Bob Brown
Medical doctor and former Senator of AustraliaWikipedia
21
MENTIONS
13
EPISODES
13
PODCASTS
Search complete. 21 mentions across 13 episodes found for "Bob Brown".
Nov 3, 2026
Antoinette LattoufHOST
There you go.
Antoinette LattoufHOST
It was also a reminder like how well and truly far away from the Bob Brown's founded Greens campaign primarily on the environment that the Greens now are.
Antoinette LattoufHOST
Like they've broadened their issues, you know, and we've seen that even in the Greens in the UK.
Antoinette LattoufHOST
They talk about cost of living, obviously strong on the genocide.
Talal YassineHOST
I wanted to replace some of these people
Sarah Hanson-YoungGUEST
so I um I joined the Greens Bob Brown was the leader at the time and he was the only politician I could see who was standing up and saying what needed to be said and speaking for a compassionate policy response, particularly on immigration in Australia.
Sarah Hanson-YoungGUEST
And from a privileged white position of a girl who grew up in the bush, I couldn't understand why we were so worried about helping people who desperately needed assistance, who had fled horrible regimes, who'd fled the Taliban, who were fleeing Saddam Hussein, who were politically fighting for democracy in their country, and yet when they got to Australia, we said, you've got to be locked up in a prison.
Sarah Hanson-YoungGUEST
I was like, well, aren't we a democracy? Aren't we for freedom? Aren't we for equality and human rights and all of these things? I couldn't...
7 MINS LATER
Sarah Hanson-YoungGUEST
Yes.
Talal YassineHOST
Were you made to feel that way?
Sarah Hanson-YoungGUEST
Um, oh yeah, there was definitely, there was some people who tried to make me feel like that, but I must say, um, uh, I mean, having Bob Brown as a mentor, I couldn't have asked for anybody better.
Sarah Hanson-YoungGUEST
He's just always been so generous, so open and honest and kind of able to give advice.
Jacob GreberGUEST
And then the leader kind of wasn't around to explain why she supported the majority position.
Jacob GreberGUEST
Uh, and you had Bob Brown, former leader, kind of firing shots from the sidelines.
Jacob GreberGUEST
Uh, so very, very messy few months for the Greens and, and that, you know...
Jacob GreberGUEST
I think, uh, it's, it's not this one issue.
Tom BallardGUEST
in very raw terms is tree Tories versus watermelons, right? Watermelons are people who are green on the outside, red on the inside.
Tom BallardGUEST
Your typical watermelon is someone like Lee Rhiannon, your tree Tory is allegedly someone like Bob Brown.
Tom BallardGUEST
Now I think they're really reductive terms and you can find exceptions in every possible case in this, but generally speaking, The New South Wales branch of the Greens have a history much more tied into disaffected Labour voters, often tied to the union movement, movements like the Green Bans situation, a much more class politics first focus version of politics.
Tom BallardGUEST
The incredible environmental work from Tasmania is often dismissed as treetories.
Ben RaueHOST
There really didn't seem to be a solution to this dilemma, and for a while it was something that helped protect group voting tickets from abolition.
Ben RaueHOST
In December 2004, just two months after the election that saw Family Firsts defeat the Greens in Victoria on Labor preferences, Greens Senator Bob Brown introduced legislation that would have implemented New South Wales-style preferencing above the line, but with compulsory preferential voting.
Ben RaueHOST
The bill wasn't debated in Parliament, but it's hard to see how it could have worked.
Ben RaueHOST
While voters had gotten used to voting just one above the line, they'd need to number dozens of boxes in most states to cast a formal vote.
Ben RaueHOST
But considering the difficulty in lodging a vote that didn't follow the ticket, this couldn't be assumed.
Ben RaueHOST
While the report did raise the possibility of optional preferential voting above the line in the Senate, the general consensus remained strongly against OPV.
Ben RaueHOST
The committee recommended a reform along the lines of Bob Brown's bill, introducing compulsory preferencing above the line.
Ben RaueHOST
As the issue dragged on into subsequent elections, pressure continued to build up, and the need to find a practical solution began to weaken the opposition to OPV.
Jordan ShanksHOST
... which was Adam Bandt and, uh, Larissa Waters.
Jordan ShanksHOST
But Richard Di Natale used to always run the line of, like, "We're here to replace Labor," and Bob Brown used to do it.
Jordan ShanksHOST
They, they all have this, uh, messiah-like complex that they're the one that's gonna break the 12, you know? They, they always have that, and they say it every time.
Jordan ShanksHOST
But what they forget, which is what we saw in the Greens documentary that we were just watching, like, a little bit of beforehand, they're all really annoying, and that type of person-
Leith ForrestHOST
Mm-hmm.
Joe HildebrandGUEST
And so [laughs] for a party that was actually formed by Bob Brown and, and Drew Hutton for being an environmentalist party, that tells you everything you need to know about where it is now.
Joe HildebrandGUEST
And the party is basically...
Joe HildebrandGUEST
And I had a former Greens MP on the phone to me yesterday saying just this, the party is now sort of overrun by actual communists.
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
We're calling out the bullshit, holding power to account, and having those important conversations.
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
Before we get into our main conversation today with my friend and mentor, Bob Brown, I wanted to talk to you about the latest low from the Trump administration.
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
The US government have announced that they want the execution of Nidal Hussein by firing squad to be live streamed across the world.
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
I can't even believe we're having this conversation.
5 MINS LATER
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
And especially when leaders in the world, some leaders, wish to use this type of heinous, barbaric act as a PR stunt when their government is struggling.
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
It is revolting, and we as Australians must say no.
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
My guest today is a very dear friend and a mentor, Bob Brown, the former leader of the Australian Greens, former senator.
Sarah Hanson-YoungHOST
He's a former doctor.
Luke BonaHOST
Be- because I mean, you, you're, you're doing at the moment very well, 10 Senate seats, one House of Reps seat, uh, and anything can happen between now and the next election.
Luke BonaHOST
When I spoke to ex-leader of the Nats, David Littleproud, just last week, he said that there are two different kinds of Greens, soft Greens and hard Greens, Greens that are dedicated on the environment, which is where Bob Brown kind of started, and Greens that seem to be preoccupied with world events and other political events.
David ShoebridgeGUEST
Well, I, I don't think David Littleproud, proud knows the first thing about the Greens, to be honest.
David ShoebridgeGUEST
He's in another political party, and, you know, he's got his political slant on the party.
Joel HillHOST
So yeah, I agree.
Joel HillHOST
But I miss Bob Brown.
Joel HillHOST
He seemed to have it, but I think he needed to go and spend a long time with his husband in the middle of nowhere.
Joel HillHOST
I think he's doing a bit of activism stuff, but probably very quietly.
3 more episodes mention Bob Brown.
Create an account to see the whole feed, search across every transcript, and follow the entities you care about.