Ronan Lee
| Ronan Lee | |
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| Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Indooroopilly |
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In office 17 February 2001 – 21 March 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Denver Beanland |
| Succeeded by | Scott Emerson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ronan Oliver Lee 4 January 1976 Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish, Australian |
| Political party |
Labor (2001-08) Greens (2008-09) |
| Profession | Researcher |
Ronan Oliver Lee (born 4 January 1976) is an Irish-Australian political advisor and former Greens member of the Queensland State Parliament. Lee represented the seat of Indooroopilly since he was first elected as an Australian Labor Party member in 2001. Lee joined the Queensland Greens in 2008 citing the Bligh Government's inaction on climate change and environment protection. Since leaving Parliament in 2009 Lee has lived in Tasmania and Melbourne, run his communications and lobbying business and traveled extensively in Myanmar (Burma).
Lee was educated at St Patrick's College, Cavan, St Columban's College, Brisbane and the University of Queensland where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Lee has a Master of International Relations from Monash University, writing a thesis titled ‘A Politician, Not an Icon. Aung San Suu Kyi’s silence on Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya’.
Lee has been involved with environment causes since his youth and is best known for his involvement with The Wilderness Society who welcomed his decision to join the Greens. During his time in Parliament Lee campaigned to end broadscale land clearing in Queensland a practice often involving dragging a heavy chain strung between two bull dozers to remove every tree and which destroyed contributing to Queensland having the sixth highest rate of land clearing in the world. A ban on most clearing in Queensland came into force in January 2007.
Following the success of the tree clearing campaign Lee shifted focus with a campaign to protect Queensland's remaining wild rivers, the environment issue for which he has been most closely associated. Sponsoring Parliamentary ePetitions and working with peak environment groups again including The Wilderness Society, the Wildlife Protection Society of Queensland and Queensland Conservation to promote grassroots campaigns and lobbying of MPs and bureaucrats. Queensland's Wild Rivers Act was passed in 2005 with the first "wild river declarations" in 2007 with protection for Gulf of Carpentaria river systems Settlement Creek, Morning Inlet, and the Gregory and Staaten Rivers, and the waterways of Fraser and Hinchinbrook Islands. Since then the Queensland Government protected river systems on Cape York Peninsula - the Archer, Stewart and Lockhart River Basins and the Wenlock River.
Lee is opposed to nuclear power and as a Labor MP Lee campaigned against nuclear power and uranium mining. As a Green MP Lee introduced two private member's Bills to Parliament aiming to permanently ban uranium mining and uranium exploration. Both bills received their first reading in parliament but lapsed once the 2009 Queensland election was announced and the parliament dissolved.
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