Michael Pettersson
Michael Hugh Pettersson is an Australian politician. He has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory since 2016 when he was elected as the Labor Party representative for the newly formed electorate of Yerrabi.
Early life and career
Pettersson was raised in Canberra and studied at the Australian National University. During this time he became involved in student politics, serving as the ACT Branch President of the National Union of Students and President of the ANU Sport & Recreation Association. He also served as President of ACT Young Labor. After graduating, he worked as a trade unionist for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.Political career
Pettersson contested the seat of Yerrabi in the 2016 ACT election and received 4,817 primary votes or 0.6 of a quota. In the campaign, he drew attention for his creative use of social media. He was elected in third position in the five member Yerrabi electorate behind Meegan Fitzharris and Alistair Coe. In the 2020 ACT election, Pettersson was elected second behind former Liberal Leader, Alistair Coe, with 5,084 votes.He is currently the Chair of the Standing Committee for Education and Community Inclusion, the Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and a member of the Health and Community Wellbeing Committee.
In Pettersson's inaugural speech he highlighted growing intergenerational inequality, the importance of education, and the dangers of casualisation in the workforce.
Pettersson has campaigned for more light rail services and the expansion of the popular Canberra e-scooters to his electorate of Yerrabi. In April 2021, Pettersson put forward a motion calling on the ACT Government to improve the facilities at Yerrabi Pond following the ACT Legislative Assembly e-petition he sponsored, which gained cross-party support.
Pettersson is a member of the Labor Left faction.