Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:00:00 — 55.0MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS | More
The Sustainable Hour no. 537 | Transcript | Podcast notes
Airdate: 26 February 2025
Hosts: Anthony Gleeson, Colin Mockett OAM, and Mik Aidt
Music: Three songs produced by Mik Aidt
This week’s episode
In this episode, we dive into the pressing issue of climate-induced displacement with our guest, Chris Schmidt, a human rights and refugee advocate from Adelaide.
As climate change accelerates, the first victims are often the most vulnerable – communities forced to flee their homes due to rising sea levels, extreme weather, and environmental degradation. Chris shares insights on:
• The expected mass displacement in Southeast Asia and the Pacific as coastlines vanish.
• How Australia’s refugee policies are failing to address climate migration.
• The need for a regional resettlement plan involving all nations in our region.
• Why refugees are not a burden but an economic and social asset to Australia.
• The political climate and the risk of hardline anti-refugee policies becoming entrenched.
Chris also highlights the bureaucratic and financial barriers faced by refugees, advocating for a faster, fairer system that acknowledges climate refugees as a growing reality.
About Chris Schmidt
Human rights and refugee activist Chris Schmidt has been active in this space for 15 years. He has been involved in events at all levels, local, regional, state and national. Today he spoke about the sad history of refugee treatment in this country, a sad story with a tendency towards racism. He is running as an independent in the seat of Sturt in South Australia. He can be contacted via this Link Tree.
The Chuffed Fundraiser for Refugees can be found here.
Global Outlook with Colin Mockett OAM
🔹 Glaciers are melting at an alarming rate – a new study shows a 36% increase in ice loss over the past decade.
🔹 UN’s environmental report warns that global efforts to combat climate change are still moving too slowly.
🔹 Trump’s climate rollback continues – within weeks of taking office, he has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, slashed green funding, and overturned policies promoting clean energy.
🔹 Forest Green Rovers update – the world’s most sustainable football club remains a beacon of hope, now sitting in the top three of their league. And the team’s owner has written a new book, ‘Manifesto – The Battle for Green Britain’, which is becoming a best seller.
Upcoming events
📅 Climate Café – This Friday at 3pm in Geelong, a psychologist will discuss how to process climate anxiety and build resilience.
📅 Voices of Corangamite meeting – This Friday at 5:30pm at Grand Hotel in Portarlington, where they are expected to announce their community independent candidate for the next federal election.
📅 Clean up Australia – On Sunday, groups will be gathering all over Australia to pick up litter and make Australia beautiful again.
More calendar info further below on this page.
We round off the interview with Chris with advice on how the green transition could run and the outstanding benefits that can flow from that. You can listen to the four-minute audio clip here.
Video clips
Juice Media: Honest Government Ad | Our Last Fair Election?
Duty of Care video clip on Linkedin.com. More here: adutyofcare.davidpocock.com.au
The songs we played
I Heard It On The Sustainable Hour | Lyrics
Be informed | Lyrics
Starting from today | Lyrics
→ Listen to more of our songs
Key takeaways
✅ Climate refugees are coming – and Australia must be prepared.
✅ Refugees bring skills and economic benefits – not just challenges.
✅ Political choices in the upcoming election will shape climate action and refugee policies.
We have a battle between truth and lies as we head towards our next federal election which must be held before 17 May 2025. Today’s episode is all about the importance of being informed about how you vote. It’s a sad state of affairs when approximately a third of people make up their mind between their mode of transport in getting to the voting booth and when they actually vote.
This almost guarantees a continuation of the mess that’s thrown at us by our current two party system. There’s no shortage of independent advice on how to vote according to what you value. VoteClimate.org and VoteClimateOne.org.au are two recommendable online resources where you will be informed.
The second thing to come out of today’s show very clearly is the incredible number of climate refugees that are going to be created by the climate crisis as it worsens. People are already been forces to relocate because of rising sea levels. Add to this, crop failures, diminishing fresh water supplies, increasing temperatures, increasing extreme weather events and it’s mind boggling just how the world will cope with this situation.
Still in our country, we continue to approve the main cause of this crisis: fossil fuel projects. In what world does any of that make sense?
In the lead up to the election, we’ll be doing everything in our power to assist and inspire you with these three important B’s:
Be informed. Be engaged. Be the difference.
“I’m actually very afraid of Dutton because I think Australia is different to the United States. So whereas Trump pretty well said everything he was going to do during his campaign, Dutton isn’t. He’s being very airy-fairy and very open. And I suspect he will go as far as Trump. And I suspect that the effect will even be greater because Dutton is a younger man and therefore more dangerous.”
~ Chris Schmidt, independent candidate for Sturt in Adelaide and a human rights and refugee activist
→ Subscribe to The Sustainable Hour podcast via Apple Podcasts
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We at The Sustainable Hour would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are broadcasting, the Wadawurrung People. We pay our respects to their elders – past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
The traditional custodians lived in harmony with the land for millennia, nurturing it and thriving in often harsh conditions. Their connection to the land was deeply spiritual and sustainable. This land was invaded and stolen from them. It was never ceded. Today, it is increasingly clear that if we are to survive the climate emergency we face, we must learn from their land management practices and cultural wisdom.
True climate justice cannot be achieved until Australia’s First Nations people receive the justice they deserve. When we speak about the future, we must include respect for those yet to be born, the generations to come. As the old saying reminds us: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” It is deeply unfair that decisions to ignore the climate emergency are being made by those who won’t live to face the worst impacts, leaving future generations to bear the burden of their inaction.
