Jacqueline Anne "Jacquie" Petrusma (née Harper) (born 23 March 1966) is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. She was born in Launceston, Tasmania

Launceston, Tasmania

Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...

, and worked as a registered nurse

Registered nurse

A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...

 before becoming involved in politics. She is related by marriage to former MLC

Tasmanian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the House of Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart...

 Hank Petrusma.

Petrusma, who has one child from her first marriage, has three children from her second and holds a Bachelor of Commerce

Bachelor of Commerce

A Bachelor of Commerce is an undergraduate degree in commerce and related subjects. The degree is also known as the Bachelor of Commerce and Administration, or BCA...

 (Marketing). She ran for the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 in the 2004 federal election as a Family First Party

Family First Party

The Family First Party is a socially conservative minor political party in Australia. It has two members in the South Australian Legislative Council...

 candidate, coming close to defeating the Greens

Australian Greens

The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...

' Christine Milne

Christine Milne

Christine Anne Milne is an Australian Senator and deputy leader of the Australian Greens.Christine Milne first came to public attention for her role in opposing the building of the Wesley Vale pulp mill near Bass Strait in North Western Tasmania on the basis of its allegedly harmful environmental...

 on preferences. She contested the Senate again for the party at the 2007 election, but was unsuccessful. Subsequently, she defected to the Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 and was endorsed as a candidate for Franklin

Division of Franklin (state)

The Electoral Division of Franklin is one of the five electorates in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The division is named after Sir John Franklin, the arctic explorer who was Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1837-43...

 at the 2010 state election

Tasmanian state election, 2010

The 2010 Tasmanian state election was held on 20 March 2010 to elect members to the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The 12-year incumbent Labor government, led by Premier of Tasmania David Bartlett, won a fourth consecutive term against the Liberal opposition, led by Will Hodgman, after Labor formed a...

, defeating Clarence City Councillor Tony Mulder

Tony Mulder

Tony Mulder, APM is an Australian politician, and an independent member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, representing the electoral division of Rumney since his election on 7 May 2011....

for the second Liberal seat.