Patrick Leslie (Les) Coleman (21 January 1895 – 6 October 1974), Australian politician, was a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Melbourne West Province representing the Australian Labor Party from October 1943 until March 1955 and very briefly the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) from March–June 1955. Coleman was, with William Barry in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the first parliamentary Leader of the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), and the party was briefly referred to in the media as the Coleman-Barry Labor Party.[1]
Coleman was educated at Christian Brothers College in East Melbourne. He qualified as an accountant while working part time for the Victorian Department of Education, and later owned various hotels. Coleman was a Commissioner of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and a Melbourne City Councillor from 1939-1960.
Coleman was Government Leader in the Legislative Council from 1952-1955. He was Assistant Treasurer and Minister of Materials in the second Cain government from 1945–1947, and Minister for Transport in the third Cain government from 1952-1955.[2]
Coleman was defeated in seeking re-election for his Province in 1955.[3] He unsuccessfully contested DLP preselection for the Australian Senate in 1958, in which he was defeated by Jack Little, Coleman's successor as ALP (Anti-Communist) and subsequently DLP Leader in the Legislative Council. It has been argued that Little was preferred as a DLP candidate because he was not a Catholic. The DLP was popularly regarded as a Catholic party, and a non-Catholic candidate had certain electoral attractions.[4] Coleman did not again seek public office.