“The Indigenous worldview has been marginalised for generations because it was seen as antiquated and unscientific and its ethics of respect for Mother Earth were in conflict with the industrial worldview. But now, in this time of climate change and massive loss of biodiversity, we understand that the Indigenous worldview is neither unscientific nor antiquated, but is, in fact, a source of wisdom that we urgently need.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, weallcanada.org
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CLIMATE CONVERSATIONS TRAINING
The next federal election will be one of the most critical in our history. If we want to see real change, we need to mobilise a strong, engaged community to make climate action impossible to ignore.
Conversations are one of our most powerful tools to shift hearts and votes. Research has repeatedly shown that deep, intentional conversations, focussed on connecting with shared values, is effective at swaying how people see issues.
We’re excited to bring Climate for Change, a volunteer-powered not-for-profit, to Geelong to run a special climate conversations training.
Join us and learn from the experts so that at this election, we can make sure our community votes with climate action in mind.
When: Saturday 15 March, 2:30-5pm
Where: The Company Post, Federal Mill, Geelong
RSVP here
→ The Guardian – 24 February 2025:
Coalition nuclear plan hides a 2bn tonne ‘carbon bomb’ that puts net zero by 2050 out of reach, new analysis shows
“Climate Change Authority chair Matt Kean says Dutton’s energy proposal is equivalent to adding ‘two Beetaloo basins’ worth of emissions to atmosphere.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
If we give up on fighting to stop the major causes of the crisis – in particular: the fossil fuels – and instead divert our energies into trying to adapt to a 3°C degree world, we will end up realising that this is impossible. While it does allow the fossil fuel psychopaths more time to prolong their demise, it will only make the situation worse until a series of major climatic tipping points begin to set in and we are caught in an unstoppable runaway planetary catastrophe.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Transcript of The Sustainable Hour no. 537
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
We are at the moment of truth, but we have a breakdown of trust.
Jingle:
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong. The Sustainable Hour.
Tony Gleeson:
Welcome to The Sustainable Hour. As always, we’d like to start off by acknowledging that we’re broadcasting from the land of the Wadawurrung people. We pay tribute to the elders – past, present, and those that earned that great honour in the future. We’re broadcasting from stolen land, land that was never ceded, always was and always will be Aboriginal land. They have accumulated a great depth of ancient wisdom by nurturing their land and their communities for millennia before their land was stolen by the first white colonisers. And we hope that we learn from that ancient wisdom to help us as we face up to the climate emergency.
Mik Aidt: (at 01:24)
On Friday in Geelong, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, it’s time for the monthly Climate Café. That’s a meeting which is open for anyone who’s got questions or maybe even anxiety about the climate breakdown and who would like to have a face-to-face discussion or chat with like-minded people about climate. This Friday, the last Friday of February, a psychologist is going to give a short presentation on how he thinks we should all prepare for and approach this topic. If you’d like to know more about this event, go to www.climatsafety.info.
And at 5:30 that same afternoon, which is Friday, the day after tomorrow, voices of Corangamite will be meeting at the Grand Hotel in Portarlington to share their latest news about where this group is at. I think they’re about to announce who will be the community independent candidate of Corangamite. When that happens, it will be announced on their website, which is www.voicesofcorangamite.org
…because the federal election is fast approaching, whether we like it or not, and well, we will be talking about that later in this Hour. But first of all, now it’s time for the global outlook with Colin Mochett OAM. And what do you have for us this week, Colin?
Colin Mockett’s Global Outlook:
Yes, hello Mik, I’ve got a lot. Our roundup begins this week with a new report that shows that glaciers worldwide are losing ice at a faster rate than ever before. Ice loss is increasing 36 per cent from 2012 to 2023 and that’s compared with the previous decade. So 36 per cent more over the last decade than the previous decade.
The University of Zurich study found that since 2000, glaciers globally had lost about 5 per cent of their ice, but in some regions the ice loss was as much as 39 per cent. In New Zealand, glaciers have lost 29 per cent of their mass and there are closest ones. The researchers found that global glacier mass loss was about 18 per cent more than the last published loss of ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet and more than twice from that of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
And then last week in Nairobi, the UN Environment Programme’s annual World Report was released and it was full of interesting data. 2024 saw a blitz of important environmental negotiations take place, including the sixth UN Environment Assembly in Kenya, the UN Biodiversity Conference in Colombia, the UN Climate Conference in Azerbaijan, the fifth session of negotiations on an internationally legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, that was in South Korea, and the UN Desertification COP, that was in Saudi Arabia.
While each of these meetings may progress in some areas, some key issues still remained unresolved and progress is still much too slow. The report highlighted the need for nations to work even closer together with more determination to agree on measures that would bring the world closer to a more sustainable and just planet. The report warned that nations must close the huge emissions gaps in climate pledges and deliver immediate action or lose the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C degrees by, well, we’ve already lost that anyway.
And while international public adoption finance is flowing to developing countries, that has increased by $6 billion US dollars between 2021 and 2022. A huge gap continues to exist.
And this isn’t helped by the present White House incumbent’s rash of new cuts to aid. Last week was his fourth week in office. He began it by calling reporters into the Oval Office where he said he was going to sign another new executive order. “We’re going back to plastic straws,” he said. “Paper straws don’t work. They break. They explode if something’s hot. They don’t last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation.”
