Peter Garrett, AM, MP
Labor Member for Kingsford Smith
Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts

Peter Garrett was elected as the Labor Member for Kingsford Smith at the 2004 federal election. In 2007, he was appointed Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts following the election of a Federal Labor Government on 24 November. On 8 March 2010, following a restructure of the Department of the Environment, Peter was sworn in as Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts.

Widely known as a passionate advocate and campaigner on a range of contemporary Australian and global issues, he was the former president Australian Conservation Foundation, an activist, and former member of Australian band Midnight Oil.

The ‘Oils’ were renowned for their fierce independent stance and active support of a range of contemporary concerns including the plight of homeless youth, indigenous people's rights and protection of the environment.

The band’s protest and benefit shows, notably the anti-Exxon performance on a truck-top in the streets of New York and, of course, the 'sorry suits' performance at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games closing ceremony were hallmarks of a thirteen-album career culminating in the ARIA lifetime achievement award in 2006.

Peter served two terms as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. In his first term, from 1989 to 1993, significant results were achieved for many threatened areas of the Australian environment including the Queensland Wet Tropics rainforest and Jervis Bay in NSW. In his second term, the ACF grew strongly, developed partnerships with non-government organisations and business, and expanded its campaigning into marine conservation and northern Australia.

He received the Australian Humanitarian Foundation Award ( environment category) in 2000, and in 2003 received the Order of Australia (Member General Division) for his contribution to environment and the music industry. In 2009, the French Government appointed Peter an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2010, WWF Australia and International presented Peter with their Leaders for a Living Planet award.

» Read Peter's Q&A for the House of Representatives 'Meet Your MP' Touchscreen in Parliament House, Canberra

» Listen to ABC Radio's Shauna Stafford interview Peter for "Who on earth are you", December 2009, (16mb MP3 file)

I take my role as environment minister very seriously, and I work to ensure the highest standards of protection for our precious environment. Still, a lot of people think the federal environment minister is the last port of call on all environmental issues with power to intervene in any environmental matter in Australia, but the actual situation is quite different under the laws and Constitution of our Federation.

Our national environmental law is set out in the Australian Government’s key piece of environmental legislation, called the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Under the EPBC Act, the Australian Government only has authority over certain defined matters of national and international importance, called matters of ‘national environmental significance’ (NES).

Matters of NES include listed threatened species and ecological communities, listed migratory species, wetlands of international importance, Commonwealth marine areas, World Heritage properties and National Heritage places. All other environmental matters are the sole responsibility of the states, territories and local governments, and are decided by these governments alone.