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The Sustainable Hour no. 572 | Transcript | Podcast notes
In this week’s episode of The Sustainable Hour, we weave together activism and reflection, treaty and transition, protest and poetry, as we reflect on a momentous shift in Victoria’s history: the formal establishment of a treaty with First Nations people.
This milestone invites all of us to slow down, open our ears, and learn. It is a call to unite the wisdom of the oldest living culture on Earth with the urgency of a world on fire.
Our guests in The Sustainable Hour no. 572 are Rory Bush-Belton from Rising Tide and Cam Walker from Friends of the Earth Naarm/Melbourne.
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• Cam Walker is the campaigns co-ordinator with Friends of the Earth Naarm/Melbourne. He lives on Dja Dja Wurrung country in central Victoria. He joins the Hour to explain what the new Victorian treaty means in practice. Cam outlines how it will bring First Nations people into genuine decision-making roles, shape local treaties across the state, and reconnect communities with Country. “It’s an opportunity, not a threat,” he says – a chance for cultural healing and ecological renewal.
→ Friends of the Earth Naarm/Melbourne’s position on Treaty can be found here.
→ Their work with Dja Dja Wurrung here.
• Rory Bush-Belton shares his excitement for the upcoming Rising Tide ‘protestival’ in Muloobinba/Newcastle – a unique blend of protest and festival where thousands will gather to blockade the world’s largest coal port and celebrate climate action through music and community. With big-name performers and grassroots energy, it’s both a statement of defiance and of hope: The tide is rising! Join the protestival in Muloobinba/Newcastle from 27 November to 2 December 2025.
Rory is a volunteer with Rising Tide Naarm who attended last year’s protestival. He is originally from Lutruwita/Tasmania, and has just completed his Master of Secondary Teaching.
→ Rising Tide 2025 People’s Blockade webpage: www.risingtide.org.au/pb2025
• Colin Mockett OAM delivers his Global Outlook about COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where António Guterres reminds the world that “the fossil fuel age is ending – let’s make the transition fair, fast and final.” Colin also reports on a record-warm ocean, intensifying cyclone warnings, and new research showing deep climate-related anxiety among Australians. → Transcript
• The Hour includes two original songs from The Sustainable Hour Music Collective:
– ‘Stand Up’ – a fierce anthem calling us to speak out, act boldly, and refuse silence in the face of fossil-fuel destruction.
– ‘Learn to Listen’ – a contemplative song about truth-telling, cultural connection, and the renewal that begins when we listen deeply.
“I think that as we create space for culture to reassert itself, for people to reassert their right to manage country, it will benefit us all. And particularly if we can approach it with an open heart and an open mind, then it will only be, as in the case of Wales, it will only lead to good outcomes. And it really is a new era. It’s very exciting as an environmentalist. You know, our history comes from the concept of wilderness and seeing landscape is something that’s best when it’s separate from people.”
~ Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth Naarm (Melbourne)
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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
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The green transition
“The wind blows, yet turbines lie still. It’s a symptom of Australia’s renewables glut.”
→ ABC News – 10 November 2025:
We have more renewable energy than ever before. Why are we switching it off?
“On a bright, breezy afternoon in Western Australia’s agricultural south-west, something seems amiss. The wind is blowing, but in the distance, giant wind turbines — each capable of powering thousands of homes at a time — are barely moving at all.”
COP30 Climate Summit 2025
“We must all lead by example. We must turbocharge the transition away from fossil fuels. Put science in the driver’s seat. Rely on science. And be bold. We need regulation and targets, financing and innovation. Investments for climate change is the prosperity plan for this century. The green transition is here to stay and fossil fuels have no future. Pessimists will never solve the climate crisis. Optimists and realists will.”
~ Excerpts from speech by Alexander Stubb, Finland’s president, at COP30
Climate breakdown
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TREATY
‘Treaty is here, treaty is now’ – Sheena Watt’s historic address
In a deeply personal and inspiring speech, Sheena Watt celebrated the first Statewide Treaty and the long struggle for justice in her speech in the Victorian Parliament on 28 October 2025.
Today is a historic day. Today is a day decades in the making. Today is the day we come together as members of this place, as advocates, as allies and as a community to speak to the first ever Statewide Treaty. This moment – this history, this legacy – and what it means to my people, my community, is almost beyond words. Five years ago to the day in fact, I stood there and delivered my first speech. I began by acknowledging and thanking the Wurundjeri people for the blessings they bestowed on me and affirmed our shared ambition for truth-telling. And in the spirit of that truth, I feel those blessings every time I walk in this place but especially right now.
I acknowledge and pay my respects to you today for your elders and ancestors, for your stewardship, for your guidance and for your continued care and custodianship of this country that I so love and call home. You see, in that speech I talked about the significance of the national apology to the stolen generations. That was the day that my personal story and my political purpose came together, when I committed myself to doing my part in ensuring that we build a fair and truly democratic future for First Nations people. With this bill, we do just that.
I stand today and every day in the footsteps of generations of our ancestors. I carry with me the knowledge, stories and spirit of our elders. I am strengthened by a deep and powerful connection to country, kin and culture, one that stretches back more than 60,000 years. Standing before you all in this place, I feel the weight of this heritage, and it fills me with pride. Today we join together in the spirit of healing and reconciliation to acknowledge the past and commit to a better future for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Victorians alike. Today we heed the call made by generation after generation of our elders, a call to move forward to a new era together. Today, after more than a century of waiting, we mark the beginning of that new era, the treaty era.
The path to treaty has been long. Our old people have been on the journey to treaty since the beginning of colonisation, having long been vocal in calling out the history of injustices and dispossession faced by First Peoples in this country. As a state we began to walk alongside First Peoples in 2016, when this Labor government embarked on the first community consultations with the Aboriginal Treaty Working Group.
In 2018 we strengthened our commitment to treaty through the establishment of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission and the passing of the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018.
In 2021 we established the country’s first ever truth-telling commission, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, to reckon with the past and ongoing injustices experienced by mob in this state, recognising that a commitment to treaty is also a commitment to honesty, reconciliation and healing.
In 2022 we agreed to the treaty negotiation framework and created the Treaty Authority to facilitate fair, effective and efficient treaty negotiations between the state and First Peoples.
In 2024 we began treaty negotiations and began the task of translating our commitment to a better, fairer tomorrow into the bill and Statewide Treaty that are before this house today. Over the course of this week we will take the final step towards this nation’s very first treaty, the culmination of 10 years of leadership and hard work by this government, the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, the Treaty Authority and the Yoorrook Justice Commission as well as the advocacy of many staunch, deadly First Nations people who have fought for justice and recognition for mob over the decades, some of whom are with us today in the gallery.
I want to take this opportunity, as rare as it is special, to honour Dr Jill Gallagher. I have had the unique opportunity to learn and grow under the esteemed leadership of Aunty Jill, and I see her steadfast influence all over this treaty legislation that is before us from her foundational work as the treaty advancement commissioner. It is filled with passion, purpose and unwavering aspiration for the future that we all deserve.
There are threads of compassion and understanding that are synonymous with the way Aunty Jill made sure that everyone had a say in the shaping up of our representative body that negotiated this first Statewide Treaty. Amongst it all, Aunty Jill had the time to be my light; to keep me strong when I wavered; and to remind me that as the daughter of a stolen generation survivor, I too could find my way home and establish an even deeper connection to my people, a connection that today gives me the strength to stand before you.
What I have not said publicly before is that these last two years have been both a challenge and a triumph, as I discovered that out there was my grandmother, alive and strong on Yorta Yorta country, after a lifetime of me and my mum being told otherwise. My story is not uncommon, but the opportunity I had to connect with a family member is. Up in Mooroopna I met my grandmother for the very first time last year, in an embrace that crossed the generations and, truthfully, our imagination. The hurt, the pain, and the attempt at erasure of our people, history, culture and language cannot and should not be a burden to bear alone as First Peoples, as it has been for me and my family and too many Aboriginal families in our state.
That is why I want to take this time to thank the truth tellers who so bravely shared their stories at Yoorrook for speaking truth to power and for changing the public record of our state. I honour their courage, and I commit to never letting their histories and their stories that so closely echo my own be forgotten.
In the name of those who came before us, I am here today with a message to my fellow stolen generation survivors and their descendants, those of us driven by a fierce determination to not let the atrocities of the past ever happen again. To you I say this: Parliament will from today hear you; it will hear your stories, your truths and your dreams. It is on all of us here in these red and green seats to forever honour the promise of treaty.
Throughout this process I have been reflecting on my unique position as the only Aboriginal member of the Victorian Parliament. And it is not lost on me – as I stand before you today speaking about the meaning and significance of treaty, of self-determination and of justice – that I am in the very place that has historically excluded and contributed to the very inequalities experienced by Aboriginal Victorians.
As I stand here in this chamber, it is not lost on me that this place voted for inflicting pain and hurt and irrevocable damage to our communities. The removal of our children and the dispossession and separation from country, kin and culture happened because of decisions made right here. For too long our lives were at the mercy of people speaking for us – never, never held accountable for their historic failures to change our lives for the better.
