Meg Lees

Meg Lees AO
Leader of the Australian Progressive Alliance
In office 3 April 2003 – 30 June 2005
Deputy	Reese Malcolm
Preceded by	Party established
Succeeded by	Party abolished
6thLeader of the Australian Democrats
In office 15 October 1997 – 6 April 2001
Deputy	Natasha Stott Despoja
Preceded by	Cheryl Kernot
Succeeded by	Natasha Stott Despoja
5thDeputy Leader of the Australian Democrats
In office 2 October 1991 – 15 October 1997
Leader	John Coulter Cheryl Kernot
Preceded by	John Coulter
Succeeded by	Natasha Stott Despoja
SenatorforSouth Australia
In office 4 April 1990 – 30 June 2005
Preceded by	Janine Haines
Personal details
Born	Meg Heather Francis (1948-10-19)19 October 1948 Mount Riverview, New South Wales,Australia
Political party	Progressive Alliance (after 2003)
Other political affiliations	Democrat(until 2002) Independent(2002–2003)
Spouse	Keith Lees ​ ​ (m.1971;div.1996)​
Children	4
Education	Strathfield Girls High School
Alma mater	Sydney Teachers' College University of Sydney University of Adelaide
Occupation	School teacher (Ingleburn High School) (Mount Gambier High School) (Department of Education)
Profession	Academic Politician

Meg Heather LeesAO(néeFrancis,born 19 October 1948) is a former member of theAustralian Senatefrom 1990 to 2005, representing the state ofSouth Australia.She represented theAustralian Democratsfrom 1990 to 2002, and was her party's leader from 1997 to 2001. After being deposed byNatasha Stott Despoja,she quit the party to sit as an independent senator in 2002, adopting the party designationAustralian Progressive Alliancefrom 2003 until her electoral defeat in 2005. As party leader, she controversially facilitated passage of the Howard government'sGoods and Services Tax(GST).

Family life

Lees was born in theBlue Mountains,west ofSydney.She became a teacher atIngleburn High Schooland married Keith Lees, a fellow teacher, in about 1971. In 1974 they moved toMount Gambier,where their two daughters were born. After both Keith and Meg became involved in the Australian Democrats, they moved toAdelaide,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 married Adelaide lawyer Matthew Mitchell.

Leadership of the Australian Democrats

Cheryl Kernotdefected to theAustralian Labor Partyin October 1997, and Lees was called upon to stand in as acting leader. She was officially chosen as Kernot's replacement in December, withNatasha Stott Despojabecoming 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.

In 1999, Prime MinisterJohn Howardproposed the idea of aGoods and Services Tax.It was opposed by the Labor Party, theAustralian Greensand independent SenatorBrian Harradine,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 SenatorAndrew Bartlettultimately 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 tothe 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 theAustralian Progressive Alliance,which she claimed would have a morecentristview than the Democrats. However, she was defeated at theOctober 2004 electionand her term expired on 30 June 2005.

External links

• Meg Lees, Senate Biography
• Lees, Meg HeatheratThe Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia