PETER NEWMAN AO 

Peter is an environmental scientist, author and educator. He has published 16 books and 300 papers and was awarded an Order of Australia for distinguished service to science education as an academic and researcher, through contributions to urban design and transport sustainability, and to the community. He is known for popularising the term ‘automobile dependence’. In the second half of the 1980s Peter was closely associated with the redevelopment of Perth’s rail system from 1979 to the present, which is now seen as a model for how car dependent cities can become more sustainable. He was described by Malcolm Turnbull at the recent City Summit as ‘his tutor’. Peter grew up in Melbourne but his family never stopped dreaming about their home town Perth which, he says, remained the centre of their universe. Peter tells us about how he came to run the campaign to save the Fremantle railway in the 1980s and his experiences in doing so.