[3] In 2001, she moved back to Perth and started working as a media advisor for the federal member for Fremantle, Carmen Lawrence.
[2] For about ten years, Sanderson worked for the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (renamed in 2011 to United Voice), rising as far as assistant state secretary.
[1] In August 2017, Sanderson moved a motion for the establishment of the Joint Select Committee on End of Life Choices, with the purpose of reporting on the "need for laws in Western Australia to allow citizens to make informed decisions regarding their own end of life choices".
[1][10] This committee presented the "My Life, My Choice" report in August 2018, recommending voluntary assisted dying be allowed when "grievous and irremediable suffering related to an advanced and progressive terminal, chronic or neurodegenerative condition [...] where death is a reasonably foreseeable outcome of the condition".
[11] Parliament later passed voluntary assisted dying into law, and Sanderson's role in this gained her prominence and speculation that she would one day become the minister for health or premier.
Other demands were for the one-off $3,000 "cost of living" payment to be increased to $4,500 and the institution of nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios.
[19][20] Sanderson then offered the ANF that the nurse-to-patient ratios be implemented but no change to the pay rise,[21] which the union voted overwhelmingly to reject.
[27] In 2019, previous Health Minister Roger Cook announced that the dilapidated King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women would be closed and a new maternity hospital would open at Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre (QEII), 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of the Perth central business district (CBD).
[30][31] The new site has been criticised for being too far away from the city, with the Australian Medical Association saying that neonatologists or senior clinicians were not consulted and that the decision was arrogant.
Professor Karen Simmer, who formerly led Western Australia's neonatal intensive care units and coordinated emergency baby transfers, said the hospital's new location would increase the risk of death and disability to newborns as it was far away from Perth Children's Hospital, where those surgeries and intensive healthcare would take place.
Potential changes included increasing the gestational age limit from 20 weeks to 24, removing the need to get a referral from a GP, and modifying mandatory counselling requirements.
[37][38][39] Following Mark McGowan's announcement on 29 May 2023 of his imminent resignation as premier and Labor leader, Sanderson entered the ensuing leadership ballot as one of three candidates.