Baroness Natalie Bennett was leader of the UK Green Party from 2012-16 and was granted a life peerage by Teresa May in 2019 to become only the second member of the Green Party to be elected to the House of Lords. Baroness Bennett continues to advocate for progressive change, including for universal basic income, agroecology and climate action and has recently submitted a private member's bill to control the use of biocides in consumer products, reflecting her interests in antimicrobial resistance, healthy human microbiomes and microbial biodiversity.

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Dame Natalie Bennett is an Australian-British politician and journalist with particular interests in soil ecosystems, microbiomes and public health. Natalie was educated in New South Wales and was the first member of her family to attend university. She has been awarded degrees in Bachelor of Agricultural Science (BAgrSc Hons) at the University of Sydney, Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) in Asian Studies at the University of New England and Master of Arts (MA) in Mass Communication at the University of Leicester. Natalie began her career in journalism where she worked for various regional newspapers including the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth. She left Australia in 1995 and lived for four years in Thailand where she worked for Australian Volunteers International in the Office of the National Commission of Women's Affairs, before moving to the Bangkok Post newspaper, where she was chief foreign sub-editor. Bennett has written for The Guardian's "Comment is Free" section and has become a frequent blogger. She was deputy editor and then editor of The Guardian Weekly from 2007-2012 and has worked for the Independent and Times newspapers. Natalie joined the UK Green Party in 2006 and was internal communications coordinator for the national executive from 2007-11. In 2012, Natalie was elected leader of the UK Green Party and she remained in this role until 2016. In 2019 Natalie was granted a life peerage by Teresa May to become only the second member of the Green Party in the House of Lords. Natalie continues to advocate for progressive change, including for universal basic income, agroecology and climate action and has recently submitted a private member's bill to control the use of biocides in consumer products, reflecting her interests in antimicrobial resistance, healthy human microbiomes and microbial biodiversity. Natalie has published her ethos and vision in Change Everything: How We Can Rethink, Repair, and Rebuild Society.