Cate Faehrmann

Cate Faehrmann (born 17 March 1970) is an Australian politician and environmental activist. Faehrmann was a Greens member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2011 to 2013.

Early life

Faehrmann was born in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, and spent her childhood in a small country town west of Brisbane. Her adoptive parents ran the local chemist, and she attended a Toowoomba boarding high school.

She attended Griffith University in Queensland, where she worked to establish a Women's Collective on campus, and was active in pro-choice campaigns at the time.

In 2005, she was appointed executive director of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW. While heading up the Council, Faehrmann launched the Walk Against Warming initiative, an annual community call to action on tackling climate change, which drew crowds of tens of thousands in Sydney in other cities across Australia and the world.

In 2019, Faehrmann admitted to occasionally taking MDMA in her 20s at festivals and parties.

Political career

Between 2001 and 2005, Faehrmann worked as a media advisor and campaign coordinator for the Greens party in South Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand.

As a member of the Legislative Council, Faehrmann's portfolio responsibilities within the Greens included: Environment, Transport, Healthy Lifestyles (incl. Dental Health, Drugs and Harm Minimisation), Roads and Ports, Status of Women, Sexuality and Gender Identity, Multiculturalism and Animal Welfare. all NSW Greens MPs share portfolio responsibility for climate change.

Faehrmann was preselected in a statewide postal ballot of members to be the Greens lead Senate candidate for NSW in the 2013 federal election. For this reason, she resigned her seat from the NSW Parliament in June 2013, to prepare for the coming election. Faehrmann's vacated seat was filled by fellow Greens member, Mehreen Faruqi. Faehrmann failed to win a Senate seat.

In 2014, Faehrmann replaced Bob Brown as chairperson of Sea Shepherd Australia.

On 25 May 2015, she was announced as the Chief of Staff to newly-appointed Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, but left that post in March 2018, reportedly aiming to take the soon-to-be-vacant seat of Mehreen Faruqi in the NSW Legislative Council. She returned to the Council in August 2018.

In June 2020, Faehrmann pushed for the Principal Bicycle Network to be released publicly. She was commended by John Graham.

Cate Faehrmann is an advocate for the decriminalisation of drugs. In August, 2023, she called to legalise cocaine in Australia in response to Sydney's gang warfare and the murder of drug lord Alen Moradian. In 2024, she called the war on drugs an "epic failure", advocating for the decriminalisation of all drugs, citing the cost on taxpayers, continued drug use among people 16 and older, and reduction in harm related to decriminalisation.