Podcast: Download (Duration: 54:40 — 50.1MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS | More
The Sustainable Hour no. 568 | Transcript | Podcast notes
Our guests are Lauren Dillon from Geelong Renewables Not Gas and Jodie Hill, CEO of Women’s Health & Wellbeing Barwon South West.
This week’s Sustainable Hour celebrates a milestone moment for renewable energy: for the first time ever, green energy now generates more electricity globally than coal. But while that’s good news, there’s still much to fight for here at home.
• Colin Mockett’s Global Outlook takes us from Antarctica’s rapidly melting ice to OPEC’s new oil push and the rising cost of extreme weather insurance in Australia. His news highlights the global contrasts – progress in renewables on one hand, and the persistence of fossil fuel habits on the other.
. . .
• Lauren Dillon from Geelong Renewables Not Gas reports on community efforts to stop Viva Energy’s proposed gas import terminal in Corio Bay. She explains the serious risks posed by dredging, safety oversights, and escalating emissions, and how locals are organising to protect both the bay and the climate.
Lauren is a community organiser with the Australian Conservation Foundation in Geelong and Geelong Renewables Not Gas. She has been involved in environmental advocacy since high school and is co-founder of an Ecological Justice Alliance between ten local schools.
Sign a letter to Ports Victoria & the Ports Minister: As an action to bring the Geelong community’s concerns to decision holders Geelong Renewables Not Gas have an open letter which they would love community members to sign, and which will be available at Geelong Sustainability’s electrification event on Thursday.
Electrify your home and connect with Geelong Sustainability: The organisation is running an Electric Homes Program which supports community members to electrify their homes with trusted providers. They’re also hosting an informative electrification discussion with Dr Saul Griffith this Thursday 16 October 2025. Switching from gas to efficient electric appliances saves money and reduces demand for unnecessary gas infrastructure.
→ Register here.
Get involved with Geelong Renewables Not Gas: to join the campaign against the development of local Gas Import Terminals and to support the region in its journey to electrify.
→ Email events@acfgeelong.com or lauren.nicole7789@gmail.com to join the campaign.
Attend the upcoming Nature Laws Family Fun Day event: Nature Needs Us Now, We Need Nature.
→ Details and registration.
→ For more information about Geelong Renewables Not Gas and their work, go to: www.geelongrenewablesnotgas.org
. . .
• Jodie Hill, CEO of Women’s Health & Wellbeing Barwon South West, joins the discussion to explore the gendered impacts of climate change. She calls for women’s voices to be elevated in planning and response to disasters – pointing to evidence that women are disproportionately affected but also crucial to creating solutions. Her message: “Get loud and have voices.”
Women’s Health & Wellbeing Barwon South West is a not-for-profit organisation that works to ensure that women in the region are healthy, safe and equal. The organisation recently partnered with Geelong Sustainability and Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia to host ‘Climate Connect’ – an event that explored the vital intersection of gender and climate justice.
Jodie gave us the following as her contribution to the show notes:
- Surveys from The Australia Institute and Ipsos report that most Australians believe that urgent action is needed on climate change. The recent National Climate Risk Assessment Report paints a very stark picture of the economic, environmental and health risks of global warming across Australia.
- Climate change is widely recognised as a health emergency. It will impact the core determinants of health, such as food, housing, employment and water security and some groups are more susceptible to the health impacts of climate change, including people in rural and remote areas, First Nations people, those working outdoors, women, volunteers, and emergency responders.
- Women are disproportionately impacted by climate change and climate-related disasters due to the amplification of existing gender inequalities and socially conditioned gender roles during high stress disaster response and recovery.
- Long-standing gender inequalities can create disparities in mobility, decision-making and access to information, resources and knowledge. This can result in increased vulnerability to economic loss, health issues, and exposure to violence during and after climate-related disasters.
- Globally, women and girls are 14 times more likely to die from extreme weather events than men
- An estimated 4 out of 5 people displaced by climate disasters are women and girls.
- Women are often less able to access relief and assistance following an extreme weather or other disaster event. This impacts both well-being and recovery and it creates an ongoing cycle of vulnerability to future disasters.
- The known increase in family violence that occurs at times of natural disaster, and the impact this has on women’s ability to respond and recover.
- Increasing our understanding of the relationship between gender and disaster will help improve the health and wellbeing of communities across Australia. It has never been more important to actively and vigilantly consider the voices and experiences of women as we plan, respond and seek solutions to these problems.
→ Find out more at www.womenshealthbsw.org.au
References:
The Australia Institute: Climate of the Nation 2023
Ipsos: Majority of Australians believe urgent action is needed to combat climate change or we risk failing future generations
The Australian Government: National Climate Risk Assessment
UN Women: How gender inequality and climate change are interconnected
United Nations: Why women are key to climate action
Gender & Disaster Australia: National GEM Guidelines
. . .
• Inspired by Jodie’s words, this episode features the world premiere of the new song, “Get Loud”, celebrating women’s leadership and collective action:
• The Hour also features the fiery rap-remix “Put a Woman in Charge” and closes with “She Leads the Way,” a tribute to women breaking barriers and bringing communities together.
→ Our 43 other songs can be listened to on www.climatesafety.info/music
. . .
• The legendary Jane Goodall rounds off the show with words of hope from her Netflix interview: even in dark times, she reminds us, “Every single one of us matters, every single one of us has a role to play.”
An uplifting Hour highlighting that the climate fight is also a fight for equality, courage, and community.
So women and girls, don’t be silent. Be loud!
