Her father worked for the Victorian Department of Agriculture as a dairy supervisor and later moved to Bacchus Marsh.

Foskey studied a Bachelor of Arts in English and philosophy and a Diploma in Education at the University of Melbourne where she boarded at Medley Hall,[1] and worked as a primary and secondary school teacher.

In 1996, she undertook a Doctorate of Philosophy in political science and international relations at ANU, looking at the role of community movements in the framing of the Program of Action for the United Nations Conference on Population and Development, which she completed in 2003.

[4] In the 1970s and 1980s, she was instrumental in the formation of several national parks protecting old growth forests through her work in the Concerned Residents of East Gippsland.

[5][6] Foskey established WTOwatch in the ACT, as part of the anti-globalisation movement that grew around the Seattle WTO protests in 1999.

[10] In 2005, she courted controversy by refusing to leave her public subsidised house despite earning an MP's wage of over $100,000.