Janine's spectacles

A pair of Janine's iconic glasses in a soft case ca.1980, worn during her political career in the Australian Democrats.

Janine Haines was the first female federal parliamentary leader of an Australian political party. She joined the Senate on a casual vacancy in 1977 as an Australian Democrat and held her position until June 1978. She was elected to the Senate for a term in 1980.

Upon the retirement of inaugural party leader, Don Chipp in 1986, she was chosen as leader of the Australian Democrats. In 1990, she was unsuccessful in her bid for the House of Representatives seat of Kingston. She retired from Parliament at this time as a result of a pledge she had made when she surrendered her Senate seat.

Haines later held several significant positions, including president of the Australia Privacy Charter Council and Deputy Chancellor of the University of Adelaide. She was the author of Suffrage to Sufferance: One Hundred Years of Women in Politics, published in 1992 and was made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2001.

Janine Haines died in 2004.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

Buy a high resolution copy.