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Bob Brown

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For other uses, see Bob Brown (disambiguation).
Senator
Dr. Bob Brown

MB BS
Senator for Tasmania
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 July 1996
ConstituencyTasmania
Personal details
Born (1944-12-27) 27 December 1944 (age 79)
Oberon, New South Wales
NationalityAustralian
Political partyAustralian Greens
Domestic partnerPaul Thomas
OccupationPolitician
WebsiteBobBrown.org.au

Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944), is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasmanian Greens ticket, joining with sitting Greens Western Australia senator Dee Margetts to form the first Australian Greens senators following the 1996 federal election. He was re-elected in 2001 and again in 2007.

While serving in the Tasmanian parliament, Brown successfully campaigned for a large increase in the protected wilderness areas. Brown has led the Australian Greens during a period of growth from startup to one which now polls at around 10% at state and federal level (13.9% of primary vote in 2010 federal election[1]), runs candidates in every federal and almost all state and territory seats and have won seats in six of the eight states and territories and at the federal level. During the minority senate between 2002 and 2004, when minor parties held the balance of power, Brown became a well-recognised politician. On 23 October 2003 international headlines were created when he was suspended from the parliament for interjecting during an address by the visiting President of the United States, George W. Bush. He had asked the President why two Australian citizens were being held by US authorities without trial at Guantanamo Bay.[2]

Early life

Brown was born in Oberon, New South Wales, one of twins[3] and attended Trunkey Public School and Blacktown Boys High School. In his senior year he was elected school captain. After graduating, he enrolled in medicine at Sydney University where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree. He practised medicine for a time at the Royal Canberra Hospital, where he experienced his first taste of civil disobedience – senior medical staff refused to certify young men who didn't wish to fight in the Vietnam War as fit to be conscripted.[4] He worked as a resident at Darwin and Alice Springs Hospitals, at the latter post meeting John Hawkins a surgeon who had kayaked some wild rivers in Tasmania.[4] He travelled to London in 1970 and worked at Hounslow Cottage Hospital and St Mary Abbott's Hospital in South Kensington.[5] He was on duty at St Mary Abbott's when Jimi Hendrix was brought in to the emergency ward, already dead.

Brown moved to Tasmania in 1972 and worked as a medical general practitioner in Launceston. He soon became involved in the state's environmental movement, in particular the campaign to save Lake Pedder. He was a member of the newly formed United Tasmania Group in 1972, Australia's first "green" party. In a newspaper interview at this time, Brown announced that he had a gay partner[6] expressly in order to prevent discrimination and encourage law reform (homosexuality was a crime in Tasmania at that time).[6] Brown describes himself as a "lapsed Presbyterian".[7] In 1976 he fasted for a week on top of Mt Wellington in protest against the arrival at Hobart of the nuclear powered warship USS Enterprise.[8]

State politics

In 1978 Brown was appointed director of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society. In the late 1970s he emerged as a leader of the campaign to prevent construction of the Franklin Dam, which would have drowned the Franklin River valley as part of a hydroelectricity project. Brown was among the 1500 people arrested while protesting during the campaign. He subsequently spent 19 days in Hobart's Risdon Prison. On the day of his release in 1983, he became a member of Tasmania's parliament after the Democrats MP Norm Sanders resigned to successfully stand for the Australian Senate; Brown was elected to replace him on a countback.[9] The Franklin campaign was a success after Federal government intervention protected the Franklin River in 1983.

During his first term of office, Brown introduced a wide range of private member's initiatives, including for freedom of information, death with dignity, lowering parliamentary salaries, gay law reform, banning the battery-hen industry and advocation for nuclear free Tasmania. His 1987 bill to ban semi-automatic guns was voted down by both Liberal and Labor members of Tasmania's House of Assembly, nine years before the Port Arthur massacre resulted in a successful federal Liberal bid to achieve the same results.

