Walter Lee (Australian politician)

Sir Walter Henry Lee KCMG (27 April 1874 – 1 June 1963) was an Australian politician and member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

He joined his father's business, and later went into business with his brother as a wheelwright with Lee Bros. Lee was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly at the 1909 election, representing the rural seat of Wilmot for the Anti-Socialist Party, which became the Tasmanian Liberal League and later the Nationalist Party.

With the Country Party holding the balance of power, but openly antagonistic towards him, Lee resigned as Premier (after a record term) and handed over to John Hayes, who was unanimously elected premier in a coalition government, with Lee as Treasurer.

[2] Unable to resolve Tasmania's financial crisis, Hayes resigned after a year and Lee became premier again, but only for ten weeks, until he was defeated by a Labor no-confidence motion, and Labor's Joseph Lyons became Premier.

His term lasted for three months, when Labor won the 1934 election, although he remained as Leader of the Opposition until July 1936.