Deb Foskey

Deb Foskey (born 12 November 1949) is a former Australian politician with the ACT Greens.

Foskey was born in rural East Gippsland, Victoria. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was instrumental in the formation of several national parks protecting old growth forests through her work in the Concerned Residents of East Gippsland. She later lived in south east New South Wales and eventually moved with her children to the Australian Capital Territory in the 1980s.

Foskey studied a Bachelor of Arts in English and philosophy and a Diploma in Education, and worked as a primary and secondary school teacher.

In 1992, she undertook a Masters of Letters in human ecology at Australian National University, looking at Canberra's development through a political and ecological lens, which she finished 1994. In 1996, she undertook a doctorate of philosophy in political science and industrial relations at ANU, looking at the role of community movements in the framing of the Program of Action for the United Nations Conference on Population and Development, which she completed in 2003.

She was elected to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in the 2004 election for the electorate of Molonglo, in which she served until her retirement in 2008.

In 2005, she courted controversy by refusing to leave her public subsidised house despite earning an MP's wage of over $100,000.

After retiring from politics, Foskey returned to Cabanandra in East Gippsland in late 2008. She has worked as a consultant at the Centre for Rural Communities since 2009 and at Tubbut Neighbourhood House since 2011.