It was this Labor government, led by Daniel Andrews and now Jacinta Allan, that believed in the ambition of a treaty – in committing to self-determination in principle, policy and practice – and called upon all of us to live true to our values. To our premiers, current and former, I give my deepest thanks. Yet I am convinced that it is Natalie Hutchins that deserves recognition for her persistent impatience, for seeing and absolutely rejecting the institutional procrastination towards First Peoples’ progress.
Natalie came to the portfolio in 2014 entirely committed to listening and acting on the views of the very people who would be impacted by the decisions she made as minister. She set up this government with a momentum and hunger for change that she shared with Gavin Jennings and Gabrielle Williams, who with equal parts determination and solidarity, proudly continued us on the long walk to treaty. And thank you, Chris Couzens, for your quiet dignity and grace, fuelled by a love of family, community and culture.
And now treaty – back in the hands of Natalie, with an urgency that last week became abundantly clear, we have this bill before us. So to you, Natalie, thank you. Thank you for setting a new standard for determination and for so thoroughly rejecting the status quo.
For over 200 years in this place and many other halls of power like it, laws and policies have been made about my people without us. But today we change that. Today we create a new status quo, recognising that where past governments have tried and failed time and time again, it is time to try something new. We know that giving people a say on the issues that impact them leads to better outcomes for health and wellbeing, for housing security, for education and for so much more.
For First Peoples, this is no different. We know from decades of failed policies and ineffective commissions and bodies that the best way to make a difference in the lives of First Nations people is by giving us the tools to take ownership over our own lives. That is how we close the gap. That is how we end the ongoing harm and inequalities faced by our people. That is what treaty is all about. It is about giving Aboriginal Victorians a say in the processes of law and policymaking so that we can have the same opportunities and the same chances to thrive and succeed as any other Victorian. It is about acknowledging the scars of colonisation, of the stolen generations and of past and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations Victorians, and committing to doing better. It is about justice, self-determination and creating a better future for all Victorians, one built on respect, truth and mutual understanding.
The truth is the treaty is not just a promise for a better tomorrow, it is also an invitation – an olive branch extended from my elders to the Victorian community, asking you to join us in righting the wrongs of the past. It is an opportunity to meet the moment, to walk beside us. Shamefully, it is an invitation that those opposite have turned their backs on in the other place, and I urge the members opposite not to make the same mistake here.
On our side we have accepted this generous offering from our First Peoples because we do not shy away from change. Treaty is not just words on a page, it is action. It is how we face the truth of our past and turn it into a shared strength. It is not about division; it is about coming together as equals, as partners in a shared future. I have said before that today is a day that will go down in the history books, that will be remembered for generations to come.
I ask this chamber: how do you want history to remember you? Do you want to have to apologise in years to come? For treaty is here, treaty is now. I invite everyone in this place and beyond to walk with us together, hand in hand. Let us make history. I commend the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 to the house.
Sheena Watt is the only Aboriginal MP currently sitting in Victoria’s Legislative Council.
Wurundjeri lodge historic native title claim over greater Melbourne
The Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people have lodged a landmark native title claim covering most of greater Melbourne – an area of about 10,420 square kilometres. It is one of the largest urban native title claims ever made in Australia, and it arrives just as Premier Jacinta Allan prepares to sign Victoria’s first treaty with its First Peoples.
A vast area of cultural connection
The claim stretches from the mouth of the Werribee River in the west, north to the Great Dividing Range, east to Mount Baw Baw, and south through Bunyip to Mordialloc Creek. It covers large parts of Melbourne and surrounding country known to the Wurundjeri as Naarm.
Importantly, the claim applies only to Crown land – public parks, waterways, and reserves. It does not affect private land, homes, or businesses.
If successful, the claim will formally recognise the Wurundjeri people’s ongoing connection to their land and waters under the Native Title Act 1993. It would give them a stronger role in managing public lands, protecting cultural heritage, and being consulted on land use decisions.
A moment of historic recognition
This would be only the third time a native title determination has covered a capital city, following earlier cases in Adelaide and Perth. For many Wurundjeri people, it represents the continuation of a struggle that began generations ago – a struggle for recognition of culture, identity, and unbroken connection to Country.
Elders have described the claim as a proud moment for their community, aligning with the broader treaty process now under way in Victoria. Together, the claim and the treaty mark a turning point in how the state recognises and works with its First Peoples.
What native title means
A native title claim does not transfer ownership of private land or give control over existing developments. Instead, it seeks to establish that traditional rights and responsibilities still exist on certain public lands and waters.
Once recognised, native title can provide for cultural use, access, protection of sacred sites, and involvement in land management. The process, however, is lengthy – usually taking years to gather evidence and settle overlapping claims.
