
Sandra Kanck
National Secretary
Born in Broken Hill in 1950, Sandra Kanck is the oldest of seven children—a formative, in-your-face experience of population pressures. As each new baby arrived the family home became more crowded and tense, while money became tighter and the basics became still more basic.
The church of her childhood, with its strong overseas mission focus, gave her a wider picture of international disadvantage, door-knocking homes with her father when she was ten for two consecutive Sundays to raise money for the ‘Freedom From Hunger campaign—an act of her own choosing.
For a while she worked through her church in addressing injustices, but when that failed and believing education was a solution, Sandra became a primary school teacher. Anti-nuclear issues beckoned her into environmental politics including employment with South Australia’s Conservation Council, becoming its administrative officer. When she was introduced to the issue of population growth and its impacts, with her childhood experience it was a no-brainer it would be included in her expanding activism.
From late 1980 onwards, after Sandra and her family moved to Adelaide, most of her spare time was devoted to volunteering in the newly formed political party, the Australian Democrats, leading to 15 years’ service as a Member of the Legislative Council of the South Australian Parliament. Since 2009 Sandra has assumed leadership roles in Sustainable Population Australia. Outside of that, her time is taken up with singing in and chairing a community choir and activism in the cause of Palestinian human rights.