The Australian Conservation Foundation: A Remarkable History
The story of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is one of vision, commitment and achievement. It is a remarkable history of people and place and bears witness to an environment organisation that is a driving force for change in Australia today.
The 60s
ACF's founders were drawn from Australia's scientific, public service, business and political decision makers. A 1963 memo from the Duke of Edinburgh inspired Francis Ratcliffe to consult with his CSIRO colleagues and work with conservationists and community leaders to establish a national conservation body.
Francis Ratcliffe saw conservation as one of the three most important issues facing humanity, along with the avoidance of an atomic war and achieving racial harmony. In August 1964 at a conference in Canberra the organisation that was to become the Australian Conservation Foundation was born. Sir Garfield Barwick, Chief Justice of the High Court, was appointed President. ACF came into being as a legal entity when its certificate of incorporation was issued in August 1966.
Early meetings of the ACF Council identified the Mallee, rainforests, the Great Barrier Reef and central Australia as the areas most needing coordinated national attention and action. However, the young organisation had limited resources and the urgency of the threats to the Great Barrier Reef meant that by the end of the decade ACF was focussed on protecting the Reef from mining and oil drilling.
During the 1960s ACF developed most of the campaign methods it used for the following twenty-five years. These included research, policy development, education and lobbying. ACF gave support to other conservation organisations and established local branches.
Francis Ratcliffe had a vision of building a large body of members to support ACF financially and assist with community education. As the sixties drew to a close the wave of public support for conservation escalated. People were on the move and demanding change.
The 70s
In 1970 the campaign to protect large areas of the Mallee in Victoria was resolved in favour of conservation. In 1972 the remote and beautiful Lake Pedder in Tasmania was obliterated by a hydroelectric scheme. A group of ACF members, angered by the organisation's failure to speak without fear or favour in opposition to the flooding of Lake Pedder worked to bring about internal change. ACF's approach to conservation campaigning became more strategic, active and independent and throughout the seventies public awareness of conservation issues increased.
In 1973, Gough Whitlam, then Prime Minister of Australia, launched the first issue of Habitat, now ACF's iconic magazine. Prince Phillip, then president of ACF, wrote that 'Habitat will provide essential news on conservation matters to the public at large.'
ACF pressed the federal government to lead a campaign for a worldwide ban to whaling and for an end to whaling in Australian waters. Thirty thousand supporters responded to a television advertising campaign to 'Save the Whales'. Nine years of vigorous public campaigning later, a moratorium was declared on commercial whaling in 1981.
In 1974 Australia signed the World Heritage Convention and ACF proposed World Heritage nominations for areas of great natural and cultural values, beginning with the Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island.
Throughout the seventies, ACF campaigned against uranium mining. ACF was a principal party at the Fox Inquiry into mining at Ranger in Kakadu and pressed for the creation of a major national park to protect both the natural and cultural values of the area.
Inspired by its President, Dr Nugget Coombs, economist, environmentalist and Indigenous rights activist, ACF moved to support Aboriginal land rights and in 1978 pledged to work collaboratively with the Northern and Central Land Councils.
ACF became increasingly involved in urban issues. ACF Councillor and unionist Jack Mundey was the force behind 'green bans' that saw unions withdraw their labour from demolition sites to protect historic urban precincts like the Rocks in Sydney. Pollution, climate change and population became topics of debate on the pages of Habitat.
The seventies was the decade that ACF consolidated its operations, extended its vision and committed to long-term plans for the achievement of conservation goals.
The 80s
The explosive environmental issue of the early 1980s was the campaign to protect the Franklin, one of the last wild rivers in Australia. ACF mobilised supporters and resources behind the campaign that went all the way to the High Court to prevent the damming of the river. A pervasive theme in the 1980s was the fight for Australia's native forests. In 1987 ACF and other environment groups pushed forests into the spotlight. Daintree's tropical rainforests finally gained World Heritage listing in 1988, despite the vehement opposition of the then Queensland Government. Kakadu's cultural and natural qualities were again under threat from uranium mining during the eighties. ACF played a lead role in securing Stages 1 and 2 of the Kakadu National Park and establishing an inquiry into the proposed Coronation Hill mine. The late eighties saw ACF make a major effort to redress Australia's massive land degradation problems. In 1989 a historic alliance between ACF and the National Farmers Federation called for the establishment of a national Landcare program. Landcare provided a vision for the transformation to ecological sustainability that was embraced by all major political parties. The nineties were to be declared 'The Decade of Landcare'. One of the most important environment decisions in global terms was the Australian government's rejection of mining in Antarctica in 1989. A policy of protection for Antarctica had been developed by ACF in the mid-seventies and it was ACF's persistence with its vision and the success of its public awareness campaign that eventually convinced the government to act. In 1989 Peter Garrett, rock star and environmental activist, became President of ACF. Peter brought to the organisation his passion and commitment to a wide range of issues including anti-uranium, indigenous rights and Northern Australia. Throughout the 80s ACF developed into an organisation that was more professional, more strategic in its alliances and more politically sophisticated. The decade closed with environmental issues high on the political agenda and ACF the leading national advocate for the environment.