Implications for Melbourne
If the claim is upheld, public lands such as parks, forests, and waterways could move towards co-management arrangements with Wurundjeri people. This would strengthen the protection of culturally significant areas and ensure that Indigenous knowledge helps guide how these places are cared for.
Beyond the legal outcomes, the claim carries deep symbolic meaning. It reminds Melburnians that their city sits on ancient land that has been cared for over countless generations. Recognising that history is not about giving something away – it is about bringing truth, respect, and continuity into how we share the land today.
The Wurundjeri’s native title claim seeks not to reclaim private property, but to secure recognition and partnership in the stewardship of public land. It is part of a growing movement across Australia to acknowledge that Indigenous connection to Country endures even in the heart of our biggest cities – and that this connection can help shape a fairer, more sustainable future.
→ The Guardian – 10 November 2025:
Traditional owners file native title claim over Melbourne and surrounding areas
“Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung elder says First Nations people want to work with government to ‘look after that country’.”
Treaty is here
| “Treaty recognises that Aboriginal people are the experts when it comes to our Country, culture and communities – and makes sure we can use our local knowledge to come up with and deliver practical solutions to improve health, education and housing outcomes for our communities.” ~ Ngarra Murray, Co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Newsletter from 350 Australia We all have special places we care for. For First Nations people, they are especially connected to the places that hold their creation stories, their places of healing and ceremony and the sacred lands they’ve cared for — for generations. People who created the colony of Australia stole, extracted resources, and built their wealth from these special places. As a result, First Nations people have been prevented from protecting and nurturing their ancestral lands, life-giving forests and sacred waterways. Today, many of these places are damaged – which impacts all of us. For First Nations people to look after these places based on 65,000 years of knowledge, they need their Country returned to their care and their legal rights restored as the custodians of the land. When this happens, First Nations people can again fully enact their responsibility and guardianship of the lands we all care about. Treaty is an important step towards making that happen. As a Māori person who comes from a land with a Treaty, I can also tell you hand-on-heart that Treaty is a generous gift to all people who live on Aboriginal land. It is an invitation to be in right relationship with the lands we call home and the First People of those lands. It is an opportunity to step out of colonial guilt and into true partnership for a prosperous future for all. As a climate justice organisation, we recognise the climate crisis is the result of colonial capitalist systems and values that divide and disconnect us — from ourselves, each other and the Earth. Treaty can help repair this harm and restore relationships — for Country, climate and communities. It is our deep honour to back the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria in their journey to Treaty, and as part of that we have pledged to: Train and activate our staff and volunteers across Victoria to advocate for TreatyAmplify the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia’s first formal truth-telling processBack First Nations-led campaigns for land, water and seaEncourage other climate and environmental organisations to become a Friend of TreatyHonour the Treaty once implemented Support future treaties for First Nations self-determination, land rights and return You can read our Friend of Treaty implementation plan in full here (link opens a Google Sheet): Read the 350 Friend of Treaty plan Te Raukura 350 Australia |
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Transcript of The Sustainable Hour no. 572
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General: (00:00)
Climate change is here, it is terrifying and it is just the beginning.
Jingle: (00:15)
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong: The Sustainable Hour.
Tony Gleeson:
Welcome to The Sustainable Hour podcast. We 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 broadcasting from stolen land, land that was never ceded, always was and always will be First Nations land.
On the back of the recent announcement that Victoria now has a treaty – they formalised a treaty with First Nations Victorians, we hope that that brings us closer to tapping into the ancient wisdom, a wisdom that they’ve accumulated from nurturing both their land and their communities for millennia before their land was stolen. And later on in this episode today, we’re going to be delving into that a little bit and what it means as regards our sustainability, action on climate, etc, etc.
Mik Aidt: (01:33)
Here in October for the first time ever, clean and green energy from solar and wind provided more electricity to those 10 million homes and businesses that we have here on the eastern side of Australia, more than the climate wrecking coal and gas. And these figures are from NEM, which is the National Electricity Market, showing that a total of the month of October had 49.1 per cent of fossil fuels in the grid and 49.9 per cent coming from renewables.
And then you may ask, where did the last 1 per cent come from? Well, they came from batteries apparently. But 49.9 per cent, that’s the average figure for the entire month. And that’s four times as much renewable energy than there was in the grid 10 years ago in October.
And on the 11th October, close to 80 per cent of demand was met by solar and wind. In fact, Australia now has so much solar power on four million roofs that in the middle of the day solar power gets so cheap and abundant that parts of Australia will now be getting it for free three hours every day.
