Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Honourable Speaker, International Women’s Day was on 8 March. I give thanks and kudos to the extraordinary women fighting for the future of Tasmania, for our wild places and for a liveable climate in Lutruwita/Tasmania: Dr Jen Sanger, Kat Bourne, Alice Hardinge, Patsy Jones, Sarah Levbski, Jenny Weber, Sophie Underwood, Kate Johnston, Sarah Lebski and Nala Mansell, just to name a few. To those who came before, too, Melva Truchanas, Florence Perrin, Hilary Bennell, Helen Gee, and so many more – we truly stand on the shoulders of giants.
On Friday, in a belated but highly deserving acknowledgement, Christine Milne AO, was inducted into the Tasmanian Honour Role of Women. The community statement for Christine’s inclusion reads:
Christine Milne’s visionary leadership has transformed the environmental and political landscape, inspiring generations to fight for a sustainable and just future.
From growing up on a Tasmanian north‑west coast farm, Christine has gone on to empower and inspire women and climate activists around the world.
It was the crime of flooding Lake Pedder in 1972 that galvanised Christine to take action for our wild places, as it did for so many. When the Franklin River blockade took place a decade later, Christine was up‑river. She was arrested and risked great personal and professional backlash for taking this stand. She did so because this place and the possible loss of this magnificent ancient place of the Tasmanian wilderness was a cause far greater than herself and her own.
She is no stranger to this place. As a former member for Lyons from 1989 to 1998, she was the first female leader of a Tasmanian political party and the first woman to lead the Australian Greens. She was elected to the Senate from 2004 to her resignation in 2015.
It is not only Tasmania and Australia that benefit from Christine’s work. Her staunch advocacy for the climate and biodiversity is respected around the world. She was part of the United Nations Environment Program’s Global 500 Laureate and was former vice president of the world conservation union (IUCN).
Christine has been recognised with numerous accolades including the Australian Bicentennial Award. She has been a Tasmanian recipient for women and leadership in Australia, and was appointed as an officer of the Order of Australia in 2018.
Christine has been a mentor for many. I particularly want to mention her strong female leadership. She always ensured that everyone around her rose to the top. A testament to her leadership are the successive achievements of all her staff throughout her career; each went on to make extraordinary change in this world. She has always ensured that everyone around her has had the opportunities to grow, learn and make this world a better place.
She has also shown us that retirement is a myth. Christine is presently: working on the restoration of Lake Pedder; she is part of the Invasive Species Council, the Justice Reform Initiative, Wilderness Australia, the Bob Brown Foundation, the UTAS Women in Politics program, and is a Global Greens Ambassador.
Christine was added to the Tasmanian Honour Roll for service to the environment, government, public services and politics. That is just the tip of the iceberg of Christine Milne’s legacy and impact in creating a fairer, safe planet Earth for generations to come.
What cannot be captured by that statement is her big heart, incredible thoughtful kindness, her unbreakable optimism and her spirit of never, ever giving up.
It felt very weird writing this because it could quite easily slip into eulogy territory, and it certainly is not. Christine is here with us today, active and as strong as ever and continuing to progress a futuristic vision for this planet. We in this place should acknowledge and thank giants like Christine far more often.
Every time that someone from Labor or the Liberals wants to sledge the Greens as extremists or anti‑everything, just think of Christine Milne. It is on her shoulders that you also stand each and every time you hang your hats on this state’s clean, green and clever brand. It was her vision decades back which laid these foundations for the Tasmania that we enjoy today.
In years to come, when we have island‑scale renewable energy and generation that does not destroy biodiversity, when Lake Pedder is rightfully revived, when we have stopped cutting down our grand carbon‑storing native forests and when we fully protect and appreciate the array of ecosystems here on this island – in the unknown future that is coming under climate change as we surpass environmental tipping points of no return, when Tasmania has that regenerative restorative trademark lifestyle, just know that that too will be thanks to the visionary, ardent work of Christine Milne, AO.
