Ann Bressington

Who is Ann Bressington?

Ann Marie Bressington is an Australian politician. She was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council at the 2006 South Australian election as Nick Xenophon's running mate on his independent No Pokies ticket. Her election was a surprise as it was not expected that two people on the ticket would be elected.

Bressington was the Founder and CEO of DrugBeat South Australia, a drug treatment and rehabilitation centre. DrugBeat was founded after the 1998 death of her 22-year-old daughter Shay-Louise from a heroin overdose two days before moving to Adelaide for treatment.

In early 2006 she introduced legislation to State Parliament that would make the sale of "drug taking equipment" illegal, Definitions of drug-using paraphernalia were prescribed in her bill. It was subsequently reintroduced in 2008 and, receiving majority support in both the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, was enacted shortly after.

In August 2006, Bressington announced that she would introduce a bill into Parliament which, if passed, would enforce random twice-annual drug tests of every South Australian school student from Year 8 to Year 12.