Monty Python video clip: (02:56)
I have seen the grail!
Yes
I have seen it, I have seen it!
Mik:
As the American author Bill McKibben said it: “Australians will be energy-rich every afternoon.” And, I mean, think about the consequences! People might be rushing home from work because the three hours of free electricity they gotta make a use of it, you know, what can you do? You can charge your car you can heat the house or get all the cooking done or washing or ironing Anything that uses electricity is free for three hours. So make a use of it!
And certainly people who are struggling with their electricity bills can arrange their day in such a way that they really can feel it on their electricity bill. And here we have all these politicians talking about, you know, affordability and renewables don’t work. Well, they do work. This is what affordability looks like. It’s free energy. We’ve been saying that for years in the sustainable or the potential with renewable energies for the first time in human history, that large numbers of humans all around the planet can have access to energy for free.
And that rooftop number, the 4 million, keeps growing with 300,000 new solar installations expected to be installed this year. And probably, know, ongoingly, that means that already in three years time we’ll be approaching 5 million rooftops here in Australia.
I think that’s important to remember also when we talk about COP 30 and all the negative things that there are to be said about our lack of action on climate. Here, Australians are really taking some actions that’s worth noticing. And speaking of COP 30, it’s over to our global news reporter Colin Mockett OAM: What else has been happening, Colin?
COLIN MOCKETT’S GLOBAL OUTLOOK:
Thank you, Mik. Yes, and look, it wouldn’t be absolutely necessary to rush home from work and do your washing and stuff. Nowadays, appliances can be set ahead of time, or you can set, you can just get a timer and set it so that your house gets heated without you going back there. It’s a wonderful innovation, and I think it’s going to be picked up by Australians, if they’ve got any sense, that is, of course.
And you’re right, our roundup this week could only begin at one place and that’s at Belém in Brazil where COP30 opened on Monday. Prior to the opening, UN Secretary General António Guterres said: “The world is in the midst of a renewable revolution. Last year, 90 per cent of new power capacity came from renewables,” he said. It’s almost echoing Mik’s words, isn’t it?
Clean energy is now the cheapest source of new electricity almost everywhere and crazy three times more jobs than fossil fuels. Yet current national commitments still put the world on its course for more than two degrees centigrade of warming. So it is clearly not enough. He outlined five urgent priorities that would change that and put them on the agenda at the COP.
That was nations need to align laws and subsidies with energy transitions. He wanted them to invest in grids and storage and to unlock affordable finance for developing countries. He acknowledged that now it was inevitable that the world would miss its 1.5 degrees warming target by saying that what mattered now was how high it will go and for how long.
“Global emissions must nearly halve by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and then move into negative thereafter,” he said. “The fossil fuel age is ending, and the clean energy future is rising. Let’s make the transition fair, fast and final.”
Going into the conference, the outcome didn’t look good with the meeting between Europe’s member countries lasting a full day and night before coming to a compromise agreement to cut Europe’s emissions reduction from their figure from 68 to 71 percent somewhere in the middle between there. And that was against the 90 percent that the EU President Ursula von der Leyan had promised when she was elected earlier this year.
The countries opposing this figure were led by Italy and Hungary, both with right-wing governments aligned with Donald Trump’s policies. An interesting development came from the UK, where it was announced that their delegation would include Prince William, representing King Charles. This is their delegation to the COP talks. And he would be leading a group of world celebrities to the event, including Sir David Attenborough, and Kylie Minogue.
It’ll be interesting to see if royalty plus celebrity can overcome the inertia that’s sure to come from the fossil fuel industry, which has already sent an estimated 1,250 delegates to the conference, all of them undoubtedly loaded with goodies that will ensure some voting nations will hinder progress. That’s the honest reality of the COP system.
The conference opened a day after it was announced by the World Meteorological Organization that this year 2025 will not be the hottest year on record, but it will come in second or third according to projections from the organisation. And this continues an alarming streak of hot years. The WMO figures show the most recent 11 years making up the 11 hottest years in the world since records began.
And the COP Talks delegates will also be aware of the two major typhoons, or super typhoons, that devastated the eastern Philippines last week, killing more than 200 people, with hundreds more missing.
The devastation is so vast that they haven’t yet been able to estimate the time or the cost that any clean-up would take. And for our own weather news, Australian meteorologists warning last week that unusually warm ocean temperatures are creating conditions that would likely bring more severe tropical storms.
So this summer could see a volatile and dangerous cyclone season, the Met Office warned. Their expert said that the 2025-26 cyclone season, which officially began on November the 1st, is already showing worrying signs with sea surface temperatures in northern Australia sitting well above normal.
