Peter Drew Hutton (born 1947) is an Australian activist, academic, campaigner and past political candidate. Hutton co-founded the

Queensland Greens The Queensland Greens is a Green party in Queensland, Australia, and a state member of the Australian Greens. The party is currently represented in all three levels of government, by Larissa Waters and Penny Allman-Payne in the federal Senate; ...

(in 1990) and

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

(in 1991) and ran in elections in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at all three levels of government.

Social activist

Hutton has been a social activist all his adult life. "Since 1984 I have been part of the process that has moved green politics from the margins to the mainstream of Australian political life. Along the way I have been privileged to represent the Party as a spokesperson and as a candidate. The Greens are now poised to enter that mainstream as a powerful force, representing the hopes and aspirations of many, many Australians."

Educator

He worked as a high school teacher and then a college lecturer from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1970s he joined the anti-Vietnam War campaign and civil liberties campaigns and in the 1980s he was active in the peace movement. Hutton became involved in campaigns on

uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...

, Indigenous land rights and

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the Atomic nucleus, nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear ...

. He also used his position as a teacher educator to champion peace and environmental education in schools and more democratic school environments and teaching practices. For many years, Hutton was a lecturer at tertiary institutions in

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

including

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

(QUT) and

University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland (branded as UniSQ and formerly branded as USQ) is a medium-sized, regional university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, with three university campuses at Toowoomba, Springfield and Ipswich. It offe ...

. Hutton has published books and numerous articles, especially on green philosophy, history and ethics. He brought together the first book on green politics in Australia in 1987 and with his partner Libby Connors wrote ''A History of the Australian Environment Movement'' published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

in 1999. Hutton and Dr Conners were married in 1986, and have two adult sons.

Organiser

Over the last 29 years Hutton has been a key organiser or spokesperson for campaigns against freeways, the storage and transport of hazardous waste, against evictions of poorer residents in inner-city Brisbane suburbs, nuclear disarmament, public transport and marijuana legalisation. He fought against the

Bjelke-Petersen Bjelke-Petersen is the name of an Australian family of Danish descent. The common ancestors of the Australian family are Georg Peter Bjelke-Petersen (born c. 1845), a Danish farmer and master-builder, and his wife Caroline Vilhelmine (maiden name ...

government and ended up in court on many occasions as a result. Hutton's work against pollution resulted in a 1994 Criminal Justice Commission inquiry into toxic waste dumping in Queensland, an inquiry which highlighted massive problems and led to pressure on the Wayne Goss Government to introduce the Environmental Protection Act. He has been active on many environmental campaigns such as land clearing and was involved in the campaign against the

war in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. Other armed conflicts involving Iraq * Wars during Mandatory Iraq ** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921 * Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...

. Hutton's highest vote as a candidate was 25.64% in the ward of

The Gabba The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Gab ...

in the 2008

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisd ...

elections.

Lock the Gate Alliance

In June 2011, Hutton was elected president of the Lock the Gate Alliance, an organisation he helped establish the previous year. On 9 December 2011 Hutton was found guilty in the Dalby Magistrates Court of 'obstructing a

coal seam gas Coalbed methane (CBM or coal-bed methane), coalbed gas, coal seam gas (CSG), or coal-mine methane (CMM) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, Au ...

company without reasonable excuse' under s804 of the ''Petroleum and Gas Act''. He was protesting against the Queensland Gas Company entering a property in Queensland's

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

when he was arrested in March of that year. Hutton has seen the Lock the Gate Alliance member base grow to represent over 30,000 individuals and 280 communities nationwide, and has become a regular spokesperson on the impacts of invasive mining activities on agricultural land, water resources, regional communities and ecologically sensitive areas.

References

External links