Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes with deep regret the passing of Professor Peter Cullen on 13 March 2008;

(b)

acknowledges the significant contribution Professor Cullen made:

(i)

to the environment, natural resource policy, freshwater ecology, and the management of Australia’s water resources, particularly within the Murray Darling Basin, and

(ii)

to the knowledge and understanding of these complex and vital issues, including his significant role in the development of sustainable water policy in Australia, and that his insightful analysis will be sorely missed;

(c)

acknowledges that Professor Cullen was particularly skilled at bridging the gap between science and the policy and practice of water management, and had a flair for using language that made complex issues accessible and got the point across; for example, some ‘Cullen-isms’ include:

(i)

on the importance of water accounting, ‘Flying blind hasn’t worked and we must know how much water we have, where it is and how it is being used. We need to know the health of our waterways’,

(ii)

on managing water scarcity, ‘Believing we could meet the water needs of these communities by fixing a few leaking taps and having shorter showers was always a fantasy’,

(iii)

on the Murray Darling, ‘We don’t have all the answers—nobody does—but before we start laying bricks and mortar, we have got to get the foundations right, otherwise the cathedral will tumble with the smallest of tremors’, and

(iv)

on climate change, ‘We’re doing a wonderful experiment in global warming at the moment but by the time it gets through peer review there might not be many humans left on the planet’; and

(d)

offers its condolences to his family and friends.

Question agreed to.