Shannen Potter
Shannen Potter is currently studying a Juris Doctor degree at the University of Sydney. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours I) from the same university, Shannen worked in the public sector, including as a Policy Advisor to the Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney.
Following this Shannen worked at Massons, a boutique commercial property firm, where she assisted the team with all manner of property transactions and learned the ropes of the legal sector. Shannen has since returned to the public sector and has gained valuable experience working as a Paralegal at the NSW Crown Solicitor's Office in the Torts Justice team.
She is a SEARCH Foundation and labour movement activist and member of the ALP national conference. She is the author of recent Jacobin article arguing for a COVID elimination strategy . Currently the Junior Vice President for Labor for Refugees and a Policy Convener for the NSW ALP Socialist Left, Shannen is an active organiser in campaigns for the rights of workers, refugees and migrants, women, and young people, including an ongoing campaign calling for an end to the use of boat turn backs and offshore detention for asylum seekers.
She is also a founding member of the campaign ‘Lockdown to Zero: Health Before Profits’ which advocates for a class-based approach to the pandemic which puts working people first. Shannen formerly worked in policy development and is currently completing a Juris Doctor degree.[1]
Shannen Potter has lived in Hornsby Shire for over 20 years, growing up in Westleigh and attending local primary and secondary schools. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class I) in English and completed an Honours thesis on Jane Austen. She has previously worked for then-Shadow Minister for Human Services and first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, Linda Burney MP, and in the local government sector as a Policy Advisor to then-Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney Linda Scott.[2]
Women In Politics Panel
Young Labor Left - NSW March 2024.
- Charishma Kaliyanda is the state Member for Liverpool and a former leader of Young Labor Left.
- Dr Jesse Hooley is a 78er, activist, retired academic and was involved in the Transgender Liberation Collective.
- Shannen Potter is a former leader of Young Labor Left and Vice-President of NSW Young Labor, she is the Co-Convenor of Labor for Refugees and Labor for Civil Liberties, and an advocate for democracy, refugee rights and economic justice.
Labor for Refugees national conference
- Shane Prince - Labor for Refugees National Co-convenor
- Shannen Potter - Labor for Refugees vice president.
Labor Friends of Palestine NSW
Labor Friends of Palestine NSW November 12, 2023.
Anthony D'Adam, Shannen Potter, David Pink, Marcus Strom, Louisa Romanous, George Simon.
Labor Against War
Labor Against War May 24. 2023.
Shannen Potter, Marcus Strom, James Miranda, Bart Shteinman
Labor Against War well represented at tonight’s snap anti-AUKUS rally at Sydney Town Hall. LAW spokesperson Marcus Strom said Labor has a noble track record opposing wars of aggression in Vietnam and Iraq. Rank-and-file Labor members want the Federal Government to act in accord with Labor values — step back from the AUKUS war pact and ditch the proposed nuclear subs.
James Miranda from Young Labor Left - NSW slammed the astronomical cost of the subs, which he said will severely damage Australia’s energy transition and ability to support our most vulnerable people.
SEARCH Covid event
With Teela Reid, Alison Pennington, Paul Dutton, Shannen Potter.
YLL "Summer of Socialism"
Decheng Clement Sun, Simon Beck, Jarrod Mills, Sam Alexander-Prideaux, Cian Galea, Richard Walsham, Ella McDougall, Shannen Potter, Madeline Lucre, Nina Qiu, Georgina Goddard, Ama Somaratna, Jess Mitchell, Ellie Zelniker, Claire Rogers.
USYD Labor Club 2018/19 exec
USYD Labor Club August 5, 2018.
Last night we we were proud to raise over $2000 for the Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation at the Farewell to Gould’s Books ✊✊ Thank you to Natalie Gould, Mari and all at Gould’s for having us, and sharing your wonderful memories of Bob and Gould’s Books 📚
Gould’s is moving to 536 King Street in south Newtown, and books at the current shop will be 50% until closing on 26 August.
Congratulations to the newly elected executive for such a great start to their term 🙏
- President Cian Galea
- Secretary Zac Gillies-Palmer
- Women’s Officer Natalie Missiris
- Treasurer Jesse Krause
- Vice President Shannen Potter
- Assistant Secretary Sam Alexander-Prideaux
- Publications Officer Amy Pfefferman
- Executive Murali Dean and Lizzie!