“The National Climate Risk Assessment report does call out that there are some gendered impacts in terms of what we can expect, but sadly not in a particularly strong way. And very sadly, the adaptation report actually doesn’t, or the adaptation plan doesn’t actually give us very much guidance and is prioritising gendered issues as a future priority rather than as an act now priority and I don’t think we have time to put that aside.”
~ Jodie Hill, CEO, Women’s Health & Wellbeing Barwon South West
→ Podcasts and blogposts on this website about women and climate
→ Subscribe to The Sustainable Hour podcast via Apple Podcasts or Spotify
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SEC is a government-owned renewable energy company, focusing on:
Investing in renewable energy and storage projects that accelerate the transition and deliver commercial returns.
Supporting households to go all-electric to reduce their energy bills and emissions.
Building the renewable energy workforce our energy transition requires.
Find out more on www.secvictoria.com.au/about
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Australia’s toxic relationship with gas
On Monday night, Geelong Renewables Not Gas held a community event at Geelong West Town Hall. The event titled ‘Australia’s Gas Problem: Lessons from Gladstone’ was attended by over 120 people. Speakers included Mark Ogge from The Australia Institute, Dr Kat Lucas-Healey from Environment Victoria, Darren Kessner from Australian Conservation Foundation Gladstone, Jan Arrens from the Gladstone Conservation Foundation and Lauren Dillon from Geelong Renewables Not Gas.
Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor at The Australia Institute, highlighted that 80% of Australian gas is currently being exported overseas, which predominantly profits foreign-owned gas corporations. There was an interesting conversation about the financial impacts this has on everyday Australians in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. When gas exports started on the East Coast of Australia in 2015, the gas price almost tripled, and electricity prices doubled. This is because gas companies sold their domestic stock for global gas prices, which has had a massive flow-on effect for consumers. He called it “absurd” that Australia was even considering importing gas.
Dr Kat Lucas-Healey, Senior Climate and Energy Advisor at Environment Victoria, discussed the greenhouse gas implications of importing gas in Victoria. Her presentation outlined that the leaks and energy associated with transporting liquefied natural gas in old tankers were incredibly large. Concerningly, the emissions of transporting LNG are unaccounted for and are not linked to any corporation or state. This is a major limitation in tracking Australia’s commitment to net zero. Finally, Kat highlighted that gas demand will continue to decrease over the coming years as businesses and household reduce their gas usage.
Both speakers ended positively by reaffirming that Victoria was moving in the right direction, but commented that more needs to happen.
The Gladstone Dredging Disaster
Jan Arrens provided the audience with a historical background of the Gladstone dredging disaster in 2011. This disaster occurred following the development of three LNG facilities on Curtis Island, with the increased activity leading to the approval of a dredging project in Gladstone Harbour. After dredging began in the area, there was an increase in turbidity, a decline in seagrass abundance and disease within fishing and crab communities. This led to fishing being banned for three weeks.
Dr Matthew Lando linked the events to resuspended sediments and indicated that dredging was the primary causal factor. A water quality report conclusively determined that a hole in the bund wall and increased turbidity were the issues. The dredging project ultimately required 22 million cubic metres to be removed over 122 weeks – more than double the expected 58-week duration – at a cost of approximately $1.5 billion.
Parallels to the Viva Energy Proposal
Through their collaborative presentations, Lauren and Darren identified concerning parallels between what happened in Gladstone and the potential risks posed by the Viva Energy Gas Import Terminal proposal. Four factors are particularly significant:
- Physical constraint: Corio Bay is more physically constrained than Gladstone Harbour, potentially amplifying the impacts of dredging and increasing the risk for turbidity and sediment disturbance
- Underestimated dredging extent: Historical evidence from Gladstone shows that initial dredging approvals grossly underestimated the actual extent and impact of dredging required. Viva’s environmental effect statement assessed less than 0.5 million cubic metres of dredging, and this was focused on the direct area around the refinery. However, industry experts estimate that the volume of dredging could be 10-100 times greater than assessed, because shipping channels in Corio Bay are not deep enough to allow for the safe passage of these liquefied natural gas carriers.
- Emergency egress constraints: Unlike Gladstone, Corio Bay has no safe turning point for LNG carriers, and the nearest safe anchorage is 30 kilometres away through narrow channels. This means in an emergency, the tanker would have to reverse!
- Chemical build-up: As the Geelong Refinery has been operating since 1954, there will likely be a build-up of chemicals within the Corio Bay sea floor. Dredging this material as spoil goes against best practice standards.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Can sustainability make us happy?
Impending doom, eco-anxiety, sackcloth and ashes – sustainability is often portrayed in very negative terms, but are sustainable organisations happier organisations? Who better to ask than Richard Lupo, a Sustainability Consultant and the author of the book “Happiness by Numbers”?
What if the climate movement felt like a house party?
You’re invited into a bold new vision for the climate movement — a space of trust and honesty, where artists inspire action and everyone has a role to play. Social impact leader Matthew Phillips explores how shared purpose and imagination can revive the fragmented approach to climate action and unlock the power of collective momentum. (Recorded at TED Countdown: Overcoming Dilemmas in the Green Transition on October 30, 2024)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Transcript of The Sustainable Hour no. 568
Jane Goodall (00:00)
Every single one of us matters. Every single one of us has some role to play.
Jingle (00:18)
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong: The Sustainable Hour.
Tony Gleeson:
Welcome to The Sustainable Hour. We’d like to acknowledge that we’re broadcasting from the land of the Wadawurrung people. We pay tribute to their elders – past, present, and those that earn that great honour in the future. We’re on stolen land, land that was never ceded, always was and always will be First Nations land. When they nurtured both their land and their communities for millennia, they’ve acquired a great wealth of ancient wisdom. The same ancient wisdom that we’re going to need as we navigate the climate crisis.
Mik Aidt: (01:16)
We’ve reached a real milestone in the last week. The news is out that we now have more renewable energy, more green energy, in the world’s electricity grid than we have black energy from coal. For the first time, renewable energy is now generating more electricity worldwide than coal. That’s a milestone and that’s something, I think, to celebrate. There’s a lot of other things going on that are less worthy of celebrating, but it’s important when there is something to celebrate that we remind each other that it’s still going in the right direction. And for instance, if we look at the ACT, they set a goal that they would reach 100 per cent green electricity by 2020. And they even met that ahead of schedule. So now they are exporting green electricity to Victoria and other places – and by the way, Victoria is also really stepping up in the field of clean energy – whereas Queensland: not so much. But that’s a longer story. I think we should just head right into what else has been happening around the world. Colin Mockett OAM, what do you have for us and for our listeners today?
COLIN MOCKETT’S GLOBAL OUTLOOK:
Yes, well thank you, Mik. Our roundup this week begins in Antarctica, following the latest data on ice sheet melting which was released this week. It showed that coming out of the Antarctic winter, the ice is continuing to melt at a rate that is alarming scientists. Each year during the southern hemisphere’s winter, the ocean around Antarctica freezes.
Now this can go for hundreds of miles beyond the land area of the continent, with the maximum reach usually observed in September or October. Then spring and summer thawing cycle begins, but this year, according to the preliminary data, the ice appeared to peak on 17 September 2025 at 17.8 million square kilometres. This is the third lowest in the 47 years of records. It’s behind the all-time lows of 2023 and 2024. All are considerably below the historic norm.
Senior research scientist Ted Scambos at the University of Colorado said warmth from the global ocean was now mixing into the water closets to Antarctica, meaning that climate change had finally caught up with the southern continent’s frozen seeds. The Antarctic ice sheet holds enough land ice to raise seas high enough to inundate low-lying coastlines around the world, though such an impact would likely unfold over decades.
Now to Saudi Arabia, where members of OPEC+ oil cartel agreed last week to raise supply by 137,000 barrels a day from next month onwards.
Despite the demand for oil dropping worldwide, their intention is to get back their market share from the US under Donald Trump. The oil production increase comes despite experts at the International Energy Agency predicting that there would be insufficient demands to consume all of the oil on the market in the coming year. OPEC+ consists of eight members: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Oman and Kazakhstan. Now at the start of the year, the cartel’s strategy was to lift oil prices by curbing supply. But then the U.S. raised its output and there is now a greater emphasis on trying to recapture their market shares.
As of last Monday the price of a barrel of Brent Crude, that’s the global oil benchmark, was $63. That’s down from the 2025 peak of more than $80 a barrel and it just shows you what an effect it’s having at the moment. Typically in the final quarter of the year, global demand for oil enters a lull because people go on holiday.
Whether the increase in production affects the price of petrol in the bowser is yet to be seen. My guess is that petrol will go up at Christmas because people travel to relatives. That’s the reality of the thing.
Now for some data that reflects what we talked about last week when our guest was Neil Plummer… remember he said that the price of insurance premiums is a much more accurate gauge of global warming than what you read in the media? Well, a new insurance industry report said that Australia is second only to the United States for the cost of extreme weather over the past 45 years. What’s more, every decade since 1980 has been costlier than the last. That’s insurance in Australia. The 2024-25 Insurance Catastrophe Resilience Report says that losses from floods, bushfires and storms have climbed considerably every decade after adjustments for inflation.
Insurance Council Chief Executive Andrew Hall said that Australia has got a number of populations living in high-risk zones, geographically exposed to extreme weather events, and those populations are growing. We’re also dealing with the challenge of inflation, so it’s costing more to do rebuilding and restoring in those areas, he said. At the same time, the frequency of the events has increased and the numbers of homes that get impacted keeps increasing because the population keeps growing.
Among comparable developed nations, Australia has ranked on average second to the United States for economic and insured losses per capita. That was from 1980 to 2020. Though we were pushed into third place in the past five years by the 2023 Auckland floods and in Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand.
This year, extreme weather events in Australia have cost almost $2 billion in insurance losses, including the $289 million North Queensland floods, the $1.3 billion cost of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred, and the $248 million Mid-North Coast and Hunter floods.
Now, as Mik has already told you, a report released last week found that for the first time, renewable sources produced more electricity than coal in the first half of this year. The report from the global energy think tank Ember found that developing countries led by China and India have helped tip the global balance towards green energy. China cut fossil fuel generation by 2 per cent as solar and wind output rose by 43 per cent and 16 per cent respectively while India’s wind and solar grew by 29 per cent and 31 per cent, reducing coal and gas use by 3.1 per cent.
This is what the report showed. Meanwhile, in the U.S., coal generation rose by 17 per cent, while gas fell by 3.9 per cent. While in Europe, gas generation climbed 14 per cent and coal at 1.1 per cent. But overall, renewables outproduced fossils by 51 per cent to 49 per cent – and that is the very first time that this has occurred.
And finally I can’t end without news from the world’s greenest sports team, Forest Green Rovers. The vegan men’s team didn’t play last weekend because they’re preparing for an FA Cup midweek match. So they remain second in their league behind Rochdale.
But their women’s team, Forest Green Rovers Women, they played Royal Wooten Basset in the FA Women’s Cup at the weekend and they won 3-1. And that ends my roundup for the week.
. . .
Jingle: (09:57)
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
. . .
Tony:
Our first guest today is Lauren Dillon. Lauren is representing Geelong Renewables Not Gas. She’s a student at Monash Uni. yeah, Lauren, so thanks for coming on today. What’s the update on what’s happening on the Geelong Renewables Not Gas front?
Lauren Dillon:
Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. So we’re still focusing on the Viva Energy gas import terminal. So this got its preliminary approval in May this year by the planning minister, Sonia Kilkenny. However, they have a lot of things that they still need to do. And so we’re trying to place pressure and kind of reduce their operational reliability and commercial reliability.
So some stuff that they still need to get done is the fact that they haven’t received their floating regasification unit of which there’s only 32 in the world. They’re struggling to find that. Additionally, they are doing their navigational studies with Ports Victoria. And so we actually held an event on Monday and flew some Gladstone residents down to raise awareness about this issue and the fact that dredging is needed.
It could have an exponential impact on Corio Bay and the way that we use it. So over 200 people attended that event and it was just wonderful to connect with the community and be able to connect port communities as well. We actually had Mark Ogge from the Australia Institute present on Australia’s problematic relationship with gas and Kat Lucas-Healey from Environment Victoria focusing on their missions associated with gas import terminals.
So Geelong Renewables Not Gas is still going strong. I think that a few people were disheartened with that initial approval, but I think it’s really important to note that there’s still a lot of things to be done for Viva and they’re facing some pretty annoyed competitors after they tried to gain access to that pipeline. So yeah, we’re looking at helping people with electrification.
Tony:
So I understand there’s dredging, it seems like they have to do a study on the impacts of dredging. Were the people from Queensland, where are they from? What were some of the issues that they brought up?
Lauren: (12:37)
Yeah, so following three liquefied natural gas terminals being approved in Gladstone, a dredging program began in 2011. Unfortunately, it released massive amounts of acid sulfate soils and so it really ruined the local ecosystem. So they dealt with fishermen having rashes and they couldn’t get out of bed. They had to go to the hospital. Massive amounts of deaths for dugongs and turtles and fish and the impacts of that are still going on and they actually only just finished a class action the fishermen did against the Ports Corporation last month. So very long time frame and unfortunately we are facing similar impacts and similar things that could happen in Geelong and so we flew a resident down from Gladstone to discuss that and kind of highlight how those two, how the Gladstone Harbour and Corio Bay are very similar. And one of the factors in that is the fact that the refinery has been operating since the 1950s. So there will be chemical buildup in the soil. And so to come through and dredge that would just be horrible. And so, like you mentioned, Ports Vic are currently doing navigational studies with, and so they’re trying to decide how much dredging would be needed.
Mik:
Lauren, isn’t it like that the longer they wait and the longer this takes, the less of a business model is viable anymore? Because more and more people are switching over to having their own solar and it’s actually cheaper.
Lauren: (14:22)
Yeah, exactly right. We’re seeing a lot of gas import terminals pop up around Victoria and that’s because this gas shortage is being promoted and pushed in the media and so politicians are facing pressure from industry. But the fact of the matter is, is like you said, Mik, there is more, the gas demand is reducing and as we’ve seen in recent news, like renewables are increasing and so, they really do have a place in Victoria and we need to make sure that we keep promoting that and don’t keep relying on gas infrastructure.
Colin:
What’s the main thrust of your argument? I mean there are so many reasons we don’t need a floating gas terminal from the danger through to the fact that we’re phasing gas out anyway. It’s very difficult to choose which is the best argument to present to the people and to the politicians. What is your group’s main argument?
Lauren:
Yes, so the process has been over five years. Like you said, there’s a lot of things going wrong. We’ve moved more for the dredging and safety aspect because it’s applicable to, I guess, everyone. know, the people that use the bay recreationally, like fishermen and yacht users and that kind of stuff. If it is dredged, it will impact them. And the safety is massive because these LNG tankers, they’re too big to turn around in the bay.
And so if something were to go wrong, you’re looking at possibly having to reverse backwards for 30 kilometres until you reach Portarlington. And that’s within the blast radius of 30,000 residents. And so I guess we are focusing on those two factors at the moment because that’s the language of the politicians and that’s the language of residents that might not be interested in the environmental aspect, even though, you know, that is quite big.
Colin: (16:24)
So just thinking strategically about how to get people on board. From my memory, I used to be a journalist here in Geelong and my memory was when Shell, which owned the facility in the mid 1980s, was putting in a cracker plant and to do so the government insisted that they built a bund around the whole area which was essentially an earth wall, a dyke affair, which would mean that it blows any explosion out to sea rather than over Corio and Norlane.
That bund is still there. Now we have a floating gas facility out to sea, or the proposal to put one there. My guess would be that if that were to have an explosion, it would be directed to the Geelong waterfront and the city of Geelong.
Lauren:
Yeah, I mean there’s always risks of something going wrong, especially in large industrial activities like this one. I think what’s quite concerning is VIVA does have a history of not submitting their things at the right time and not doing the due process and so the whole reason why we needed a second process or environmental effect statement is because they hadn’t submitted the right hazard overlays and marine ecology studies and then during the second EES, Ports Victoria actually came out and said that Viva hadn’t progressed the navigational studies enough. And so when you have a company that has a history of not being transparent and complacent, I guess, with the legislative standards, that’s worrying. Like that is so scary to have in your community. And like you said, there is that risk of something going wrong and we’re dealing with highly flammable material and you know, there is the risk of something going wrong.
Colin: (18:22)
Something vast going wrong when you look at the quantities that are involved.
Lauren:
Very big, yeah.
Tony:
The resultant emissions – or the increase in emissions, has that been looked at at all?
Lauren:
Yeah, so that’s a massive issue. Importing natural gas is just wildly ineffective. So you’ve actually got the fact that you’re turning the natural gas into liquefied natural gas, so it’s making it easy to transport. But then the emissions associated with bringing it in and then regasifying it at this floating unit, that is exponential. And so there’s so many emissions to come from this terminal and especially, it’s going against all of our emission reduction claims, especially in Victoria and Australia.
And so that’s so concerning, especially as a young person who’s looking towards the future. We don’t want to be locking in this gas infrastructure that is meant to only be for 10 years but could be blown out, because that’s massive amounts of money dedicated towards something that is creating climate change and creating all those natural disasters that was previously mentioned.
Mik:
So, Lauren, is there something we can do? We, the listeners. What can we do to help stop this madness?
Lauren:
So much, it’s so exciting. Yeah, I mean, the first thing that people can do is that we’ve drafted a letter to the ports minister in ports Victoria. And so that’s calling on them to make sure that the right navigational studies are done to the international safety standards. So if you wanted to sign that, it will actually be at Geelong Sustainability’s event tomorrow night. And that’s where they’re holding something with Dr Saul Griffiths about electrification, and so that will be exciting.
Another factor that you can do is sign up to the Geelong Renewables Not Gas Working Group. So work directly with us, let’s figure out the future, let’s figure out how to stop these things. And the third thing would be signing up to Australian Conservation Foundation ‘Geelong’s Nature Law’ events. And so that’s a family fun day, should be very good.
Mik:
We really wish you all the best with the work that you’re doing. Keep going and we’ll do what we can at our end to support you.
Lauren:
Thank you.
Mik: (20:49)
And the links you talked about, Lauren, we can put them on our show notes, which is on climatsafety.info.
. . .
SONG
‘Put a Woman in Charge (AI Rap God Remix)’
(Lu)
Yo, it’s time — no more askin’, we takin’ the throne,
Clean up the system, they rattlin’ bones.
They playin’ the game, but we rewire the code,
Misogyny’s dead — throw it out on the road!
[Verse 1 – Ludi]
I step in the booth, got ‘em shook like a riot,
Turn up the heat, watch ‘em fold in the fire.
Too many clowns in positions of power,
Tickin’ like bombs, but they runnin’ on coward!
Man-made mess, now they drown in the flood,
Lyin’ through teeth while they sippin’ on blood.
We comin’ in swingin’, no fear, no shame,
They tighten the noose, but we snatchin’ the chain!
[Chorus – Group]
(Yeah!) Too strong, too loud, too bold,
(Yeah!) One shot, one mic, we cold!
(Yeah!) No match, no chance, we win,
Put a woman in charge — let’s begin!
[Verse 2 – Lu]
I see ‘em gaslight, gatekeep, stack the deck,
Preachin’ respect, but they leave us in wrecks.
Talkin’ in circles, tryna keep us in check,
We shatter the ceiling, now show some respect!
She’s runnin’ the business, she’s holdin’ it down,
She’s settin’ the pace while they runnin’ around.
From boardrooms to courtrooms, we takin’ the space,
Outta the shadows — straight to the stage!
[Chorus – Group]
(Yeah!) Too strong, too loud, too bold,
(Yeah!) One shot, one mic, we cold!
(Yeah!) No match, no chance, we win,
Put a woman in charge — let’s begin!
[Bridge – Ludi & Lu]
(Ludi): I ain’t here to play, I ain’t here to smile,
Kick in the door, run up the miles.
Been fightin’ for centuries, runnin’ the show,
If you don’t get it, then get up and go!
(Lu): Get out the way — move, step back,
Time’s up, and that’s a fact.
Smear campaigns? We laughin’ through,
We changin’ the game — now whatcha gon’ do?
[Outro – Group]
(Yeah!) No cap, no slack, we rise,
(Yeah!) Too fierce, too sharp, too wise.
(Yeah!) No match, no chance, we win,
Put a woman in charge — let’s begin!
. . .
Tony: (23:21)
Our next guest is Jodie Hill. Jodie is the CEO of the Women’s Health & Wellbeing Barwon South West – to locate where she’s working. Jodie, thanks very much for coming on. We appreciate that. Now, there’d be a number of people I would imagine that say, ‘what has women’s health got to do with sustainability’? So maybe we can drill down into that first? – and yeah, progress from there…
Jodie Hill:
Absolutely, I might do a bit of a brief intro to Women’s Health & Wellbeing Barwon South West. We are a not-for-profit, independent feminist organisation and our goal is to improve the lives of women across the Barwon South West and we focus on a number of priority areas.
Gender equity underpins basically everything we do. The prevention of violence against women is also one of those really underpinning priorities that runs through most of the work that we do. But we also look for areas to promote equitable outcomes in terms of health, in terms of mental health at the moment. Sexual and reproductive health is a focus for us. And also supporting women in emergency situations.
And that is probably where we come into this sustainability piece because we have linked that emergency situations to climate change and some of the impacts that we’re seeing around extreme weather events and some of the horrible predictions that have come out of the recent reports around what we might expect in the not too distant future in terms of climate.
Mik:
Maybe just for listeners who didn’t hear, last week we actually had a climatologist explain the national climate risk assessment report from the government with, for instance, the fact that more than a million homes are predicted to be flooded underwater in the next 20 to 30 years. Jodi, what’s the most important, in your perspective, to take from that report?
Jodie: (25:33)
From that report… That report is pretty important and I think the biggest message for us all is that it’s beyond time for us to get serious about this and it’s beyond time for us to actually take action, get loud and have voices. And I suppose the focus for me here is that from the perspective of women’s health and wellbeing, we are… do focus on that gendered impact. That report, the risk assessment, does call out that there are some gendered impacts in terms of what we can expect, but sadly not in a particularly strong way.