And then he took up his thick black sharpie and with an attitude of stern concentration, signed a presidential order requiring the development of a National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws within 45 days to alleviate the forced use of paper straws nationwide.
Now there’s a man who’s got his finger on the pulse! Now this was probably the pettiest of his assaults on climate and environmental action, but it illustrates the sort of frenzied madness that has taken over American politics.
Some highlights, or better described as lowlights, since January the 20th belong to this: The Trump administration has pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement and rescinded $4 billion worth to the UN’s Green Climate Fund. It’s blocked billions of dollars of climate-related grants due to be delivered by the EPA and billions more that would have been delivered internationally via the US Agency for International Development. It’s unraveling the Inflation Reduction Act. That’s the greatest single commitment to climate action ever enacted by the US. Funding has been suspended on the rollout of EV charging stations across the US, which is surprising when you think of the Elon Musk input into this. And the government has demoted or sacked senior staff working on climate programs at the EPA and the Federal Emergency Management Administration.
Fossil fuel lobbyists have been appointed to EPA leadership positions and staff of the Department of Energy have reportedly been instructed not to use the phrases climate change, emissions reduction or Paris Agreement in any memos, briefings or other written communications. Trump has declared an energy emergency, scrapped both environmental restrictions on oil and gas exploration and permits for wind farms. And all of this to the benefit of the fossil fuel industries that coincidentally contributed $209 million to his re-election budget.
But now finally I’m going to end with some better news from, of course, Forest Green Rovers, the world’s only carbon-neutral and vegan sports club. At the moment the Rovers sit comfortably in the top three promotion positions in their English leagues third tier. At the weekend they drew 1-1 with Woking, but the news is from the club’s footy memorabilia shop.
Alongside the replica jerseys which are sustainably made of bamboo and carry reminders about global warming, you can buy a book that’s titled ‘Manifesto – The Battle for Green Britain’. It’s written by the owner of Forest Green Rovers and chair of Ecotricity. That’s Dale Vince OBE. It’s listed now on the Sunday Times Best Seller and it costs £5 pounds and all profits go to environmental charities. You can find details about it on the club’s website which is nice and easy to find FGR.co.uk – and that winds up my roundup for the week.
. . .
Jingle:
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
Tony: (at 10:10)
Our guest today is Chris Schmidt. Chris is from Adelaide and he is a human rights and refugee activist. Now, as we’ve said often on this show, that the first victims of the climate crisis are going to become climate refugees. They’re going to have to leave the places in some cases that they’ve existed, they’ve lived for thousands of years, hundreds of years, and shift to some other place. So Chris, in that context, let’s have a look at what impact you think the climate crisis will have on refugees.
Chris Schmidt:
For our region, it’s going to be very significant because our position at the bottom of Southeast Asia, many of the countries to the north of us are going to be inundated as the ocean arrives. Our own coastline will quite likely retreat. I even countries like New Zealand could be in trouble to the east of us. And so this will create a mass movement of people. And our policies currently towards refugees will not cater for their resettlement. mean, all these people have to go somewhere. And so we need to, as a world, come together and work out what we are going to do with these people. We need actually a regional resettlement plan where everyone who basically all the countries in Southeast Asia work together. And everyone says, we’ll work together to settle these people. We’ll have a pot of money. The rich countries put in more, the poor countries put in less. Everyone that isn’t inundated or has areas that aren’t inundated settles some refugees. The rich more, the poor less. And so we have this regional providing a solution.
There’s no point. I mean, I’m an environmentalist too, and I believe we have to get really serious about fixing climate change. The policy of net zero by 2050 of both Labor and Liberal is way off the mark. mean, Labor should have stopped all fossil fuel projects already by the time they were elected. I mean, actually, Abbott should have stopped it 12 years ago. Many scientists are basically saying now that it’s too late. We are going to have to deal with some impact.
Tony:
I’m just wondering if you can take us through the process that a refugee has to go through today. Like it seems that some are allowed straight in, but others are put in detention centres. Why does that happen?
Chris:
Well, the current policy is anyone who arrives in Australia by boat and even playing technically is subject to detention while their claims are processed. Now, not all of them go to detention simply because we don’t have enough detention beds. For example, even in the days when Madison and Nuru were at full swing, our friends may not have told me of being lined up on the beach at Christmas.
Ireland and the immigration went down the road and said, you’re Manus, you’re Nauru, you’re Australia. You’re Manus, you’re Nauru, you’re Australia. And just like that. And then, you know, obviously the claims are assessed. We do have a very rigid assessment process. If people apply from like a second country where they fled for safety but can’t settle permanently.
Countries like Pakistan, Iran, has taken a lot of Afghan refugees, even though they produce their own refugees. Turkey, I mean, there’s 30 million refugees or something in Turkey. And we have a very rigid assessment procedure. Refugees have to list all family members who are thoroughly checked out for any links to criminal activity, terrorism, anything like that. And even if a brother has been to jail, they won’t get in. Even if the other person is a good person, it’ll automatically disqualify them. They have to list every job they’ve had, every address, and everything is thoroughly checked out. And typically Australia is taking four plus years to assess one refugee application.
And it doesn’t have to take long, but that does indicate that Australia does do a sorry job.
You’re right, and that’s the way it’s working at the moment with the economic refugees and the war refugees in the Middle East. But we’re really thinking and focusing on the climate change refugees who are coming from the South Pacific, Micronesia and the low-lying islands. They’re only counted in the tens and hundreds of thousands. Are you aware if there’s a fast track system in our region to allow Micronesian refugees in particular to come to Australia.
