Andrew Bartlett
Encyclopedia
Andrew John Julian Bartlett (born 4 August 1964) is an Australian politician. He was formerly an Australian Democrats
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...

 member of the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 from 1997 to 2008, representing the state of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. He was the leader of the Democrats from 2002 to 2004, and deputy leader from 2004 to 2008.

Early life and background

Bartlett was born in Brisbane, where he has lived all his life. He is married with one daughter. Andrew is of Irish, Swiss, English and Greek origins, including his great-great-grandfather
George North (Tramountanas)
George Tramountanas , anglicised as George North in 1858, was the first settler of Greek origin in South Australia. The Greek Orthodox community of South Australia regards North as their Pioneering Grandfather....

 claimed to be the first Greek settler in Australia, arriving in Adelaide in 1840. He was educated at the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...

, where he graduated in arts and social work. Before entering politics, Bartlett was a social worker with the Department of Social Security, and worked with alternative radio station, 4ZZZFM, in roles including announcer and finance coordinator. A big modern music fan, he played in a number of local rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 bands
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

, as a drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 and keyboard player. On his personal blog, Bartlett has noted that he is a fan of both Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...

 and Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

. Bartlett is active on animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...

 issues, and considers himself an atheist.

In 1990, Bartlett joined the staff of Queensland senator Cheryl Kernot
Cheryl Kernot
Cheryl Kernot is an Australian politician, academic, and political activist. She was a member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland for the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 1997, and the fifth leader of the Australian Democrats from 1993 to 1997...

. Three years later, he joined the staff of Democrats senator John Woodley
John Woodley
John Woodley is a Christian Minister of religion and was a Senator representing the state of Queensland, Australia, in the Australian Senate.-Education:...

 as an adviser and researcher. He was the Democrats' Queensland campaign director for the 1993 and 1996 elections and federal campaign director in 1998. Bartlett was appointed in 1997 to the Senate casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Kernot, and was elected for a six-year term at the 2001 federal election.

Service in the Australian Senate

A consistent and vocal campaigner for refugees and asylum seekers
Mandatory detention in Australia
Mandatory detention in Australia concerns the Australian federal government's policy and system of mandatory immigration detention active from 1992 to date, pursuant to which all persons entering the country without a valid visa are compulsorily detained and sometimes subject to deportation.In the...

, Bartlett was the only Australian parliamentarian to have visited every refugee detention centre in Australia, as well as those on Christmas Island
Christmas Island
The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....

 and Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...

 (detention centres off the Australian mainland, see Australia's Pacific Solution
Pacific Solution
The Pacific Solution was the name given to the Australian government policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland...

) where he went four times to meet with detainees.

Bartlett initiated the Senate Inquiry into Australia's refugee determination system which produced the "Sanctuary Under Review" report in 2000, and has participated in numerous other committee inquiries into immigration matters.

Bartlett has spoken many times on behalf of those living in poverty, as well as the physically and mentally disabled
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...

. He also takes a close interest in the environment and animal welfare. In 2003 he introduced a private member's bill to overhaul the animal welfare system in Australia. His petition to end the live sheep export trade has received well over 100,000 signatures.

Bartlett was a strong opponent of Australia's involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

. He introduced a private member's bill designed to ensure no Prime Minister of Australia could again send the country to war without the consent of both houses of parliament. When the bill was debated in the Senate, speakers from both major parties indicated their opposition to it, although there was no formal vote taken.

Bartlett has also campaigned strongly for gay rights. In 2004, he cried in the Senate chamber over a proposed law to define marriage as between a man and a woman, which he called an "absolute disgrace".

Bartlett co-sponsored the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006
Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006
The Cluster Munitions Bill 2006 is a bill for an act to ensure that civilians in conflict zones are not maimed, killed or put at risk as a result of Australians possessing, using or manufacturing cluster munitions. Senator Lyn Allison, leader of the Australian Democrats, introduced the bill into...

, which was introduced into the Senate on 5 December 2006. If enacted, it would prevent Australia from using, manufacturing or possessing cluster munitions.