And very sadly, the adaptation report actually doesn’t, or the adaptation plan doesn’t actually give us very much guidance and is prioritising gendered issues as a future priority rather than as an act now priority and I don’t think we have time to put that aside.
Colin:
Jodie, traditionally, the violence against women has occurred fueled by alcohol. Now we know that alcohol drinking is reducing considerably in the younger generations, and I’m talking gen X, Y, and Z, you know, the childbearing age. The number, the amount of violence is not reducing amongst that. Instead, we’re getting mental health problems. And there are so many different inputs into why people are affected by mental health problems. Among them, of course, is climate change, because we’re all scared of what’s going to happen to our planet. Have you noticed that occurring and have you got any data which says what are the reasons for the difficulties between married couples, men and women, that you’re experiencing at the moment?
Jodie:
Yeah, look, I think it’s probably important to call out that alcohol and alcohol use is one driver of violence and it’s actually a very, very complex space and there’s lots of contributing factors in terms of what drives gendered violence, family-based violence. But what we do know is that after every extreme weather event after every major disaster and even things that aren’t climate related. We’ve seen examples with earthquakes in New Zealand for example and things like that where there is an extreme amount of stress put on communities and families because of what’s happening in terms of disaster we do see really significant increases. And it depends on the data that you look at.
And I will say that like all things, wouldn’t we love to have a whole lot more data around it? There are some challenges in terms of reporting, sometimes after disasters and recording. But what we do know is that there is an absolute trend of really significant increases.
Some disaster situations are showing up to 50 per cent increases, some are showing as much as 100 per cent increase in instances of violence in that post-disaster, post-weather event, post-natural disaster space. And of course that is absolutely exacerbated by services being stretched, by an inability for people to leave situations because accommodation is challenging, because finances are challenging, because support systems are broken down, because survival becomes the absolute priority and the ability to remove yourself or to seek assistance or to seek the mental health assistance that you need becomes more and more challenged.
So it is definitely a consideration in that post disaster, post weather event situation and something that we have to be prepared for if our future holds more and more of these events which it appears that it will. So, you know, we have to be ready for it, we have to plan for it and we have to take some action, proactive action.
Lauren:
Yeah, Jodie, I actually attended a climate justice forum that I believe your organisation was at a couple of weeks ago. What I found interesting was, well I just hadn’t considered it, but someone had mentioned that in these natural disaster zones, like in places, there’s often only like one town hall that people can gather at, and so if you have a restraining order against someone or if you have a history of violence with someone, it’s all in just one space. And so I found that quite interesting. But do you work, can you work directly with councils to help prepare for those natural disasters and especially with climate justice, how does that work?
Jodie:
It’s really, it’s heartening to see, we have in our sort of regional footprint, we have nine LGA’s that we work with. And it’s really heartening to see that many of them are bringing this consideration into planning. So I think that there’s some green shoots and some positive signs and sort of, as you were saying, it’s important for us to remember that there is progress and that we do see some advancement around this.
I would follow that up by saying I think that there’s a significant way to go because I think the natural place that people generally prioritise is just that immediate survive, immediate get people out or get people to a safe space, get people away from fires, get people accommodated outside of flood zones, whatever the case may be. And so that challenge of thinking of the extra complexity around making sure that there are really safe spaces, culturally safe spaces as well, know, lots of things to consider and they’re a little bit harder. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do the work though.
Tony:
Jody, organisations like yours, and there are many others as well, help provide, show the complexity of the issue. You’ve just referred to that. And it enables people to get the full picture, like the full consequences of approving a coal mine. For example, like all these problems are going to be worse as a result, somewhere.
Jodie:
Yes.
Tony:
It may not be where the coal mine is approved. yeah, how much time, how much of your time is spent sort of following that line with politicians, with ordinary people in the communities?
Jodie:
Yeah, we do a little bit of advocacy and this is certainly over the last 12 months, this whole space around the gendered impact of climate change and climate disaster has become a bigger priority for us. So it is something that we are absolutely leaning into and see as an area for opportunity, there’s really the ability to make change.
I think in terms of really focusing on this gendered impact and as you say shining a light on what it could be and what it might be as things get worse in the future. You know we know right now women are 14 times more likely to perish in a disaster than a man and we know that globally 80 per cent of people who are displaced by extreme weather and the outcomes of extreme weather are women and girls.
So this is an issue that we’ve absolutely got some hard data around in terms of what the outcomes might be. And we’re very naive if we think that as we see more of these extreme events, more weather events and those kinds of things, we’re very naive if we think that it’s not going to impact us the same way and that we shouldn’t be planning for that.
Mik:
We live in a time, as we talk about very often in the sustainable world, where quite a few people are losing hope and there’s more talk about collapse than there is about solutions. So mental health means so much, it? Because if you can’t see the solutions any longer, it’s like, how are we ever going to solve the problems that we’re facing? Jodie, what’s your take on this and what’s your message in a way to women?
Jodie:
Sure, I think that the mental health piece is we know that climate is absolutely something that people are focused on and that it’s having an impact. I think, I mean, with all of the challenges that we face in our world, our very complex and very confusing world at the moment, you know, you have to, you can’t underestimate the impacts of mental health.
I think the positive thing that I can add to the conversation around this is that while we know that women and girls are more significantly impacted by climate change and by the impacts of climate change, disproportionately so, they also have a role in planning, they also have a role in responding, and I think that there’s a real opportunity there in terms of elevating the voices of women, getting them involved in decision making.