SEARCH Foundation 2018 AGM
Sydney attendees of SEARCH Foundation 2018 AGM included David Pink, Luke Whitington, Alan Anderson, Sam Altman, Rex Hewett, Gillian Workman, Carmen Blanco, Rachel Zeng, Nicholas Harrigan, Pat Ranald, Peter Murphy, John Poulos, Helen Hewett, Richard Walsham, Alice Strauss, Amalina Wallace, Cathy Crawley, Patrick Angel, Marcus Strom, Anthony McLaughlin, Adrienne Shilling, Dylan Griffiths, Chris Elenor, Paula Rix, Don Sutherland, David McKnight, Jesse Krause, Zac Gillies-Palmer, Ama Somaratna, Georgina Goddard, Holly Brooke, Victoria Brookman, Shannen Potter, Cian Galea, Lee Rhiannon, Russ Hermann, Masih Sadat Shafai, Leila Barreto, Bob Makinson, Sally Trevena, Cat Kutay, Adam Farrar, Daren McDonald, Adrian Graves, Evan Gray, Audrey McDonald. SEARCH Foundation
Apologies SEARCH AGM 2017
Andy Alcock, Martha Ansara, Liz Atkins, Ben Bartlett, Gill Boehringer, Robin Booth, Danae Bosler, Amy Bracegirdle, John Brunskill, Matt Byrne, Libby Connors, Steve Cooper, Ray Cox, Jean Curthoys, Graham Drew, Leonie Ebert, Chris Elenor, Geoff Evans, Howard Guille, George Harrison, Ray Harrison, Kathie Herbert, Russ Hermann, Jack Humphrys, Drew Hutton, Steve Lewis, Bob Makinson, Caitlin McMenamin, Ian Milliss, Senator Claire Moore, Jack Mundey, Judy Mundey, Sonny Myles, Ian Paterson, Caitlin Perry, David Pink, Shannen Potter, Oliver Plunkett, Rose Read, Leya Reid, Paula Rix, Ted Riethmuller, Alice Strauss, Mary Sweeney, Sally Trevena, Tim Thorne, Chris White, John Wishart.
SEARCH Foundation 2016 AGM
Sydney members who attended the SEARCH Foundation 2016 AGM included Brian Aarons, Alan Anderson, Richard Archer, Vincent Ashton, Leila Barreto, Carmen Blanco, Eleazar Brixey, Steve Cooper, Cathy Crawley, Jane Durie, Chris Elenor, Adam Farrar,Vicki Findlay, Kathy Gollan, Adrian Graves, Tony Hawkins, Pam Hawkins, Matt Kunkel, Cat Kutay, Richard Maguire, Tom McDonald, Audrey McDonald, Chloe Maclean, Peter Murphy, Warwick Neilley, Paul Norton, David Pink, Oliver Plunkett, Shannen Potter, John Poulos, Pat Ranald, Paula Rix, Ama Somaratna, Mark Stevens, Alice Strauss, Don Sutherland, Casey Thompson, Bruce Toms, Kevin Tory, Sally Trevena, Mick Tubbs, Richard Walsham, Chris White, Jacqueline Widin, Tobias Wild, Gillian Workman.
"No Pride in Genocide"
Ama Somaratna, Masih Sadat Shafai, Jesse Krause, Zac Gillies-Palmer, Eleazar Brixey, Shannen Potter.
SEARCH Forum/Emma Maiden
Young Labor Left - NSW August 15, 2016.
Some YLL members attended a @SEARCH forum tonight to hear from the incredible @EmmaMaiden about her recent experiences at the DNC, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and fighting Donald Trump.
— with Oliver Plunkett, Zac Gillies-Palmer, David Pink, Tobias Wild, Sinead Simpkins, Luke Coward, Alan Francis, Ama Somaratna, Robert Lewis, Shannen Potter, Eleazar Brixey, Casey Thompson, Ella McDougall, Chloe Maclean, Alex Bouchet.
SEARCH members
In 2017 Alice Strauss, Shannen Potter, Zac Gillies-Palmer, Caitlin McMenamin, and Casey Thompson made a video for SEARCH Foundation proclaiming their membership.[3]
USU Board
July 2016 USU Board director Marco Avena has resigned with immediate effect, meaning that James Gibson of Sydney Labor Students (SLS) will be promoted to Board.
Avena, who was elected in 2015 and is a member of Grassroots, tendered their resignation to the Union’s President and CEO on Wednesday.
Under the USU’s regulations, the casual vacancy will be filled by the highest ranked candidate to be excluded from the most recent Board election, which was Gibson.
The resignation comes as SLS and Grassroots are negotiating to cooperate in September’s SRC election. It is highly likely that SLS will be offered SRC executive positions in exchange for supporting the Grassroots presidential candidate, Georgia Mantle.
