Peg Putt

Peg Putt

Margaret Ann (Peg) Putt (born 5 June 1953 in Sydney) is a former Australian politician and parliamentary leader of the Tasmanian Greens. She first entered the Tasmanian House of Assembly in 1993 after Bob Brown resigned and votes in the Hobart electorate of Denison were recounted. She retired from politics on 7 July 2008.^[1]

Prior to moving to Tasmania Ms Putt had worked with Aboriginal communities on Elcho Island in the Northern Territory. She moved to Tasmania in 1986 with her two daughters, where she became spokesperson for the Huon Protection Group which succeeded in stopping development of a new woodchip mill on the Huon River. She also founded the Tasmanian Threatened Species Network and was director of the Tasmanian Conservation Trust.^[2]

The 1996 state election gave the Greens the balance of power and Ms Putt was one of four Greens to be in parliament during the period of balance of power. In 1998 the Labor and Liberal parties restructured the Tasmanian Parliament, reducing the number of House of Assembly members from 35 and 25. In the 1998 state election, called one week after the restructure, she was the only one out of four Greens to retain a seat and became leader as a result. Four years later in the 2002 election she recorded the second highest vote of 12,036 (20.0%) after Tasmanian premier Jim Bacon. In doing so, she outpolled the leader of the Tasmanian division of the Liberal Party of Australia, Bob Cheek, in their electorate of Denison. Ms Putt was re-elected in the 2006 election, receiving 18.4% of first preferences, a decrease compared to her previous result of 20.0% in the 2002 election, but the highest of any Denison candidate. On her political opponent Paul Lennon, Ms Putt said "I don't think we've got one thing in common. He can have his racing and betting; I like bushwalking and rowing."^[2]

On 7 July 2008, Putt announced her retirement as leader of the Tasmanian Greens, and as a Member of the House of Assembly. She was replaced as Greens leader by the party's deputy leader, Nick McKim.

References

1. ^ Tas Greens leader Putt quits politics, The Age, 7 July 2008.
2. ^ ^{a b} Sue Neales, "Living the Green dream", The Mercury, March 11, 2006

• Tasmanian Greens history page
• Adam Carr's election archive
• Parliamentary Library profile

Further reading

• Armstrong, Lance J.E. (1997). Good God, He’s Green! A History of Tasmanian Politics 1989-1996. Wahroonga, N.S.W., Pacific Law Press. ISBN 1-875192-08-5
• Lines, William J. (2006) Patriots : defending Australia's natural heritage St. Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2006. ISBN 0-70223-554-7

External links

• Peg Putt's maiden speech to parliament
• Peg Putt's page at Tasmanian Greens website

Party political offices
Preceded by Christine Milne	Leader of the Tasmanian Greens 1998–2008	Succeeded by Nick McKim

Persondata
Name	Putt, Peg
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Date of birth	5 June 1953
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Date of death
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