Michelle Renuka Ananda-Rajah (Tamil: மிசேல் ஆனந்தராஜா;[citation needed] born 10 December 1972) is an Australian politician.
[5] Ananda-Rajah worked as a clinician-researcher and physician in infectious diseases and general medicine at Alfred Health for 13 years.
[7] Ananda-Rajah is the co-founder of Healthcare Workers Australia, a grass roots advocacy group which has campaigned since August 2020 for improved respiratory protection.
[15] In July 2023 Ananda-Rajah travelled to Israel with Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick as part of bipartisan Australian Parliamentary Delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories in which they met members of the Knesset on national security, judicial reform, gender equity, climate change and innovation.
[16] In September 2023, in Zionism Victoria executive meeting she defended the Australian government’s decision to classify the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as “Occupied Palestinian Territories”[17] Later in December 2023 Ananda-Rajah travelled to Israel following the October 7 attacks.
[19][20] In May 2024, in Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne, Ananda-Rajah criticized the Australian government's UN vote in favour of a UN General Assembly Draft Resolution to urge the UN Security Council to recognise the State of Palestine, elevating the Palestinian Authority, saying she felt "very conflicted" and that she “had a conversation” with Foreign Minister Penny Wong after the vote.
[21] In July 2024, In an interview with ABC she criticized senator Fatima Payman for crossing the floor in favour of immediately recognising a Palestinian state, contrary to Labor party policy that recognition should come as part of progress towards a two-state solution.