Lee Rhiannon

Lee Rhiannon MLC
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
In office 27 March 1999 – 19 July 2010
Personal details
Born	(1951-05-30) 30 May 1951
Nationality	Australian
Political party	The Greens NSW
Website	Lee Rhiannon MLC

Lee Rhiannon is an Australian politician. She joined The Greens NSW in 1991 and was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1999 where she joined Ian Cohen, the first Greens MP in NSW. She was re-elected to the Legislative Council at the 2007 state election along with John Kaye, bringing Greens numbers in the Council to four. Sylvia Hale had been elected in 2003.

Lee Rhiannon at a press briefing in 2007

In June 2009 she won preselection to run in first position on The Greens NSW ticket for the Senate at the 2010 Federal Election. She resigned from the Legislative Council when that federal election was called. A ballot of Greens members in late 2009 selected Cate Faehrmann to fill the resulting casual vacancy.

She is the daughter of Freda Brown who was a prominent Australian women's rights activist and a former Communist Party of Australia member. Her mothers activism led to documentation of Rhiannon's life by ASIO from as early as the age of seven.

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

Rhiannon has three adult children and lives with her partner in Sydney.

Community Activity

Social Justice

In the 1960s, Lee was active as a school student against the war in Vietnam, travelling to Canberra to protest at the US Embassy and Australian Parliament. In the 1970s, Lee was involved in anti-apartheid protests and arrested. She was a founder of the Coalition for Gun Control in 1988, where she regularly debated gun lobbyists in the media and championed the call for all guns out of urban areas. In the 1990s, her attention moved towards overseas aid. In this period, she was public relations officer with the Ideas Centre, a resource centre on low income countries. She also initiated 'Pactok', a program designed to provide people from low income countries with information technologies. One of her greatest achievements was the founding of AID/WATCH, an international monitoring body of Australia’s overseas aid program. The organisation is now widely respected for its vigorous scrutiny of projects undertaken by the World Bank and AusAID.

Environmental Issues

In the late 1960s, Lee began work as a zoo-keeper at Taronga Zoo, and then at the Regent Park Zoo in London. She later graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in botany and zoology with Honours in botany. In the 1990s, Lee began campaigning with the Rainforest Information Centre, where she helped to develop a campaign for the banning of imports of rainforest timbers.

Women's Rights

In the 1970s, Lee began her involvement in the women’s movement, and during the 1980s was a member of NSW Women’s Advisory Council to State Government and an organiser of the Pine Gap women’s peace camp, where 700 women camped outside the US military base in central Australia.

Current Parliamentary Activity

She currently serves on the following committees:

• 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

External links

• Lee Rhiannon MLC