At this year’s ALCA conference, Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil frontman, former Federal Environment Minister, and the man who helped stop development at Lot 66, delivered a closing keynote that felt both personal and urgent. His speech was not about nostalgia. It was a challenge to everyone who cares about the land, the climate, and each other.
Listen carefully.
Garrett opened by recalling a message from First Nations wisdom: “Listen carefully to the spirit. You will feel it.” He reminded the room that genuine care for Country begins with humility, with listening, and that every decision, no matter how small, shapes the future of the places we love.
A legacy of courage.
Reflecting on the early campaigns to Save the Daintree and the Great Barrier Reef, he paid tribute to those who lay down in front of bulldozers to protect what would later become World Heritage sites. Their courage, he said, “is still relevant in 2025.”
For C4, it was hard not to think of our own story, the fight to protect Lot 66, and how Garrett’s leadership back then permanently changed the course of Mission Beach’s environmental history.
Facing the climate disjunction.
Garrett spoke plainly about the “disjunct” between escalating climate impacts and the fading public will-to-act. He urged a return to systemic change, including (real) carbon pricing, landscape investment, and stronger Indigenous Ranger networks. He warned that until the climate is stabilised and fossil fuels quit at speed, all bets are off.
Alliances, not silos.
One of his strongest themes was partnership. Every gain for nature, he said, has come through alliances: NGOs, scientists, Traditional Owners, councils and locals working together. He called on the conservation sector to keep building these bridges and to communicate in clear, accessible language that brings more Australians into the conversation.
Hope. With its sleeves rolled up.
Despite the gravity, Garrett ended on a note of active hope (a theme for the entire conference). He urged us to act “with imagination and purpose,” to stand up for democracy as well as the environment, and to remember that “nothing is fixed.”
For those of us in the room, it was a reminder that the fight for nature is also a fight for who we are. And as Garrett said, there is definitely no time to lose.