Career
Hartland is a Western Suburbs resident and activist who rose to prominence as a leader of the community campaign against the storage of toxic chemicals at Coode Island during the 1990s. Hartland chaired the Maribyrnong Drug Strategy Committee for three years. She was also employed as a social worker by the Western Region Health Centre.
Hartland has previously worked as a cook in Parliament during the term of the Cain/Kirner Governments.
Hartland was elected as Councillor for Sheok Ward in the Maribyrnong City Council in 2003, and served on the council until 2005 as one of the first Victorian Greens elected into council. She increased her vote from 8.93% in 2006 to 11.66% in the 2010 State Election to hold her seat for another term.
In the 2014 Victorian State Election, Hartland was re-elected, this time to the fourth position in the Western Metropolitan Region with 9.89% of first preference votes. This was despite nearly twice as many candidates contesting the region and both the Labor Party and Liberal Party suffering larger swings against them.