In 1989 Tasmania's system of proportional representation allowed the Greens to win five out of 35 seats in the Tasmanian House of Assembly and Brown became their unofficial leader (at that time, the Greens did not have formal leadership positions). He agreed to support a minority Labor Party government, on the basis of a negotiated Accord (signed by Michael Field and Bob Brown) in which the Green independents agreed to support the budget but not motions of no confidence, and the ALP agreed to develop a more open parliamentary process, to consult on departmental appointments, provide a legislative research service, parity in parliamentary staffing and a reform agenda which included equal opportunities, freedom of information, national parks protection and public disclosure of bulk power contracts and royalties from mining companies.[10] This agreement, however, broke down over forestry issues in 1992. In 1993 Brown resigned from the House of Assembly and stood unsuccessfully for the federal House of Representatives.

Federal politics

Bob Brown lays out the Green's climate change policies in the lead-up to the 2007 federal election
Bob Brown at a climate change rally in Melbourne on 5 July 2008
Adam Bandt, Brian Walters and Bob Brown during the campaign for the Victorian state election, 2010
File:Bob Brown at 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, Canberra.jpg
Bob Brown holding the Kokbayraq flag and the Flag of Tibet during the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay in Canberra
Greg Barber, Bob Brown and Brian Walters attending a protest rally in Melbourne in 2010
Senator Bob Brown with Richard Di Natale in Melbourne during the campaign of the Australian federal election, 2010

Brown was elected to the Australian Senate for Tasmania in 1996, and was an outspoken voice in opposition to the conservative government of John Howard, and in support of green and human rights issues, including international issues such as Tibet, East Timor and West Papua. He also introduced bills for constitutional reform, forest protection, to block radioactive waste dumping, to ban mandatory sentencing of Aboriginal children, to prohibit the use of cluster munitions and for greenhouse abatement.

At the 2001 federal election Brown was re-elected to the Senate with a greatly increased vote, and was outspoken on Prime Minister John Howard's refusal to allow 438 asylum seekers (mostly from Afghanistan) to land on Christmas Island after they had been rescued from their sinking boat in the Indian Ocean by the MV Tampa, a Norwegian freighter. Brown was equally critical of Opposition Leader Kim Beazley's acquiescence to John Howard's stance on the Tampa incident.

Brown was particularly vocal in his opposition to Australian participation in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and became recognised as a leading voice for the anti-war/peace movement. When President Bush visited Canberra on 23 October 2003, Brown and fellow Senator Kerry Nettle interjected during his address to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.[2] During Bush's speech Brown and Nettle wore signs referring to David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, two Australian citizens held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, at that time (Habib was later released without charge and Hicks served a prison term for providing material support for terrorism), following their apprehension by United States forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan respectively. Bush accepted the interjections with good humour but the Speaker of the House, Neil Andrew formally "named" Brown and Nettle. This meant that they were both suspended from the Parliament for 24 hours which prevented them from being present during a similar address from Chinese President Hu Jintao the next day. After the speech, however, Brown shook Bush's hand.

Brown opposed the Howard Government's amendments to the Marriage Act in 2004, stating that "Mr Howard should relax and accept gay marriages as part of the future's social fabric".[11]

In December 2004, forestry and export woodchip company Gunns Limited attempted to sue Brown and others for $6.3 million, in an action which media reports say related to "ongoing damaging campaigns and activities" against the company. The original Statement of Claim issued by Gunns was struck out by the Supreme Court and costs were awarded against Gunns for the initial proceedings. Gunns ultimately failed with the company finally dropping all claims against Brown on 13 December 2006[12] while continuing its case against others including The Wilderness Society.

Brown was formally elected as the first Federal Parliamentary Leader of The Greens on 28 November 2005,[13] following almost a decade of service as de facto leader since his election to the Senate in 1996.

In February 2007, the Tasmanian State Government and the Australian Federal Government responded by changing the text of the State's Regional Forest Agreement. New clauses make it clear that the word 'protection' relates only to whether the two respective governments deem a species to be protected rather than the meaning of the word being based on actual evidence of such.

