John Richard Coulter (born 3 December 1930 – dec. 06 Sep 2024) was a GP, then medical researcher for over 20 years, University lecturer before entering party political life as an Australian Democrat Senator for S.A. in 1987. From the mid 1950s he has been very active in the conservation movement: marine protection, town planning and more generally strongly opposing the unsustainable for-ever-more-growth in both population and resource consumption. In this capacity he was responsible for a full page ad in The Australian in 1971 signed by 730 scientists titled ‘To those who shape Australia’s destiny’ including Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Sir Mark Oliphant – a year before the publication of ‘Limits to Growth’. As soon as elected to the Senate he succeeded in instituting an inquiry into climate change. As the holder of the Aboriginal Portfolio for the Democrats he strongly supported the formation of ATSIC which would have failed without Democrat support. He delivered very many speeches and written papers about the urgent need to limit both population and economic growth, the most recent: https://johnmenadue.com/the-
A trible to John’s life was published in Pearls and Irritations by Jenny Goldie – “Vale Dr John Coulter”.
SPA had the honour of interviewing John at his home in the Adelade Hills for World Population Day 2021, where his views on politics, population, the environment and degrowth are captured in SPA sponsored Post-Growth Australia Podcast. John’s interview may be heard during the episode “World Population Day 2021: Beyond population with SPA” from 06:20 to 52:15