Bob Brown is a legend, an inspirational activist who has devoted his life to protecting and preserving our precious environment and defending human rights. He will be in our region soon and I encourage residents to have that rare experience of being in the presence of someone who has proven the difference one person can make by being brave and committed.
Local activists formed the Nightcap Action Group (NAG) and were committed to direct nonviolent action to protect north coast forests. We decided to travel to Tasmania to join the campaign to stop the damming of the Franklin River. We ended up maintaining a camp in the upriver wilderness for many months.
This is when I first met Bob Brown; a young doctor who was leading the campaign. My commitment to a life of activism was encouraged by his support of the radical activist movement that embodied song, theatre and art. His example of grace and calmness in situations of intense violence such as Farmhouse Creek set the culture for nonviolent resistance.
In 1978 Bob Brown was appointed director of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society and led the campaign to prevent the construction of the Franklin Dam. He spent 19 days in prison and on the day of his release in 1983, he became a member of Tasmania’s parliament.
In 1990 he was the founder of the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, now Bush Heritage Australia which has protected hundreds of thousands of hectares of significant environment.
Bob led the Australian Greens from its foundation in 1992 until April 2012 when he resigned as leader and then from the Australian Senate in June.
He had been elected to the Australian Senate in 1996. In his inaugural speech he warned of the dangers of climate change and was ridiculed for being alarmist. From 2002 to 2004, when minor parties held the balance of power in the Senate, he became a well-recognised and respected politician. He was re-elected in 2001 and 2007. Bob Brown was also the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia and the first openly gay leader of an Australian political party.
Bob lives with his partner Paul Thomas in Tasmania and travels widely, supporting campaigns.
He has published a number of books including a memoir as well as photography and poetry. He has also won many awards, including recognition from the United Nations.
Criminal protest
Bob and Paul established the Bob Brown Foundation to promote environmental awareness, and these days continue the campaign to preserve Tasmania’s forest despite the laws that criminalise protest. The current focus of governments across the country is to deter people who are willing to take a stand and risk imprisonment. Bob is taking governments to court to protect our constitutional right to protest. The legal actions are made possible by the support of community donations to the Bob Brown Foundation. The legal wins clarify that it’s unconstitutional to disallow peaceful protest.
Bob has made many visits to the north coast. He was first here for a Greens gathering 30 years ago, just after we formed our local group in 1993, the Tweed Byron Greens. He travelled around NSW supporting the 1995 election that resulted in my being elected as the first Greens MP in the NSW Parliament. He has always delighted in our area’s successes, including the election of Australia’s first popularly elected Greens mMayor, Jan Barham in 2004. In 2015, another first, Tamara Smith decisively took the long-held National Party seat of Ballina, on the back of the successful Bentley campaign. She became Australia’s first Green regional local MP.
Now Bob is back to share his stories of the ongoing campaigns; the potential destruction of the Tarkine forests, the dangers to the marine environment from commercial fish production and the risks posed to Antarctica by tourism and the proposed airport.
He has many tales of the value of activism and the success of people showing up to defend what our governments are willing to destroy.
Bob’s here to support our local member, Tamara Smith, in the lead-up to the NSW state election in March for her third defence of our local electorate.
He is speaking at a fundraiser in Lennox Head on Saturday 28 January before he heads off on another campaign.
If you have never had the opportunity to hear Bob speak and be inspired, then don’t miss the event. If you’ve previously been uplifted by Bob, there’s always the joy of being reinvigorated by a legend who invites us all to join him in defending our precious environments.
Bob Brown event – Saturday 28 January 6.30pm, Lennox Cultural Centre. Book at: www.greensforballina.com/bob-brown-event.
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