Great Depression and Aftermath Cold War New Left Contemporary Active Historical Lee Rhiannon (formerly O'Gorman, née Brown; born 30 May 1951) is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018.

[1] In the 1980s she helped organise a "peace camp" protest outside the joint US-Australian defence facility at Pine Gap, in central Australia.

[7] She edited the magazine Survey: A Monthly Digest of Trends in the Soviet Union and Other Socialist Countries from 1988 until it ceased publication in 1990; this aspect of her past came under scrutiny when she ran for the Senate.

[14] Rhiannon used her New South Wales maiden parliamentary speech in 1999 to announce her opposition to a development proposal by the Carr Labor government for Walsh Bay.

She spoke of her family's involvement in the labour movement and acknowledged her parents' membership of the Communist Party of Australia and said she was proud of their tradition of "optimistic social activism".

In 2007 she referred him to the parliamentary privileges committee, alleging "contempt of parliament" for comments he made in opposition to embryonic stem cell research legislation.

She resigned from the NSW Legislative Council when the federal election was called,[22] with a ballot of party members selecting Cate Faehrmann to fill the casual vacancy.

[26] At the December 2010 NSW Greens State Conference, a resolution was adopted in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

[32] As of May 2014, Rhiannon held the following portfolios: Animal Welfare; Democracy & Local Government; Forests; Higher Education; International Aid & Development; Transport; Water & Murray Darling Basin.

Brown labelled Rhiannon as a member of the "old guard" who caused the Greens' vote in New South Wales to lag behind in the 2016 Federal Election.

[36] Most reports suggested the dispute centred on the manner of Rhiannon's dissent from the party position and the broader implications for the processes of decision making.

[37] In the lead up to preselection for the Greens NSW Senate position in 2017 it was reported that Rhiannon had breached party rules by using her Sydney electorate office as a point of contact for supporters.

[40] Rhiannon gave her valedictory speech in the Senate on 13 August 2018, warning the Greens to "resist careerism, hierarchical control, bullying behaviour and associated leaking and backgrounding".