Page 276 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008
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means our planet can sustain, then it seems I might be a radical. If it is radical to believe in a better future, if it is radical to want to play a part in changing it myself, and if it is radical not to choose the path of the majority, then I am happy to be tagged as a radical. But in reality these things are not radical; they are the responsibility of all of us if we are to hand our children a planet at least as good as the one we inherited. I do not think that is such a radical idea.
David McTaggart, one of the founders of Greenpeace, said in an interview with Time magazine published in 1989:
You’ve got to be prepared to keep the No. 1 thing in mind: you’re fighting to get your children into the 21st century, and to hell with the rules.
The sentiment of those words is as true today as it was then, even if the time frame has changed a little. I share that philosophy. I think it is fair to say that the rules that have got us to this point have not delivered. We clearly need to change the rules.
During the recent public discussion about whether I should wear a tie in the Assembly, one caller to talkback radio made the comment that it was the tie-wearing people of this world who had got us into this mess and that maybe it was now time to give those who do not wear ties a go. He makes a powerful point. In wearing this tie in celebration of the centenary of Canberra, I hope he does not consider me to have crossed that line.
Whilst on the subject of Greenpeace, I would like to pay tribute to those who continue to give their all each day in the fight for the future. Greenpeace exists because this fragile Earth deserves a voice. You “warriors of the rainbow”, you have my utmost admiration. To my many friends around the world—there are too many of you to name—I thank each and every one of you.
I would particularly like to take this opportunity to state my solidarity with Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki—not well known in the ACT but, following a Greenpeace undercover investigation in May 2008 that exposed the embezzlement of whale meat from the taxpayer-funded whaling program, Japanese authorities responded with a politically motivated prosecution, arresting Junichi and Toru and raiding the offices of Greenpeace Japan. The two have now been awaiting trial for nearly six months under arduous bail conditions. Their trial is expected to begin early next year and they are both facing up to 10 years imprisonment.
I also pay tribute to two friends whom we lost from the Greenpeace family this year—Hans Monker and Sjoerd Jongens. These two fine fellows were some of the most dedicated and innovative people I have ever met. We sailed to Antarctica together, and they were not only colleagues but also friends. In their absence, the world is a lesser place.
I have always thought that the title of AB Facey’s book A Fortunate Life summed up my own experiences. Although I grew up in a single-parent household, through my mother’s hard work and courage, that never seemed anything but normal to me. My sister and I grew up under the loving and watchful eye of my mother and our broader family—an idyllic life in the coast town of Batemans Bay, where the biggest problem
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