Mik:
We need to describe to our listeners the map. You remember three weeks ago, we had Luke Taylor in the sustainable hour who talked about this collision report, what was it called? Collision call. And in that report, there’s this map that shows what the world will look like at 2.7 degrees global average warming. And I think we need to have that map outlined a little bit for our listeners. Chris, can you describe what the map of 2.7 degrees global warming, which is actually where we’re heading for at the moment, what does that look like in terms of which areas will be unlivable or near unlivable?
Chris:
Well, for a start, there’s a large section of the Northern Territory and Western Australia right at the top that will be unlivable. And so obviously those people will be eternally displaced and need to be moved. Practically all of PNG will be underwater, only fairly, you know, to the east side of the island that won’t be inundated. Large sections of Indonesia, both Timor Island, Borneo, all those areas will be inundated with floods. of course, Indonesia is actually the most populous country apart from China to our north, where the displacement will be the largest.
And then if you go up, can see Malaysia, can see Korea going right up into Afghanistan and Pakistan towards Iran. And so once again, the second most populous country in the world, all these people will be displaced. And because we are so close, we will be expected to take a leading role in this settlement.
And we have to, we obviously don’t want people coming by boat. I mean, it’s a smart thing to try and stop the boats. But people only get on boats when they don’t have any other choice. know, thousands of people, know, logically aren’t stupid enough to get on a boat where there’s a 75 per cent chance they won’t make it. So a lot of this hysteria about boat people is just false. But we need to put in the safe pathways.
And we need a fast track process where people can say and show that they are displaced by the climate crisis and then we can bring them in for settlement. We still have large areas of Australia. mean, okay, there’s much of our inland, which is uninhabitable in high density too, but we still have large areas where we can spread people out and refugees in the past have actually revitalised our country towns. You look at Neil in Victoria, they took in a lot of Rohingya. And now they love them. At first there was a few local problems, but now they’re working, they love them, they take part in the community, they volunteer, they do all this. Kilcoy in Queensland, Cobar in Western New South Wales. Bendigo has taken in large, there’s a very large Hazara community. this is the funny thing about refugees is the popular or the conservative spin is, as Dutton said, they’re enumerate and illiterate and they take our jobs.
Now, one, that doesn’t make sense. But two, it’s completely wrong. Most refugees are actually skilled, and they have skills we need. I am trying to get a computer scientist into Australia at the moment via skilled visa. We need computer scientists. I’m trying to help a Tyler get in. I could find him a job in Australia in five minutes. We need Tyler’s. I’m trying to get a mechanic in. I know of 10 mechanic shops just around my immediate area with vacancies.
So they have skills that we need and we can bring them here as a result of this climate crisis and do our fair share of settling. But it does have to be regional approach with everyone working together, everyone funding it, the rich countries like Australia, New Zealand and Japan doing more and the poor countries doing less. A lot of advocates in Australia have praised New Zealand for taking the medivac refugees. And yeah, some of them, the 450 people, and yeah, good on them. But New Zealand actually only takes 1,500 refugees a year. They take even less than us. Yes, they’re a smaller country, but they could take more. Japan takes very few, extremely few refugees compared to their population.
Mik:
It would seem to me, Chris, that you are up against some other winds, which is the political climate. There’s not only the real climate, there’s also the political climate. And worldwide, we’re seeing a political climate at the moment where Trump has become like the spokesperson for the complete opposite of what you were saying. And we have now an election around the corner here in Australia where Dutton actually represents, he’s like a mini Trump when it comes to many of these views.
Chris:
Yeah. And I agree with you. And I’m actually very afraid of Dutton because I think Australia is different to the US. So whereas Trump pretty well said everything he was going to do during his campaign, Dutton isn’t. He’s being very airy-fairy and very open. And I suspect he will go as far as Trump. And I suspect that the effect will even be greater because Dutton is a younger man and therefore more dangerous. Trump could be dead in a couple of years. I mean, that’s my take on it. And I think all this right-wing hysteria about boat people and, and, know, security risks and everything, in the light of the climate crisis, we must reassess it and we must realise that
Every job a refugee takes, another 11 are created as it flows through the economy. So they don’t take jobs. Yes, they need welfare support initially, and initially that support is high. But after 10 years, refugees are 50 per cent more likely than any other group to be self-employed and employing other Australians.
So they tend to be very entrepreneurial. And often because often it’s actually the best educated of their countries that do become refugees simply because they are the ones that know that they should have rights, which they don’t have. So therefore they fight against their government and they become refugees or they’re displaced by climate change or whatever. I mean, and obviously in the climate crisis, there’d be a lot of poor refugees displaced too. They aren’t so skilled, but the same thing applies, that if they can be brought here and they can be trained, they will contribute.
I mean, most people, you know, like I just brought an Afghan man, a Zara man from Indonesia on a skilled visa last year. I was part of a team that did that and it cost us $50,000 to do it and we raised that money. That includes all the visa costs, resettlement, getting a house, all that type of thing.
In the midst of a housing crisis where he has to pay massive rent and we got him a job and he is so grateful and I mean, his employer is actually paying him below minimum wage and taking advantage of him because he’s a refugee. But he won’t speak up because he’s just so grateful and so happy to be free. And he says, what can I complain about? I have freedom. My kids are now being educated and they’re eight and nine years old and never been to school until they came to Australia, and they only learn to read through assistance from their parents who are university educated. But they couldn’t go to school in Indonesia because they’re land, but now they’re here so they’re happy. And that’s the norm. You connect with any group of people, the LGTBIQA plus community, the migrants, the refugees.
