Jo Vallentine

Josephine Vallentine (b. May 30, 1946) is a peace activist and a former Australian Senator for Western Australia. Vallentine entered the Senate on July 1 1985 after she had been elected as a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party but she sat as an independent and then as a member of the Greens Western Australia from 1 July 1990. She resigned on January 31 1992 and after a brief respite, has been active in community issues ever since.

Jo Vallentine grew up in Western Australia's conservative Wheatbelt, around Beverley. As a young woman she travelled to the United States and was moved to hear and meet Robert Kennedy.

In an interview in 2001 for a history of the WA peace movement she offered the following summary of the establishment of her political career: "The Quakers influenced me I suppose from the Vietnam Moratorium days because I was a teacher then, in 1967-69, when the marches were getting going in Perth, and I can remember being a bit nervous because in those days if you were seen in a protest you might have lost your job on Monday when you went to work.

"In 1978 I was pregnant with my first child, and that had been a huge decision – whether to go ahead with this amazing possibility of parenting or not. I had been with my partner for five years and we were still sort of debating whether there was to be issue or no issue, as it were. You know, we had travelled and seen pollution and poverty, and thought ‘oh, god – the last thing the world really needs is more people’. Anyway it was a bit of a leap of faith but the decision was made by me to then campaign for peace and social justice in one way or another, and nuclear stuff was pretty well top of the list. Anyway, here I am pregnant and standing at that kitchen sink doing the dishes with my belly bumping into the sink, and I heard Charlie Court on the radio (who was the then Premier of Western Australia) say, “Western Australia will be the first State in Australia to have a nuclear power station”! And I was just so mindful of this bulging belly bumping up against the kitchen sink, and I thought no way!" Later we were sitting in the lounge room and someone said, we have got to have a slogan for my campaign what should it be? And one of my friends came up with “Take Heart – Vote Vallentine” So it was all green and white, and really it was a bit smultz when you think about it – but it worked!! It was something positive, and people didn’t want to feel burdened with the thought that we were all about to be blown up, rather that we could do something about it, that we could stand up and be counted and if enough people everywhere did that, then maybe we wouldn’t be blown up. So I suppose it worked to the extent that we haven’t been blown up yet! And there are less nuclear weapons now than there were, but it is still pretty dangerous."

At the time of her first election campaign in 1984, media interest tended to focus more on the NDP Senate candidate for New South Wales, Midnight Oil's singer Peter Garrett. However, under the Australian Senate's voting system, proportional representation, Western Australia was the only state to return an NDP senator. Jo Vallentine's feisty turn of phrase and willingness to challenge cant and custom quickly inspired many.

Soon concerned about the directions of the nascent NDP, Jo Vallentine resigned from the party, held her Senate seat as an independent, was re-elected in 1987 election, and as the inaugural Greens WA Senate candidate in 1990 was elected for a third time.

During her time in Parliament, Jo Vallentine continued her grassroots activism, and marched on the "Joint Facilities" base Pine Gap near Alice Springs. She was arrested. Jo Vallentine also marched on the American Clark Air Base in The Philippines in 1989.

Her efforts took a toll. After passing on her Senate seat to Greens WA Christabel Chamarette, Jo Vallentine took time to recuperate from ill health. By 1994 she was helping found Alternatives to Violence Project in Western Australia, focused on sharing nonviolent skills with people in prisons. She also travelled with the 1997 Peace Pilgrimage, was involved in the Jabiluka campaign, successfully campaigned to keep the estuary at Guilderton free from urban development on the south side of Moore River, and continues to oppose the 2003 Iraq War, the use of depleted uranium in Iraq (and its possible use by the US at Lancelin, Western Australia) and expansion of nuclear power and weapons.

In an historical survey of the state in November 2006, the conservative West Australian newspaper named Jo Vallentine as one of the state's one hundred most influential people ever. She has recently been one of a number of women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Australian Government's intentions to further mine uranium, and possibly build 25 nuclear power stations around Australia's cities in 2006 has stepped up Vallentine's role as a spokesperson.

Current South Australian Liberal Senator Mary Jo Fisher is Vallentine's niece.

External links

* [http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/TranslateWIPILink.aspx?Folder=BIOGS&Criteria=NAME_ID:IG4%3B Jo Vallentine, Senate Biography]

References

* Loh, Suzanne. (2000) "Vallentine's crusade : peaceful warrior". Curtin independent, 8 June 2000, p.12-13

Works

Vallentine, Jo and Jones, Peter D. (1990) "Quakers in politics : pragmatism or principle" Alderley, Qld : The Religious Society of Friends, (James Backhouse lecture ; 26) ISBN 0909885311