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 referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...

(in 1991) and ran in elections in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 earth. Over 50,000 tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account for 68% of w ...

, Indigenous land rights and

nuclear disarmament Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons. Its end state can also be a nuclear-weapons-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated. The term ''denuclearization'' is also used to describe the pro ...

. 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 Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

including

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

(QUT) and

University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland is a public research university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, the sixth largest city in the Australian state of Queensland Founded in 1967 after a successful campaign by the local Darling Down ...

. 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 was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

in 1999. Hutton and Connors 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 nam ...

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. , style="background:#F88" , Coalition of Gulf War, Coalition victory * Kuwait, State of Kuwait resumes self-governance over all Kuwaiti sovereign territory * Esta ...

. 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, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

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, or coal seam gas (CSG) 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, Australia, and other co ...

company without reasonable excuse' under s804 of the ''Petroleum and Gas Act''. He was protesting against the

Queensland Gas Company Shell's QGC (formerly, QGC Pty. Ltd.) (initials for "Queensland Gas Company") is one of the largest of several Australian coalbed methane companies developing methane reserves within the Bowen and Surat Basins of Queensland. The company has an e ...

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 generally ...

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

Drew Hutton for The Gabba

History of the Australian Environment Movement - by Drew Hutton, Libby Connors (Cambridge University Press)

Queensland Greens - About Us

14 August 2004
Drew Hutton's Facebook profile

Drew Hutton's Myspace profile

Drew Hutton, how he galvanised the Greens and his unlikely alliance with Alan Jones

Drew Hutton and Adrian Skerritt: Our radical past: protest in 60s and 70s Brisbane
oral history,

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Drew Living people 1947 births Australian Greens candidates Academic staff of Queensland University of Technology Academic staff of the University of Southern Queensland Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)