Georgie Purcell | |
|---|---|
 Purcell in 2025 | |
| Member of theVictorian Legislative Council forNorthern Victoria | |
| Assumed office 26 November 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1992-07-13)13 July 1992 (age 33)[1][2] Inverleigh, Victoria, Australia |
| Party | Animal Justice |
| Alma mater | Deakin University |
| Partner | Josh Burns (2024–present) |
| Website | www |
Georgie Purcell (born 13 July 1992) is an Australian politician. Elected to theVictorian Legislative Council at the2022 state election, she represents theAnimal Justice Party and is currently the party's sole MP in the Victorian Parliament. During her term as an MP, she has advocated for a number of issues relating toanimal welfare. Purcell supports a ban onduck hunting, has named offenders in thegreyhound racing industry underparliamentary privilege, and passed a motion for an inquiry into pig welfare. Purcell supports the expansion of regionalabortion services, has called for a ceasefire in theGaza war, and believes in expandinglabour rights forsex workers.
Purcell was born and raised in the town ofInverleigh, in southwestern Victoria.[3] She was raisedPresbyterian, but is currentlyirreligious.[3] Purcell is a former lawyer and holds a double degree fromDeakin University[4][5] in law and communications/politics.[6] Amidst her studies at Deakin, Purcell worked as a topless waitress andstripper, which was outed without her consent to her university classmates, which she described as "the most severe of betrayals".[7]
Following completion of her studies, she worked as a digital campaigner at United Voice (nowUnited Workers Union), a communications adviser atIndustry Super Australia, and as Chief of Staff toAndy Meddick prior to being elected to the Victorian Parliament.[8][9][10] Purcell has also campaigned against horse racing in Australia, and has been involved with the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses[11] since as early as 2013.[12]
As of 2019, Purcell was the social media coordinator for the Coalition Against Duck Shooting.[13]
Then the president of animal welfare group Oscar's Law, Purcell started a petition in 2021 opposing a proposedpuppy farm in theNew South Wales town ofMoama, stating that the proposed operator of the business had previously employed a man charged with animal cruelty offences, and that stronger regulations were required in New South Wales to address puppy farms.[14] Although the petition received over 38,000 signatures, it was unsuccessful, withMurray River Council approving the puppy farm's development application by a vote of five to four.[15] In the same year, Purcell joined Animal Justice MPEmma Hurst in presenting a petition to the electorate office ofAdam Marshall (then New South Wales'Minister for Agriculture) calling for the ban of puppy farms in New South Wales.[16]
Purcell waselected fourth of five members forNorthern Victoria in the2022 Victorian state election, representing theAnimal Justice Party.[2][17][18] Due to the defeat of Meddick in theWestern Victoria Region, Purcell became the Animal Justice Party's only MP in Victoria.[19]
Purcell was elected in 2022 with 1.5 percent of the primary vote, the lowest of any successful candidate in the Legislative Council.[20] Electoral analystAntony Green has stated that Purcell's election owed to the system ofgroup voting tickets, in which most preferences are allocated by political parties.[20]Glenn Druery, a political strategist who orchestrates preference-swapping between minor parties, has stated that he believed the Animal Justice Party would direct their preferences to his clients in exchange for preferences being directed to Purcell in Northern Victoria.[21] However, the Animal Justice Party ultimately directed their preferences to progressive parties, such asVictorian Socialists and theReason Party, while still being the beneficiary of preferences from Druery's minor party clients.[21] Purcell was not involved in this preferencing decision.[21]
In a June 2022opinion piece forThe Guardian, Purcell wrote that nurses should be permitted to prescribemedical abortions, due to the limited number ofgeneral practitioners registered to prescribe medication for abortion and the high cost associated with administeringRU486, a medical abortion drug.[22] In Parliament, she has spoken in favour of the expansion of abortion services in rural and regional Victoria.[23]
ForInternational Women's Day in March 2023, Purcell wore a dress to Victoria'sParliament House featuring a number of abusive andmisogynistic comments directed to her since her election. She has stated that while comments directed to her are often "particularly vile and misogynistic", online abuse directed towards female politicians was a cross-partisan issue.[24][25]
Purcell successfully passed a motion in the Legislative Council in May 2023 calling for an inquiry into pig welfare in Victoria.[26] Purcell was motivated to introduce this motion after footage from anabattoir inBenalla, illegally filmed by members of the Farm Transparency Project, was released, which showed pigs being gassed prior to slaughter.[26] The motion received the support ofLabor, theGreens, and theLiberal Democrats.[26]
