The 'Green debate' may be one of the most pivotal political issues of the next decade. In the aftermath of the Climate Change conference at Copenhagen, Togatus contributor Adam Nebbs decided to pick the brain of one of Tasmania's great environmental politicians, Senator Christine Milne.

Christine Milne is promptly ushered into the Senator's office by her Media Advisor. She is  quick to explain that her recent efforts in the Senate have exhausted her and apologises if she isn't at her sharpest for our interview.

(New paragraph necessary? )To put her exhaustion into a political context, at the time of our interview the Emissions Trading Scheme had just been rejected in the Senate after several drawn out months of discussion and disagreements. Christine was openly pleased to see the ETS defeated and is determined the Government and the Greens can work together to develop something more effective in tackling climate change.

"The Greens want strong action on climate change and the Government's carbon pollution reduction scheme was not going to do that. It effectively ran up the white flag on climate change and was a bill which accepted that catastrophic climate change was going to happen."

While the Opposition effectively knocked back the ETS, Christine believes that the tax-free carbon measures that the newly appointed Opposition leader Tony Abbott stated would save Australians money, is far from the necessary solution.

"[Abbot] thinks that you can deal with [climate change] in a completely cost neutral way. That is nonsense as everybody knows to transform out of fossil fuel economy to a low carbon/zero carbon economy you have to put a price on carbon that allows the renewable industries to develop and flourish ... He is in cloud cuckoo land."

Influenced by her party's views, Christine believes the Labour and Liberal parties are part of an old order that emerged at a time when the world was seen as infinite in resources.

"As long as Labour and Liberal still believe that the Earth can just sustain nine billion people at the same level of consumption as we've got now, and that the earth can continue to absorb the waste, is the pathway to catastrophic climate change".  

Senator Milne also believes that developed countries must play a pivotal role in deciding appropriate action to counter climate change. However, in the first week of the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009, it became apparent that there was a division between developed and developing nations over who should cut their carbon emissions and to what degree.

Christine is adamant that wealthy nations have exploited developing countries and thus have a moral responsibility to back them financially and to accept their fundamental role in creating climate change.

"The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere right now has been put there not by developing countries but by the developed world. Those who can pay and have also created the problem have a moral obligation, a social justice obligation to assist the developing world to leapfrog the problems of the fossil fuel economy".

Christine has had an experienced history of campaigning to protect the environment. She was at the forefront of environmental action when the environment was emerging as an important political consideration. In December 1982, protests against the Franklin Dam reached their climax when the current Australian Greens leader Bob Brown led people in a historical blockade. The protest received international media coverage and saw over 1200 people arrested, including author John Marsden, Bob Brown and Senator Christine Milne herself. At the time, Christine was a young schoolteacher in Devonport, and she risked her career to be part of a movement that would change the political status quo. While the blockade gathered momentum and eventually ended in a victory, Christine explained the difficulties that the protesters encountered in order to reach their goal.

"I went into the classroom and on the back wall someone had put up the poster the Hydro workers were using at the time which [suggested] if you were to come and join the blockade, you had to be a dole bludger, play a tin whistle and be a pot smoker and all of this kind of stereotypical nonsense."

Despite the negative labelling the Hydro attempted to apply to the protesters, the campaign against the Franklin Dam was successful due to a wide range of tactics. Christine believes that similar methods should be employed when tackling climate change and present day environmental politics

"[We need] lots of public meetings, public marches and frankly on the climate change campaign that is exactly what we have to do. Get out of the backroom process of submissions and take it to the streets."

Christine believes another aim is to convert the ideals of the climate change sceptics.

"What we've got from some of the climate sceptics is failed, marginalised academics, that suddenly have got the attention they have always craved by being the spokespeople for dodgy PR reports, [which are] funded by the problem, the fossil fuel sector."

Senator Milne is clearly a strong advocate for the Green's issues in Tasmania and is a strong believer in having a well informed democracy.

"I think it is really important when people register to vote in Australia that they are provided with information about the political parties and the political context, so that they can make a more informed choice."

By Adam Nebbs