Susanne Newton

Susanne Newton is the Deputy Mayor of Darebin, Australia, a city outside of Melbourne. She has served on the City of Darebin Council for two years, and is the first Greens representative elected in her area.

Susanne was working with UN Women in Uganda in 2014, which had 33 percent female representation in parliament, compared to 29 percent in Australia. On returning home, she ran for local government, and now sits on a council with six women and three men. Darebin is now one of the most progressive councils in the country, leads the nation as the first council to declare a climate emergency, the second to ‘Change the date’ of Australia Day, and is one of the strongest supporters of marriage equality.

Susanne’s passions are feminism and politics. She builds strong communities of women and the next generation of politicians and campaigners. She founded Women’s Melbourne Network five years ago, now Melbourne’s largest and most vibrant grassroots feminist organization. She co-convenes the Victorian Greens Women’s Network and is building a party where women are as confident in leadership positions as men.

She is a Pathways to Politics for Women fellow and holds a Master’s degree in Business IT and honors degree in English Literature and Politics.

She was selected as a Fellow for the first VV Engage Cohort.