sydney University Senate in 2007, serving for one year.

She was the Greens candidate for the division of Sydney in the 2004 and 2007 federal elections, but was unsuccessful.[3] Leong also managed the NSW Greens' campaign for the 2013 federal election.

Leong won the newly created seat of Newtown against Labor's candidate, Penny Sharpe, during the 2015 New South Wales state election with a margin of more than ten points (two-candidate-preferred).[4] She joined Jamie Parker in the lower house of the New South Wales Parliament.

In October 2023, Leong signed an open letter condemning attacks against Israeli and Palestinian civilians during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[5]

Controversy

In early 2024, a video from a Palestine Justice Movement forum in Bankstown held in December 2023 surfaced in which Leong stated: "The Jewish lobby and the Zionist lobby are infiltrating into every single aspect of what is ethnic community groups ... they rock up to every community event because their tentacles reach into the areas that try and influence power”.[6] [7] Leong was strongly criticised for use of the phrase, including by several Jewish community leaders and politicians such, as well as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Greens Party leader Adam Bandt.[8] [9] Leong's use of the term "tentacles" was compared to antisemitic tropes.[10] Leong apologised for her remarks saying she ""apologise[d] wholeheartedly and unreservedly".[11] Jewish people subsequently protested in front of Leong's office, with some protesters dressed as inflatable squids.[12] [13]

Personal life

Leong was born in 1977[14] [15] in Adelaide to a Chinese Malaysian father and an Anglo-Australian mother.[16] In 1996, at the age of nineteen, Leong permanently relocated to Newtown.[17]

Leong worked with Amnesty International from 2008 to 2012 as a crisis coordinator and a campaign organiser before entering politics. Although based in London, Hong Kong, and Australia, Leong worked all over the world. At Amnesty she oversaw the organisation's response to the Arab Spring as well as protecting freedom of expression in Burmese elections. She also spent more than three years on the Human Rights Law Resource Centre advisory committee.

References

 

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Candidates - The Legislative Assembly District of Newtown . Elections NSW . . 3 April 2023 . 3 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230403051647/https://elections.nsw.gov.au/elections/state-government-elections/2023-state-general-election/candidates/newtown . live .
  2. 107 . Ms Jenny LEONG, MP . 2019-04-06.
  3. Web site: 2004 Federal Election, Sydney . 2015-03-28 . ABC News . 3 April 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150403110838/http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2004/guide/sydn.htm . live .
  4. News: Hasham . Nicole . NSW Election 2015: Greens celebrate strong inner west showing against Labor . 2015-03-28 . Sydney Morning Herald . 28 March 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150328171925/http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-state-election-2015/nsw-election-2015-greens-celebrate-strong-inner-west-showing-against-labor-20150328-1ma2j5.html . live .
  5. News: 2023-10-19 . 'Catastrophic crisis': NSW politicians release open letter supporting Palestinian communities . en-AU . ABC News . 2023-11-30 . 30 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231130085031/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-19/nsw-politicians-release-open-letter-supporting-palestinians/102999304 . live .
  6. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/jewish-lobbys-tentacles-reach-in-to-influence-and-power-says-leong-20240206-p5f2rx.html "Jewish lobby's 'tentacles reach in' to influence and power, says Leong."
  7. News: Rose . Tamsin . correspondent . Tamsin Rose New South Wales state . 2024-02-07 . Chris Minns warns against use of antisemitic tropes after Greens MP apologises for Jewish lobby comments . 2024-02-14 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077 . 19 February 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240219133116/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/07/chris-minns-jenny-leong-antisemitic-trope-octupus-greens-mp . live .
  8. James O'Doherty and Madeleine Bower. "Jenny Leong accused of using anti-Semitic trope." The Daily Telegraph. 8 Feb. 2024. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.
  9. News: Taylor . Josh . Remeikis . Amy . 2024-02-12 . Linda Reynolds announces retirement – as it happened . 2024-05-06 . the Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  10. Brendan O’Neill. "Young, woke left hateful new face of anti-Semitism." The Australian. 10 Feb. 2024. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.
  11. News: 2024-02-06. 'NSW MP apologises for 'inappropriate' words at pro-Palestine event. en-AU. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2024-02-07. 6 February 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240206222040/https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-mp-apologises-for-inappropriate-words-at-pro-palestine-event-20240206-p5f2pn.html. live.
  12. Tileah Dobson. "Protesters rally outside Greens MP Jenny Leong’s office in response to comments about Jewish people." The Daily Telegraph. 11 Feb. 2024. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.
  13. Danielle Greyman-Kennard. "Jewish squids protest 'anti-racist' Australian MP after comments of Jewish lobby's 'tentacles'." The Jerusalem Post. 12 Feb. 2024. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.
  14. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: Jenny Leong for Newtown . YouTube.
  15. Web site: 20 Questions: Jenny Leong . Australian Greens . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402114814/http://greens.org.au/magazine/nsw/20-questions-jenny-leong . 2015-04-02 .
  16. News: Greens MP Jenny Leong learns she could never live on the breadline . The Sydney Morning Herald . Anna . Patty . 2021-11-12 . 16 January 2022 . 16 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220116035306/https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/leong-learns-she-could-never-live-on-the-breadline-20211015-p590g0.html . live .
  17. Web site: Newtown - NSW Election 2015 . ABC News . 2023-05-24 . ABC . 24 May 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230524130523/https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nsw/2015/guide/newt . live .

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