Leader of the Australian Democrats

After the resignation of then party Senate leader Natasha Stott Despoja
Natasha Stott Despoja
Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja AM is an Australian former politician and former leader of the Australian Democrats. She was a Democrats senator for South Australia from 1995 to 2008...

 on 21 August 2002, Bartlett was elected to the Democrats Party leadership in October, supplanting pro tem. incumbent Brian Greig
Brian Greig
Brian Andrew Greig OAM , Australian politician, was an Australian Democrats member of the Australian Senate from 1999 to 2005, representing the state of Western Australia....

.

To a degree, Bartlett stabilised the Democrats' troubled party room and spoke strongly against the Government's maltreatment of refugees and maladministration of the Department of Immigration. He also oversaw the Democrat senators' use of their potential balance of power
Balance of power (parliament)
In parliamentary politics, the term balance of power sometimes describes the pragmatic mechanism exercised by a minor political party or other grouping whose guaranteed support may enable an otherwise minority government to obtain and hold office...

 role to influence increased funding for Medicare
Medicare (Australia)
Medicare is Australia's publicly funded universal health care system, operated by the government authority Medicare Australia. Medicare is intended to provide affordable treatment by doctors and in public hospitals for all resident citizens and permanent residents except for those on Norfolk Island...

, protection of the welfare payments of sole parents, the unemployed and the disabled, and entitlement of some homosexual couples to superannuation entitlements equivalent to those enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

In December, 2003, Bartlett took leave from his Senate leadership after an incident involving Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 Senator Jeannie Ferris
Jeannie Ferris
Jeannie Margaret Ferris was an Australian politician, lobbyist, journalist, and Liberal Senator for South Australia. She was educated at Monash University, where she graduated in agricultural economics....

 when leaving the Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 chamber after a vote. Bartlett, who had been drinking at a Liberal Party function held just outside the chamber, was accused of stealing five bottles of wine from the function. Some time after Ferris had retrieved the wine, Bartlett approached Ferris, and was alleged to have gripped her arm and verbally abused her, both inside the chamber and along the way to an outside courtyard. Parliamentary video of part of the incident appeared to show that Bartlett was drunk in the chamber, although did not show him grabbing Ferris's arm. Bartlett's subsequent formal apology was accompanied by a bottle of wine, which Ferris described as "quite inappropriate ... as an apology for drunken behaviour involving abuse and a physical attack." By contrast, Liberal Senator Brett Mason, who witnessed the incident, said "Perhaps a little more was made of the incident than should have been made. I think it was overplayed by the media, and by everyone." Labor Senator Claire Moore was reported in The Bulletin magazine as saying Bartlett had been "unfairly demonized."

Bartlett resumed the party's parliamentary leadership in January, 2004, giving an assurance that he would totally abstain from alcohol, which he appears to have maintained. However, the party's support levels remained at the same low level to which it had fallen at the time of Stott Despoja's resignation. He was unable to exercise a favourable influence in the 2004 election in which the Democrats were defending three Senate seats, and all three were lost—one going to the Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...

 and two to Liberals
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

. The party polled what was at the time the lowest vote since inception in 1977.

2004 Federal election to present

Following the 2004 election, Bartlett did not re-contest the leadership, instead taking on the deputy leadership under Lyn Allison
Lyn Allison
Lynette Fay "Lyn" Allison is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2008, representing the state of Victoria. She was the last federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Democrats....

.

Bartlett was defeated at the 2007 election, polling only 1.88% of the primary vote in Queensland. The Democrat vote was even lower in other states, and the party lost all its remaining Senate seats. He left the Senate at the expiration of his term in June 2008. He has since returned as an announcer on Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

's 4ZZZ
4ZZZ
4ZZZ is an independent community radio station operating in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, at the frequency 102.1 FM. As a community radio station, 4ZZZ is a member of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia...

FM radio station, and he writes a blog for Crikey
Crikey
Crikey is an independent Australian electronic magazine comprising an open access website and an email newsletter available to subscribers. Well known in Australian political, media and business circles, Crikey was described by former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular...

.

In November 2009 Greens leader Bob Brown
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...

 announced that Bartlett would contest the lower house seat of Brisbane
Division of Brisbane
The Division of Brisbane is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election...

 at the 2010 federal election as a candidate for the Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...

. Bartlett came third in the seat in the 2010 election, gaining 21.3% of the vote with just over a 10% swing to the Greens. This was the only seat other than the seat of Melbourne where the Greens gained a swing higher than 10%.

External links

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