Vale Greg Pullen 1952-2025

From Mike Vanderkelen and Brad Saunders*

Greg Pullen’s life was the logical outcome of someone who challenged boundaries and many social conventions. He had his brushes with rules, whether those encountered in his young life in Devonport or in his adult years.

Greg and wife Sandra toured extensively through Europe, the UK and the US by motorcycle before settling on a farm at Cradoc and welcoming children Lucy and Daniel. Greg’s parents Rex and Fay, having retired to Hobart, took an active interest in their grandchildren and work on the farm.

Greg and Sandra were pioneer growers and promoters of the essential oil industry in Tasmania. He grew Boronia at Cradoc as well as raising pigs and running a carpentry business making furniture to order, doing renovations and other building work, including boat building projects.

For many years he took examples of his furniture to the Salamanca Market which was a good source of ‘orders.’ During this time he and Sandra also had retail businesses in Huonville.

He was involved with Little Athletics, as well as the Cygnet Sailing Club, was a keen amateur photographer and sailor and a singer and guitar player who shared a love of music from the sea shanties of folk singer Danny Spooner to the hard rock of Ian Moss and Cold Chisel.

In the past decade he built a very comfortable off grid, stone-clad house near Miena in the Central Highlands.

Off-grid he was, but never out of touch, especially about environmental and renewable energy matters.

He was a regular caller to ABC Radio in Hobart, as well as an editorial contributor by way of letters and opinion pieces to print media, in which he had spent time as a young journalist with The Advocate in Devonport.

He took an active interest in politics and was involved in the Lake Malbena campaign, the No Turbine Action Group, and was staunchly opposed to Marinus Link and the Stadium.

He could back up his arguments against these projects with the most detailed facts and figures. He traded opinions verbally and in print with anyone across the political spectrum and his ability to clearly analyse the implications of a decision-economic or environmental- made him an excellent debater.

Greg researched the possibility of a hydrogen plant in Tasmania when the State Government was offering four-word slogans and touting overseas retail sales of the energy. He shared his research with national proponents of hydrogen to show why the state didn’t have surplus energy to power such a manufacturing plant.

He remained confident however that Tasmania could produce hydrogen on a smaller scale to power buses and trucks operating in Tasmania.

Living in the Central Highlands he was passionate about preserving its wildlife as well as aiming to strike a balance between the environment in that unique part of the state and the encroaching footprint of industry.

While a layman to academic research, his study and paper on the impact of wind farms on rare and endangered Tasmanian wedge-tail eagles earned him the respect of professional ornithologists.

Great Lake and other more remote impoundments in the highlands supported the pleasure he got from fishing, as much for the thrill of the hunt as for the catch.

Electing not to have medical intervention to treat cancer he was able to choose the timing of his own death. As such he planned with meticulous detail his affairs, grateful he said for a four-year reprieve before the pain became too much but not before he had committed to paper some poignant thoughts.

He acknowledged those MPs and campaigners who persisted until Tasmania delivered a dying with dignity option.

He thanked those “people who have become entwined as part of my existence. I hope in among the laughs and sadness that we added to our worth as friends. I know that I was more often than not the instigator of all kinds of risky and crazy behaviour which did cause a few stresses to appear.”

He leaves behind his partner Cheryl, children Daniel and his partner Jake, daughter Lucy and ex wife Sandra.

*Mike Vanderkelen and Brad Saunders are cousins of Greg 

Greg Pullen – Voice for Tasmania’s Environment and Energy Future 

It is with deep sadness that Tasmanian Times learned of the passing of Greg Pullen, a passionate advocate for Tasmania’s environment and a tireless voice for sensible energy policy in our state.

Greg was a regular and valued contributor to these pages, bringing clarity and principle to complex energy debates at a time when such voices were desperately needed. His articles, marked by thorough research and an unwavering commitment to what he referred to as the KISS Principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid), helped countless Tasmanians understand the implications of major infrastructure decisions being made in their name.

As a committee member of the Central Highlands No Turbine Action Group (NTAG), Greg fought not against renewable energy itself, but for thoughtful, community-centred development that protected Tasmania’s unique landscapes and wildlife. His work documenting the impact of wind farms on Tasmania’s endangered wedge-tailed eagles was particularly significant, including peer-reviewed research published in Australian Field Ornithology that revealed the devastating toll on these magnificent birds.

Greg’s writing combined meticulous attention to detail with accessible prose. Whether explaining the complexities of Project Marinus, challenging the abandonment of democratic process during caretaker periods or exposing the failures of consultation around Renewable Energy Zones, he maintained both intellectual rigour and genuine warmth. His frustration with what he saw as short-sighted policy was always tempered by hope that Tasmanians would demand better.

Perhaps Greg’s greatest concern was the erosion of democratic accountability.

He consistently called out governments of all persuasions for making multi-billion dollar infrastructure commitments behind closed doors, without proper parliamentary scrutiny or genuine community consultation. His articles on the Marinus Link project and associated developments revealed a pattern of secrecy and manipulation that should trouble any believer in transparent governance.

Greg believed deeply that Tasmania already had a remarkable renewable energy system in our hydro network, built over 110 years. He questioned why we would mortgage that publicly-owned asset and our energy autonomy to serve mainland interests, when sensible expansion of our own resources could meet local needs while protecting what makes Tasmania special.

His final articles continued this advocacy, using the metaphor of a “poisonous mushroom meal” to describe how Tasmanians were being kept “in the dark and fed bullshit” about energy policy decisions that would shape our state’s future for generations.

Greg Pullen leaves behind a body of work that future historians will recognise as prescient and principled. He saw clearly the dangers of rushed, debt-funded infrastructure, the folly of abandoning threatened species protections for industrial development and the risk of allowing corporate interests to override community values.

To his family and friends, Tasmanian Times extends our deepest condolences. To the broader Tasmanian community, we say – honour Greg’s memory by continuing his work. Demand transparency. Protect our unique environment. Question authority when it makes decisions in secret. Support organisations like NTAG that give communities a voice against well-funded developers.

Tasmania has lost a thoughtful advocate, a careful researcher and a man who genuinely believed we could do better. His voice will be sorely missed in the battles ahead.

Rest in peace, Greg. Your work matters. Your warnings were heard. Your fight continues.

Those wishing to honour Greg’s memory might consider supporting the Central Highlands No Turbine Action Group (NTAG) or other community organisations working to protect Tasmania’s environment and democratic processes.

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