Politics with Michelle Grattan: Bob Brown on his latest environmental battle, and a critique of Labor

By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

Since his retirement from parliament in 2012, Bob Brown has remained an activist on environmental causes - from campaigning against the Adani coal mine to fighting the threat to Tasmania’s Tarkine forest.

Brown was leader when after the 2010 election the Greens helped Julia Gillard retain government by entering an agreement with her. A key part of that deal was the requirement that a price on carbon be introduced.

These days Brown labels Labor “Liberal-lite” - condemning what he sees at its timid stance on climate policy as a lost opportunity to catch up with “public sentiment”.…

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