Peter Breen

Peter James Breen (born 4 November 1947) is an Australian politician, advisor, and lawyer. Elected at the 1999 New South Wales state election, Breen served as a member of the Legislative Council for eight years, representing his own Reform the Legal System party for most of this time. Breen later worked as an advisor for Senator Ricky Muir in 2014, and was involved in the founding of the Renewable Energy Party. From 2016 to 2018, he served as an advisor to Senator Brian Burston.

Early life Breen was born as the eldest of eight children in Coonabarabran. At a young age, his family moved to Sydney, at first living in Kingsford before moving to Campbelltown in 1956. In Campbelltown, Breen's family lived in war service housing at the St Elmo Estate, and Breen's father managed the local bowling club. As a child, Breen attended a Catholic primary school and St Gregory's Agricultural College for high school. After graduating St Gregory's, Breen attended St Columba's College, which was then a seminary. Breen left the Liberal Party following the 1975 dismissal of Gough Whitlam and subsequent federal election, upset over what he described as a "shady deal" between then-Liberal leader and Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and Governor-General John Kerr.

In 1998 Breen joined Reform the Legal System. In the 1999 New South Wales election he was elected to the Legislative Council. At the time, Breen cited a desire to oppose the Howard government's WorkChoices reforms as a key reason for joining Labor. Breen's Labor membership was sponsored by Ian Macdonald and Eddie Obeid, waiving the need for any union or factional membership. Breen stayed in St Vincent's Hospital for three days, and had double vision for six weeks, which he attributes in part to the stress of leaving Labor and subsequent hate mail over his defence of Jamieson.

Breen submitted in favour of Phuong Ngo as part of a 2009 inquiry into the evidence used to convict Ngo. Following a finding against Ngo in April 2009, Breen remarked that the legal system "can't afford to allow convicted prisoners to be released", as it would reflect poorly on the legal system as a whole.

In 2014 Breen became an adviser to Senator Ricky Muir of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party but was sacked on 5 August 2014.

After the 2016 federal election, a double dissolution in which a number of crossbenchers were elected, Breen was offered a job as an advisor by both Derryn Hinch and Brian Burston.

When Pauline Hanson wore a burqa onto the floor of the Senate in 2017, Breen considered resigning over what he described as a "disgraceful stunt", but hesitated when he learned that the Sydney Morning Herald planned to place his resignation on their front cover.

As the rift between Hanson and Burston grew wider, Breen attempted to mediate their dispute, attempting to negotiate a position for Burston atop One Nation's ticket for the Legislative Council at the 2019 New South Wales state election. During this time, Breen considered standing as a candidate for One Nation in the seat of Barwon at the state election, which covered his home town of Coonabarabran, as a protest against unconventional gas mining in the Great Artesian Basin.

Renewable Energy Party In 2016, Breen was a key person in the Renewable Energy Party and candidate for the Australian Senate to represent New South Wales in the Australian federal election.

The Renewable Energy Party was an Australian political party registered by the Australian Electoral Commission on 22 March 2016.

In the 2016 federal election the Renewable Energy Party fielded two senate candidates in each of New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and a total of eight candidates for the House of Representatives in Victoria (4), Tasmania (3) and New South Wales (1), none of whom were elected.

On 1 February 2018, the Australian Electoral Commission issued a notice that it was considering deregistering the party on the grounds that it had ceased to have at least 500 members. On 26 March 2018, the party was deregistered due to failure to respond to the earlier notice.