Peter James Breen (born 4 November 1947) is a former Australian politician. He was a solicitor before entering politics, achieving a Diploma of Law from

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

. He was originally a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, serving as President of the Campbelltown Young Liberals 1971–1972. From 1995 to 1998 he was Secretary of the Australian Bill of Rights Group, and in 1998 joined

Reform the Legal System Reform the Legal System, later known as the Human Rights Party, was a political party in New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: ...

. In the 1999 New South Wales election he was elected to the Legislative Council. Breen joined the Labor Party on 5 May 2006, but resigned on 18 July to form the Human Rights Party. He unsuccessfully contested the

2007 New South Wales state election Elections for the 54th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 24 March 2007. The entire Legislative Assembly and half of the Legislative Council was up for election. The Labor Party led by Morris Iemma won a fourth four-year te ...

. In 2014 Breen became an adviser to Senator

Ricky Muir Ricky Lee Muir (born 25 December 1980) is an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Victoria from 2014 to 2016. Muir was elected to the Senate at the 2013 federal election, standing for the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party (AM ...

of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party but was sacked on 5 August 2014. He has campaigned over an alleged

miscarriage of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal procedure, criminal or civil procedure, civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they actual innocence, did not commit. Mis ...

in the conviction of Stephen Wayne 'Shorty' Jamieson for the 1988

murder of Janine Balding Janine Kerrie Balding was a homicide victim who was abducted, raped and murdered by a homeless gang of five (four youths and an adult) on 8 September 1988, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Balding's murder is often compared to the 1986 mu ...

Renewable Energy Party

In 2016, Breen was a key person in the Renewable Energy Party and candidate for the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

to represent New South Wales in the

Australian federal election Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory and for local government councils. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar princip ...

. The Renewable Energy Party was an Australian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

registered by the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

on 22 March 2016. In the 2016 federal election the Renewable Energy Party fielded two

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

candidates in each of New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and a total of eight candidates for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in Victoria (4), Tasmania (3) and New South Wales (1), none of whom were elected. On 1 February 2018, the

issued a notice that it was considering deregistering the party on the grounds that it had ceased to have at least 500 members. On 26 March 2018, the party was deregistered due to failure to respond to the earlier notice.

References

1947 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Place of birth missing (living people) Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub