Marisa Paterson (born 6 November 1982)[1] is an Australian anthropologist, academic and politician.
Paterson was born in Melbourne but spent much of her childhood in the high country of Victoria.
[3] Following that, Paterson moved to Darwin, Northern Territory to pursue a PhD with Charles Darwin University, studying the impacts of gambling in remote Indigenous communities[4] before returning to Canberra in 2013 to taking up work in a range of research schools and centres at the ANU.
She has also introduced motions on the protection and education of the ACT's snakes[8] and the introduction of safety initiatives in Canberra's night life districts.
[10] In 2023, Paterson campaigned to keep the Molonglo Valley, one of Canberra's newest districts, free from any future poker machines being established and has sought to reform the community club sector to end its reliance on poker machine revenue.