Brian Andrew Greig
OAM (born 22 February 1966) is a former Australian politician. Grieg was an
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Austral ...
member of the
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a to ...
from 1999 to 2005, representing the state of
Western Australia.
Early life
Greig was born in
Fremantle, but his family moved to the small crayfishing village of
Lancelin in 1970. He went to primary school there, but received secondary education as a boarder at
Hale School
Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia.
Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to b ...
,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. He studied Arts (English Literature) at
Murdoch University, where he became involved in student politics, elected to the Guild in 1988 and editor of student newspaper ‘Metior’.
At university, Greig campaigned on the issue of student fees and, in 1986, helped re-establish the
National Union of Students. He also began to get involved in
gay rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, , ...
activism during the 1990s, and for several years was spokesperson for Gay and Lesbian Equality (GALE), campaigning for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, anti-discrimination protections and partnership recognition for same-sex couples.
Greig also helped establish the now defunct Australian Council for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1993, the first national lobby of its kind focused on discriminatory commonwealth laws. Campaigns included the successful lifting of the
homosexual ban in the military, and recognition of same-sex partners' right to carer's and bereavement leave.
Political career
During the 1990s, Greig worked for a range of
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms th ...
politicians, including Senator
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishmen ...
,
Diana Warnock
Diana Muriel Warnock (''née'' Robinson; born 3 October 1940 in Western Australia) is a former Western Australian radio broadcaster, women's rights activist and state politician.
Warnock worked as a journalist with the Perth ''Daily News'', a ...
MLA and Opposition Leaders Ian Taylor MLA and
Dr Carmen Lawrence MLA, but became disillusioned with Labor and joined the Democrats. He cited Labor's ‘weak’ commitment to LGBTI reform and was attracted to the work in this area by Democrats
Senator Sid Spindler, at that time creating on a commonwealth Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Bill.
Between 1995 and 1999, he was a local-government councillor in the
City of Vincent
The City of Vincent is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately in metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and lies about 3 km from the Perth CBD. The City of Vincent maintains 139&nbs ...
,
becoming the first openly gay person elected to public office in Western Australia.
[ At the October 1998 federal election, aged 33, Greig was elected to the Senate. He used his maiden speech to acknowledge his homosexuality, highlight existing areas of discrimination and called for a range of national reforms in this area. It is considered to be the first time a federal politician had spoken so openly and strongly in favour of LGBTI rights,][ and Grieg has been considered the first LGBTI rights activist elected to federal parliament.]
In August 2002, Greig became interim leader of the Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Austral ...
for six weeks following the ousting of former leader Natasha Stott Despoja
Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja AO (born 9 September 1969) is an Australian politician, diplomat, advocate and author. She is the founding Chair of the Board of Our Watch, the national foundation to prevent violence against women and their childr ...
by senators including the parties deputy, Aden Ridgeway
Aden Derek Ridgeway (born 18 September 1962) is an Australian former politician.''The Age'' (2006)Present politics Retrieved 6 July 2006. He was a member of the Australian Senate for New South Wales from 1999 to 2005, representing the Australia ...
. Ridgeway was expected to become the interim leader, though Greig, a supported of Despoja, made a late challenge appealing to the Democrats governing National Executive to appoint him instead. Greig has been considered to be the first openly gay leader of an Australian political party. Greig was replaced in the resulting leadership ballot by Andrew Bartlett
Andrew John Julian Bartlett (born 4 August 1964) is an Australian politician, social worker, academic, and social campaigner who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1997 to 2008 and from 2017 to 2018. He represented the Australian Democrats ...
in October, 2002.
In the Senate, Greig had Democrat portfolio responsibilities for Attorney Generals, Justice and Customs; Family and Community Services; Transport; Resources; Fisheries; Disability and Sexuality Issues. He campaigned against internet censorship, and also served on the Joint Parliamentary Committee for the Australian Crime Commission and prompted it to investigate the trafficking of women into the Australian sex industry.
Greig is mostly remembered for his pursuit of LGBTI issues, raising questions with Ministers, moving same-sex amendments to government legislation and triggering speeches from all parties on how to remedy commonwealth inequality against same-sex couples. In 2003, the conservative Howard Government which had opposed his agenda, reluctantly agreed to one of his campaigns and ended discrimination against same-sex couples in private sector Superannuation death benefits. Along with Spindler's SOGI Bill, his advocacy across all areas of federal LGBTI discrimination has been credited with laying the foundations for the Rudd Government's ‘Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws General Law Reform) Bill 2008.
In 2004, just prior to the election being called, Greig was one of only nine senators to vote against the ban on same-sex marriage by the Howard Government. That legislation triggered a movement for marriage equality that would last another 13 years. The ban was overturned in 2017 and Greig's pioneering speech and advocacy from 2004 was acknowledged by sitting senators and referenced in the media.
During his term in office, Greig introduced three Private Member's Bills — one to outlaw genocide in Australia, another to eliminate discrimination against LGBTI people, and another to promote government use of open source software. All were blocked by the Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and ...
– National government. Greig stood for re-election at the 2004 election, but lost his seat to Rachel Siewert
Rachel Mary Siewert (born 4 November 1961) is an Australian politician. She was a senator for Western Australia from 2005 to 2021, representing the Australian Greens, and served as the party's co-deputy leader from 2017 to 2018. She previously w ...
of the Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and t ...
. His term expired 30 June 2005.
Post-political career
Since leaving parliament, Greig has worked as a Communications Manager for the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia and in media operations for Anglicare Anglicare Australia is the national umbrella community services body of agencies associated with each diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Anglicare is also a brand name under which many Australian Anglican community services agencies ope ...
WA and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) is a government department that is responsible for fire and emergency services in Western Australia. The department came into being in 2012 as a result of the Perth Hills Bush Fire review.DFES ...
. He continues with social commentary in platforms such as On Line Opinion
''On Line Opinion'', or ''Online Opinion'', is an open access electronic journal, specialising in social and political debate. The journal is published in Australia, although content is not necessarily limited to Australian issues, and extend ...
and Crikey
Crikey is an Australian electronic magazine comprising a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. Crikey was described by the former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular website in Parliament House" in '' Th ...
, as well as publishing articles in mainstream media including for '' The Age'' and '' The Guardian''.
Greig maintained his LGBTI advocacy, serving as the WA Representative to Australian Marriage Equality
Australian Marriage Equality (AME) was an advocacy group driven by volunteers who came together to pursue the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia. AME partnered with a diverse range of organisations and supporters across the country t ...
between 2013 and 2016 and is currently WA spokesperson for lobby group Just-Equal Australia. On 13 June 2011, Greig was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community as a social justice advocate for the gay and lesbian community.
In 2019, Greig moved to Busselton
Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...
WA. That year, he unsuccessfully stood for Busselton City Council in 2019.[ He is self-employed in consulting and works for the hospitality sector. He is chairperson of local LGBTI advocacy group Busselton Pride Alliance,][ and is also a founding member of the LGBTIQ advocacy group Just-Equal Australia.
]
References
External links
Just-Equal Australia official website
Busselton Pride Alliance official website
Video: Senator Brian Greig Maiden Parliament Speech 1999
Video: Senator Brian Greig Valedictory Parliament Speech 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greig, Brian
1966 births
Australian Democrats members of the Parliament of Australia
Australian people of Scottish descent
Gay politicians
LGBT rights activists from Australia
Living people
Western Australian local councillors
Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia
People from Fremantle
LGBT legislators in Australia
People educated at Hale School
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
Leaders of the Australian Democrats
21st-century Australian politicians
20th-century Australian politicians
21st-century LGBT people