Despite their party differences, past Australian political leaders are agreed on one thing: the politicians of the present are failing us on the environment.
Parliamentary heavyweights John Hewson, Bob Carr and Christine Milne took to the stage on Saturday, 22 October, at the National Environment Meeting, and you can see edited highlights of their speeches below.
Moderated by former Media Watch presenter, Jonathan Holmes, the panel brought together veteran Labor, Liberal and Greens voices:
- John Hewson was Liberal Party Leader and Leader of the Opposition from 1990 to 1994
- Christine Milne led the Australian Greens from 2012 to 2015
- Bob Carr was Minister for Foreign Affairs under the Labor government from March 2012 to September 2013; he was previously the longest continuously serving premier for New South Wales
The keynote public debate, ‘Politics and the Environment: Making Environmental Progress in 2016’, highlighted how Australia lags behind the rest of the world in implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The event was part of the National Environment Meeting, co-hosted by Greenpeace Australia Pacific and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW in partnership with the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney.
