[2] Shoebridge grew up in Wahroonga in Sydney's Upper North Shore, with his father working as a sales executive and later as a primary school teacher.

In September 2012 at a public meeting in Newcastle,[12] Shoebridge joined journalist Joanne McCarthy and police whistleblower Peter Fox to call for a Royal Commission into sexual abuse by the Catholic Church and other institutions.

Shoebridge has also introduced legislation in Parliament to overturn the Ellis defence, remove the statute of limitations and reform sentencing procedures related to child sex abuse.

In 2015, the Chinese consulate of Sydney warned members of parliament to not attend Shoebridge's briefing on human rights abuses in China's organ trade.

In February 2017 the campaign had a major success with the Berejiklian government abandoning all pending forced amalgamations in the regions.

[24] Through freedom of information and questions in Parliament Shoebridge obtained data that indicates drug dogs get it wrong up to 80% of the time.

[25] In 2017, Shoebridge, alongside Lee Rhiannon, defended the establishment of the anti-capitalist Left Renewal faction in the NSW Greens.

[28] Tom Raue, one of Shoebridge’s staffers, urged Greens' members to join Left Renewal, saying "our founding document explicitly mentions the anarchists and socialists that make up the party".

[29] On 12 April 2018, Shoebridge successfully moved the motion in the NSW parliament to force the government to release its business case for the relocation of the Powerhouse Museum from Ultimo.

In June 2020 a part-time member of Shoebridge's staff, Xiaoran Shi, was charged with defacing a statue of James Cook in Hyde Park, Sydney outside of work hours.

Shoebridge declared he would not sack the staffer due to the actions being taken outside of work hours, and he was censured by the NSW Upper House for failing to condemn the act.

[32][33] In March 2021, Shoebridge won preselection as the lead candidate on the Green's Senate ticket in New South Wales at the 2022 federal election.

The other members were Alex Antic, Barnaby Joyce, Monique Ryan, Peter Whish-Wilson and Tony Zappia.