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“I will never step back when it comes to climate action, a fairer tax system, the protection of our environment, and creating a more just and egalitarian Australia.”
Hi, I’m Tim.
I’ve dedicated my life to building community and environmental action because I believe we’re all in this together.
For those who prefer to listen than read, you can hear Tim tell you a bit more about himself here.
With over two decades of experience working for climate action, I’m an NGO director, a writer, musician, unionist, Dad, founder of Green Music Australia, and Greens candidate for Canberra.
I’ve spent years working in and with the community, and I know from personal experience that people not only can work together towards shared goals, but that doing so brings out the best in all of us.
Just like ecosystems, the key to a thriving community is interdependence and cooperation. So why don’t we see that in our politics?
Growing up as the son of refugees and grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I learnt from an early age what happens when communities succumb to division, when people who call themselves our leaders drive us apart, undermine our democracy and turn us against each other.
We have to do more than just stand up to those who spread division and hate – we must actively work to cultivation connection.
That’s why I love living in Canberra. Our bush capital is a connected and caring community in which I’ve had some of my most fulfilling experiences – include setting up the local Buy Nothing Groups, spearheading the campaign to keep our public space ad-free, and building Lyneham’s little Library with my kids.
I also have twenty years of experience working for Greenpeace, 350, the Nature Conservation Council and Christine Milne, with whom I helped negotiate Australia’s carbon price and secure the establishment of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. I’ve seen first hand that big changes are possible, and I’ve been part of making them happen.
Throughout my life I’ve learned something vital: change won’t last unless it comes from the community.That’s why I’m passionate about local democracy, and it reaffirms my faith in humanity and our future to discover how many inspiring people there are on every street and in every neighbourhood, working together for the common good.
In the wake of COVID-19 and the horrific bushfires we all experienced, millions of people are demanding better. We must allow this community voice to be heard over the the corporate lobby groups and billionaires, who try to use their wealth and power to set the political agenda in this country.
I don’t believe that parliament is full of bad people, but I do believe the current system makes it hard for our elected representatives to do what they know is right, or to vote to bring the community’s values, ideas and beliefs into parliament. That’s because they’re either beholden to entrenched power or too scared to stand up to it.
That’s why our politicians are ignoring scientists and the community when it comes to climate action. It’s why big corporations and billionaires don’t pay their fair share in tax, and why our representatives ignore the things Australians want: affordable housing, a robust public sector, jobs in the renewable economy, protecting our forests and rivers, or a social security system that ensures no one in lives in poverty, to name a few.
The ACT is the Greenest jurisdiction in the country, and we deserve elected representatives with the independence and integrity to stand up for what we believe in. You can trust me to do each and every day as your elected representative.
I will never step back when it comes to climate action, a fairer tax system, the protection of our environment, and creating a more just and egalitarian Australia.
It would be my honour to represent this community that I’m fortunate enough to call home.
Tim Hollo is Executive Director of the Green Institute and a Visiting Fellow at RegNet, the ANU’s School of Regulation and Global Governance. He was previously Communications Director for Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne, has been a campaigner and Board Member of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, and has written extensively for publications including The Guardian, ABC, The Griffith Review and Crikey. His first book, Living Democracy: An Ecological Manifesto, is forthcoming with NewSouth Press in 2021.
You can read his collected articles in The Guardian here.
You can read his recent Arena Magazine essay There’s No Time Left Not To Do Everything here.
You can read his recent Meanjin essay, The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) here.
His Green Institute blog is here.