In early 2007, Brown attracted scorn from sections of the media and the major political parties for his proposal to commit to a plan within three years, that would eventually see the banning of coal exports.[14] Brown described coal exports as the "energy industry's heroin habit" and stated that the export of alternative technologies should be the priority.[15]

Brown was re-elected in the 2007 federal election. He announced his intention to stand again at the Greens National Conference in November 2005.

Following his re-election and that of the new Labor Government, Brown called on the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to set fixed carbon targets immediately, and to announce their levels at the upcoming United Nations Bali Climate Change Conference in December 2007, continuing his climate campaigning, and saying that it was "obvious" what the outcome would be if Australia was to not set carbon emissions goals.[16]

In 2005, Brown brought a legal case against Forestry Tasmania in the Federal Court, in an attempt to protect Tasmania's Wielangta forest from clearfell logging. The 1997 Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) exempted logging operations from endangered species laws but required the protection of endangered species. Bob Brown brought a case against Forestry Tasmania citing threats to endangered species like the Swift parrot and Wielangta Stag Beetle.[17] In December 2006, Judge Shane Marshall awarded the case in Brown's favour.[18] On appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court level, the case was lost, without rejecting the earlier judgement that logging would further endanger these species. In May 2008 the High Court denied leave to appeal that decision after the wording of the RFA was changed.[19]

Brown was ordered to pay $240,000 to Forestry Tasmania, which he said he could not afford to pay. Failure to pay would have resulted in bankruptcy proceedings which would have cost Brown his Senate seat.[20] Brown had earlier rejected a settlement offer from Forestry Tasmania that would have required him to have only paid $200,000 of the costs he had incurred.[21] On 9 June 2009, Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith came to Brown's rescue with a promise to bail him out.[22] Pledges for support from over 1,000 donors covered Brown's legal bill within a few days of his announcement.[23]

In 2011, Brown drew criticism for suggesting the mining sector be taxed to cover costs incurred by the 2010–2011 Queensland floods.[24] He made comments to the effect that climate change, specifically the impact on climate from the mining sector should be held at least partially responsible for the flooding.[24]

In May 2011, Brown was involved in a dispute at a press conference where he attacked various journalists and described News Limited as the 'hate media'. He was widely condemed for this and was accused of being unable to 'take the pressure'. <refMassola, James (20 May 2011). "Media round on Brown over attack on News Ltd". The Australian. Retrieved 22 May 2011.</ref>

Personal life

Brown lives in Hobart with his long-time partner, Paul Thomas, a farmer and activist whom he met in 1996.[25][26]

Brown was the founder, in 1990, of the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, now Bush Heritage Australia, a non-profit environmental organisation dedicated to purchasing and preserving Australian bushland. He was President of the organisation until 1996.[27]

On 20 March 2011 Brown gifted a 14 hectares (35 acres) property and house he had owned for 38 years to the conservation group Bush Heritage Australia. The property is located 47 kilometres (29 mi) south-west of Launceston, Tasmania, in the Liffey Valley. According to Australian Geographic it is a site of historic and symbolic significance.[28]

Publications

Brown has published several books including Wild Rivers (1983), Lake Pedder (1986), Tarkine Trails (1994), The Greens (1996) (with Peter Singer), Memo For A Saner World (2004), Valley of the Giants (2004), Tasmania's Recherche Bay (2005), Earth (2009) and In Balfour Street (2010)[29] In 2004 James Norman published the first authorised biography of Brown, entitled Bob Brown: A Gentle Revolutionary.

