Olivia Ball

Dr Olivia Ball is an Australian human rights advocate and politician. She is serving as a member of the City of Melbourne council in Victoria, Australia.

Qualifications
Ball has a Masters in human rights from London University and a PhD in international human rights law awarded by the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University.

Career
In her early career Ball worked as a psychologist before becoming a human rights researcher and activist. Together with Paul Gready she co-authored The No-Nonsense Guide to Human Rights. In 2014, Ball and Nicholas Toonen founded Remedy Australia, a non-government organisation which monitors complaints to the United Nations about Australia's human rights violations and advocates for the right to an effective remedy where UN committees uphold such complaints. The organisation was established on the 20th anniversary of the Toonen Decision.

Ball has worked in the drug outreach program at Fitzroy Legal Service.

Politics
Ball has been a member of the Australian Greens Victoria since 2001. She was involved in several campaigns before being elected to the council of the City of Melbourne in the 2020 election.

2016 Federal Election
Ball contested the electorate of Maribyrnong in the 2016 Australian Federal election, losing to incumbent and then leader of the ALP, Bill Shorten.

2016 City of Melbourne Mayoral Election
Ball contested the 2016 Mayoral Election in the City of Melbourne. She was the sole female lord mayoral candidate and attracted the support of former Lord Mayors Lecki Ord and Winsome McCaughey. She was the runner-up to incumbent Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

2020 City of Melbourne Council Election
Ball stood in the City of Melbourne Council Election in 2020 as the Victorian Greens' second candidate, winning office along with lead candidate Rohan Leppert.

2024 City of Melbourne Council Election
Ball was preselected as the Victorian Greens' lead candidate for the City of Melbourne Council Election in 2024 following the decision by Rohan Leppert not to recontest the election.

Advocacy
Ball opposes the practise of arbitrary detention in Australia and argues that it "falls to us to press our government to do the right thing." She has criticised income tax cuts whilst "our elderly are dying in need of adequate care" and that we "must expect more of our government."

She supports a medically supervised injecting service in the City of Melbourne and advocates for increased naloxone availability across the city as a harm reduction measure.

Personal life
Ball was born in East Melbourne and lives in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton.