Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Honourable senators, it is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death, on 6 September 2024, of John Richard Coulter, a senator for the state of South Australia from 1987 to 1995.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its sadness at the death, on 6 September 2024, of John Richard Coulter, former senator for South Australia, places on record its gratitude for his service to the Parliament and the nation, and tenders its sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

I rise on behalf of the government to acknowledge the passing of the former senator from my home state and former Leader of the Australian Democrats, Dr John Richard Coulter, at the age of 93. I convey at the outset the government's condolences and my personal condolences to his family and his friends. I particularly acknowledge his daughter, Kiersten, and thank her for the material she has contributed towards this speech in memory of her father, which has enabled a more detailed understanding of his life and legacy. Similarly, I also acknowledge Natasha Stott Despoja, who succeeded him in the Senate and became also the Australian Democrats leader. I'm grateful for the reflections she's shared with me in the preparation of these remarks.

John Coulter was a politician driven by principle, a man who hails politically from South Australia and, I like to think, who is another exemplar of a political tradition that I hope spans parties from South Australia—of decency and taking a considered approach to politics. John Coulter brought his passion for the environment and science, for the voices of Indigenous Australians and against the nuclear fuel cycle to the Senate. He did so at a time when his political party sat at the fulcrum of Australian politics. Whilst it is over 16 years since an Australian Democrat senator sat in in place, between 1980 and 2005 the party either shared or held the balance of power in its own right. As senator and leader, John Coulter sought to leverage this position to pursue the values that sustained him both before and after his parliamentary career. As Natasha Stott Despoja said:

He was a critical thinker, an intellectual, but not afraid to get his hands dirty, literally while tending to an orchard or protesting in the streets.

Born in Western Australia in 1930, John Coulter arrived in South Australia in the late 1940s, having transferred to commence a degree in medicine at the University of Adelaide. His primary career ambition was in medical research, and after practising as a general practitioner, including as a locum in remote areas, he gained employment with the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science in 1958. His research ultimately led him to investigate petrochemicals used in agriculture and household chemicals, identifying potentially mutagenic and carcinogenic agents. He stood against fierce opposition to exposing these chemicals, their manufacturers and the dangers they posed to people and the environment. On this, he seemed well ahead of his time.

He was also active in a range of environmental and conservation campaigns and organisations, as well as in local government. He was affiliated with what we know as the con council, the Conservation Council of South Australia—of which he was a founding member and later president—the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Underwater Research Group, the Town and Country Planning Association, and what later became Sustainable Population Australia.

John Coulter was elected to the Senate as an Australian Democrats senator in 1987, and he was part of a vanguard of environmentalist politicians, of which party founder Don Chipp was another. In his first speech, and in many that followed, he warned of the impact of human activity, particularly carbon dioxide, on the earth's atmosphere. He exhorted fellow senators to recognise the impact of human activity on finite resources, just as he had campaigned for decades and would continue to as a senator. Throughout his time in the chamber, familiar themes recurred—his advocacy against Australian involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle and his advocacy for conservation, such as his private senator's bill to ban the importation of logs, sawn timber, veneer and plywood from primary tropical rainforests. He similarly introduced legislation to introduce controls on the use of chlorofluorocarbons and in 1995 proposed that the Keating government introduce a carbon tax.

In other areas he leveraged the position of the Australian Democrats to secure amendments to government legislation. When he spoke, he did so with the benefit of a genuine scientific background. He brought the rigour of this training and this insight—not unique, but certainly not widespread amongst senators—to key debates, such as the one on the patenting of genetic material. Whilst gains were made on genetic privacy, legislating to prevent the patenting of genes and gene sequences remains a challenge for the parliament.

Dr John Coulter was also a clear and consistent advocate for a voice and self-determination for Indigenous Australians. His daughter, Kiersten, reflected that in the week of his passing, he said that he believed his most important legacy from his time in the Senate was his role in supporting the establishment of ATSIC, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, and a voice for Indigenous Australians directly into the parliament.

In 1991, he won a membership ballot and became the leader of the Australian Democrats. He weathered a difficult period as the Australian Democrats rebuilt after a period of change and attempted to communicate an environmental message at a time of economic recession. Still, he found ways to bring issues of significance onto the national agenda, sometimes creatively. In 1992, his campaign to make the bilby the Australian substitute for the Easter bunny was the source of considerable publicity. Over three decades later, we still enjoy our chocolate bilbies in South Australia at Easter.