Meteorologist Ben Dimensioning said: “All tropical cyclones need sea surface temperatures as are above 26.5 degrees to form. Once over this threshold, the rate at which tropical cyclones can intensify generally increases with higher ocean temperatures,” he said. In some northern regions, ocean readings have already climbed well past 27 degrees Celsius with hotspots up to 31 degrees. They were recorded across Queensland’s Gulf waters and the Northern Territory.
He warned that the abnormally warm waters would pose a serious threat to millions of Australians who live along the tropical coastlines. And while we’re on the subject, a new survey was released last week on the subject of how Australians experience and understand the mental health impacts of extreme weather driven by climate change.
The survey was conducted by Lifeline and it was of 1,516 Australians living in four states and the findings revealed a “deeply felt experience of anxiety, distress and exhaustion across the country not confined to those directly affected by fires, floods or droughts.”
The research found “almost all Australians expressed concern about extreme weather, with nine in ten worried that these events are becoming more frequent and severe.” These fears are not abstract. Only two in ten Australians said that their community had been untouched by extreme weather in the past five years, meaning eight out of ten had been.
And so finally to news of the world’s most environmentally aware sports team, that’s Forest Green Rovers who won their English National League match against Oldershot Town, 3-2 away in Oldershot. But all the other teams around them won too, so that left the Rangers still in fifth place on their table. They’re four points behind the leader Carlisle.
Meanwhile, the Forest Green Rovers women’s team also won away from home. At the weekend, they won 2-1 in what was called the Gloucester Derby because they were playing against Gloucester City women. Now this leaves the Forest Green Rangers women’s team unbeaten for the season in their league and in top place on their ladder. And that nice hopeful bit ends our round up for the week.
Jingle (13:23)
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
. . .
Tony:
Our first guest today is Rory Bush-Belton. He’s a volunteer with ‘Rising Tide’ and he was so impressed with their ‘protestival’ last year that this year he’s jumped on board as a volunteer and he’s going to have a wee chat with us today about that important Protestival where there’s combination of protests and festival and the idea is to shut down coal ships from getting into the biggest coal port, certainly in the southern hemisphere. But yes, it’s right up there with the largest amount of coal that’s being exported from any port. Rory, thanks for coming on.
Rory Bush-Belton:
Thanks, Tony! About this ‘protestival’, that word fascinates me. It fascinated me from the very beginning and it’s certainly what dragged me up there in the first instance. Protestable, Exactly right. It is a protest and a festival simultaneously. That means that there are continuous actions happening up in Newcastle – Malibu – over that weekend at the end of November.
But there’s also festivities. There’s a climate concert happening on the 29th of November with some really great acts like ‘Lime Cordial’ who are nationally renowned and a bunch of others local and national as well.
Last year we had Peter Garrett, we had John Butler and Angie McMahan. It brings people from all around the Hunter region as well. So you get these huge swathes of people that are coming for a great time, family friendly time, and also an opportunity to be educated and to get involved with, yeah, blockading the world’s largest coal port, jumping on one of those inflatable rafts and getting out there into the shipping channel and causing some pretty fun mayhem.
Colin:
Well, that’s good, Rory, tell me, have you been arrested?
Rory:
No Colin, I have not been arrested, but… It certainly would… and I can tell you that there are a huge amount of resources for folks that are looking into that option. It is of course an action that is sort of reliant on civil disobedience if the Port of Newcastle decides to keep the channel open.
Now this year we’re asking them to close it as they did in 2023 because if they don’t close it then the idea is we’ll close it ourselves.
Yeah last year there were some something like 170 arrests made on the water so yeah it is you know quite taxing for police to you set up and be ready to tackle all of those rogue kayakers heading across the canal.
Colin:
Does it actually work, Rory, with the music and the protest going on simultaneously? Do you know? Is it the music in the evening and the protesting during the day, or what?
Rory:
So last year there was music over, so it’s mainly over the weekend, which is the 29th and 30th of November, and there was music over both days. However, this year, I believe that pretty much all the music is happening on the Saturday, and there are different actions in terms of protesting, blockading, happening over the weekend. There may be some smaller actions on the Saturday, and quite a large coordinated effort on this Sunday.
So it’s going to be more separated this time around, but because it’s very decentralised and there is agency for anyone who’s willing to take action, things will kind of happen organically and who knows, who knows?
Colin: (18:00)
It sounds great fun, to be honest. Do you find it fun or is there that sort of underlying purpose that you want people to know? You want publicity really, don’t you? You want the cameras to show the blokes and the girls out on their inflatable rafts stopping coal ships.
