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Lee Rhiannon
MLC
Photograph of Lee Rhiannon at a press briefing in 2007
Lee Rhiannon at a press briefing in 2007
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Assumed office
27 March, 1999
Personal details
Born (1951-05-30) 30 May 1951 (age 73)
NationalityAustralian Australia
Political partyThe Greens NSW,
Australian Greens
WebsiteLee Rhiannon MLC

Lee Rhiannon is an Australian politician. She joined The Greens NSW in 1991[1] and was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1999. She was re-elected to the Legislative Council at the 2007 state election.

In June 2009 she won preselection to run in first position on The Greens NSW ticket for the Senate at the next federal election. She will resign from the Legislative Council when that federal election is called.[2] A ballot of Greens members in late 2009 selected Cate Faehrmann to fill the resulting casual vacancy.[3] [4]

Rhiannon holds a strong personal belief that social change comes from social movements, not politicians.[5] In her inaugural speech to NSW Parliament she said, “This parliament makes the law, but it is the people who make history".[6]

She has three adult children[1] and lives with her partner in Sydney.

Early Years

Rhiannon is the daughter of Freda Yetta Brown who was a prominent Australian women's rights activist, and Bill Brown. Both were former Communist Party of Australia members. Her parents activism led to documentation of Rhiannon's life by ASIO from as early as the age of seven.[7]

She went to primary school in Newtown, Kangaroo Valley and Bronte.[citation needed] She attended Sydney Girls High School, completing her Higher School Certificate in 1969.[8] [1]

Early Activism

Rhiannon was active as a school student against the war in Vietnam as a member of High School Students Against The Vietnam War (1968)[1], travelling to Canberra to protest at the US Embassy and Australian Parliament.[citation needed]

As a teenager in the late 1960s, Rhiannon worked as a zoo-keeper at Taronga Zoo, and then at the Regent Park Zoo in London.[citation needed] She later graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in botany and zoology with Honours in Botany (1975).[1] She was later a tutor in botany practicals at UNSW (1975) and worked at Macquarie University as a research assistant in population ecology (1976-77) and as a tutor in general ecology.[citation needed] In the 1970s Lee was arrested whilst involved in anti-apartheid protests.[citation needed]

During the 1980s Rhiannon was a member of NSW Women’s Advisory Council to the Wran Government (1980-82)[1] and an organiser of the Pine Gap women’s peace camp, where 700 women camped outside the US military base in central Australia.[citation needed] During this decade she was Secretary of the Union of Australian Women (NSW Branch) (1980-83)[1] and an organiser for Women Against Global Violence and Women for Survival (1983-85).[1] Rhiannon also worked as a journalist for trade unions including the Seamens Union (now Maritime Union of Australia) and the Printers Union (now Australian Manufacturing Workers Union).[citation needed] She founded and became convenor of the National Coalition for Gun Control (1988-92),[1] regularly debating gun lobbyists in the media and championing the call for removing all guns from urban areas.[citation needed]

In the 1990s, Rhiannon’s attention moved towards overseas aid. In this period, she was public relations officer with the Ideas Centre, a resource centre on low income countries (1989-90).[citation needed] She initiated 'Pactok', a program designed to provide people from low-income countries with information technologies (1990-91) and AWARE (Action for the World and Renewable Environment) a schools and community education program highlighting inequity between the first and third worlds (1990).[citation needed] Rhiannon worked for the Rainforest Information Centre (1991-1992),[1] where she helped develop a campaign for the banning of imports of rainforest timbers.[citation needed] One of Rhiannon’s most significant achievements was founding and directing AID/WATCH, an international monitoring body of Australia’s overseas aid programs (1993-98).[1]

State Politics

Overview

During her time as a Greens MLC in NSW Parliament Rhiannon has campaigned on a broad range of issues. These include reforming the funding of public education, advocating for more sustainable public transport and no new motorways, protecting workers’ rights, opposing over-development, creating a fairer justice system, protecting native forests, working for gay and lesbian rights, promoting animal welfare and cleaning up politicians’ pay and entitlements.

She has also campaigned for reform of NSW’s freedom of information laws and to remove abortion from the NSW Crimes Act.[9] [10]

In 2001 Rhiannon initiated an annual memorial lecture in honour of Juanita Nielsen, a community activist who organised against overdevelopment in Sydney's Kings Cross, activity that is believed to be the motive for her murder during the same period.

Two of Rhiannon’s most notable campaigns have been in the areas of political donations and coal mining across NSW.

Committees

Rhiannon currently serves on the following parliamentary committees:[1]

  • Select Committee on the NSW Taxi Industry
  • General Purpose Standing Committee No. 2
  • General Purpose Standing Committee No. 3
  • Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Ms Lee RHIANNON, MLC". Parliament of New South Wales. 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2010-04-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ "Greens' Rhiannon quits for federal bid". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2009-08-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "Greens announce new team for NSW Parliament". The Greens NSW. 2009-11-29. Retrieved 2009-12-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "NSW Greens plot political merry-go-round". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2009-11-29. Retrieved 2010-01-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Social movements and political parties: conflicts and balance". Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal, Vol.1, No.2. 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Lee Rhiannon Inaugural Speech - NSW Legislative Council Hansard" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. 1999-05-26. Retrieved 2010-05-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "ASIO spooks spied on little girls". The Daily Telegraph (Australia). 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2010-04-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "The History of Sydney Girls High School". Sydney Girls High School. Retrieved 2010-05-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Gareth Griffith (2007). "Freedom of Information – Issues and Recent Developments in NSW, Briefing Paper No 6/07" (PDF). New South Wales Parliamentary Library. p. 3. Retrieved 2010-05-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Lisa Carty (2009-03-08). "Move to decriminalise abortion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2010-05-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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