Lee Rhiannon
Lee Rhiannon is the Greens lead Upper House candidate.
For the past eight years, Lee has been a strong voice in NSW Parliament for local communities on environment and social justice issues. Having campaigned on public transport, coal mining, forests, developer donations, the rights of workers, public education and many other issues, Lee has proven herself to be a political force to be reckoned with.
Active since her time at school during the 1960s, Lee’s record of standing up for the public interest and the environment stretches well beyond her time in the NSW Parliament. She has been involved in the women’s movement, environment groups and unions. Lee worked as a botanist and as a freelance journalist.
Lee co-founded AID/WATCH, a non-government organisation that monitors Australia’s overseas aid program. As Director for six years, she was instrumental in raising community awareness and public pressure about the environmental and social impact of World Bank and AusAID projects.
Lee also founded the Coalition for Gun Control.
Lee was first elected to the NSW Legislative Council in March 1999, and is now seeking re-election. Like other Greens MPs she has maintained close connections with a range of community groups. This reflects her strong personal belief that progressive change comes primarily from social movements rather than politicians.
Lee’s work in the NSW Parliament has been extensive:
Opposing
inappropriate mining projects
Lee has worked with communities, including Lake Cowal in Western NSW and
Muswellbrook in the Hunter, to take on polluting mine projects. Her campaign to
stop new coal mining projects is at the forefront of the Greens commitment to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to expand clean green manufacturing jobs.
Advocating for
more sustainable public transport
Lee plays a major part in the Greens’ campaign for a better funded train
network, restored rural rail branch lines and CountryLink services, integrated
fares across Sydney, more bicycle paths, a robust light rail system for inner
Sydney and no new motorways.
Opposing
overdevelopment in our cities, towns and suburbs
Lee was active in the successful campaign to save Callan Park. She works
closely with communities fighting inappropriate developments from Sandon Point
on the south coast to Lawson in the Blue Mountains to Catherine Hill Bay on the
north coast.
Supporting
forest and biodiversity protection
Lee is a regular visitor to the South East Forest protest camps and works on
campaigns to protect urban bushland and biodiversity in threatened environments
around NSW.
Protecting the
rights of working people
Lee worked closely with the union movement when the Labor Government moved to
weaken the NSW workers' compensation scheme. She campaigned for the introduction
of legislation mandating criminal penalties for industrial manslaughter and is
now working on a private members bill to protect more NSW workers from Howard's
WorkChoices.
Supporting Gay,
Lesbian, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) rights
Lee campaigned for equal age of consent for gay males. Lee’s private members
bill to prevent discrimination against LGBTI people in private schools and
small businesses was defeated when Labor and Coalition MPs joined forces with
Christian Democrats to block both debate and a final vote on this bill.
Promoting
animal welfare
Lee has been involved in high-profile campaigns include opposing the import of
Asian elephants to Australian zoos, exposing cruel practices at piggeries in
NSW, and resisting moves to open up state forests to recreational shooters.
Banning
corporate donations to political parties
Lee has driven a major Greens research project on political donations, Democracy4Sale. She also proposed a private members'
bill to ban developer donations to political parties.
Cleaning up
politicians' pay and entitlements
Through Parliament and the media, Lee constantly highlights the extravagant
superannuation scheme for MPs and has worked for greater transparency and
accountability of MPs’ allowances.
Reform public
education funding
Lee is a tireless campaigner for public education. She introduced a private
members bill to transfer the financial assistance given to the wealthiest
non-government schools to disadvantaged public schools and to improve the
financial accountability of all private schools. She also introduced a bill to
restore TAFE funding and to protect the rights of all TAFE teachers.