Rory:
It’s all of the above, Colin, I have to say. It’s so much fun. It’s obviously a very, you know, significant cause that, you know, people hold a lot of anxiety and stress, but yeah, you just can’t, you can’t sit there and be angry about it and just be,You can, but here’s the way of channeling your anger into something very productive, very inclusive.
And there’s so much strategy involved. think that’s why I really, really was impressed by it last year – was how responsive you are in the moment, how much strategy there is. Like you’re saying, in the media,” A big part of it is the story war, okay? It’s really, really easy for the media to paint us as a bunch of, you know, lefty vagabonds who just want to go and stop things and cause trouble and cost the economy.
But people are going to be engaged with this movement far away from Newcastle. And a big focus is how can we change that tune? How can we make it light positive? But also for the Hunter region, it is about that fair transition that is more predictable than the region itself and the cohort themselves have acknowledged that these jobs are dying out.
So yeah, it’s a lot about the language, it’s a lot about the story, the narrative, and there’s so much positivity, so many good vibes. It’s just a really exciting time for this kind of movement.
Colin: (20:02)
What provokes the biggest reaction, Rory? Is it the musicians? Is it the police? Or is it the media, the presence of the media?
Rory:
I think honestly, from being there last year, I mean, definitely there were a lot of people that came down just to catch music, no doubt. I’d be running around doing fundraising while that was going on, and people would be chipping in because it’s an entirely free event otherwise if you’re not staying there and camping and eating. the, gee, the actions down on the beach I think were probably the most… yeah, the biggest reaction because of the coordinated approaches, the music, the singing, the colours of the rafts heading out over the water, just the there were a lot of onlookers you know sort of at a safe distance as well that were really intrigued as to how this was all panning out.
It’s also really just incredible to have such a fantastic community of people staying right close to the port there, looking after the joints, holding all sorts of workshops. It’s a very dynamic space and there’s a lot more going on than just those, you know, the continuous flotilla.
Tony: (21:24)
Rory, a couple of quick questions. One is, one of the questions that’ll be asked of the protesters, disparagingly, it’ll be something like, how did you get up here? And sort of questioning the amount of emissions that they got. So how is Rising Tide dealing with that? And then secondly, so we say there’s some people listening today who want to go up to join in the festivities up there and the protest, how do they do that?
Rory:
Well, yeah, great questions. Firstly, I would say that on one hand, Rising Tide is putting in a lot of effort to get people up there as sustainably as possible. There’s carpooling groups all across the National Hubs. And there’s actually now a new bus, $10 bus service from Melbourne to Sydney. So that’s pretty cool. You know, so we’re putting in effort to organise that, but…
Like I would draw attention to the fact that a few hundred people heading up from Victoria to stand up for long-term devastating impacts from the most devastating fossil fuel industry is the tiniest drop in the ocean and far more beneficial for future generations.
I think we saw it was some sort of graphic that was produced once the gas project that Murray Watt approved in the northwest of Australia, what that means over the next 50 years, and it was sort of like tens of thousands of circumnavigating Australia in one vehicle, to the point where you look at a graphic like that and you just think, as an individual, yes, we should be doing our individual bits. Morally, I feel like I should. But in the scheme of things, the amount of emissions that massive corporations are producing far, far beyond surpasses anything within what we’re doing individually.
And that is why collective action and policy and strategy is the way forward. There’s no other way. So I don’t think we can’t get tied up with this idea of putting it back on the individual and individual consumerism.
Mik:
And on how we participate – if we like the idea and want to go and be part of it?
Rory: (24:02)
Sorry, yes, the second question. Yeah, so follow Rising Tide on social media or jump onto the website. There’s Facebook, there’s Instagram. There are updates all the time. We have carpooling groups on the website and I believe I’ve provided Tony with a link to the registration. So you can jump up on there and register.
It is because where Rising Tide provides you with meals all throughout your stay. It actually runs from the Thursday to the Tuesday, but the main actions are on the weekend. Whatever position you’re in, it’s not compulsory to pay. It’s open for people from all positions. But yeah, there are many options to get up to Newcastle. You can join an affinity group, people that you have that you share something in common with.
Wherever you are across Australia, there should be a local hub to find others from the same area. There are a heap of online sessions still happening, like nonviolent direct action training and information sessions. So there’s a lot of information that are still being pumped out and there are options to help people get up to Newcastle as well. If you’re considering it, you absolutely won’t regret it because it’s… It’s an incredible time, an incredible community and you know, action is the best answer to anxiety if you’re feeling that way. So come get involved.
Mik:
Thank you Roy, excellent! You certainly, and I shouldn’t say ‘fired us up’, but maybe ‘charged us up!’
