Meg Heather Lees (born October 19, 1948) has been the founder and sole representative of the Australian Progressive Alliance in the Australian Senate since 2003, representing the state of South Australia. She previously represented the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 2002, and was an independent senator between 2002 and 2003.

Lees was born in Sydney, and trained as a teacher. She began studying at the Sydney Teachers College, but later moved to Adelaide, South Australia. In 1977, Senator Don Chipp founded the Australian Democrats, and Lees soon joined the new party. She first became actively involved in the party in 1982, becoming secretary of the Mount Gambier branch.

Between 1983 and 1986, she was the branch's representative to the party's State Council. During 1986 and 1987, she acted as both Policy Convenor and Vice President for the party's South Australian branch. In 1987, she was appointed as the party's state president.

In April 1990, party leader Janine Haines resigned from both the leadership and the Senate. The party chose Lees as her replacement. The following year, she was appointed as deputy leader under John Coulter, and she continued in the position when Cheryl Kernot took over as leader.

Kernot controversially defected to the Australian Labor Party 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 Natasha Stott Despoja becoming her deputy.

In 1999, Prime Minister John Howard controversially proposed the idea of a Goods and Services Tax. It was opposed by the Labor Party, the Australian Greens and independent Senator Brian Harradine, which meant that it required Democrat support to pass. The Economically conservative Lees agreed to pass the bill, on the grounds that some amendments were made. The decision led to a bitter split in the party, and it was rumoured that Stott Despoja would cross the floor in the vote, though she ultimately followed Lees' line.

After the decision to pass the GST, public support for the Democrats began to fall. By April 2001, the polls suggested that several senators would lose their seat at the elections due for later that year. Stott Despoja announced her intention to challenge Lees for the leadership, and was successful. Lees' term ended on April 6, 2001.

In mid-2002, Lees began vocally opposing Stott Despoja's leadership, claiming that it had moved the party too far to the left. Lees also began making moves to oust her as leader. With the support of fellow senators Aden Ridgeway, Andrew Murray and John Cherry, she eventually succeeded in forcing Stott Despoja to resign. It was widely expected that Ridgeway would replace Stott Despoja, which would likely have seen the party return to the policies advocated by Lees.

However, the media largely backed Stott Despoja, and for some months, Cherry, Lees, Murray and Ridgeway were widely, and negatively, characterised as the "Gang of Four". In protest at their ousting of Stott Despoja, Brian Greig stood against Ridgeway in a party ballot, and was successful. Lees once again found herself on the party's fringes.

Greig's succession as leader meant a continuation of the policies begun by Stott Despoja, and Lees began publicly distancing herself from the Democrats. In July, 2002, she announced her resignation from the party. She remained as an independent for the next year, helping to pass several major pieces of government legislation.

In April, 2003, Lees announced the founding of the Australian Progressive Alliance, which she claimed would have a more centrist view than the Democrats.

At the October 2004 election however, Lees failed to make the required quota to retain her seat, receiving only a 10th of the required votes to get another 6 year term. With no preferences flowing to her, Lees will remain in the Senate until her term ends on 30 June, 2005.

External link

• Official site

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