Lyn Allison

Lyn Allison
Leader of the Australian Democrats
In office 3 November 2004 – 30 June 2008
Preceded by	Andrew Bartlett
Succeeded by	position abolished
Senator for Victoria
In office 1 July 1996 – 30 June 2008
Personal details
Born	(1946-10-21) 21 October 1946 Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Democrats
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Occupation	Teacher

Lynette Fay "Lyn" Allison (born 21 October 1946) is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2008, representing the state of Victoria. She was the last federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Democrats.

Early life and background

Lyn Allison was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and was educated at the University of Melbourne. She was an administrator, secondary school teacher and Director of the Employment and Economic Development Corporation before entering politics. She was a councillor of the City of Port Melbourne 1992–94.^[1] Allison is an atheist^[2] who spoke first for the affirmative in a 2008 Australian Radio National debate "Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?".^[3]

Australian Senate

An outspoken campaigner on women's issues, Allison won pre-selection on the Democrats ticket, and was elected to the Australian Senate in 1996 and re-elected for a second term in 2001.

Between 1998 and 2006, Lyn Allison served on the Legislation and References Committees for Environment, Recreation (later Information Technology), Communications and the Arts; and for Community Affairs. She served as Senate Select for Superannuation (1996–98); the Victorian Casino Inquiry (1996); the Lucas Heights Reactor (2000); Medicare (2003–04); and Mental Health (2005). In 2002 she was a member of the Parliamentary Delegation to New Zealand.

She was Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats 2002-04. On 3 November 2004, following the resignation of Andrew Bartlett after the October 2004 election, she was elected unopposed as Leader. She took over the leadership at a time when the Democrats were at their lowest ever public opinion rating since the party was founded in 1977.

On 5 December 2006, Allison introduced into the Senate a bill titled the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006, which if enacted would prevent Australia from using, possessing and manufacturing cluster munitions. Two months earlier, she had travelled to Lebanon to survey the damage caused by cluster munition use in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War. Senator Allison, a leading feminist in the Australian parliament, was also among a cross-party group of female parliamentarians who introduced legislation into parliament in 2006 which effectively legalised the supply of the abortion pill RU486.

Senator Allison chaired an inquiry into the health effects of mobile phone towers^[4] from 1999 to 2001. She also established a reputation as a strong advocate of federal government funding for public schools and as an advocate for nuclear disarmament.^[5]

The 2007 Election

The 2007 federal election, including a half-Senate election was called for 24 November, and the Democrats national campaign launched in Melbourne, Sen. Allison's home state, on 10 November.^[6][7] The official slogan 'bring back balance' referred to the contest for the balance of power in the Senate. Along with three other Democrats senators Natasha Stott-Despoja, Andrew Murray and Andrew Bartlett, Lyn Allison's seat was up for election in this round, and commentators agreed that she faced a serious challenge, particularly from the Greens, Family First and the major parties for her Senate seat, which was considered highly vulnerable after the Democrats disappointing performance in the 2004 election when the last Senate seat was won by Family First. As a result of that election where the government gained control of the senate for the first time in over 25 years, there was significant attention to the Senate contest.^[8][9]

During the 2007 election campaign, Lyn Allison announced a national preference deal with the Greens ^[10] to increase the chance of a progressive party taking the balance of power in the Senate. Senator Allison also joined Bob Brown and Kate Lundy in a joint political advertisement sponsored by GetUp! urging voters to prevent the Senate from becoming a rubber stamp for the government of the day.^[11]

During the 2007 election campaign Lyn Allison received the support of a number of community and interest groups such as the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre who gave her an A+ for her support for refugees and asylum seekers;^[12] the Friends of the ABC for promoting public broadcasting,^[13] as well as endorsements by prominent women and feminists such as Barbara Spalding and Anne Summers.

During 2007 Senator Allison also noticeably increased the representation of young people in the party, with a third of Victorian candidates for the House of Representatives aged under thirty years of age.^[14]

In the 2007 federal election, the Democrats, however, failed to retain their position in the Senate, with Lyn Allison among the casualties. Her seat was won by the resurgent Labor Party. Senator Allison's term expired on 30 June 2008.

Gallery

• 
  Senator Allison talks with constituents at the Palm Sunday nuclear disarmament rally 2007
• 
  Senator Allison addresses the ABC cameras at Treasury Gardens, Melbourne 2007
• 
  Senator Allison leads fellow Democrat senators into national federal election campaign launch in Melbourne, 2007
• 
  Senator Allison with Laura Chipp and Young Australian Democrats candidates during election campaign in Melbourne 2007

References

Bibliography

• Lyn Allison, Senate Biography
• Senate Report of the Inquiry into Electromagnetic Radiation 2001
• Nuclear Madness Threatens Us All, opinion article by Lyn Allison and Tim Wright

External links

• Senator Allison's videos on YouTube
• Vote For Lyn - unofficial blog covering Senator Allison's campaign