Dr Hugh Saddler Memorial Lecture 2026 | Shane Rattenbury
Description
Join us at the 2026 Dr Hugh Saddler Memorial Lecture, featuring former ACT Minister, Greens Leader, and long‑serving parliamentarian Shane Rattenbury. This special evening will be a reflection on how the ACT turned climate ambition into action, and what its experience reveals about democracy, power, and people‑driven change.
The ACT has gone from setting bold emissions targets on paper to delivering real‑world cuts and a world‑leading renewable electricity system, becoming a national and international reference point for climate leadership. As a minister, legislator and Green leader at the heart of this story, Shane helped negotiate and implement many of the reforms that shifted the Territory’s energy system and reshaped its politics.
In this lecture, Shane will explore the driving forces behind the ACT’s climate transformation, including what it took to become the first Australian jurisdiction to achieve a transition from a fossil fuel-based supply to 100% renewable electricity. He will discuss how power‑sharing, combined with a clear community mandate, made ambitious policy both possible and durable, and why the ACT should be seen as a case study in governing the transition from ambition to action. He will also offer a timely reflection on his parliamentary career and consider what lessons the ACT’s journey holds for parliaments, parties, and movements across Australia as they confront the next era of climate decisions.
The address will be followed by a Q&A, facilitated by Dr Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer at The Australia Institute.
The Dr Hugh Saddler Memorial Lecture is an address in honour of energy transition expert and founding director of the Australia Institute, the late Dr Hugh Saddler (1943–2023). Dr Saddler profoundly influenced a generation of researchers and policymakers, and his expertise helped lay the groundwork for Australia’s renewable energy transition.
Speaker
Shane Rattenbury
Shane Rattenbury was an elected member for Kurrajong and the leader of the ACT Greens, serving from 2008-2026. He retired in May 2026. Shane was first elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 2008, served as Speaker and a crossbench MLA, and held a range of cabinet portfolios, including Attorney-General and Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction. When elected in 2008 Shane became the first Greens Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, and the first Green party speaker in any Parliament in the world. Through successive Parliamentary Agreements negotiated with ACT Labor, Shane has achieved a wide range of positive Green policy outcomes for Canberrans.
Dr Richard Denniss
Dr Richard Denniss is the co-Chief Executive Officer of The Australia Institute. Richard is a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, and has spent the last twenty years moving between policy-focused roles in academia, federal politics and think-tanks. He was also a Lecturer in Economics at the university of Newcastle and former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. He is a regular contributor to The Monthly and the author of several books including: Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us, Econobabble, Curing Affluenza and Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next?
About Dr Hugh Saddler
Dr Hugh Saddler
Dr Hugh Saddler was a founding director of The Australia Institute, serving on the board from 1994 to 2014 and on the Research Committee from 2001 to 2023. An alumnus of Adelaide University, Dr Saddler attained a PhD in plant cell biology and membrane physiology at Cambridge University. His academic work included roles as a research fellow at The University of Sydney’s School of Biological Sciences and Energy Research Centre and Associate Professor at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy. Dr Saddler was a founding director of The Climate Institute and authored Energy in Australia: Politics and Economics, along with numerous book chapters, scientific papers, monographs and articles on energy, technology and environmental policy. Dr Saddler was a consultant in energy policy for many years, working for governments, NGOs and the private sector, and his work remains at the forefront of Australia’s climate change and energy policy. His advice was regularly sought, both on and off the record, by journalists.
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