Robert Purves

Robert Purves was the President of WWF Australia, from 1999 until 2006. He became of director of WWF Australia in 1993. "WWF suits my philosophy. There are two positions on the environment. There's the in-your-face activism - that's Greenpeace; and the other is the science-driven, solutions-based approach, and WWF globally fits into that position. I've spent probably the last 10 years building WWF up into that position and it's become very influential as a result," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. He is also a "councillor" of the Copenhagen Climate Council.

Background
A biographical note in support of his nomination as a director of Environment Business Australia in November 2004 stated that "his Non-Executive appointments include Chairman of one of Australia’s largest listed health company’s DCA Group Limited, which is a leader in radiology and aged care." 

A brief biographical note on the DCA website states that he "has been a strategic investor and a director in a number of public companies and manages a private investment group." A 2003 profile on Purves in the Canberra Times stated that since he became chairman of DCA in 1991 the company has grown from a$10 million company to an "estimated market value of over $580 million."

"He was instrumental in the setting up of The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists in 2002. Robert is also a Trustee of the Lizard Island Research Station and a member of the Environment Business Australia’s National Advisory Group and National Council. In 2004, Robert established the Purves Environmental Fund with a substantial donation. He has recently co-published a photographic art book on The Tarkine temperate rainforest in Tasmania," a biographical note states. 

He had also been a director of Clyde Industries. "Robert is Governor of The Raymond E Purves Foundation, established in 1970. The first major project of the foundation was the building and fitting out of the Raymond E Purves Bone and Joint Research Laboratory, in the University Clinic at the Royal North Shore Hospital, completed in 1973, shortly before the death of the founder and Robert’s father, Sir Raymond Purves," a profile of Purves states.

An article, in the WWF Australia newsletter Wildlife News, announcing his commencment as President of the group in late 1999 stated he was director of director of General & Cologne Reinsurance Australasia and Arthur Yates and Co.


 * WWF International: Trustees
 * Trustee, Lizard Island Research Station

Biographical Notes

 * DCA Group, Directors", undated, accessed June 2006.
 * "Awards for a lifetime of dedication", Articulate (Newsletter of the Institute of Bone and Joint Research), Winter/Spring 2003.

Articles by Purves

 * Robert Purves, "Where do the Environmental NGOs stand as the environment goes mainstream?", Speech to the Environment Business Australia Sustainability Summit, November 19, 2004.

General Articles & Stories

 * Wildlife News, December 1999, page 5.
 * Alexandra DeBlas, "Scientists say you can't drought proof Australia", Earthbeat, ABC Radio National, October 12, 2002.
 * Stephanie Peatling, "Tycoon trusts $10m will create idea environment", Sydney Morning Herald, November 19, 2003.
 * Rosslyn Beeby, "Local grazier starts $10m research fund", Canberra Times, November 19, 2003, page 1.
 * Alexandra DeBlas, "Environmental Philanthropist", Earthbeat, ABC Radio National, November 22, 2003.
 * Deborah Snow, "A friend of the Earth", Sydney Morning Herald, October 26, 2005.
 * Clive Hamilton, "A trump card in the nuclear power play", Opinion, Sydney Morning Herald, August 8, 2006.