Meg Lees
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Meg Heather Lees (born 19 October 1948) was a member of the Australian Senate from 1990 to 2005, representing the state of South Australia. She represented the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 2002, was an independent senator between 2002 and 2003, and was leader of the Australian Progressive Alliance from 2003 to 2005.
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[edit] Early life and background
Lees was born in Sydney, and trained as a teacher. She began studying at the Sydney Teachers College, but later moved to Adelaide, South Australia. In 1977, Senator Don Chipp founded the Australian Democrats, and Lees soon joined the new party. She first became actively involved in the party in 1982, becoming secretary of the Mount Gambier branch.
Between 1983 and 1986, she was the branch's representative to the party's State Council. During 1986 and 1987, she acted as both Policy Convenor and Vice President for the party's South Australian branch. In 1987 she was appointed as the party's state president.
In April 1990, party leader Janine Haines resigned from both the leadership and the Senate. The party chose Lees as her replacement. The following year, she was appointed as deputy leader under John Coulter, and she continued in the position when Cheryl Kernot took over as leader.
[edit] Leadership of the Australian Democrats
Kernot defected to the Australian Labor Party in October 1997, and Lees was called upon to stand in as acting leader. She was officially chosen as Kernot's replacement in December, with Natasha Stott Despoja becoming her deputy.
During her time as leader, the Democrats under Lees strengthened the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act, improved the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, negotiated the GST tax reform and maintained the general oversight role of the Democrats in the senate through a number of senate inquiries.[1]
In 1999, Prime Minister John Howard proposed the idea of a Goods and Services Tax. It was opposed by the Labor Party, the Australian Greens and independent Senator Brian Harradine, which meant that it required Democrat support to pass. The Democrats had campaigned at the 1998 election with the slogan "No GST on food". Lees agreed to pass the bill, provided some amendments were made, mostly to exclude fresh food and essential items such as basic medicines. The final package was supported by the majority of party members at all state division levels except Queensland and South Australia, and Stott Despoja stated she was unhappy with the outcome, particularly the GST on books. Both Stott Despoja and Queensland Senator Andrew Bartlett would ultimately cross the floor to vote against the GST package.
However, a significant number of Democrat members remained unhappy with the GST deal, and began to agitate for a change in leadership. Under the Democrat constitution, a petition from a 100 members can trigger a leadership ballot of all the members. On the initial ballot, Meg Lees was returned unchallenged. Subsequently the Democrats faced a decline the polls, which may or may not have been related to the GST or the leadership instability. By April 2001, the polls suggested that several senators would lose their seats at the elections due for later that year. The members agitated again for a leadership ballot, and this time Stott Despoja announced her intention to challenge Lees for the leadership, and was successful. Lees' term ended on 6 April 2001.
In mid-2002, Lees began vocally opposing Stott Despoja's leadership, claiming that it had moved the party too far to the left. This culminated in Lees leaving the party to sit as an independent in July 2002.
[edit] Australian Progressive Alliance
In April 2003 Lees announced the founding of the Australian Progressive Alliance, which she claimed would have a more centrist view than the Democrats.
At the October 2004 election however, Lees failed to make the required quota to retain her seat, receiving only a 10th of the required votes to get another six-year term. With no preferences flowing to her, she was defeated. Her term expired on 30 June 2005.
She married prominent Adelaide lawyer Matthew Mitchell in December 2000. They have 6 children between them - Ingrid, Tegan, Kate, Stephen, Ann and John.
[edit] References
- ^ Wright, Tim. (ed), 2007, 30 Years Australian Democrats
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Cheryl Kernot |
Leader of the Australian Democrats 1997–2001 |
Succeeded by Natasha Stott Despoja |
| Preceded by — |
Leader of the Australian Progressive Alliance 2003-2005 |
Succeeded by — |
