Janet Powell

Janet Frances Powell AM (born 29 September 1942) in Nhill, Victoria, is an Australian politician.

She was appointed a senator for Victoria, representing the Australian Democrats, upon the resignation of the party's founder, Don Chipp, in 1986. She was elected the following year. She became the third leader of the party, from 1 July 1990 to 19 August 1991. Fellow senator Sid Spindler's relationship with her was used as leverage to remove her from the leadership at a time when she was controversially negotiating a coalition or merger with the Greens. After internal disagreements related to her loss of the leadership, she resigned from the party in 1992 and continued as an independent senator until her defeat at the 1993 election.

In 1996, she campaigned for Greens leader Bob Brown and, in 2004, she joined the Australian Greens, citing that they were more capable of achieving the function of a third force in Australian politics. In the Victorian legislative election, 2006 she unsuccessfully stood for the Greens in the Eastern Metropolitan Region.

Janet Powell is a member of the Patrons Council of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria and a Life Member of YWCA Victoria, She was an inaugural appointee to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2000 "for services to the community".

In the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours list, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, in recognition of her service to the Parliament and people of Australia, including through leadership of, and support for, YWCA Victoria.