In addition to advocacy for threatened species, he led the charge against the export of hazardous waste and for the protection of inland water supplies, as well as the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. It is worth recalling that the Australian Democrats used their position in the balance of power in the early nineties to act as key protagonists in many of the procedural reforms that give the Australian Senate its modern character. In 1992, he also became the first Australian Democrats senator to chair a select committee, into the Australian Loan Council. By pushing the limits of the committee's power to call witnesses, he prompted the infamous characterisation of the Senate by the then prime minister as 'unrepresentative swill'. Perhaps that's something else to add to his legacy!

Natasha Stott Despoja gave me some insight into what Dr Coulter was like as a boss. She underwent what she described as 'the most rigorous job interview ever' and gained employment on Dr Coulter's staff. She recalled how he invested in her political talents. His office was a place of trust and of commitment to expertise, Dr Coulter having assembled a team of like-minded people driven by research and evidence, reflecting his desire to bring together people of both sound intellect and analytical abilities. But, as Natasha Stott Despoja tells it, he was quirky and funny, considerate and kind, and liked a joke too—including about himself as a member of the socks-and-sandals brigade!

Having been defeated in the mandatory party leadership ballot following the 1993 federal election, John Coulter continued to serve until retiring from the Senate in 1995. He was replaced by Natasha Stott Despoja. She recalled his enthusiasm for her candidacy, saying:

He supported my ascension and was excited to see me become the youngest woman to enter the parliament. It was an honour to fill his vacancy: my political aspirations were hugely supported by him.

John Coulter's retirement did not herald a retreat, and he continued to actively pursue those causes that had consumed his energy prior to and during his years as a senator. One personal passion that continued also was his Adelaide Hills property in my duty electorate of Mayo. In 1972 he bought a denuded 70-acre property at Bradbury that he worked to rehabilitate to its natural bush state for over fifty years. Decades of work led to him successfully transacting a heritage agreement with the South Australian government in 2015-16, which should guarantee there can be no future clearing, grazing or other use of the land other than for the full enjoyment of it preserved and maintained in its natural state. This property is now 80 to 90 per cent covered in natural vegetation, including rare and endangered native flora indigenous to that area of the hills. Sadly, it was burnt out to some extent in the 2019 Cherry Gardens bushfire. Efforts to manage the recovery of the property led to a wider group of like-minded neighbours forming the Bradbury Conservancy, which seeks to rehabilitate and protect a wider parcel of land. Dr Coulter said of the property, 'It's a microcosm of how we should live with nature and not against nature.' He remained living there and managing the property right up until weeks before his death.

John Coulter will be remembered by family and friends at a celebration of his life this coming weekend. It will take place at the property in the Adelaide Hills that he loved so much and nurtured so well. It is fitting for someone who devoted his life to conservation and the environment that this regenerated landscape will be a legacy that lasts into the future for generations to come. It is a monument to his passionate pursuit of practical change and meaningful change and his optimism for what can be achieved through dedication to a cause and a coherent philosophy.

In closing, I again express my personal condolences and those of the government following his passing to his friends and his family.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to join with the Leader of the Government in the Senate in supporting her motion and her fine words honouring the life and paying tribute to the work of Dr John Richard Coulter—senator, leader, scientist, researcher, environmentalist, campaigner and, above all, a dignified man of thought and evidence.

John Coulter was born on 3 December 1930 in Perth to John and Constance Coulter. Completing his education at Wesley College, he went on to study medicine, as we've heard, at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, graduating in 1956, taking residency at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and then becoming a surgical research officer at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science. It was his early medical research delving into the impact of toxins which set John on his path to a lifelong dedication to medical research and environmental advocacy and which saw him advance issues well ahead of their general acceptance across politics, policy or community debate. John was to join, drive, lead and contribute to a number of South Australia's conservation bodies from very early in his career, holding positions that would shape and influence the state's planning and policy landscape and, indeed, no doubt, driving and informing his desire to enter and influence politics.

Like Senator Wong, I too had some correspondence and communication with former Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja to better understand aspects of John's life and his contribution. Natasha shared with me her mum, Shirley, recalling attending a protest against a tree-felling with John, which she assumed from the way her mum told the story must have dated back to before the time that Natasha was even born. John's environmental advocacy was to be a hallmark of the life he led, but it was not just advocacy, because, as Senator Wong has said, he was a man true to his words and lived the deeds of his words.

He was to join the Australian Democrats in 1980. John backed and supported those Democrats' campaigns for upper house seats by contesting, firstly, a South Australian House of Assembly seat in 1982 and then the House of Representatives seat of Boothby in 1983. They're often thankless tasks, particularly for minority party candidates, but a demonstration of commitment to achieve the outcome and influence that those minor parties seek. Such is the unpredictability of politics that John was selected for what was thought to be a fairly unwinnable position on the Senate ticket at the double dissolution election of July 1987 called by the Hawke government. He ended up being one of seven Democrat senators elected in 1987. In South Australia, he was elected as the second Democrat to their then leader Janine Haines and the 12th of 12 senators to be elected from South Australia at that time. From then on, John was to have a solid career in the Senate, and for throughout his entire career the Democrats would retain the balance of power in the Senate.

John was certainly an active member of the Senate, known for introducing multiple bills, particularly those aimed at protecting the environment. But it wasn't just specific to the environment; he would campaign relentlessly on matters that impacted the environment, as he saw it, such as Australia's population growth policies and what he contested to be sustainable levels of population, or, indeed, the measures of GDP that are applied and economic analysis that he saw—and contested—subverted or impacted upon the consideration of effective environmental effects.

John Coulter was to serve as deputy leader of his party and then as leader of the Democrats through—as Senator Wong indicated—a more trying period for a party that, until then, had enjoyed a very rapid rise in its success and influence. What is one of the many notable things about John Coulter is that he brought a significant level of expertise to the Senate. He was able to use that ability to affect policy outcomes and to influence political discussions. He was to establish the very first significant Senate inquiry into climate change, which, as we've heard, called for the introduction of a carbon tax, back in 1995, arguing that funds from that would be used to develop energy efficient industries. As the Democrats environment spokesman, he spoke out about arguments in favour of protecting Australia's old growth forests and wilderness. He warned of the risks of pollution of fresh water posed by industry, agriculture and urban waste. One of his passions, also, was to work on trying to get states and, indeed, Australia to secure water planes for fire emergencies. Perhaps it was his base in the Adelaide Hills that informed that. At the time, it was not something taken seriously, yet today, of course, it is something Australians would not live without.

As we have heard, John Coulter also advocated for the endangered bilby, not just as an endangered species, but, in a novel campaign to raise awareness of the bilby, he sought it to be a symbol of Australian Easter, rather than the environmentally destructive introduced species of rabbit. His legacy well and truly lives on there, from the delightful Haigh's bilbies that we in South Australia love to share. He was active in that promotion, particularly across this place, circulating of the bilbies through the federal parliament each and every year, and the tradition was continued by his successor in the Senate, Natasha Stott Despoja.

John would also apply that medical and scientific research to his work and his thinking, leading arguments to pursue nation-leading legislation, including on the ethics of cloning and challenging the patenting of genes and sequences. Natasha reflected to me, as I suspect to Senator Wong, that she would love to see that prevention of the patenting of genes and gene sequences pursued as a fitting tribute to a pioneer and senator like John Coulter.

In 1995 John made the decision to resign from the Senate due to his ongoing health issues at the time. His vacancy would be filled by Natasha, and, indeed, Natasha was to receive a gift that she says she treasures to this day from John—a copy of The Prophet inscribed by John with the excerpt, 'Yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.' It is a kind gift that she said was designed to inspire her to keep working for a fairer, greener world. Indeed, they are words that all in this place could and should treasure and reflect upon.

We have heard how John liked to judge people on their intellect and their analytical capabilities. A scientist and scholar as well as a pioneering environmentalist, whether as leader of a political party in the Australian Senate or as a councillor on the Campbelltown council or as president of the Conservation Council of South Australia, Dr John Coulter made the most of every opportunity he had to advocate for our precious environment and for the society he saw as important to preserve and protect. This is John's legacy. He was one of those unique individuals who will be remembered for his fierce and unwavering commitment to his beliefs and for campaigning on those issues, not only within the parliament but beyond, and for living true to those campaigns. His contributions were always thoughtful, always respectful, always considered, always deliberative and constructive.

On behalf of the opposition and the Australian Senate, to John's loved ones—his daughter, Kiersten, and stepchildren, Graham, Debbie and Gwendolynne: we extend our sincere condolences and pay tribute to his great contribution to this place and our nation.

Question agreed to, honourable senators joining in a moment of silence.