Lyn Allison
From Philosopedia
Lyn Allison (21 October 1946 - )
Allison was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and earned her B. Ed. at the University of Melbourne.
She has been an administrator, secondary school teacher, Director of the Employment and Economic Development Corporation, and from 1992 to 1994 a councillor of the Port Melbourne City Council. A member of the Australian Senate since 1996, she is the leader of the Australian Democrats.
Allison's Senate biography details her extensive government service.
In 2008, the Australian Humanists at their national convention in Sydney, presented their Humanist of the Year Award to Allison
- In recognition of a vigorous and effective campaigner on public education, the environment, uranium mining and women's issues initiating significant reform. Her commitment to the democratic process and her constant emphasis on the secular character of our society show her to be an exemplary individual and a true Humanist.
The Humanists cited her role in defending the democratic rights of Parliamentarians which she intends to pursue vigorously until her retirement in July, adding,
- Senator Allison, a declared and vocal non-religious secularist, was a speaker at the "Separating church and state: keeping god out of government" conference held in Melbourne in June 2006. In 2007, she was a speaker at a symposium on religion in Australian foreign policy which was supported by the Humanist Society of Victoria.
As Australian Humanist of the Year 2008, Senator Allison follows Dr Inga Clendinnen the distinguished historian and essayist awarded Australian Humanist of the Year 2007. Lyn Allison joins the ranks of a number of distinguished former Australian Humanists of the Year including: The late Professor Fred Hollows, Dr Tim Flannery, the late Donald Horne, Eva Cox, Philip Adams, Alan Trounson and the late Justice Lionel Murphy.
