Amanda Jane Stoker ( Fell; born 30 October 1982) is an Australian politician who served as an Senator for Queensland from 2018 until 2022. She is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) and sat with the Liberal Party in federal parliament. She was appointed to the Senate after the retirement of George Brandis. Stoker held the ministerial portfolios of Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General, Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations and Assistant Minister for Women in the Morrison government. Stoker was unsuccessful in her re-election bid in the 2022 federal election and departed the Senate on 30 June 2022.
Early life and education
Stoker was born in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool to working-class parents, Mark and Cornelia Ingrid Fell. Her father was born in Australia and her mother in Sweden. She grew up in Campbelltown, an outer-southern suburb of Sydney. In her first speech in the Senate she explained: "My dad is a plumber, drainer, gas fitter. He had his own small business. My mum worked in a shop as a retail assistant." She completed her HSC at Hurlstone Agricultural High School before studying arts and law at Sydney University, graduating with first-class honours.
Legal career
Stoker began her career as a clerk and solicitor in Brisbane with Minter Ellison in 2006. She went on to serve as a Commonwealth prosecutor, as well as a judge's associate to Philip McMurdo in the Supreme Court of Queensland, and to Ian Callinan in the High Court of Australia.
Prior to her appointment to the Senate, Stoker was a member of Level Twenty-Seven Chambers and a sessional academic at Central Queensland University. She was vice-president of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland from 2016 to 2018.
During her legal career, Stoker had a particular interest in administrative law and statutory interpretation.
From 2014 to 2018, Stoker was a director at the non-profit, Brisbane-based conservative think tank, the Australian Institute for Progress (AIP). During her time there, the AIP was a critic of anti-mining advocacy groups holding charitable status, and hosted a visit to Brisbane by climate science denier Patrick Moore. Also during Stoker's time, the AIP opposed tobacco plain packaging and criticised the World Health Organization's proposed international convention on tobacco.
Political career
In 2010, Stoker was the treasurer of the Young LNP. She was concurrently a member of the Liberal National Party Policy Standing Committee and chair of the Media and Communications Policy Committee from 2009 to 2016. Stoker unsuccessfully sought LNP pre-selection for the electoral district of Cleveland at the 2009 Queensland state election, and was an unsuccessful LNP Senate candidate at the 2013 federal election. She was a member of the party's state executive from 2014 to 2017.
On 10 March 2018, the Queensland LNP chose Stoker from a field of 12 candidates to succeed high-profile cabinet member George Brandis as a senator for Queensland. Endorsed by the LNP State Executive Council, she did not face a vote by rank-and-file members. The Australian reported that LNP members were threatening to push for gender quotas if the party did not preselect a woman, and the Daily Mercury reported that LNP sources had said Stoker was one of the standouts, because she was based in Brisbane and would also increase the LNP's percentage of females. The LNP president denied gender was a motive, saying Stoker was chosen on merit. Stoker was appointed to the casual vacancy left by Brandis on 21 March 2018 and she was sworn in as a senator the following day. Prior to Stoker's appointment to the senate, all federal LNP senators were men.
On 22 December 2020, Stoker was appointed as the Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General. On 30 March 2021, she was appointed to additional positions of Assistant Minister for Women and Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations. In reference to her elevation Prime Minister Morrison said: "she's one of the most bright and intelligent people to come into this Parliament and I was thrilled to be able to bring her into the Executive so early in her Parliamentary career". Grace Tame, named 2021 Australian of the Year for her advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, criticised Morrison's appointment of Stoker to Assistant Minister for Women saying he had exhibited either very poor judgment, or cultural calculation in elevating a conservative who had "aimed at falsifying all counts of sexual abuse on campuses across the nation". Stoker said Tame's comments were "passionate but not informed", adding the comments did not correspond with Stoker's long history of work in the area of women's safety.