“Go for it! I admire your zeal. I wish you a great global experience. And may all who follow your exploits enjoy the adventure too.” Dr Bob Brown
Dr Bob Brown is an Australian Senator and Leader of the Australian Greens. Dr Brown was elected to the Australian Senate in the 1996 federal election and is probably best known for his outspoken voice in opposition to the conservative government of John Howard and in support of environmental, social and human rights issues, including Tibet, East Timor and West Papua.
In 1978 was appointed director o the Tasmanian Wilderness Society and in the late 1970′s he emerged as the leader of the campaign to prevent construction of the Franklin Dam as part of a hydroelectricity project. Bob was thrust into the political arena during the successful campaign to save the Franklin river where he was arrested along with 1500 people, spent 19 days in prison and on the day of his release in 1983 he became a member of Tasmania’s Parliament following the resignation of a sitting MP.
Bob is known for introducing a wide range of private members bills federally and a state level including: freedom of information, death with dignity, constitutional reform, banning mandatory sentencing of aboriginal children, forest protection, lowering parliamentary salaries, gay law reform, block radioactive waste dumping in Australia, prohibit the use of cluster munitions, banning the battery hen industry in Tasmania, nuclear free Tasmania and greenhouse abatement just to name a few. He was also and outspoken critic of the 438 asylum seekers on a Norwegian freighter seeking to land on Australia shores, the invasion of Iraq, Gunns pump mill in Tasmania, the federal and state government forestry policies, Australia’s coal exports and the policies of the America President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Bob is also an accomplished writer and has published several books and is described by some as a gentle revolutionary. He was also the founder of the Bush Heritage Fund, a not for profit organisation dedicated to purchasing and preserving Australian bushland.
