Leonard Reid was a former Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 and the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

.

Reid served as a fighter pilot in both the RAAF and the RAF during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and ran a dairy farm in Cranbourne, Victoria

Cranbourne, Victoria

Cranbourne is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Casey. At the 2006 Census, Cranbourne had a population of 14,750....

 before being elected to the Electoral district of Dandenong

Electoral district of Dandenong

The Electoral district of Dandenong is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It was first proclaimed in 1904 when the district of Dandenong and Berwick was abolished....

 at the 1958 Victorian state election. Reid served as the member for Dandenong for 11 years before resigning his seat to contest the newly created federal Division of Holt

Division of Holt

The Division of Holt is anAustralian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1969 and is named for Harold Holt, who was Prime Minister of Australia 1966-67. It is located in...

, which covered much of the same area as Dandenong, at the 1969 Federal Election

Australian federal election, 1969

Federal elections were held in Australia on 25 October 1969. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia John Gorton with coalition partner the Country Party led by John McEwen defeated the Australian...

. Reid won narrowly, but was defeated at the 1972 Federal Election

Australian federal election, 1972

Federal elections were held in Australia on 2 December 1972. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The Liberal Party of Australia had been in power since 1949, under Prime Minister of Australia William McMahon since March 1971 with coalition partner the Country Party...

 partly due to the swing that ousted the McMahon

William McMahon

Sir William "Billy" McMahon, GCMG, CH , was an Australian Liberal politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Australia...

 government and partly due to demographic changes which saw Dandenong

Dandenong, Victoria

Dandenong is a suburb and major urban centre in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 30 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Situated on Dandenong Creek and mostly flat land at the foothills of Mount Dandenong, it is the main administrative centre for the City of...

develop as a major industrial centre.

Whilst a member of the lower House he crossed the floor and voted with the Labor Party or abstained from voting.

Len Reid was avidly connected with people who were marginalised in society and actively concentrated on the poor in India and Bangladesh.

He played an important roll with the charity "For Those Who Have Less".