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Lee Rhiannon
Lee Rhiannon (formerly O'Gorman, née Brown; born 30 May 1951) is an Australian former politician who was a Senator for New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018. She was elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Australian Greens. Prior to her election to the Federal Parliament, Rhiannon was a Greens NSW member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1999 and 2010.
Rhiannon was born Lee Brown to Bill and Freda Brown, who were members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) from the 1930s and later joined the splinter, Soviet-aligned Socialist Party of Australia (SPA) in the 1970s. From the age of seven, she and her parents were under surveillance by ASIO, Australia's counter-espionage organisation. Her membership of the CPA's youth league was a contributing factor in ASIO's decision to monitor her. In 1968, she and her friends formed High School Students Against the Vietnam War. She completed her secondary education at Sydney Girls High School in 1969. Rhiannon went on to graduate from the University of New South Wales in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Botany, having majored in botany and zoology.
She joined the SPA around 1973. In the 1980s she helped organise a "peace camp" protest outside the joint US-Australian defence facility at Pine Gap, in central Australia. According to Mark Aarons, she left the SPA in the early 1980s. She edited the magazine Survey: A Monthly Digest of Trends in the Soviet Union and Other Socialist Countries from 1988 until it ceased publication in 1990; this aspect of her past came under scrutiny when she ran for the Senate.
From 1980 to 1982, she was a member of the Women's Advisory Council to the NSW government, and in the same period was the NSW secretary of the Union of Australian Women. She attended the World Congress of Women in Moscow in 1987. In the 1980s, she was also a journalist "for unions including the Maritime Union of Australia". She founded the Coalition for Gun Control in 1988 and AID/WATCH in 1993. She joined the Greens in 1990. In the 1990s, she worked at the Rainforest Information Centre, campaigning against the logging of tropical forest.
In 1977, Brown married Pat O'Gorman, but they separated in the late 1980s. During her marriage she used the surname "O'Gorman." They had three children. Following their separation, she adopted the surname "Rhiannon", the name of a figure from Welsh mythology.
Rhiannon contested the New South Wales Legislative Council at the 1999 state election for the Australian Greens. She was elected with three percent of the statewide vote, joining fellow Green Ian Cohen in the state's upper house. She was re-elected with over nine percent of the vote at the 2007 state election, taking her seat with three other Greens MLCs.
Rhiannon used her New South Wales maiden parliamentary speech in 1999 to announce her opposition to a development proposal by the Carr Labor government for Walsh Bay. Rhiannon called on the Labor Party to advance instead the party's constitutional ideals for "redistribution of political and economic power" and "the development of public enterprises based upon... forms of social ownership". Rhiannon also spoke against Australia's British colonial legacy and announced that she was the first MLC to sit in the NSW Parliament without the title "Honourable". She spoke of her family's involvement in the labour movement and acknowledged her parents' membership of the Communist Party of Australia and said she was proud of their tradition of "optimistic social activism". She reiterated Greens opposition to privatisation of public assets and to the Howard government's Goods and Services Tax.
Rhiannon served on the following committees in state parliament: General Purpose Standing Committees, Joint Select Committees on the Cross City Tunnel, a Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, a Standing Committee on Law and Justice, a Select Committee on the NSW Taxi Industry, a Select Committee on the Increase in Prisoner Population, and a Committee on the Office of the Ombudsman and Police Integrity Commission.
Lee Rhiannon
Lee Rhiannon (formerly O'Gorman, née Brown; born 30 May 1951) is an Australian former politician who was a Senator for New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018. She was elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Australian Greens. Prior to her election to the Federal Parliament, Rhiannon was a Greens NSW member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1999 and 2010.
Rhiannon was born Lee Brown to Bill and Freda Brown, who were members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) from the 1930s and later joined the splinter, Soviet-aligned Socialist Party of Australia (SPA) in the 1970s. From the age of seven, she and her parents were under surveillance by ASIO, Australia's counter-espionage organisation. Her membership of the CPA's youth league was a contributing factor in ASIO's decision to monitor her. In 1968, she and her friends formed High School Students Against the Vietnam War. She completed her secondary education at Sydney Girls High School in 1969. Rhiannon went on to graduate from the University of New South Wales in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Botany, having majored in botany and zoology.
She joined the SPA around 1973. In the 1980s she helped organise a "peace camp" protest outside the joint US-Australian defence facility at Pine Gap, in central Australia. According to Mark Aarons, she left the SPA in the early 1980s. She edited the magazine Survey: A Monthly Digest of Trends in the Soviet Union and Other Socialist Countries from 1988 until it ceased publication in 1990; this aspect of her past came under scrutiny when she ran for the Senate.
From 1980 to 1982, she was a member of the Women's Advisory Council to the NSW government, and in the same period was the NSW secretary of the Union of Australian Women. She attended the World Congress of Women in Moscow in 1987. In the 1980s, she was also a journalist "for unions including the Maritime Union of Australia". She founded the Coalition for Gun Control in 1988 and AID/WATCH in 1993. She joined the Greens in 1990. In the 1990s, she worked at the Rainforest Information Centre, campaigning against the logging of tropical forest.
In 1977, Brown married Pat O'Gorman, but they separated in the late 1980s. During her marriage she used the surname "O'Gorman." They had three children. Following their separation, she adopted the surname "Rhiannon", the name of a figure from Welsh mythology.
Rhiannon contested the New South Wales Legislative Council at the 1999 state election for the Australian Greens. She was elected with three percent of the statewide vote, joining fellow Green Ian Cohen in the state's upper house. She was re-elected with over nine percent of the vote at the 2007 state election, taking her seat with three other Greens MLCs.
Rhiannon used her New South Wales maiden parliamentary speech in 1999 to announce her opposition to a development proposal by the Carr Labor government for Walsh Bay. Rhiannon called on the Labor Party to advance instead the party's constitutional ideals for "redistribution of political and economic power" and "the development of public enterprises based upon... forms of social ownership". Rhiannon also spoke against Australia's British colonial legacy and announced that she was the first MLC to sit in the NSW Parliament without the title "Honourable". She spoke of her family's involvement in the labour movement and acknowledged her parents' membership of the Communist Party of Australia and said she was proud of their tradition of "optimistic social activism". She reiterated Greens opposition to privatisation of public assets and to the Howard government's Goods and Services Tax.
Rhiannon served on the following committees in state parliament: General Purpose Standing Committees, Joint Select Committees on the Cross City Tunnel, a Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, a Standing Committee on Law and Justice, a Select Committee on the NSW Taxi Industry, a Select Committee on the Increase in Prisoner Population, and a Committee on the Office of the Ombudsman and Police Integrity Commission.
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