Independents CAN Podcast Independents CAN Podcast

Former Greens Senator Scott Ludlam joins Oliver and Charlie to discuss the themes in his latest book, Full Circle: a search for the world that comes next, where he draws on his experience as a senator and activist to capture our world on a precipice and explore what comes next.

During his time as a federal senator for the Australian Greens (2008 to 2017) and in his capacity as deputy leader, Scott campaigned on many issues such as internet censorship, for strengthened protections for public ownership of the National Broadband Network, and for the fair treatment of Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks publishing organisation. In 2011 he successfully advocated to restore $264 million to the National Rental Affordability Scheme which funded the construction of thousands of affordable rental homes.

Link to Full Circle book:
https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/full-circle

Featuring Geoff Cousins, a highly successful Australian businessman, environmental activist, author, the founding chair of the Australian arm of the children’s charity Starlight Foundation, and the founding chair of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

In 1995 Geoff became the first CEO Optus Vision, and for a decade he was a senior adviser to Prime Minister John Howard.

From 2006 to 2015 he was on the board of Telstra IAG Insurance, Hudson Conway, PBL and Seven, and worked for 25 years with Australia’s leading advertising agency, George Patterson, rising to become Chairman.

In 2007, Geoff published a novel called The Butcher Bird, which is set in Australian boardrooms, yachts, and waterfront mansions, a thriller that details shocking corruption and disturbing, unethical and probably illegal, behaviour, perhaps inspired from some of the behaviour Geoff witnessed and was shocked by himself in the corporate world.

The same year the Butcher Bird was published, Geoff Cousins became a ferocious environmental campaigner, opposing the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania and later the location of Woodside’s gas-processing plant north of Broome in 2012, taking aim at our recent guest, Malcolm Turnbull who was then environment minister.

Geoff took on the role leading the Australian Conservation Foundation from 2014 to 2018, he took a very robust public stand against government support for the Adani coal mine in central Queensland. He has also served on the boards of the Smith Family, the Sydney Theatre Company and the St George Foundation.

Tim Buckley is the Director of Energy Finance Studies for South Asia and Australia at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Sydney. Tim joins Charlie and Oliver to discuss the extent to which the fossil fuel industry owns the Australian Government.

Tim expertise and 30 years of experience in financial markets, covering Australia, Asian and global equities makes him a valuable resource to discuss Australia's current position in the transition to the green economy.

For more information on the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, visit https://ieefa.org/