Leonard William Harris (born 22 September 1943) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

politician who was a One Nation Senator representing the state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

citizenship and was thus ineligible to sit in the Australian Parliament.

Political career

Harris was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and was a self-employed businessman and gold miner prior to being chosen as the number two Senate candidate for One Nation at the 1998 election. He came briefly to prominence during the 2003 debate on the legislative reforms to

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

, proposed by federal Education Minister

Brendan Nelson Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958) is a business leader and former Australian politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NA ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Len 1943 births One Nation members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Politicians from Brisbane Living people 21st-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians