Chris Harris (born 28 June 1951) is an Australian former politician who served as the first Greens Councillor of the City of Sydney, and for a single term as the Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney from 2006 to 2007.
Chris Harris | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney | |
| In office 18 September 2006 – 17 September 2007 | |
| Lord Mayor | Clover Moore |
| Preceded by | Verity Firth |
| Succeeded by | Tony Pooley |
| Councillor of the City of Sydney | |
| In office 27 March 2004 – 8 September 2012 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 June 1951 Wentworthville, New South Wales, Australia |
| Political party | Greens (since 1997)[1] |
Early life and career
editChristopher David Harris was born in Wentworthville on 28 June 1951 and schooled at Parramatta Marist High School. He attended the University of New South Wales and graduated with Bachelor of Commerce in the 1970s and a Bachelor of Laws in 2005. He married Kathy in 1972 and together they raised two daughters.
Harris worked in the Commonwealth Bank then moved on to a position in research in the Reserve Bank. After moving into small business, his work focused on campaigns, communications, conflict resolution, and project coordination.
Political career
editIn 2004, Harris was preselected by his party prior to the March 2004 local government election, and was the first Greens Councillor to be elected to the City of Sydney.[2] He served as Deputy Lord Mayor (2006-2007) and in 2008 was re-elected along with a second Greens Councillor, Irene Doutney.[3] Early in his constituency, he took residence in a Moreton Bay Fig tree as a protest against planned removal.[4]
Harris was an opponent of the Sydney cross-city tunnel which opened in 2005.[5] In March 2007, he was involved in a scuffle with Liberal senator Bill Heffernan while handing out how-to-vote cards for the NSW State Election.[6]
In June 2007, Harris fought against the redevelopment of the Carlton United Brewery site in Chippendale, taking the then Minister for Planning to the Land and Environment Court.[7] In August 2007, Harris heavily opposed the security measures put in place for the hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.[8] Harris was the unsuccessful Greens candidate in the 2012 Sydney by-election, and retired from council at the September 2012 local government elections.
Harris was a long time Treasurer of the NSW Greens but quit the position in 2016, criticising the party as acting like a major bank trying "to shaft their customers".[9]
In 2019, Harris threatened legal action in an attempt to change the party’s upper house ticket just weeks before the state election. This followed a messy factional brawl within the Greens where the left faction of the party secured the top two positions on the party’s ticket.[10]
References
edit- ^ "#1 Mayoral Candidate". NSW Greens.
Chris Harris joined The Greens in 1997
- ^ "Greens announce first ever Lord Mayor nominee for Sydney". AAP. 14 February 2004. Retrieved 20 June 2008.[dead link]
- ^ "Sydney Mayor backs down after election battle". ABC News. 19 September 2006. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ "Debus labels Greens protest a stunt". The Age, Melbourne. 14 April 2004. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ "Sydney facing tunnel teething trouble". Melbourne: Sydney Morning Herald. 29 August 2005. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ Silmalis, Linda (25 March 2007). "Heffernan thwarts Greens". Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ "Fight for green buildings". News.com.au. 12 June 2007. Archived from the original on 15 June 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ "Sydney councillor angered by APEC security measures". ABC News. 27 August 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ "NSW Greens behaving 'like major banks', departing party treasurer says". ABC News. 26 May 2016.
- ^ "NSW Greens members plan legal action over upper-house ticket". 26 February 2019.