Norman Karl Sanders (born 15 October 1932) is an Australian former politician, representing 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 splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...

in the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

from 1980 to 1982 and 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 ...

from 1985 to 1990.

Early life

While in Hobart, Sanders worked as a TV journalist on the ABC current-affairs program ''

This Day Tonight ''This Day Tonight'' (TDT) was an Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and ...

''. This was the prelude to his becoming heavily involved in Australia's nascent environmental movement, and to his directorship of the

Tasmanian Wilderness Society The Tasmanian Wilderness Society was a Tasmanian environmental group that started in 1976 in response to a proposal by the state's Hydro Electric Commission to construct a dam on the Gordon River, downstream from the Franklin River, that led to t ...

. He published two books on environmental issues.Norman, J. (2004) ''Bob Brown: Gentle Revolutionary'', Allen & Unwin, Sydney. .

Political career

He was elected to the

as the Member for Denison at a 1980 by-election. On 23 December 1982, Sanders resigned from the Tasmanian Parliament. He claimed that the new government, led by the Liberals' Robin Gray, was becoming totalitarian in nature over the

Franklin Dam The Gordon-below-Franklin Dam (or simply Franklin Dam) project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of the most sign ...

issue and, in particular, over the way in which anti-dam protesters were being treated by the state's law enforcement sector.Sanders, N.
"Reclaiming History: The Democrats contribution to Environmental Politics
'' Janine Haines Lecture, Hobart 2003. Accessed 8 October 2006. He was a member of an Australian parliamentary delegation to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

where he had talks with

Andrei Gromyko Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko ( – 2 July 1989) was a Soviet politician and diplomat during the Cold War. He served as Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1957–1985) and as List of heads of state of the So ...

about nuclear disarmament. The delegation then proceeded to Poland to meet with General

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...

. He also was on delegations to NATO, Finland, Norway, Uzbekistan, the European Parliament, France, Belgium, and China. He was re-elected at the 1987 election but resigned from the Senate on 1 March 1990 to contest a Senate position in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

at the 1990 federal election. He was unsuccessful.

References

External links

Biography at Australian Parliament website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Norm 1932 births Living people Australian Democrats members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Politicians from Cleveland University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Tasmania alumni Australian mountain climbers American emigrants to Australia Australian environmentalists 20th-century Australian politicians Tasmanian Wilderness Society University of Alaska alumni Academic staff of the Australian National University