Having retired from the Senate earlier this year, the quiet hope of resources types was that Brown would retire to his Tasmanian cottage and never be heard from again.

Alas, his post-politician life so far has painted a portrait of a man hoping to give courage and ammunition to what he describes as the “next generation” of greenies.

His latest crusade is against the James Price Point development, and in particular the danger the development could present to the area’s whale population.

His visit to the Kimberly last month with the Sea Shepard created controversy, with aboriginal supporters of the project slamming Brown for attempting to speak for them.

In particular, an eloquent open letter from Jabirr Jabirr elder Rita Augustine grabbed plenty of attention in the Western Australian press.

It repeated accusations that Brown is more interested in saving whales than the indigenous community, which will benefit from $1.5 billion in compensation from the Browse joint venture.

“That’s not only an accusation against me, that’s an accusation against the traditional owners up there who want to protect their culture up there and the environment which is inextricably woven into that culture,” Brown told EnergyNewsPremium.

“I’m able to take such criticism. I’ve done so all of my life. We got that criticism over the Franklin Dam … and many other projects that I’ve worked on.

“It comes from an American point of view, which says that you attack the person rather than the argument.”

In fact, he says an argument about saving either the whales or providing a future for the indigenous population of the region is simplistic.

The way he sees it, Woodside and its partners should pay compensation to the local people under a scenario where the gas is piped to the North West Shelf.

“The company could do it, as it’s much less than 1 per cent of the income flow which will come from developing the Browse Basin, which is in the order of $200 billion,” Brown contends.

“The government should stipulate it as a part of an agreement for this project to proceed when that comes up for final determination next year.”

When questioned on the legal implications of such a scheme though, Brown replied that the state government just had to “work that out”

“My view is that there is simply a win-win situation here which is for the project to be moved but for the $1.5 billion to still go to the traditional owners,” he said.

Brown has also faced allegations that by speaking out on the project he is attempting to speak on behalf of traditional owners, which is a touchy point to say the least.

Augustine and later Waardi Limited chairman Warren Greatorex also alleged Brown was attempting to speak on their behalf, when they were more than capable of doing that themselves.

“I’ve never, ever said I spoke for the Jabirr Jabirr people … not ever,” he said.

“But if I’m being asked to censor the Goolarabooloo or the Jabirr Jabirr people who don’t want that [development], I’m not in the business of that censorship.

“If I’m being asked to ignore their point of view, then the wrong person’s being asked here.

“I’m not in the business of putting the point of view of Waardi or its supporters. They can do that for themselves and I fully appreciate that, and I won’t speak for them.”

All this, and he was supposed to be retired.

He’s re-entered the fray, Brown says, simply because he needed to.

“My life’s work at this end, is having gone through all the anxiety and worry about it is to help people not get too anxious or down about it but to keep campaigning,” he said.

“I really enjoy that and I’m glad I got out of the Senate on that score.”

Brown said Woodside’s estimates on whale numbers off the coast of James Price Point were weak at best.

Woodside estimates only 1000 whales will move through a corridor within 8km of the coastline each season. That estimate has been queried in some quarters, with Murdoch University calling the study flimsy.

Volunteer counts even have whale numbers as high as 1432 whales in the area within a one month window.

Hence Brown’s involvement in the campaign with Sea Shepherd and his trip to the Kimberly aboard the Steve Irwin.

“The Steve Irwin in December will be moving south to try and defend the exact same humpback whales and Minke whales against the Japanese whaling fleet,” he said.

“So it’s all a pretty logical circle for the Sea Shepard to be involved in this campaign”

Not only does Brown fear for whales off the coast, he shares the fears of many that the James Price Point development will invariably lead to a wider industrialisation of the Kimberley.

While he conceded there was no direct evidence of that being the case, the point was “pretty obvious”

“The last government of Western Australia in its proposals for the Kimberley mooted the development of the area through a large port on the Dampier Peninsula, a whole range of resources,” Brown said.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re looking at uranium, coal and other resources in the Kimberley. It seems more than strange that Woodside would want to go here when it’s a more expensive development on the Kimberley coast unless it had no other option.”

Brown also flagged having more involvement in the coal seam gas debate.

While he said the practice of coal seam extraction “can never be safe”, the main argument he made was for the immediate move towards renewable energy rather than have a “dirty fossil fuel” as an intermediary.

“I think that’s where Australia should be going [renewables],” Brown said.

“The gas option in the middle, remembering of course that development at Curtis Island, Gladstone, James Price Point … the goal here is export.

“It’s not domestic use; it’s shipping this gas elsewhere. Those developments are burning massive amounts of fossil fuels and putting emissions into an atmosphere we all share.”

In fact, his concern led him to meet with notorious broadcaster Alan Jones and maverick independent Bob Katter earlier this year in a show of support for the Lock the Gate Alliance.

There was no mention of whether or not they walked into a bar.

The fact that Brown even met with Jones, who once famously suggested that Brown along with Julia Gillard be placed into a sack and dropped into the sea, says a lot about the odd alliance against coal seam gas.

Brown also said the anti-CSG movement was gaining traction in rural areas by alluding to fears that CSG could severely cripple Australia’s food production capacity.

“The Darling Downs is one of the world’s great food bowls and it’s faced with 40,000 LNG drill holes,” he said.

“That doesn’t seem the wisest way to be managing that resource, and that’s why Lock the Gate and my friend Drew Hutton are having such an impact and are getting such strong rural support – because the farmers know that gas drilling and food production cannot co-exist.”

Brown called the fight between farmers and CSG companies a classic case of David versus Goliath, and an example of money protecting money.

“I think big money has a huge ability to defend its own interests,” he said.

“Machiavelli said that 600 years ago.

“If you want to change the world, get ready to be dropped on by the people who have the money and the power, and we’re just seeing that.”

Such words are not those of a greenie slowing down, but one who has just left his job to become a full-time campaigner.

“They definitely picked the wrong person,” Brown said of those who wished to see the back of him.

Love him or loathe him, he’s certainly not going away.

He has just exchanged the parliamentary suit for a woollen jumper.

This article first appeared in ILN's sister publication EnergyNewsBulletin.net.