There are going to be good and bad people among them. But the common thing that you see is most people are good. Most people, mean refugees of all backgrounds, all countries, are among the brightest and best of Australians in every occupation. Our top business people, we have refugees who are parliamentarians.
We had a refugee in South Australia who was state governor. He was a Vietnamese boat person. We have Dr. Minjed Al-Madeeris in Sydney, who is the world leading expert on robotic links. And he trains doctors all over the world. And he is now in Australia, exporting that technology, exporting his skills.
I’m bringing money into Australia. We have a Sudanese friend of mine who became a social worker in Australia and has now started a disability organisation that supports refugees with disability, know, effects of war and so on where they’ve lost limbs and all that sort of stuff. And she’s had polio because of malnutrition effectively herself. So she’s in the wheelchair. We have Sydney’s lawyers in Melbourne. All these people, they come to Australia, they do well. You look at our university honour boards, they’re all, if you look at the names, they’re all refugee names.
Colin:
We already have programs in place for the people that I’m concerned about, is South Pacific refugees. We bring them in to pick our fruit and then we ship them out again afterwards. And we know that their islands are about to be inundated. You would think that we would have policies in place just as we did with the people of Nauru. We brought the people of Nauru into Australia because we had essentially mined their island to nothing by taking all of the phosphate.
Chris:
And yeah, now it’s suitable to give our refugees a 30-year visa today. No future, yeah. But essentially, yeah, we should be looking at those visas and saying, okay, they’re coming here. Let’s give them a pathway to a permanent visa. But we’re not. mean, it’s right that you’re not. Those programs do exist. People from Pacific Islands can come in and work on the farms, from Papua New Guinea too. And there should be a pathway. I mean, I think the whole economic spectrum and how we run the country has gone wrong. Pretty well, I mean, Labor is part of it. It pretty well started with the halt where we introduced policies which led to our manufacturing industry going offshore. But if we developed our manufacturing industry, we’d have jobs for these unskilled people as well. Why didn’t we, when we shut down Holden, why didn’t we retool it and look at making EVs there with 50 per cent government ownership and, you know, work with the, make EVs and, you know, advance climate goals at the same and employ people?
Tony:
Before you referred to people that you’ve grouped, that you’re part of, has assisted and getting them in safe passage into Australia, how or when they arrived as a refugee, how does that happen? how do you know about these, just the process that’s involved?
Chris:
Sure, sure. I’ll be quick on this one. In the case I was referring to it was with Indonesia. now Indonesians are banned from applying for humanitarian visas to Australia. The refugees, there’s about 14,000 that are waiting there because Australia considers Indonesia safe and because they are all boat people. And Australia doesn’t like boat people. so scary boat people.
But there is a refugee skilled visa pilot program, which Labor did a good job introducing. And it’s the same as skilled visas are available in Australia, 106191 and so on, but the skill level is reduced. So instead of requiring two years experience, there’s no minimum experience, so long as they are qualified and can find someone to employ them.
And the standard of English is reduced from academic to functional. So you can speak in everyday situations at computer. So it effectively costs $50,000 to bring one family under a skilled visa. About $35,000 in visa and legal fees. The lawyers have to take their cut and about 15,000 in settlement costs, you know, paying bonds in advance, furnishing a house, all that type of stuff. And you have to have found them a job before they arrive. And technically the employer is supposed to pay that, but we fundraise it and let the employer pay it for the simple reason what business in Australia these days has $50,000 to spare.
But the employer does have to turn over his financials and show that he’s got sufficient cash flow to employ the person. Then of course, we had a case where one employer did a dodgy, but it’s not the refugees’ So at least they’re in Australia and they’ve now got a skilled permanent visa and their kids can go to school. And I’m working on another four applicants like that. Keeping in mind that Indonesia is one of those countries that are going to be flooded before too much longer. So it’s good thing to bring them here.
. . .
SONG
I Heard It On The Sustainable Hour
Produced for The Sustainable Hour by Mik Aidt
[Verse 1]
I woke up feeling like the world’s on fire,
Storms are rising, rivers running drier.
But then I tuned in, turned the dial,
And found a reason to stay inspired.
[Pre-Chorus]
They said, “The greatest threat is thinking someone else will do it.”
But I can feel the change – I know we’re moving through it.
[Chorus]
I heard it on The Sustainable Hour
Hope’s alive, and the time is now.
Stand up, speak out, let’s build our power,
Be the difference – we know how.
[Verse 2]
They talk of profits, pipelines, and delay,
But we’ve got voices that won’t fade away.
From city streets to the coastal sand,
We’re backing leaders who take a stand.
[Pre-Chorus]
They said, “A society grows great when we plant trees
in whose shade we may never sit.”
So let’s rise up, this is it.
[Chorus]
I heard it on The Sustainable Hour
Hope’s alive, and the time is now.
Stand up, speak out, let’s build our power,
Be the difference – we know how.
[Bridge – “I” to “We”]
We are the voices, we are the wave,
Lifting each other, brave and unafraid.
It’s not too late, don’t wait for someday,
Together we’ll light the way.
[Final Chorus – Empowerment Mode]
We heard it on The Sustainable Hour –
Hope’s alive, and the time is now.
Rise up, reach out, this is our power,
Be the difference – we know how!
MacKenzie King, former Canadian Prime Minister:
Unite in a national effort to save from destruction all that makes life itself worth living
. . .