Purcell has raised awareness of animal welfare concerns in thegreyhound racing industry. A motion introduced by Purcell in March 2023 to introduce mandatory greyhound tracking passed unanimously, with the Labor government and theGreyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) both supporting the proposal.[27] In August 2023, she organised for Graham, a trafficked greyhound with broken bones and head injuries, to meetAnthony Carbines, theVictorian minister for racing, stating that the dog was "Australia's first trafficked greyhound to meet with the minister".[28] She has described the greyhound racing industry as a "dog-killing machine", and has named offenders in the industry underparliamentary privilege.[28] Purcell was criticised by GRV for this, who argue that she prevented the investigation of these offences and did not provide GRV with information prior to speaking in Parliament. Purcell has responded by stating that she had referred this information to GRV "on a number of occasions".[28]
Purcell has advocated againstduck hunting, which is legal in the state of Victoria.[29] Purcell has stated that a key reason she stood for office was to end the practice of duck hunting.[3][30] After theAllan government allowed duck hunting to continue for the 2024 season, Purcell described the practice as "Victoria's greatest shame".[30] In April 2024, on the first weekend of Victoria's duck-hunting season, Purcell illegally entered aKerang swamp with the aim of rescuing injured birds. She was subsequently banned from duck hunting wetlands for the 2024 season.[31] Purcell was heavily critical of the Allan government's decision to expand the 2025 duck hunting season, saying it would leave 400,000 native birds vulnerable to "ruthless" killing.[32]
Alongside Emma Hurst, an Animal Justice MP in New South Wales, Purcell visited the United States cities of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. in September 2023, meeting with theAmerican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Stray Cat Alliance, in part to discuss proposals on banning kangaroo skin imports and existing bans ongreyhound racing in the United States.[33] This trip was claimed on the parliamentary international travel allowance, at a cost ofA$4,030.[33]
In January 2024, Purcell criticisedNine News Melbourne for using a digitally altered image of her with "enlarged boobs" and an exposed midriff, which were not present in the original image, citing it as an example of discrimination and "the constantsexualisation and objectification" of women.[34]Nine News Melbourne director Hugh Nailon stated that "the automation byPhotoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original", and apologised to Purcell.[35]Adobe refuted the claim that the photo was automatically edited, with a spokesperson saying: "Any changes to this image would have required human intervention and approval".[36]
Purcell was one of the first members of an Australian parliament to call for a ceasefire in theGaza war, and was described byThe Guardian as a "longstanding advocate for Palestine".[3]
On the date of the 2024Melbourne Cup, Purcell expressed her support for a ban of whipping racehorses and the implementation of a breeding cap on racehorses, and stated her broader opposition to the practice of horse racing.[11]
Purcell has said that she believes in strongerlabour rights forsex workers, calling prospective changes to legislation to expand right to work and improve the safety of sex workers "a really good thing", and has praisedsex industry labour reforms in Belgium.[37] Purcell has advocated for increased state government funding to Southside Justice, which operates a legal service for sex workers, and Vixen, apeak body organisation for sex workers.[38]
Following concerns raised to her by Deb Tranter, the manager of theCastlemaine General Cemetery, Purcell spoke in Parliament in September 2024, calling for a change in the law to allow pets to be buried alongside humans in public cemeteries. Similar reforms were passed in New South Wales in early 2025.[39][40] An amendment proposed by Purcell successfully passed the Victorian Legislative Council in October 2025, allowing for animals to be buried in human cemeteries.[41]
After the May 2025 deaths of eight kangaroos at an open water channel inFaraday, in Purcell's electorate of Northern Victoria, Purcell stated that wildlife crossings installed by operatorColiban Water were "clearly not being used", and said that the government had failed to consider the need for urban expansion with the protection of native wildlife.[42]
In a November 2025 parliamentary speech on a bill that would restrict non-disclosure agreements in cases of workplace sexual harassment, Purcell stated that she had been sexually harassed in the workplace, including as a political staffer and as an MP.[43][44] Purcell stated that she had reported the harassment, but that this resulted in whispers and rumours being spread about her, saying: "the immediate questions were: 'What did she expect? Look how she dresses. Look at the tattoos. Look at her past. You can't sexually harass the stripper.'"[43][44]
Purcell owns a property inKyneton.[3] On 19 December 2025 she gave birth to her first child withLabor Party MPJosh Burns.
Purcell has publicly discussed her experiences accessing abortion services in Victoria in the context of advocating for expanded reproductive healthcare access. She has spoken about difficulties accessing services and experiencing harassment prior to the introduction ofsafe access zone legislation preventing protests outside abortion clinics.[22][23]
