[4] When Democrats Senator John Coulter resigned for health reasons in 1995, Stott Despoja was the successful candidate to fill the resulting vacancy.
During this time, she built her image as spokesperson for Employment, Higher Education, Youth, Science and Information Technology, Consumer Affairs, Trade, and the Republic.
[6][2] During the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) legislation in 1999, Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett split with the party's other senators by opposing the package, which had been negotiated by Lees and prime minister John Howard.
The Australian Democrats traditionally permitted parliamentary representatives to cast a conscience vote on any issue but, on this occasion, close numbers in the Senate placed greater pressure than usual on the dissenters.
The state election in Western Australia in February, where the Democrats lost both their seats in the upper house, was particularly damaging and prompted another spill campaign against Lees.
Stott Despoja, who by this time was widely recognised and popular among voters, decided to run and was successful, winning 69% of votes.
After deciding to stay, Murray proposed a ten-point package to reform party structures and address the issues raised by Lees, designed to shift power from the leader.
At a party room meeting on 21 August, all ten measures were passed four votes to three: Murray, Ridgeway, Lyn Allison and John Cherry in favour, with Stott Despoja and her allies Andrew Bartlett and Brian Greig against.
She returned to full duties as spokesperson for Higher Education, Science and Biotechnology, Women, Privacy, Territories and Local Government, and Work and Family.
[2] During her career, Stott Despoja introduced 24 private member's bills on issues including paid maternity leave,[11][12] the Republic,[13][14] genetic privacy,[15][16] stem cells,[17] captioning,[18][19] and same-sex marriage.
[21] On 22 October 2006, after undergoing emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy, she announced that she would not contest the 2007 election and would leave office at the expiration of her term on 30 June 2008.
[29] In 2010, she taught a course at winter school at the University of Adelaide with former foreign minister Alexander Downer, called "The Practice of Australian Politics".
[39] In July 2013, Stott Despoja was the founding chair of Our Watch,[40] originally named Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children.
[45] Foreign minister Julie Bishop announced the appointment of Stott Despoja as Australia's new Ambassador for Women and Girls in December 2013,[27] a role she held until 2016.
[57] which Stott Despoja has authored a large number of essays, reports and non-fiction works on a range of topics, both during and since her political career.
Stott Despoja posits that violence against women is "Australia's national emergency", with one woman dying at the hands of her partner or someone she knows every week.
[62] In June 2019 Despoja was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for her "distinguished service to the global community as an advocate for gender equality, and through roles in a range of organisations".