About Janet

Janet Rice has been a passionate environmentalist and activist for more than thirty years. She took her seat as a Greens Senator for Victoria in 2014 and works with her colleagues to be a strong voice for a caring society, a fair economy and a clean environment in federal Parliament.

Janet grew up in Melbourne’s western suburbs and lives in Footscray with her partner Penny and their two adult children.

A climate scientist by training, Janet began her working life campaigning to protect our forests. She was part of the 1983 Franklin River Blockade, and a leader of the campaign that resulted in the creation of the Errinundra National Park in East Gippsland. Within a decade, she was a founding member of the Greens in Victoria.

Janet was the first coordinator of Bicycle Network Victoria’s Ride2Work program and chair of the Metropolitan Transport Forum in Melbourne, advocating her vision for healthy, clean and safe transport. As councillor and mayor of the City of Maribyrnong in Melbourne's west, Janet worked to involve people in Council decision-making and positioned the city as a leader in reducing carbon pollution and taking action against global warming. She even swapped the mayoral car for a bike as part of her commitment to reduce pollution. 

Janet is committed to taking action for a caring and sustainable society. Her work focusses on her portfolios of transport and infrastructure, forests, LGBTIQ equality and agriculture and rural affairs, as well as handling workplace relations in the Senate. She advocates for federal funding for public transport, bike and walking infrastructure, works to protect Australia’s native forests and the animals that rely on them from destruction of logging, and proudly stands with LGBTIQ communities in the fight for equal rights.

In Parliament, Janet is Chair of the Environment and Communications committee and a member of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport committee. She is also the co-convenor of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for LGBTIQ Australians, the Amnesty International Parliamentary Group and the Parliamentary Friends of Women's Australian Rules Football.