Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown has today announced the Greens candidate in the Higgins by-election, Dr Clive Hamilton AM.

"Clive Hamilton is an outstanding Australian who has pioneered national debate on climate change and social justice. He offers the voters of Higgins a sharp intellect, a very strong social conscience and hard work as their representative in parliament. He will raise the level of debate on climate change and other national issues to a higher level in the House of Representatives," Senator Brown said.

Dr Hamilton said: "With our country once again a laggard nation in response to global warming, and the government and opposition competing to vilify asylum seekers, never has a national and international standpoint been more sorely needed. Only the Greens can rise above the cheap politicking and take a principled stance, and I feel privileged to be their candidate. The people of Higgins and I now have the opportunity to make a bold national statement - Australia must take a lead in global issues."

"The voters of Higgins are used to having high profile representatives. Dr Clive Hamilton will once again provide Higgins with a leading voice in the national political arena," Senator Brown said.

A brief biography of Dr Hamilton is printed below.

Media contact: Peter Stahel 0433 005 727 

Dr Clive Hamilton AM

Clive Hamilton is one of Australia's leading public intellectuals. He founded The Australia Institute in 1993 and built it into Australia's leading progressive think tank, serving as its executive director until early 2008 when he took up a position as professor of public ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics.

Clive is particularly well known for his expertise and commentary on the politics and science of climate change, on which he has written two books, with a third on the way. His work on ‘affluenza' and consumerism, including the ‘downshifting' phenomenon, has stimulated a national debate on materialism and the sources of happiness.

In 2009 Clive was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his contributions to public debate and public policy. He has held a number of visiting academic positions, including at the University of Cambridge and Yale University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. In 2007 he was a finalist for the Australian of the Year (ACT) and in 2001 a finalist for the Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year.

Clive holds a first-class honours degree in economics from the University of Sydney and a doctorate in the economics of development from the University of Sussex. He has served as a university teacher, a senior public servant and a resource economics adviser to the Government of Indonesia. In 2005 he founded the Climate Institute with a large grant from a philanthropic trust.

Clive is the author of a number of best-selling books, including Growth Fetish, Affluenza (with Richard Denniss), Silencing Dissent (with Sarah Maddison) and Scorcher: The dirty politics of climate change.