Dr Monique Ryan is the Independent Member for the federal electorate of Kooyong. With a distinguished career in paediatric medicine prior to entering politics, Monique is a passionate and persuasive advocate for climate change, transparency in government and the rights of young people. She referred to these famous words of Mary Ward in her first speech to Parliament; ‘There is no such difference between men and women that women, may they not do great things? And I hope in God that it may be seen in time to come that women will do much’. 

Monique graduated from Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak in 1984 as Dux of School. She attended Loreto Toorak along with her twin sister and held the role of school hockey captain and swimming captain. Monique went on to study medicine at the University of Melbourne before completing paediatric training in Sydney and the USA. She became a highly regarded medical researcher as well as a respected clinician. In 2015 she became the Director of Neurology at the Royal Children's Hospital and was appointed to Professor of Medicine roles at both Melbourne and Monash Universities.

In 2022 Monique answered an advertisement seeking Independent candidates to run in the electorate of Kooyong in the upcoming federal election. Running a grass roots campaign involving thousands of local volunteers, she won the seat in May 2022 becoming the first Independent and first woman to hold Kooyong.

Monique is committed to action on climate change, integrity and transparency in government, evidence-based healthcare, and gender equity.  Since being elected to Parliament, she has also advocated for tax reform to ensure government can continue to provide equitable services for the next generation of young Australians.

She believes that government must provide policy certainty, legislative and financial support for investment in Australian research and development, especially into renewable energy sources and industries.  

In her first speech, paying tribute in part to her mother Marguerite, Monique said;

“I received an excellent education at a convent school. The nuns who ran that school were feminists who cared about social justice. Some volunteered in my campaign in Kooyong in 2022. The founder of the Loreto order of nuns, Mary Ward, said in 1612: There is no such difference between men and women that women, may they not do great things? And I hope in God that it may be seen in time to come that women will do much.

I will be forever grateful to my parents for an education in which it was made clear that I could and should try to do much in my own life. We have in this place an opportunity to support education and to ensure gender equality in all facets of Australian life, which should never be taken for granted.”