Leading businessman and wily environmental campaigner Geoffrey Cousins is the new president of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Cousins, who spearheaded campaigns against the Gunns pulp mill and the James Price Point LNG hub, is a member of the Telstra board – as is Business Council of Australia president Catherine Livingstone.
He was previously chairman of what was then Australia's largest advertising agency, George Patterson, and was the first chief executive of Optus.
He has powerful business and political connections and has previously served on the boards of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, the Seven Network, Hoyts Cinemas group and NM Rothschild & Sons Limited.
Cousins, who takes up the ACF presidency from today, said governments were "taking Australia in the wrong direction, damaging nature and our fragile climate".
"I believe in the power of the people," he said. "When people stand together and speak up, governments and business take notice."
Politicians 'a waste of time'
Speaking at a Climate Alliance forum in Melbourne earlier this year, Cousins said his experience on the Gunns and James Price campaigns had taught him that the most effective campaigns target company shareholders and customers.
Lobbying politicians had proved ineffective in both cases, he said (see related article).
"They are a waste of time," he said. "They are just looking at their short-term interests."
He acknowledged that "sooner or later" the problem of climate change would have to be dealt with by government action.
"But it is pressure from people that causes that to happen," he said.
Cousins also told the forum that business leaders themselves should be advocates of action.
"Sometimes business people think that the only issues they should think about are those that are 'good for the company'," he said.
"That is nonsense. You don't stop being a citizen just because you took a job as a CEO," he said.
The collapse of Gunns Ltd showed "what can happen when business people ignore the needs of the community and reasonable action", Cousins told the forum.
Cousins succeeds Professor Ian Lowe as president of the environment group.
