How to begin to introduce Dr Bob Brown? I mean, clearly, you all know exactly who he is and so any introduction is redundant. But, at the same time, the sheer breadth of his achievements over the last six decades are probably not as well known as they should be, so, please, bear with me for a moment. After graduating from medicine in 1968, Bob worked in general practice in Canberra, London, Sydney and Perth. He moved to Tasmania in 1972, with his involvement in local environmental politics beginning in 1973, when he became an activist against the damming of Lake Pedder. Although the blockade was not successful, it was this initial clash that led to the formation of the Wilderness Society. Six years later he became the President and was responsible for organising the blockade of the dam-works on Tasmania’s Franklin River in 1982. During that blockade, 1500 people were arrested and 600 jailed, including Bob, who spent 19 days in Risdon Prison. On the day of his release from jail, he was elected as the first Green into Tasmania’s Parliament. In 1983, the Federal Government decided to intervene and gave the Franklin River heritage protection. As a State MP, Bob introduced a wide range of private member’s initiatives. These included his work towards Freedom of Information, Death with Dignity, and Gay Law Reform. In 1987 his bill to ban semi-automatic guns was voted down by both Liberal and Labor members of the House of Assembly, nine years before the Port Arthur massacre. Two years later the same legislation was proposed and passed by the Liberal Party. In 1993 he resigned from the Tasmanian Parliament and in 1996 was elected as a Tasmanian Senator to the Federal Parliament where he remained until 2012. In the meantime he was at the centre of the formation of the Australian Greens. After retiring he set up the Bob Brown Foundation, with the specific aim of ‘defending wild places, protecting wildlife, and empowering people to act for nature.’ Throughout his career Bob has been a tireless campaigner for the environment, in particular for the protection of forests. He’s also written several books, most recently the one we’re going to speak about tonight, Defiance.