Sources from Grassroots and SLS denied the resignation was a part of the deal. This is consistent with longstanding rumours that Avena has had personal motivations to resign, making it unlikely either faction considered it leverage in a potential deal.
Current director and member of SLS, Shannen Potter told Honi “Marco’s resignation from Board was not part of any SRC deal between SLS and Grassroots.”
Gibson said it “did not impact the negotiation of specific aspects [of the deal]”.
He told Honi, “I never expected this opportunity to come, but now that it has I’m really excited to have a chance to be an active and progressive board director in the time that I have. I will do everything I can to follow through on my election promises, and to represent students as best as I possibly can.”[4]
USYD O week
James Gibson, Shannen Potter, Geordie Wilson.
Conference comrades
Young Labor Left - NSW September 23, 2018.
— with Paige Johnson, Isobel Marshall, Jenna Schofield, Jack McNally, Cian Galea, Elle Lingard, Sam Alexander-Prideaux, Georgina Goddard, Zac Gillies-Palmer, Lou Drea, Natalie Elizabeth, Ama Somaratna, Shannen Potter, Jesse Krause, Sinead Simpkins.
Young Labor Left leaders
Young Labor Left - NSW · Follow December 9, 2016 · Sydney, NSW, Australia ·
Congratulations to all of the Young Labor Left members elected to the team for 2017 at today's AGM. A big congratulations to Shannen Potter the new Junior Vice President, Katherine Hudson as Assistant Secretary, Harry Stratton as Secretary,Michelle Picone and Jack Whitney as convenors and Ama Somaratna as the YLL Women's Officer.
Thank you to the outgoing executive JVP Casey Thompson, Assistant Secretary David Bailey-McKay, Secretary Oliver Plunkett and convenors Shannen Potter and Rayan Jericho. Here's to another great year!
Young Labor Left with "Albo"
Young Labor Left - NSW March 16, 2018.
Thank you to everyone who attended the New Members Drinks last night! It was fantastic to see so many progressive young people interested in getting involved in the fight for a fairer society ✊ 💪 Special thank you to Anthony Albanese MP for his fantastic speech about why its important to keep fighting for a more progressive Labor Party, and challenging the status quo for a better world 😇 It's not too late to get involved! Just send a message to this page if you are interested in joining a group of passionate young people fighting for a more progressive future!
With Councillor Linda Scott, Harry Stratton, Leya Reid, Georgina Goddard, Ama Somaratna, Kathleen Georgina Herbert, Richard Zhu, Daniel Powell, Elea Zar, Penny Sharpe MLC, John Graham, Anthony Albanese, Zac Gillies-Palmer, Shannen Potter.
Orange bye-election
Young Labor Left - NSW for candidate Bernard Fitzsimon.
THANK YOU so much to everyone who helped out on the Orange by-election today!! We stuck it to the Nats and showed them that they can't take country NSW for granted anymore. An especially big shout out to our Secretary Oliver Plunkett who has been living in Orange to run the campaign and pretty much hasn't slept for several months, you've done an incredible job. A great result for Labor!
Roy Elder, Kun Huang, Casey Thompson, Thomas Matthew, Oliver Plunkett, Bernard Fitzsimon, Chloe Maclean, Erin Richardson, Sam Kwon, Shannen Potter, James Gibson.
Young Labor Left and Labor Left women
Young Labor Left - NSW · June 3, 2016 Sydney, NSW, Australia ·
Some Young Labor Left members spent tonight with an incredible group of Labor Left women: Linda Burney, Penny Sharpe MLC, Verity Firth, Meredith Burgmann, Jenny McAllister, Carmel Tebbutt and, of course, the newest Senator Malarndirri McCarthy! What an inspiration.
David Pink, Luke Chapman, Casey Thompson, Shannen Potter, Oliver Plunkett.
Young Labor Left leadership
Young Labor Left - NSW December 14, 2015.
Congratulations to our new leadership team for 2016.
- Casey Thompson - Vice President of Young Labor
- David Bailey-McKay - Assistant Secretary of Young Labor
- Oliver Plunkett - Secretary of Young Labor Left
- Shannen Potter & Rayan Calimlim - Young Labor Left Convenors
Our team fighting for democratic socialism!
USYD Labor Club
USYD Labor Club October 27, 2016 ·
— with David Pink, Casey Thompson, Zac Gillies-Palmer, Geordie Wilson, Caitlin McMenamin, Bella Pytka, Shannen Potter, Chloe Maclean, Harry Gregg, Harrison Stanton, Phoebe Laing, Michelle Picone.