A champion of healthy rivers and leading spokesman on salinity and water issues, Professor Peter Cullen, has won the Prime Minister's Award for Environmentalist of the Year 2001.
I am delighted to make the award to this eminent Australian.
Professor Cullen is Chief Executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology and Professor of Resource & Environmental Science at the University of Canberra.
He has advised many federal and local governments and other decision makers on water issues and has chaired or participated in scores of groups ranging from the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering & Innovation Council and the National Science Forum to the Scientific Advisory Committee, National Parks, Victoria.
He has perhaps done more than any other individual Australian to put the critical environmental issues of salinity and water quality on the public agenda.
Professor Cullen is not only a gifted scientist, but also a passionate advocate and practitioner of sustainable natural resource management. He has helped us understand that Australia's environmental problems are all connected, that they affect each one of us, and that we all have responsibility for fixing them.
By making this award, I hope not only to honour his achievements, but also to lend him my support as he helps implement the $1.4 billion National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. The plan is a joint Federal, State and Territory initiative with $700 million in Commonwealth support over seven years.
The Prime Minister's Award for Environmentalist of the Year 2001 will be presented on my behalf by Environment Minister Robert Hill at the Banksia Environmental Awards at Canberra's National Museum of Australia on 2 June, as part of Australia's celebrations of World Environment Day.
2 June 2001