Colin:
Okay, Chris, what hope have you got of changing the policies at federal level? Because that’s what you’re really calling for, isn’t it?
Chris:
Yeah, I mean that is a hard call and I’m going to say this, I’ve been an advocate now for 12 years and I haven’t really seen the needle move at all. And we’ve run, you know, we’ve run rallies where a friend of mine worked from Adelaide to Canberra with his 14 year old son to promote the rights of refugees. We’ve done walks, we’ve done rallies, we’ve done phone marathons, all sorts of things and the needle hasn’t moved.
That’s why I think the only thing that moved the needle is getting more compassionate people into parliament and moving away from the Labor and the Libs completely. We have seen the Teals stand up on refugees already. They have, not all of them, but some of them. And that is the reason I want to run in Sturt. And there is another running independent, running here, a Teal, but we’re coming at it from different aspects. And I think the problem with the Teals, I’m not saying that some in homes are caught will do anything dodgy or that any of them individually would be dodgy. And I think they’ve been good for Australia, but I think the problem is that it’s still big money behind them. And if the crunch came to the crunch, would their loyalty be with big business or everyday Australians? And so I don’t think you can call the Teals true community-based independents. That’s my opinion. And I don’t want to sort of disturb any of them because I think they’ve been good for Australia. And I’m happy if we can get more of them in. I’m happy to get more Greens in.
But like in my electorate, Sturt, which until 2022 had never been Labor and was a complete safe Liberal seat. In one election, they changed. It’s now the most marginal seat in Australia. So I think people in a seat like Sturt, which has been Conservative, but the people think that both Labor and Liberal have gone too far.
And in the case of climate change, not far enough, an independent will pick up some votes. And if I can take away some votes from Dutton, I’m happy. I mean, I don’t expect to be able to compete against Labor and Liberal who will each spend $1.2 million in the electorate. I’m broke. I can’t compete against that. But even if I take away a few hundred votes, hopefully, in such a marginal electric, it will swing the needle.
Mik:
Chris, that’s very similar to the experience of Corangamite where we’re broadcasting from or half-ly broadcasting from. have two electors in Geelong, Corio and Corangamite. It’s very marginal and also maybe a Community Independent candidate running in Corangamite could influence the outcome of the election in that seat. That’s, think, at play many places.
One comment I have to you, Chris, is that the essence of being a community independent is very much that each person is independent. So you can’t talk about them as if they were a party, for instance. And you cannot also not talk about them as if they’re all getting support from Climate 200 with Simon Hormus Accords money. And by the way, the 12,000 other people who have donated to the crowdfunding there. It’s all different. Each candidate who runs as a community independent, including you, will have their own economic situation and their own views. That’s the essence of what it means to be an independent.
Colin:
I’d like to add, if I can, that Chris Schmidt came on our program today and said at the very beginning: ‘I don’t really want to talk about politics. I’d rather talk about refugees.’ Did we wind up talking politics?
Mik:
Well, it is election time, Colin, and I think a lot of people are concerned about the development in the world, not just in Australia. What Trump is doing to politics, I think it has shocked quite a few people.
Colin:
No, it hasn’t even surprised me because we, let’s face it, it’s a second term. So we knew what to expect. The surprise is really that we’re still shocked.
. . .
SONG
Be informed
Produced for The Sustainable Hour by Mik Aidt
Jane Goodall:
Every single one of us matters.
(Intro)
No waiting, no maybe, no time for delay,
Be the difference — start today.
(Verse 1)
They sell you fear, they shape the game,
Fake news and feeling win the name.
Labor calls for steady hands,
But shadows rise in the shifting sands.
The playbook’s set, it’s tried and tested,
It echoes across the entire planet.
But there a new line being drawn
Of integrity and truthful human decency
(Chorus)
Tune in, sign up, don’t sit this one out
Be the difference, get involved
Get engaged, be informed
You have a voice — speak up all around!
You have a choice — so make it count!
(Verse 2)
A world at three degrees or more,
No life to save, a closing door.
Should we just bow, accept defeat,
Adjust to fire, flood and heat?
They tell you gas will light the way,
But in fifty years, the wells will run dry.
Tied to lies, locked in on fossils,
What will you do when none remains?
(Chorus)
Tune in, sign up, don’t sit this one out
Be the difference, get involved
Get engaged, be informed
You have a voice — speak up all around!
You have a choice — so make it count!
(Bridge)
Truth and science is in retreat,
Because money talks and lies are cheap.
(Verse 3)
The clock runs fast, no second take,
A runaway climate, a choice to make.
Will we despair – or will we stand?
Can we be that force that moves the needle?
(Final Chorus – extended)
Tune in, sign up, don’t sit this one out
Be the difference, get involved
Get engaged, be informed
You have a voice — speak up all around!
You have a choice — so make it count!
No waiting, no maybe, no time for delay,
Be the difference — start today.
Antonio Guterres:
Before we incinerate our only home. Time is running out.
. . .
Mik:
These are big questions and difficult to solve in one hour. And we have only one sustainable hour per week, unfortunately. But Chris, thank you very much for sharing a very, I think at this time, a very alternative view in a world where it seems like the winds are going so much against refugees and everyone is so afraid of refugees. And you’re actually saying: Refugees can be a fantastic force, a force for good in the community, and so on. So Chris, thanks for sharing this with us.
Chris:
As I already have been in Australia in the past.
Mik:
What would be your last message to our listeners, Chris?
