Lynn Ellen MacLaren is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician.

On 15 February 2005, she was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

 as a Greens WA member for South Metropolitan Region

Electoral region of South Metropolitan

The electoral region of South Metropolitan is a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in the southern suburbs of Perth. It was created by the Acts Amendment Act 1987, and became effective on 22 May 1989 with five members who had been elected at the...

, following Jim Scott

Jim Scott (politician)

James Alan "Jim" Scott is a former Australian politician.Born in Kellerberrin, Western Australia, he worked a theatrical set builder....

's resignation to contest the lower house seat of Fremantle

Electoral district of Fremantle

Fremantle is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.The district is located in the inner south-west of Perth, centring on the port of Fremantle....

.

MacLaren was defeated at the 2005 state election

Western Australian state election, 2005

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 26 February 2005 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...

, but contested again in the 2008 state election

Western Australian state election, 2008

A general election was held in the state of Western Australia on Saturday 6 September 2008 to elect 59 members to the Legislative Assembly and 36 members to the Legislative Council...

and was successful. MacLaren's second term began in May 2009.

MacLaren's portfolios include: planning, housing, community services, social inclusion, heritage, animals, volunteering, seniors, disability issues, food and GMO’s, sexuality, tourism, arts and culture, small business and science and innovation.

Early life

MacLaren was born in Colarado, USA, and studied journalism at university in California, where she began a career in journalism as the Chief Photographer and a Staff Reporter for two small California daily newspapers, the Desert Despatch and the Daily Press.

After studying as a Rotary Youth Exchange student in 1979 in Albany, MacLaren relocated to Perth in 1982 and spent seven years in small business as a desktop publisher and technical writer.

From 1997, MacLaren worked for Jim Scott MLC and later worked as a researcher for the Giz Watson MLC.

From 2005 to 2008, MacLaren Senior Policy Officer with the Western Australian Council of Social Service, where she specialised in policy areas of poverty, housing and sector viability.