SA’s Labor senator Charlotte Walker, 21, packs her bags for senate school in Canberra

Charlotte Walker, 21, is catching a red-eye flight to Canberra on Tuesday morning for her first official duties as SA’s youngest senator.

SA’s new 21-year-old federal pollie is catching a red eye flight to Canberra on Tuesday for the start of senate school.

Labor’s Charlotte Walker, who celebrated her 21st birthday on the May 3 election day, has been “taken under the wing” of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and fellow Labor senator Karen Grogan after her shock win of the sixth SA senate spot.

Now the former Australian Services Union staffer and young Labor president has purchased a new suitcase and parliamentary wardrobe ready to join politicians for a week in Canberra dedicated to learning about how the federal senate operates.

“At 21 I think first and foremost I want to represent youth voices, I have a unique perspective, I know what it’s like being young right now,” she said, listing cost of living among the most pressing issues facing the government.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and fellow Labor senator Karen Grogan will take Australia’s youngest senator Charlotte Walker under their wing. Picture: Brett Hartwig.

Ms Walker, who is planning to soon move into an Adelaide home with her partner, only shifted from her hometown of Yankalilla on the Fleurieu Peninsula to the city this year.

She believed Labor’s policies around cutting higher education contributions for university students by 20 per cent and a commitment for all first homebuyers to only need a five per cent home deposit would resonate.

Her own house deposit savings were likely to win a boost with her new salary of more than $200,000 annually for a six-year term in parliament.

Ms Walker is the first Australian parliamentarian to be born in this millennium, a time she believed was unsettling for younger citizens facing a barrage of overseas news about ongoing conflicts.

But she promised “to take things one step at a time” when asked whether this meant there was interest in the foreign affairs portfolio.

Recruitment is well underway for her allotted five full time staff with Ms Walker planning to soon move into commonwealth offices on King William Street that would be vacated by outgoing Liberal senator David Fawcett.

After more than three weeks waiting on vote counting, SA's Charlotte Walker, who turned 21 on federal election day, won a seat in the Senate. Picture: Supplied

Ms Walker, who turned 21 on federal election day, has become the youngest senator. Picture: Supplied

It will be Ms Walker’s third trip to Canberra in her life this week with the next scheduled for July 22 for the new federal parliament sitting week.

She won a senate spot to represent SA behind Labor’s Marielle Smith, Liberal’s Alex Antic, the Greens Sarah Hanson-Young, Labor’s Karen Grogan and the Liberal’s Anne Ruston.

Her record-breaking senate age of 21 years of age was only bettered by Wyatt Roy when he won the Queensland electorate of Longman for the Liberal National Party in 2010 aged 20.

Ms Stott Despoja was the youngest candidate to win a senate spot in 1995 at the age of 26, Ms Hanson-Young beat the record aged 25 in 2008, while Western Australian Greens senator Jordan Steele-John was elected in 2019 aged 23.

Originally published as SA’s Labor senator Charlotte Walker, 21, packs her bags for senate school in Canberra