Chris:
I would like to encourage people to check their facts and look at the evidence. Refugees are people just like us, with the same hopes, the same dreams. They want their children to have a better life than them. They want to educate. And I would encourage them in the upcoming election to look into every single candidate thoroughly and to research every single preference they make.
I would encourage them to use their preferences and use preferential voting. In a sense, it allows us to vote twice. Once for whichever party we really want to get in or whatever candidate. And secondly, for whoever we prefer if they don’t get in. So Labor or LNP. And I would encourage people just make sure you put the LNP last, put Labor above that and no way can your vote elect the LNP. It’s impossible. The baloney that Labor says a number one vote, anything other than a number one vote for them ensures the LNP gets in is a lie.
Jingle:
Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison:
This is coal. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared.
American Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:
At the heart of this conflict is a battle between truth and science and power and lies.
. . .
Duty of Care Bill petition promotional video:
2024 was the hottest year on record. Hottest year on record. Hottest. Hottest year on record.
A child turning 10 has lived with the 10 hottest years on record.
How many more records will be broken in their lifetime?
Young people are this country’s future.
Greta Thunberg:
And you are leaving it to children to clean up your mess!
We are waking up every day to news of climate emergencies like bushfires, floods and heat waves. Climate catastrophe is no longer a far off possibility. We are watching it take hold of the world we love. The world we must soon create our lives in. We know that climate change will have a disproportionate impact on current and future generations. And yet there is no Australian law that mandates the protection of the health and wellbeing of young people in the face of climate change.
Your responsibility to legislate this duty lies squarely with the Federal Parliament. We call on you to acknowledge your duty of care to us. We call on you to ensure that your decisions are made with our health and wellbeing in mind and that this is guaranteed by law. Young people deserve nothing less than a duty of care in the face of climate change.
. . .
Mik:
It seems like the ‘Be’ this week would be: ‘Be informed’ before the election.
Colin:
Well, ‘be kind’ or ‘be aware’ of the difficulties that we cause with our policies.
Chris:
Just don’t donkey vote. Don’t follow the how-to-vote cards. Just research everything. Have the how to vote card so you can remember who’s running it, your electorate, but research them all and order them as you think. If you think an independent is the best, don’t be afraid to vote it. If you think Labor is the best, I pity you, but don’t be afraid to vote for them.
Mik:
Be informed, also dare to be the difference. I think when we talk about refugees, there’s certainly a need for daring to be the difference.
Tony:
Bangladesh has got the biggest river delta on the planet and there are millions of people involved that are going to have to be relocated. I reckon we’d be a pretty nice target for them to come down and try and resettle.
The largest refugee camp in the world is in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. And there’s 1.2 million Rohingya’s there. In one camp.
Colin:
And that river, Delta, begins in the Himalayas where it’s fed by the glaciers. And we started off the program by saying that the glaciers are melting at unprecedented speed. Yes, it’s quite an urgent thing. Yeah, let’s make it, instead of ‘be the difference’, be informed.
. . .
Let’s get it right (at 49:02)
Audio segment produced by Mik Aidt
Now, imagine looking up at the sky, knowing that we did it. That we stopped the runaway warming before it was too late.
That’s not a fantasy. That’s a choice. And we still have time to make it.
In this world, we don’t rely on coal, oil or gas anymore. The old smokestacks have been replaced by fields of solar panels, wind turbines stretching across the horizon, rooftops glisten with solar panels. Towns power themselves with the sun and the wind energy. It’s affordable, reliable and clean.
No more price spikes, no more dependence on unstable markets.
No more pollution poisoning our lungs.
On the roads something has changed too. The streets are quieter.
No roaring engines, no thick exhaust fumes curling through the air. Cars glide by, electric and efficient.
Buses, trams and trains run smoothly, powered by clean energy. Air travel, it’s been revolutionised, running on sustainable fuels, cutting emissions to near zero. And cities, well, they’ve never looked better.
Green roofs, vertical gardens on high rises, streets shaded by trees instead of concrete heat traps, buildings that cool and heat themselves efficiently, wasting nothing.
And the best part? It’s not just about saving the planet, it’s about making life better. A shift in the economy.
What about jobs? This world isn’t just about cutting emissions. It’s about building something new. Millions of people are working in industries that don’t destroy our future. Manufacturing solar panels, designing wind farms, restoring forests, building better transport systems, developing smarter agriculture.
The economy hasn’t collapsed, it’s flourished. New industries, new opportunities.
Farmers have seen the change too. Instead of depleting the soil, they’re restoring it. Regenerative farming is pulling carbon out of the air, keeping our food systems stable, resilient. The land is alive again.
The rivers are clearer, the fish are returning.
And the most remarkable part, we didn’t get here because of a single hero. Not one government. Not one corporation. It was people. Ordinary people, communities, businesses, leaders who chose the long game over short-term profit, voters who demanded better. A world that said, enough.
Look, I know it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, to think the problem is too big, too complicated, too far gone. But history shows us something important. Change happens when we decide it has to.
Right now, we’re standing at a crossroads. We can let the worst predictions come true. Or we can make this vision a reality.
It starts with demanding more from ourselves, from our leaders, from our businesses.
It starts with supporting those who are fighting for a future worth living in.
The next decade will define everything.
What world do you want to wake up in? The choice is ours.
. . .
