Jamie Parker
Jamie Parker is a political activist based in Sydney, Australia, and Deputy Mayor of
Leichhardt.
He rose to public prominence as the Chairperson of the
Macquarie University Students' Union in the early 1990s. He famously led militant student demonstrations centred around demands for increased library funding at
Macquarie University.
As an inter-campus activist, Parker was responsible for creating the
National Union of Students (NUS) National Environment Officer position at the 1993 NUS National Conference. At this conference, he also led the formation of the student faction known as the
Non-Aligned Left. With the support of the Non-Aligned Left caucus, Parker negotiated a deal with
Student Unity (Labor Right) to be elected as NUS NSW State President in 1995. In 1996 he was elected National Environment Officer of the NUS. He was also a delegate to the UN Conference on Human Rights in 1992 (Vienna) and the UNESCO Higher Education Conference (Paris).
Parker is now a well-known activist in the
Australian Greens. He was narrowly defeated by
Australian Labor Party incumbent Sandra Nori for the seat of Port Jackson in the NSW state election in 2003. He completed an undergraduate degree in Economics at Macquarie University and a Masters at Sydney University. He has been active on Burma issues for many years and visits Thailand regularly and fund raises to support the Burma Labour Solidarity Organisation. He studied part of his Masters degree at University in Thailand.
www.burmasolidarity.orgHe was elected as the only Greens member to Leichhardt Council in 1999 and was elected again in 2004 where The Greens topped every polling booth in the municipality and four Greens were elected. He was a former Convener of The Greens (NSW)
He also contested the Federal Seat of Bennelong, state seat of Epping and Federal seat of Sydney between 1996 and 2003 for the Australian Greens. He worked in the NSW parliament for the Greens members of parliament Lee Rhiannon and Ian Cohen.
He is a founding member of the Australian Coalition For Democracy in Burma. This group is a cross party parliamentary group (NSW Parliament) working for democracy and freedom for Burma.
Parker is famous for articulating the rhetorical tactic of the "Jamie Parker Love Sandwich". Aimed at delivering criticism without undermining confidence, Parker once explained the "Love Sandwich" as: "Starting with love, putting what you mean in the middle, and ending with love."
