Meg Heather Lees (née Francis, born 19 October 1948) is a former member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a to ...

from 1990 to 2005, representing the state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. She represented the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australi ...

from 1990 to 2002, and was her party's leader from 1997 – 2001. After being deposed by

Natasha Stott Despoja Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja AO (born 9 September 1969) is an Australian politician, diplomat, advocate and author. She is the founding Chair of the Board of Our Watch, the national foundation to prevent violence against women and their child ...

, she quit the party to sit as an independent senator in 2002, adopting the party designation Australian Progressive Alliance from 2003 until her electoral defeat in 2005. As party leader, she controversially facilitated passage of the Howard Government's Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Family life

Lees was born in the Blue Mountains, west of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

. She became a teacher at Ingleburn High School and married Keith Lees, a fellow teacher, in about 1971. In 1974 they moved to

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital A ...

, where their two daughters were born. After both Keith and Meg became involved in the Australian Democrats, they moved to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, but the pressures of political activity led to the breakdown of their marriage. On Christmas Eve 2000, shortly before she was deposed as the Democrats' leader in the Senate, Lees was remarried to Adelaide lawyer Matthew Mitchell.

Leadership of the Australian Democrats

Cheryl Kernot Cheryl Zena Kernot (née Paton, formerly Young; born 5 December 1948) is an Australian politician, academic, and political activist. She was a member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland for the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 199 ...

defected to the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms th ...

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

becoming her deputy. During her time as leader, the Democrats 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.Wright, Tim. (ed), 2007, 30 Years Australian Democrats In 1999, Prime Minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

proposed the idea of a Goods and Services Tax. It was opposed by the Labor Party, the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and t ...

and independent Senator

Brian Harradine Richard William Brian Harradine (9 January 1935 – 14 April 2014) was an Australian politician who served as an independent member of the Australian Senate, from 1975 to 2005, representing the state of Tasmania. He was the longest-serving indep ...

, which meant that it required Democrat support to pass. In an election fought on tax, the Democrats publicly stated that they liked neither the Liberal (GST) tax package or the Labor package, but pledged to work with whichever party was elected to make their tax package better. They campaigned with the slogan "No GST on food". A majority of the senators in the party room agreed to pass the bill if some amendments were made, mostly to exclude fresh food and essential items such as basic medicines. Stott Despoja stated that she was unhappy with the outcome, particularly the GST on books. Both Stott Despoja and Queensland Senator

Andrew Bartlett Andrew John Julian Bartlett (born 4 August 1964) is an Australian politician, social worker, academic, and social campaigner who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1997 to 2008 and from 2017 to 2018. He represented the Australian Democrats ...

ultimately crossed 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 of 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 in the polls which, by April 2001, were indicating 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, replacing her 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.

Australian Progressive Alliance

In April 2003 Lees announced the founding of the Australian Progressive Alliance, which she claimed would have a more

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

view than the Democrats. However, she was defeated at the October 2004 election and her term expired on 30 June 2005.

References

External links

Meg Lees, Senate Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lees, Meg 1948 births Living people Australian Democrats members of the Parliament of Australia Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Women members of the Australian Senate Australian Progressive Alliance members of the Parliament of Australia Leaders of the Australian Democrats Officers of the Order of Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian women politicians