Len Harris (politician)

Leonard William Harris (born 22 September 1943)^[1] is an Australian politician who was a One Nation Senator representing the state of Queensland from 1999 until 2005. He took his seat in September 1999, after a successful challenge to the election in October 1998 of Heather Hill, on the basis that, although a naturalised Australian, she had not renounced her childhood United Kingdom citizenship and was thus ineligible to sit in the Australian Parliament.^[2]

Len Harris
Senator for Queensland
In office 2 July 1999 – 30 June 2005
Preceded by	Heather Hill
Succeeded by	Barnaby Joyce
Personal details
Born	(1943-09-22) 22 September 1943 (age 81) Brisbane, Queensland
Nationality	Australian
Political party	The Silent Majority (since 2021)
Other political affiliations	One Nation
Occupation	Businessman

Political career

Harris was born in Brisbane and was a self-employed businessman and gold miner.^[3] Prior to being chosen as the number two Senate candidate for One Nation at the 1998 election, he was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1997 Australian Constitutional Convention election, running as an ungrouped candidate on the "Retention of the Existing Constitution" ticket.^[4] He came briefly to prominence during the 2003 debate on the legislative reforms to tertiary education, proposed by federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson. After initially indicating he would vote against the legislation, Harris later changed his mind and allowed the reform package to pass, much to the annoyance of student organisations.^[5]

By the time of the 2004 election One Nation was seriously in decline, and Harris was expected to struggle to retain his seat.^[6] With a drastic fall in the One Nation vote nationally, he lost his seat,^[7] polling only 0.2 of a quota.^[8] His term expired on 30 June 2005.

References

1. "The 40th Parliament Senators and Members, by Date of Birth". Parliament of Australia Parliamentary Library. 1 April 2004. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
2. Michael Leach; Geoff Stokes; Ian Ward (2000). The Rise and Fall of One Nation. Univ. of Queensland Press. p. 83. ISBN 0-7022-3136-3.
3. Margo Kingston (3 October 2003). "Carmen, Len, Harry and Peter - Web Diary's unholy public education alliance". Sydney Morning Herald.
4. "Constitutional Convention Report" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. 2 February 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2024.
5. Roslyn Guy (27 September 2003). "Academia on the defensive". ABC news. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
6. Scott Bennett (22 March 2004). "Queensland election 2004" (PDF). Current Issues Brief. PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
7. "Qld Senate result could take time". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 October 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
8. Nick Economou (December 2006). "A Right-of-Centre Triumph: The 2004 Australian Half-Senate Election". Australian Journal of Political Science. 41 (4): 501–516. doi:10.1080/10361140600959742. S2CID 153999759.