SONG
Starting from today
Produced for The Sustainable Hour by Mik Aidt
Looking at your face right now
As you scroll through the headlines
I see the worry in your eyes
About the world we leave behind
And I know you’re wondering
If anyone will make it right
But baby, let me tell you something
That keeps me up at night
There’s still time to change the way
Things are going day by day
And when you feel like giving up
Remember what I say
I can be that difference
I can be that change
I can be that difference
Starting from today
Dad, I’ve seen the videos
Of how things used to be
Clear skies and clean waters
It’s hard to believe
But I’m not just sitting here
Waiting for a miracle
Got my friends beside me now
We’re making it possible
Every small step counts, they say
Little changes pave the way
When it seems too much to bear
Listen close, I swear
I can be that difference
I can be that change
I can be that difference
Starting from today
We rise together
Hand in hand we’ll find a way
We rise together
Every choice we make today
Shapes tomorrow’s way
I can be that difference
I can be that change
I can be that difference
Starting from today
We rise together
Starting from today
Narrator:
The Australien government has made an ad to announce the 2025 election, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.
Juice Media:
I’m from the Australien Government, here to announce the 2025 federal election.
And I’m from the opposition, here to announce that this will be our last fair election.
That’s right, because in the final days of this Parliament, we teamed up to rewrite Australia’s electoral laws to make it even harder for minor parties and independents to compete with us.
Wokkamole! Cheers!
What’s that? You didn’t know about our dodgy electoral deal? sweetie, that’s just what we were hoping. So please don’t watch this Honest Government ad which explains how it works.
Don’t want to know how we’ve given ourselves even more of your money to help us get re-elected.
47 per cent increase to how much the public will pay politicians per vote. And stacks of loopholes to let us get around the donation caps we’ve introduced.
What so our new laws won’t actually keep big money out of politics?
No silly, big donors can just multiply their donations by our hundreds of branches and entities.
Plus, we legislated a loophole to let us take unlimited money from our multi-million dollar slush fund. But hey, at least we’ve taken dark money out of politics.
we haven’t as our new disclosure threshold is conveniently just above what we charge lobbyists for a dinner with this guy. It’ll cap independents at this much since they only run in one seat while we can spend as much of our nationwide cap as we like wherever we like. Kudos to Dodgy Don for convincing you these laws are about stopping this sack of shit when they’re really about stopping healthy competition in our election and our new spending cap.
Genius!
Just in time, because our primary vote is plummeting, as almost a third of you voted for minor parties and independents at the last election.
Can we win back those votes by being less shit? Of course!
But why do that? When we can just rig election rules in our favour. We are… Two Party Systems!
There’s just one problem. These new laws only come into effect after this election. Because if you realise this is the last election when new candidates have a chance to compete with us, you might vote in this election like our democracy depends on it. It might even inspire you to support and volunteer for your local not-shit candidate.
We’re shitting ourselves about that.
Which it does. Like Kaz in Cowper, Alex in Wannan, and Nicolette in Bradfield, all of which are our God-given seats. Peter in Franklin, where we’re busy selling out Tassie to the toxic salmon industry.
And many others running against us across Australia to end a political duopoly that’s presided over widening inequality, ecological collapse and utter shitfucker.
You’ll find a link in the video description to a list of not shit candidates You know, ones whose heads aren’t up the ass of fossil fuel and gambling lobby Do not Cause if enough not shit MPs get elected, we’ll have to share power with the not shit crossbench. Ew. Which would not only force us to listen to you rather than our fossil fuel and gambling donors.
Do not click!
Don’t force us to unwrap fuck these new electoral laws we just passed.
Which means we’d miss our last chance to entrench our duopoly.
And you’d end up with a greater choice of candidates in future elections.
And we wouldn’t want that now, would we? Two parties. Fuck you!
Authorised by the department for rigging the rules of the game instead of trying to win it by being less shit.
. . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Events we have talked about in The Sustainable Hour
Events in Victoria
The following is a collation of Victorian climate change events, activities, seminars, exhibitions, meetings and protests. Most are free, many ask for RSVP (which lets the organising group know how many to expect), some ask for donations to cover expenses, and a few require registration and fees. This calendar is provided as a free service by volunteers of the Victorian Climate Action Network. Information is as accurate as possible, but changes may occur.
Petitions
→ List of running petitions where we encourage you to add your name
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Live-streaming on Wednesdays
The Sustainable Hour is streamed live on the Internet and broadcasted on FM airwaves in the Geelong region every Wednesday from 11am to 12pm (Melbourne time).
→ To listen to the program on your computer or phone, click here – or go to www.947thepulse.com where you then click on ‘Listen Live’ on the right.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Podcast archive
Over 550 hours of sustainable podcasts.
Listen to all of The Sustainable Hour radio shows as well as special Regenerative Hours and Climate Revolution episodes in full length.
→ Archive on climatesafety.info – with additional links
→ Archive on podcasts.apple.com – phone friendly archive
Receive our podcast newsletter in your mailbox
We send a newsletter out approximately six times a year. Email address and surname is mandatory – all other fields are optional. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Find and follow The Sustainable Hour in social media
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheSustainableHour → All podcast front covers
Instagram: www.instagram.com/TheSustainableHour
Bluesky: www.bsky.app/profile/thesustainablehour.bsky.social
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SustainableHour
(NB: we stopped using X/Twitter after it was hijacked-acquired by climate deniers)
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/thesustainablehour
Great if you’ll share the news about this podcast in social media.
→ Podcasts and posts on this website about the climate emergency and the climate revolution
→ The latest on BBC News about climate change
Sharing solutions that make the climate safer and our cities more liveable