And I’m sure that you all – in your 500-odd shows that you’ve done – you will have seen that women and women like wonderful Lauren here today are involved at grassroots level, are involved in, you know, demonstrating, advocating, activism and so on. What we need to see is women involved in more of the really significant leadership, really significant, really significant decision making. I really, my message to women is get involved, have a voice, get out there, support the feminist organisations and the climate justice organisations that are doing the good work and really make sure that you are contributing to this because…
There’s actually evidence internationally, women have been, the gender issue around climate has been recognised for a bit longer than here in Australia, we’re a bit behind in terms of bringing it into the conversation. But I think that if we can bring women’s voices into it, we know that there’s evidence that where there are diverse perspectives, where different perspectives are brought into decision making and planning, there are better outcomes. This is a space where we want the best outcomes we can get. So we need those voices involved in the mix.
Lauren:
Jodie, you make me so happy to hear that. It’s so lovely, it’s so, so lovely.
Colin: (37:08)
Jodie, can I take you back to your women are 14 times more likely to die in a natural disaster and ask you to unpick those figures because it goes against the sort of norm, the titanic norm of women and children first. It makes it sound like the men are leaving their wives and children, females, and saving themselves. Can you just explain the reasoning or the figures behind that. Because it sounds wrong to me. I want the film to be more even.
Jodie:
I think, well, I think probably the best thing for me to do without digging myself into a hole and showing you all that I’m gathering this information from some really trusted sources probably be to link you to some really great reports and maybe you can include in the show notes that actually provide some of this context.
But in general terms, we know that things like, for example, bushfires and exposure to smoke, have really detrimental effects on women’s health significantly more so than on men’s health. And so not maybe a case of men pushing women out of the lifeboats, but more a case of just that lag effect of what happens in those situations when health can be impacted, financial resilience can be impacted.
Homelessness becomes an issue in terms where homes are destroyed or lost and all of those things compound. And this on a global scale, there are women who are in very, very challenged situations in terms of their access to the basic fundamental things that they need to survive. And so this is the data.
Lauren:
Interesting, like the note about like health impacts because I feel like worldwide a lot of the times these studies do focus on predominantly men or just because those are the participants there or because there is sometimes I guess a little bit of bias there like I found that really interesting to follow in recent years how we’re starting to look at you know more solutions for women and perhaps like there needs to be more study about you know those impacts specifically for women and natural disasters.
Jodie:
There definitely does need to be more study, but Weller has done a really amazing piece of work for anybody unfamiliar, Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia. They have done a fabulous piece of work and there was a study where 130 international studies, international pieces of research around the impacts of climate change were analysed. 68 per cent of those studies found that women were impacted much more significantly than men in terms of the health issues as a result of climate change. So it’s not a fluke, it’s not a one-off, it’s not one piece of information that shows it. This is a vast majority of studies that have been conducted showing this.
So something we really do need to look at and I’d like to see much more of that research happening and much more consideration of these gendered issues. But gee, we have an opportunity in terms of women and diverse people into the decision making here.
Tony:
Yeah, eight years ago, a guy called Paul Hawken bought out a book called ‘Drawdown’. And in that he looked at the ways that we, yeah, the various options for drawing down carbon. So it’s been established now that’s not enough to stop putting it up there. We’ve got to actually draw it down. It’s interesting that educating women played a major role there, in that, in getting drawdowns. Do you have a comment on that at all? it’s as being part of the solution as well as being right affected by the problem, the issue itself.
Jodie: (41:18)
Yeah, look, I think let’s do the very basic maths. Women represent half of the population. And if you don’t have them involved in being part of the solution, you’re missing out on such a wealth of resources and influence that could absolutely be contributing to something powerful.
Now, let’s add to that, that women have a really historically proven innate ability to bring communities together to influence the way that families move to influence across generations and those sorts of things are so important in this. When we want to have a connected and collaborative voice where we want to effectively be working as a team with the same goal, we’re all on the same island here, you know, why would we not want to have that absolute amazing community leadership that women demonstrate time and again involved in this. I think that amplifying that is an absolute opportunity.
. . .
SONG (42:45)
‘Get Loud’ – mp3 audio
Jodie:
“It’s beyond time for us to get serious about this and it’s beyond time for us to actually take action, get loud and have voices.” (…) “Let’s do the very basic maths: Women represent half of the population. And if you don’t have them involved in being part of the solution, you’re missing out on such a wealth of resources and influence that could absolutely be contributing to something powerful.”
Verse 1:
Storm’s brewin’ down the coastline, rain’s in the air
Houses fallin’, but no one cares
When the world gets heavy, don’t you hide your light away
Lift it up, shake it out, let your heartbeat say:
Pre-Chorus:
No more waiting, no more doubt
No, we won’t take it, we going to shout:
Chorus:
Get loud! – turn the volume up
We are the voices of change
Get loud! – feel the power
We’re already half the world
in service to the Earth
Lauren:
“Just so excited for the future. I feel like I’m ready to take on the world.”
Verse 2:
From the town hall floor to the flood-plain mud
Women buildin’ community out of fire and flood
We plan, we heal, we make it real
We’re being heard cause we speak the truth
Pre-Chorus:
I got the love, I got the grace
I’m gonna energise the human race – hey!
Chorus:
Get loud! – turn the volume up
We are the voices of change
Get loud! – feel the power
We’re already half the world
in service to the Earth
Bridge:
Lift the unheard, bring ’em near
Every story we gotta hear
First Nations, sisters, every friend
Voices rise and the walls bend
Jodie:
“Women have a, really, historically proven innate ability to bring communities together to influence the way that families move, to influence across generations, and those sorts of things are so important in this.”
Breakdown:
Be loud – insist and persist
Be kind – lift each other up
Be proud – ’cause this is our time
Jodie:
“…that have voices could absolutely be contributing to something powerful.”
