Brian Harradine

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Brian Harradine (born January 9, 1935), Australian politician, was an independent member of the Australian Senate from 1975 to 2005, representing the state of Tasmania. He was the longest-serving independent federal politician in Australian history. [1]

He was born in Quorn, South Australia before moving to Tasmania in 1959. Harradine worked as an official for the Federated Clerks Union and then went on to serve as Secretary General of the Tasmanian Trades and Labour Council between 1964 and 1976 and by virtue of this position, a member of the executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. While a member of the Australian Labor Party, Harradine's social conservative politics driven by his Roman Catholic background made him a prime target for accusations of sympathy for the Democratic Labor Party. His own accusation, in 1968, that 'friends of communists' were out to get him led to a bitter fight and he was expelled from the ALP by the Federal Executive.

He decided to contest the 1975 election as an independent for the Senate and he won comfortably. Harradine then went on to continuously hold a Senate seat until deciding not to contest the 2004 election. His term expired on 30 June 2005. At his retirement he was the longest-serving member of the Senate.

Harradine was a particularly important figure in the Senate between 1994 and 1999. (See Australian Senate#Historical for the Senate numbers). Between December 1994 and March 1996, the makeup of the Senate meant that Harradine's vote combined with that of Labor and the Australian Democrats was just enough to pass Labor government legislation, making his support extremely valuable to either side of politics. Then after the March 1996 elections, and the resignation from the Labor party by Mal Colston, Harradine's and Colston's votes were sufficient to pass Coalition legislation, notably the Native Title Amendment Act 1998 (also known as the "Wik 10 Point Plan"), and the partial privatisation of Telstra. After 1 July 1999, the Coalition needed 4 extra votes to pass Senate legislation, so Harradine's vote became less important.