Awards

Bob Brown has received the following awards:

References

  1. ^ The Australian http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/election-2010-blog/story-fn59niix-1225907876218 accessed 28 August 2010
  2. ^ a b ABC News in 2003 accessed 23 August 2010.
  3. ^ "Senator Bob Brown – Australian Greens" (PDF). Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  4. ^ a b Peter Thompson. Bob Brown of the Franklin River. Allen & Unwin Sydney 1984. ISBN 0-86861-596-X p 13.
  5. ^ Peter Thompson. Bob Brown of the Franklin River. Allen & Unwin Sydney 1984. ISBN 0-86861-596-X p 43.
  6. ^ a b "Doctor says he's gay" Launceston Examiner June 10, 1976 p3.
  7. ^ "Q: What do these MPs have in common? A: They are out and proud atheists". The Age. Faifax. 14 March 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  8. ^ Roger Green. Battle for the Franklin. Fontana ACF 1981 ISBN 0006367151 pp 122-123.
  9. ^ "Results of All Countbacks to Fill House of Assembly Casual Vacancies, under the Tasmanian Electoral Act, for the 43 years from 1965 to 2008". Proportional Representation Society of Australia. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  10. ^ Cassandra Pybus and Richard Flanagan (eds). The Rest of the World is Watching Us. Pan Macmillan Sydney 1990. ISBN 0725106514 pp258-266
  11. ^ "Ban on same-sex marriages doesn't target gays: PM". The Sydney Morning Herald. Faifax. 27 April 2004.
  12. ^ "Senator Bob Brown : Media". Bobbrown.org.au. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  13. ^ "Senator Bob Brown : Media". Bobbrown.org.au. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  14. ^ http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,21200858-3102,00.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) [dead link]
  15. ^ "Coal is energy industry's heroin habit: Brown – National". Age. Melbourne: Fairfax. 10 February 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  16. ^ Streem / Politics / Brown says PM must set carbon targets
  17. ^ "Bob Brown – Wielangta Landmark Trial". On-trial.info. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  18. ^ "Brown v Forestry Tasmania (No 4) [2006] FCA 1729 (19 December 2006)". Austlii.edu.au. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  19. ^ "Brown loses High Court battle to save Tas forest – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 23 May 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  20. ^ "Brown facing bankruptcy over Forestry Tas bill – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  21. ^ Wels, Peter (10 June 2009). "I took advice on court costs, says Bob Brown". Examiner. Tasmania: Fairfax. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  22. ^ "Dick Smith to bail Brown out: ABC News 9/6/2009". Abc.net.au. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  23. ^ "Forestry Tasmania's bill will be paid on time, says Brown". Bob-brown.greensmps.org.au. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  24. ^ a b Needham, Kirsty (18 January 2011). "Brown assailed over comments". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  25. ^ Nader, Carol (19 August 2010). "The issue others avoid". The Age. Melbourne: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  26. ^ "How green is Brown's valley". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 1 October 2004. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  27. ^ "Bush Heritage Australia: Our Patron". Bushheritage.org.au. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  28. ^ Pickrell, John (21 March 2011). "Bob Brown gives away his green sanctuary". AustralianGeographic.com.au. Australian Geographic. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  29. ^ http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=bob+brown&type=author
  30. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/tv/myfavouriteaustralian/brown.htm
  31. ^ http://www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/wcpa/wcpa_what/wcpa_awards/wcpa_packard/wcpa_packardalpha
  32. ^ http://www.global500.org/ViewLaureate.asp?ID=704
  33. ^ http://www.goldmanprize.org/node/85
  34. ^ http://www.bushheritage.org.au/about/people/our_patrons
  35. ^ http://www.penguin.com.au/contributors/bob-brown
  36. ^ http://www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/about/treasureslist.pdf
  37. ^ http://www.australianpolitics.com/parties/greens/07-05-10_bob-brown-biography.pdf
  38. ^ http://poa.org.au/admin/?q=node/11
  39. ^ http://www.iheu.org/australian-humanist-year-2010-bob-brown-political-activist

Further reading

  • Armstrong, Lance J.E. (1997). Good God, He's Green! A History of Tasmanian Politics 1989–1996. Wahroonga, N.S.W., Pacific Law Press. ISBN 1-875192-08-5
  • Lines, William J. (2006) Patriots : defending Australia's natural heritage St Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2006. ISBN 0-70223-554-7
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bob Brown.
Party political offices
Preceded by
New office
 Federal Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens
2005 – present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent

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