The 90s
The nineties began on a high note. The environment was the focus of the federal election and ACF was swamped by the media with requests for information to produce environment related TV programs, newspaper feature articles and radio documentaries. On World Environment Day 1990 ACF and Telecom Australia held a nationwide video-conference for young people throughout the country to discuss ways to reduce ozone-depleting substances. Then in 1993 the recession hit and media attention turned away from the environment. Despite financial constraints ACF continued to extend its influence through initiatives such as the Green Jobs Unit, which promoted employment creating environmental solutions; the alliance with the National Farmers Federation, which was renewed in 1996 and again in 2000; and the establishment of the GeneEthics Network to focus on the impact of genetic engineering.
ACF broadened its engagement with Indigenous peoples both in Australia and in the Asia-Pacific region. The fight to stop mining at Coronation Hill succeeded in 1991 and from 1992 ACF was key in highlighting the environmental and social impacts of the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea.
The nineties was the decade in which greenhouse pollution and climate change became critical issues. ACF helped to establish the Sustainable Energy Industries Council of Australia and the Federal government agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the year 2005. When Canberra backtracked on this commitment in the mid-nineties ACF spoke out in international forums including the 1995 Berlin Climate Change Conference.
In 1995 ACF launched its first website with a view to facilitating more frequent and effective communication with its diverse range of supporters.
ACF worked to bring the degraded state of the Murray-Darling Basin to public attention. In 1996 ACF introduced the concept of environmental flows into the political arena and launched a major campaign to reverse the decline of Australia's rivers.
ACF and other environment groups worked with the Mirrar people to halt the Jabiluka uranium mine at Kakadu. The 1998 blockade gained significant media attention and placed Jabiluka on the national and international agenda.
In the nineties ACF redefined its vision and sought to inspire a society that was environmentally aware and responsible. ACF positioned itself in the mainstream and by the end of the nineties mainstream society had changed the way it viewed the environment. At the close of the millennium progressive business came to understand environmental responsibility as a competitive advantage and more than sixty percent of Australians listed the environment as one of their major concerns.
21st century
In 2000 Sir William Deane, then Governor General of Australia, launched ACF's Natural Advantage: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Australia. The blueprint outlined ACF's vision for a sustainable Australia and set out inspirational and long-term solutions to environmental problems. Some of the key initiatives of the blueprint were a national project of sustainability reform; a long term, strategic commitment to land and water repair; greenhouse gas reductions and energy efficiency; environmental tax reform; reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; and building social capital to ensure all Australians benefit from our great natural advantages. In the early years of the new millennium ACF 'walked the talk' and moved its head office to the 60L Green Building in Carlton. ACF's supporter base grew and many more Australians expressed a desire to make a difference for the environment. Polls regularly placed the environment among Australians' top concerns. The blueprint continues to drive innovative campaigns to protect, restore and sustain the environment. ACF has entered into a range of partnerships with Indigenous Australians, particularly in Northern Australia, with the scientific and business sector and with rural communities. ACF is developing a national community outreach program to inspire individual action on some of the most pressing environmental challenges we face. Our achievements for the decade to date include the restoration of flows to the Snowy River, the banning of radioactive waste dumps in SA, a halt to broadscale land clearing in Queensland, the promised rehabilitation of the Jabiluka mine site in Kakadu and the declaration of new Marine Parks in Victoria. We have made salinity, water and energy urgent national issues and pushed hard for national action on climate change, the Murray and Tasmania's magnificent forests. The ACF story continues. This is an edited and updated version of 'ACF: Protecting the Environment for 30 Years', originally published in Habitat in 1996.