Andrew Bartlett
A Senator for Queensland since 1997, and currently Deputy
Leader and Party Whip of the Australian Democrats, Senator
Andrew Bartlett was born August 1964 in Brisbane Queensland
where he has lived all his life. He is married with one daughter.
Senator Bartlett has a strong record on human rights and social
justice issues, animal rights and the environment.
A consistent and vocal campaigner for refugees and asylum seekers,
he is the only Australian parliamentarian to have visited every
refugee detention centre in Australia as well as those on Christmas
Island and Nauru, where he went twice to meet with
detainees.
He has also been by far the most active in the Senate on
refugee and immigration issues, initiating the Senate Inquiry
into Australia' refugee determination system which produced
the "Sanctuary Under Review" report in 2000, participating
in numerous other Committee Inquiries and being the most
consistent and vocal opponent of the many law changes which
have continued to reduce the rights of refugees and migrants.
His ongoing leadership role in this area was recognised in 2004
with an award from one of Australia’s peak Human
Rights organisations, A Just Australia.
A strong voice in the senate for the poor and disadvantaged
Senator Bartlett has spoken many times on behalf of those living
in poverty, and the disabled. He has helped ensure the success
of amendments which protected the entitlements of sole parents
and dramatically reduced the numbers of unemployed people having
their payments cut-off for failing activity tests. He
also has a strong background in housing, serving on the Tenants
Union of Queensland Executive for ten years.
Senator Bartlett was instrumental in enabling legislation establishing
the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, to pass the Australian
Parliament ensuring historic sites, including Cockatoo Island,
remain protected and accessible to the people in the future.
He has been a strong voice for the protection of the fragile
Daintree Rainforests and in 2003 highlighted the risks to the
Great Barrier Reef by producing evidence and documents which
pointed to the oil industry and Geosciences Australia (GA) engaging
in systematic deception of the Australian people while they
moved inexorably towards an offshore oil industry that would directly
threaten the GBRMP.
A former State President (Queensland) of Animal Liberation, Senator
Bartlett has a long standing commitment to Animal Welfare issues
and continues to actively work in this area both within the
parliament and out in the broader community. In 2003 Senator
Bartlett introduced a private members bill to overhaul the animal
welfare system in Australia. His petition to end the live export
trade has received over 100,000 signatures.
In 2003 together with his senate colleague, Senator Stott Despoja,
Andrew introduced the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval
for Australian Involvement in Overseas Conflict) Bill (2003)
to the senate, legislation designed to ensure no Prime Minister
of Australia can ever again send the country to war without
the consent of both houses of parliament.
Before moving to politics, Andrew worked as a social worker
with the Department of Social Security and spent many years
working with community radio station 4ZZZFM in roles including
announcer and finance coordinator. He achieved his tertiary
qualifications in social work at the University of Queensland,
where he also completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English
and Sociology.
In 1990 Andrew joined the staff of then Party Leader Cheryl
Kernot following her election to the Senate in July that year.
Three years later he joined the staff of Democrats' Senator
John Woodley as an adviser and researcher after Senator Woodley's
election in 1993.
He was the Democrats' Queensland Campaign Director for the
1993 and 1996 elections and Federal Campaing Director in 1998
– all succesfull campaigns for the Party.
Andrew was appointed to the Senate in 1997 to fill a casual
vacancy caused by the resignation of then Leader Cheryl Kernot.
He went on to win the seat in his own right at the 2001 Federal
election.
After the resignation of then Party Leader Senator Natasha Stott
Despoja in 2002 Andrew was elected to the Democrats Party Leadership
in October that year.
In December 2003 he stood aside as leader for one month after
an incident involving Liberal Senator Jeannie Ferris in the
Senate chamber. The media frenzy following this was particularly
vicious, with many people voicing opinions on this
incident and on the man – some more far fetched than others. However
Senator Bartlett himself chose not to comment on the various
allegations surrounding the incident or any of the other stories
which circulated in the press and behind the scenes , simply
repeating his original apology for causing offence and stating
he would demonstrate his commitment to staying focussed on the
important issues that affect the community by making a
public commitment to abstain from consuming alcohol whilst
he remained in the Parliament. Senator Bartlett resumed
the Leadership in January 2004 after receiving strong support
form the Party membership as well as the majority of the Democrat
Senators.
At the November 2004 election there was a swing to conservative
parties and a substantial drop in the Democrat vote. Three sitting
Democrat senators - John Cherry, Aden Ridgeway and Brian Greig
were not returned, leaving four Democrat senators in the Parliament
from July 2005.
After the election Bartlett did not comments on questions about
whether or not he would resign, stating that the
party's membership would decide the leadership, which
is the party's standard practice. He subsequently
decided not to nominate for the leadership, allowing
Senator Lyn Allison to be elected unopposed. Senator Bartlett
was elected Deputy Leader unopposed.
Many thanks to Yulia Onsman for writing this
page for us.
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