Janine Haines the first Australian party leader as South Australian head of Australian Democrats from 1986

Janine Haines led the federal Australian Democrats with the balance of power in the senate from 1986.
Image courtesy National Library of Australia

Janine Haines, a former South Australian maths and English teacher, became the first female federal parliamentary leader of an Australian political party, in 1986,  when she was elected leader of the federal Australian Democrats, succeeding Don Chipp..

Haines election to the Australian federal senate in 1980 started a high-profile phase for South Australian women parliamentarians in federal politics.

Under Haines’ leadership, the Australian Democrats held the balance of power in the senate and she significantly increased the party's electoral support. Haines used her party’s position in the senate to negotiate changes to government legislation in areas such as health care and equal opportunity for women.

She furthered the senate’s role as a house of review of government legislation and she is credited with enhancing senate committees’ capacities to scrutinise legislation and government performance.

At the peak of her own and the Australian Democrats' electoral popularity in 1990, Haines resigned from the senate to contest (unsuccessfully) the South Australian House of Representatives seat of Kingston, promising not to return to the senate if she failed.

After leaving politics, Janine Haines was on a range of committees and boards. She was head of the Australian Privacy Charter Council and deputy vice-chancellor of Adelaide University.

Janine Haines died in 2004, aged 59, after a long illness.

Her book about women in parliament, Suffrage to Sufferance, is used as a text in high schools and universities.