Tom Roper, a former president of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), died last week at the age of 78.
Mr Roper, an honorary life fellow of ASBEC, left an enduring legacy as the president of the organisation from 2009 to 20015. He was a dynamic leader who oversaw the renewal of ASBEC during this crucial time.
Under his guidance ASBEC produced many of its most influential initiatives including the Second Plank Report, the Built Environment Climate Change Adaption Framework, and Industry Roadmap for Net Zero Emission Homes.
Roper pursued his passion for the environment when he left the Victorian Parliament in 1994.
“It was Tom’s passion and advocacy for the environment that shone throughout his 21 years in Parliament,” Victorian Premier Dan Andrews told The Age.
The Victorian Minister for Energy and Climate Action Lily D’Ambrosio said Roper was a thinker and an activist.
“Tom was committed to sustainability over many decades,” she said.
Roper’s advocacy was informed by a deep knowledge of government and business. He held a wide range of ministries in the Victorian Parliament and was an admired leader of the house in the Legislative Assembly.
“He was a very, very effective local member, longstanding minister and someone who made a really significant contribution to our state and indeed beyond,” Andrews said.
After leaving parliament in 1994, Roper became a board member of the Climate Institute in Washington D.C. It was formed in 1986 and is the world’s first non-profit organisation focused solely on climate change.
He was also a board member of Greenfleet since 2003 which is a practical not-for-profit organisation that enables people and businesses to offset carbon emissions with revegetation projects. It is responsible for more than 9.7 million trees being planted since 1997.
Roper, originally from Sydney, was born on 6 March, 1945, in Chatswood. He attended North Sydney Boys High School and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. After university he was national Aboriginal affairs officer with the National Union of Australian University Students for a year.
This morphed into becoming an adviser to Gerry Hand, the federal minister for Aboriginal Affairs in 1973. A long-time member of the Labor Party, Roper was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 1973 as the member for Brunswick West and became the member for Brunswick from 1976 until he resigned in 1994.
Roper will be honoured with a state funeral on Wednesday, 5 July 2023 at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne.