Tamara "Tammy" Lobato 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 for the Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 in the state of Victoria. She was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

, representing the electoral district of Gembrook

Electoral district of Gembrook

The Electoral district of Gembrook is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is situated just outside metropolitan Melbourne...

.
Lobato grew up in Tecoma, Victoria

Tecoma, Victoria

Tecoma is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 34 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges...

, and attended Tecoma Primary School, followed by Upwey High School. Later she studied for her diploma of Community Development at the Chisholm Institute

Chisholm Institute

Chisholm Institute is a Technical and Further Education Institute located in the south-east Melbourne and Westernport Bay areas in Australia. It provides adult education in a number of areas including the arts and humanities, hospitality, information technology, mechanics and business...

 in Melbourne, and attained a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 (Community Development) at Victoria University

Victoria University, Australia

Victoria University is a multi-sector tertiary institution based in Melbourne, Australia with 10 campuses.VU offers qualifications in higher education, vocational education , and short courses...

. Before entering politics, Lobato worked as a bookkeeper, office administrator, and in the retail trade.
She has two children, and lives in the Melbourne suburb of Berwick

Berwick, Victoria

Berwick is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Casey. At the 2006 Census, Berwick had a population of 36,420....

.
Lobato was elected as Member for Gembrook

Electoral district of Gembrook

The Electoral district of Gembrook is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is situated just outside metropolitan Melbourne...

 in November 2002. She was re-elected in 2006, winning by just 499 votes, but lost her seat in 2010. Lobato voted against abortion law reform in 2008. She was not targeted by Right to Life

Right to life

Right to life is a phrase that describes the belief that a human being has an essential right to live, particularly that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being...

 organisations, and her support for pro-life

Pro-life

Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...

 positions in parliament was unlikely to have been a factor in her defeat.

She has been a vocal campaigner against the introduction of genetically modified crops

Genetically modified organism

A genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...

. She questioned whether the Victorian Chief Scientist, Sir Gustav Nossal

Gustav Nossal

Sir Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal, AC, CBE, FRS, FAA is an Australian research biologist.-Life and career:Gustav Nossal's family was from Vienna, Austria. He was born four weeks prematurely in Bad Ischl while his mother was on holiday...

, was independent enough to advise the Government of Victoria

Government of Victoria

The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...

 on the subject, and has been critical of Victorian Premier John Brumby

John Brumby

John Mansfield Brumby , is an Australian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became Premier after the resignation of Steve Bracks. He also served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. He contested his first election...

 for approving genetically modified canola

Canola

Canola refers to a cultivar of either Rapeseed or Field Mustard . Its seeds are used to produce edible oil suitable for consumption by humans and livestock. The oil is also suitable for use as biodiesel.Originally, Canola was bred naturally from rapeseed in Canada by Keith Downey and Baldur R...

plantations in Victoria.

Said Lobato:

"I feel that Victoria will be put into a very risky situation. I believe that our agricultural industry will be put at risk. I know for a fact that people do not want to eat genetically modified foods."