Final Chorus:
Get loud! – turn the volume up
We are the voices of change
Get loud! – feel the power
We’re already half the world
in service to the Earth
Jodie:
“Get loud and have voices!”
. . .
Jane Goodall – excerpts from the Netflix interview ‘Famous Last Words’: (45:52)
We are in the midst of the sixth great extinction, we’ve got climate change and, you know, everywhere I go, things are different. Yeah, and I think if anybody reads about those other five extinction events, you don’t want to be a part of those. You don’t want to be around when those happen. It’s not pleasant for anyone. It would be horrible and that’s why action must be taken now. I have no doubt that we have the tools to make the change, but do we have the will to make the change? And it seems with some of the top politicians and corrupt corporations, there is no such will.
In the dark times that we are living in now, if people don’t have hope, we’re doomed. And how can we bring little children into this dark world we’ve created and let them be surrounded by people who’ve given up? So even if this is the end of humanity as we know it, let’s fight to the very end. Let’s let the children know that there is hope if they get together. And even if it becomes impossible for anybody, it’s better to go on fighting to the end than just to give up and say, ‘okay.’
And as we destroy one ecosystem after another, as we create worse climate change, worse loss of diversity, we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today and for those that will follow. You have it in your power to make a difference. Don’t give up.
. . .
Jingle
. . .
Mik: (47:45)
All right, that’s what we could fit into one really interesting, different climate aspect hour. about the potential, the untapped potential that there still is in our community for, in this case, women to step up and take some leadership in this space. I think that’s what I heard you say, Jodie, am I right?
Jodie:
Yes, you’re absolutely right. Not that, I mean, we have some amazing examples of women leaders already out there, but I think what we would love to see is better recognition of women and women’s voices. And I’ll also throw out there as well that there are other cohorts of people, and my focus with women’s health and wellbeing is women, women and girls, but there are other cohorts of people that are underrepresented and who offer amazing value as well. So we’d also like to see the voices of gender diverse people, of our wonderful First Nations people, of people living with disability, of the rural and regional folk, of all of the people who have these different perspectives that mean so much and contribute so much to both response but also planning and solutions around climate disasters, extreme weather and so on. We need all of the voices to get a truly holistic sort of solutions base, I think.
Tony:
That’s our aim too, Jodie. So maybe that’s another thing we can work with you on in getting those voices on the show. Because, yeah, because just exactly the same as you, they are important and giving them forums like this allows that. It normalises hearing their voices and how important it is to hear unrepresented groups and their approach to things.
Jodie:
Yeah.
Mik:
This is very much the mission of the radio station where we’re broadcasting the sustainable hour from, which is now a community driven and a volunteer radio station, very much with this as our goal. Lauren, a last comment from you?
Lauren: (49:27)
Just so excited for the future and to meet more people and yeah I feel very uplifted by Jodie. I feel like I’m ready to take on the world.
Mik:
That’s amazing. Go out there and ‘be…’ what? What do you think? Jodie, ‘be…?’
Jodie:
Be loud! Yeah, demand the change you want. Yes.
Tony: (49:47)
Well, we males haven’t done such a good job of…
Colin:
Yep, I’ll be the last one to say that males have done a good job, but at the same time, I’ll just put a bit of reservation by naming two names. One is Gina Rinehart and the other one is Meg O’Brien, who are leading names on the fossil fuel. So look, I’m just trying to bring just a little bit, bring it back that much. Yes, I’m all for more women’s voices everywhere in decision making, but they don’t always have the right outcomes.
Jodie:
No, just as there’re many wonderful men who are advocating for the right outcomes as well. A little bit of balance is absolutely good, but I think it’s worth recognising that there have been many, many generations of male-dominated conversations, and so let’s elevate the girls while we can. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Lauren:
I mean, there’s always good and bad in any population for sure.
Tony: (50:51)
Yeah. Jodie, I think your point is just marginalised groups being given the opportunity to say what they want to say, what the issues are for them and being listened to, that is just so important.
Jodie:
Really important and I think that their voice around what might be solutions is also really important and I feel like if we could elevate all of those voices, the decisions that are being made that impact all of us might look a little bit different and that’s really the important piece.
. . .
SONG (51:33)
‘She Leads the Way’
Verse 1:
She’s read the books, she’s paid her dues
Knows every rule but walks her own truth
Ain’t got the time for the old charade
She’s here to lead, not to entertain
Pre-Chorus:
You say “wait your turn,” she says “not today”
What stood for years won’t stand no more
Chorus:
Equal voices, equal ground
No more hypocrisy, the truth is out
Step aside, let the race begin
This world needs leaders – and she steps in
Verse 2:
She knows the numbers, knows the land
She’s got the guts, she’s got your back
She’s standing tall, she won’t be swayed
She’s breaking cycles, clearing the way
Pre-Chorus:
While others build walls, she builds windmills
What stood for years, won’t stand no more
Chorus:
Equal voices, equal ground
No more hypocrisy, the truth is out
Step aside, let the race begin
This world needs leaders – and she steps in
Bridge:
She’s taking charge — You! Get out the way!
Tip your hat, thanks, then step aside!
This world needs truth, not fear and lies
She’s knows that we need to electrify
Chorus:
Equal voices, equal ground
No more hypocrisy, the truth is out
No more waiting, no disguise
We build our community, side by side
Outro:
She’s building bridges in this age of division
She’s here to guide, not to stand behind
Her time has come – this is her day
We rise together, when a woman leads the way
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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, go to www.947thepulse.com where you then click on ‘Listen’ on the right.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Podcast archive
Over 600 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
Blue Sky: 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 blogposts on this website about the climate emergency and the green transition
→ The latest on BBC News about climate change
Sharing solutions that make the climate safer and our cities more liveable