Glenn Patrick Lazarus (born 11 December 1965) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer, and a former

Australian Senator The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chapter I of the federal constitution as well as feder ...

. An Australian international and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

State of Origin representative , Lazarus won premierships with the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

and

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

, who he also captained. He is the only player in the history of the game to win grand finals with three separate clubs, with the grand final wins also being the first for each club. After his retirement from football he assisted several NRL clubs in a coaching capacity. In the

2013 federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday, 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal ...

, Lazarus was elected to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

for the state of Queensland as the lead Queensland candidate for the

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is an Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party was deregistered by ...

(PUP). He became PUP Senate leader at the commencement of his term on 1 July 2014. He quit PUP on 13 March 2015 citing issues with its leader

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian billionaire businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, t ...

, and established his own political party, the Glenn Lazarus Team. He did not retain his seat in the 2016 federal election. In 2021 Lazarus was inducted into the NSW Rugby League Hall of Fame. In June 2021, Lazarus was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

in the

2021 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for "service to rugby league".

Education

Lazarus was born in

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...

, New South Wales. He attended Queanbeyan South Primary School and Karabar High School, Queanbeyan. He excelled at swimming and football, both

Australian rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

and especially

Rugby league career

Lazarus achieved a formidable reputation in

prop forward A rugby league team consists of 13 players on the field, with 4 interchange players on the bench. Each of the 13 players is assigned a position, normally with a standardised number, which reflects their role in attack and defence, although playe ...

position at club, state (NSW), and international levels. He was the first player in the history of the game to win premierships with three clubs:

and

. Lazarus was also named Players' Player for two consecutive

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australia national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours too ...

s: 1990 and 1994. In addition, Lazarus scored the first rugby league try at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

during a State of Origin game.

Canberra

Lazarus began his first-grade career with the Canberra Raiders in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, and was selected to make his debut for New South Wales in the

1989 State of Origin series The 1989 State of Origin series was the eighth time the annual three-game series between New South Wales and Queensland was contested entirely under ' state of origin' selection rules. It was Queensland's second consecutive Origin clean-sweep a ...

. He played a starring role in the club's victory over the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...

in the

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

. He travelled with the Raiders to England for the

1989 World Club Challenge The 1989 World Club Challenge (known for sponsorship reasons as the Foster's World Club Challenge) was the third ever and first official World Club Challenge match. 1989's NSWRL season premiers, the Canberra Raiders travelled to England to play ...

, which was lost to

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

. Lazarus played in the Raiders' victory over the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

in the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

grand final. At the end of the

1990 NSWRL season The 1990 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-third season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the premiership season, which culminated in a ...

, he went on the

1990 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France The 1990 Kangaroo Tour was the seventeenth Kangaroo Tour, where the Australian national rugby league team (known as the XXXX Kangaroos due to sponsorship reasons) travelled to Europe and played eighteen matches against British and French cl ...

. He also played for Canberra in their grand final loss to Penrith in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Brisbane

In the summer preceding the 1992 season, Lazarus was recruited from Canberra by his former coach at the Raiders, Wayne Bennett and joined the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he played the largest portion of his career. During the

1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of such length un ...

, he helped Australia retain

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

. He played for the Broncos at prop forward in the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

grand final victory over the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

, following which he travelled with the Broncos to England, where he played at prop forward in the

1992 World Club Challenge The 1992 World Club Challenge match was contested by the 1991–92 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan Warriors, Wigan and the 1992 NSWRL season's premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. The match took place on Friday night, 30 October in Engla ...

against British champions

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, helping Brisbane become the first NSWRL club to win the match in Britain. He then played for Australia at prop forward in the World Cup final victory over Great Britain at Wembley Stadium. Lazarus played for the Broncos at prop forward in the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

grand final victory again over the St. George Dragons. This constituted a remarkable feat of playing in five consecutive grand finals. During the

1994 NSWRL season The 1994 NSWRL season (known as the 1994 Winfield Cup Premiership due to sponsorship from Winfield (cigarette), Winfield) was the eighty-seventh season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs, including 14 from within th ...

, Lazarus played at prop forward for defending premiers Brisbane when they hosted British champions

for the

1994 World Club Challenge The 1994 MMI World Club Challenge was a replay of the 1992 World Club Challenge, with 1993–94 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan facing the 1993 NSWRL season premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, this time in Australia. Wigan were clearly ...

and lost. In 1996, he captained the Broncos in a game against the Penrith Panthers due to

Allan Langer Allan Jeffrey "Alfie" Langer AM (born 30 July 1966) is an Australian former multi-award-winning rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and worked as an assistant coach for the Australian national team, the Queenslan ...

being injured. He was selected to go on the

1994 Kangaroo Tour The 1994 Kangaroo Tour was the 18th and last Kangaroo Tour played in the conventional format, where the Australia national rugby league team (known as the XXXX Kangaroos due to sponsorship reasons) played a number of matches against British and ...

