Paul McLean (Australian politician)

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Democrats Senate members, 1987-1990: seated Michael Macklin and Janine Haines, rear left to right Jean Jenkins, John Coulter, Norm Sanders, Paul McLean and Janet Powell.

Paul McLean is an Australian advocate of banking reform and former Australian Democrats senator for New South Wales(1987-1991).

On 12 February, 1991, he was prevented by the President of the Senate from tabling sensitive sub-judice documents on the Westpac foreign loans controversy. On 7 March the President informed the Senate that the documents in question had been ordered to be published by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration, that the Managing Director of Westpac Banking Corporation had indicated to the Committee that the bank would not contest the action to have the injunctions removed, and that in view of these developments, the ruling of 12 February was no longer operative. Senator McLean then tabled the documents by leave.^[1].

He resigned his Senate seat on 22 August, 1991^[2], in protest against an internal party coup to depose the leader Janet Powell, and was replaced by Karin Sowada.

He is the co-author (with James Renton) of a book Bankers and Bastards (Hudson Publishing, Hawthorn, 1992).