, where he was voted the Players' Player of the tour. It was only a broken (dislocated) ankle suffered during a

1997 World Club Championship The 1997 World Club Championship was an expansion of the World Club Challenge concept by Super League. The rugby competition was restructured to include all 22 clubs from the Australasian Super League and the Super League championships and was kn ...

match that prevented Lazarus from playing in that year's Super League grand-final-winning Brisbane side.

Melbourne

Lazarus was recruited to the newly established

by his former CEO (

John Ribot John Ribot () (born John Ribot de Bresac on 3 March 1955), also known by the nickname of "Reebs", is an Australian sports administrator, former rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 1980s. Once a Queensland State of Origin and Australian in ...

) and teammate ( Chris Johns) from the Broncos, both then responsible for setting up and managing the growth of new club in Melbourne. Lazarus commenced with the club in its inaugural year, 1998 and was named as the club's first captain and also given a newspaper column to write in ''

The Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Her ...

''. He went on to lead the Melbourne Storm at prop forward in their 1999 grand final victory. Lazarus announced his retirement from the game with five premierships for three clubs (Canberra 1989–90, Brisbane 1992–93 and Melbourne 1999).

Post-playing

In 2000, Lazarus was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. In 2003, he was one of the first four former players inducted into the Broncos' official Hall of Fame. In 2005, the western grandstand of Olympic Park Stadium was named the Glenn Lazarus stand in his honour. Lazarus spent many years coaching junior rugby league in Brisbane. He also assisted the Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos in an assistant coaching capacity. In February 2008, Lazarus was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007), which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * A US Navy hull classification symbol: Landing craft repair ship (ARL) * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. Lazarus has been

612 ABC Brisbane ABC Radio Brisbane (callsign: 4QR) is an ABC Local Radio station in Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of the largest stations in the network, serving as a base for Queensland programming – many programs are broadcast across the ABC Local Radi ...

Breakfast rugby league tipster since 2008. In 2008 New South Wales announced their rugby league team of the century, naming Lazarus at prop. At the end of the

2008 Queensland Cup season The 2008 Queensland Cup season was the 13th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition, known as the Queensland Wizard Cup due to sponsorship from Wizard Home Loans fea ...

, Lazarus, who served as assistant coach at the

Ipswich Jets The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Original ...

club under the departing

Kevin Walters Kevin David Walters (born 20 October 1967) is an Australian former professional rugby league player and coach, as well as a pundit (2017–2018, 2025) for Fox League. As a first-grade player for the Canberra Raiders and the Brisbane Broncos c ...

, was named as head coach of the club from the 2009 season. Lazarus stepped down to focus on business interests in 2010. Lazarus continues to undertake motivational speaking engagements and corporate appearances. He has also worked as a volunteer and ambassador for various not for profit organisations including the

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales which promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest a ...

and

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES, a ...

Political career

Lazarus was selected to head the

(PUP) Senate ticket in Queensland at the

and was elected on a 9.89 percent primary vote. He got to the required 14.3 percent quota from a favourable preferential tally from

group voting ticket A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a Ranked voting systems, preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member ele ...

s. His term as a PUP Senator commenced on 1 July 2014 and he became PUP Senate leader. He announced his resignation from PUP through

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

on 13 March 2015 and became an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Senator. He wrote: "I have a different view of team work. Given this, I felt it best that I resign from the party and pursue my senate role as an independent senator." In May 2015, Lazarus announced his intention to form his own party. The party, Glenn Lazarus Team, was registered on 9 July 2015. Lazarus and the Glenn Lazarus Team were unsuccessful in the 2016 federal election and did not secure any seats in the Parliament. As this was a

double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolutio ...

election, Lazarus' Senate term ended on 2 July 2016. The party was voluntarily deregistered on 14 July 2017.

Personal life

Lazarus is married and has three children.

References

External links

Glenn Lazarus official website

Career Achievements

Parliamentary website

Glenn Lazarus voting record: TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarus, Glenn 1965 births Living people 21st-century Australian politicians Australia national rugby league team players Australian people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Australian sportsperson-politicians Brisbane Broncos players Canberra Raiders players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Ipswich Jets coaches Melbourne Storm players Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Members of the Australian Senate New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players United Australia Party (2013) members of the Parliament of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Rugby league players from Queanbeyan Rugby league props 20th-century Australian sportsmen Australian politicians who switched parties