. . .
SONG (25:45)
‘Stand Up’
Verse 1:
We were told to sit down, keep our voices low
Smile through the fire, act like we don’t know
“Be polite,” they said, “don’t make a scene”
But silence is violence when the air’s unclean
Pre-Chorus:
They sold us lies wrapped in progress and pride
But you can’t grow green while the planet dies
Chorus:
Stand up — for the ones who can’t breathe
Speak up — for the warming seas
Coal and gas barons, step aside
Shut down those mines — we don’t want your coal
No more waiting, no more fear
change starts now, it starts right here
Stand up — respond to what you see, what you learn
’cause silence is the oxygen that makes the world burn
Verse 2:
They told us “Don’t offend,” they told us “Now be nice”
But that was only to delay their demise
We tried the facts, the reason, the plea
But nothing shakes power like fury set free
Pre-Chorus:
Greenwash, spin, oppression in disguise
We’re not falling for any more of their lies
Chorus:
Stand up — for the kids who dream
Stand up — for the polluted streams
Speak up — for the soil and sky
We won’t bow down, we won’t comply
We’ve moved past the grief, we’ve found our flame
We know the job — and the name of the game
We stand up — we respond to what we see, what we learn
’cause silence is the oxygen that makes the world burn
Bridge:
Squash your anger.
Remain seated.
Don’t disrupt.
Keep your voice down.
They told us these things.
To control us. To contain us.
But the world is on fire.
And we must prepare to meet the heat.
Final Chorus:
Stand up — let your spirit roar
Stand up — this is what we’re fighting for
Speak up — feel the power inside
History’s written by those who rise
Stand up — respond to what you see, what you learn
’cause silence is the oxygen that makes the world burn
. . .
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson – instagram video clip: (29:35)
Well, scientists have just released a new research report that shows this planet has passed its first catastrophic climate tipping point. And it’s really important today that we talk about hope. So how did we get to this first tipping point? Well, global temperatures have now reached 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. And as a result, we’re seeing a global die-off in our warm water coral reefs.
So to put it simply, we’ve reached the tipping point where most warm water corals can’t survive in our oceans. Around a quarter of all marine species globally rely on coral reefs for their home. And nearly 500 million people around the planet, communities right across our country and all around the world rely on coral reefs for their livelihood. What’s worse is this new report suggests we’re on the brink of other critical tipping points where we could
Not just see the decline of a great natural wonder like the Great Barrier Reef, but also our Amazon rainforests or our Tasmania’s wonderful Gondwana rainforests. The reason we’re hitting these tipping points is not complicated. It’s actually very simple. It’s because we keep burning more fossil fuels and politicians keep putting the interests of big dirty corporations above yours. So let’s bring it back to hope. And let’s be honest, this stuff is scary.
And sometimes it’s easy to lose hope. But that’s exactly what these big fossil fuel corporations and their politicians in parliament want you to do. If we give up, they win. They get to keep polluting this planet to make a buck. Just imagine what the world would be like if there weren’t people like us to hold the government to account, get meaningful climate action and work to secure our future.
. . .
Tony: (31:32)
Our next guest is Cam Walker. Cam is the campaign director at Friends of the Earth in Ngaam in Melbourne. And he’s been involved in the process of getting the treaty in Victoria up and running. Now each week we mention that there’s so much wisdom that First Nations people have acquired over the millennia in the way they nurture their land and their community. And there are so many of the answers to the climate crisis in there, should we choose to go down that pathway. So Cam, I guess we’re coming at it from a sustainability climate viewpoint or perspective. So can you take us through what’s your perspective of your experience with that process?
Cam Walker:
So I should just point out that we’re really just allies in this process. All the hard work, of course, has been done by First Nations people. And there’s probably two things to understand. The first thing is to understand where we are now, whose land we’re on. And if people aren’t familiar with it, I think to understand treaty, it’s really essential people read the Europe Justice Commission report, which was more than four years of truth telling, of understanding what colonisation meant, what its direct impacts were and what its intergenerational ramifications are. And once you read that report, it’s freely available online, which is testimonies of Aboriginal people and also the historical record, you’ll really understand the need for treaty. And so I think the main thing to understand the treaty itself is it’s been now put into legislation. The legislation has now passed through both Houses of Parliament. So therefore it’s now been enacted – or will be enacted.
It has been agreed on and the treaty will do certain things that will influence how we live in this state. And I think the main thing is to see it as an opportunity and not a threat. It’s actually, if you read the treaty text itself, if you read the background materials about treaty process and about who will manage that process.
It’s an incredibly historic moment for our state. There’s been almost two centuries of opposition to colonisation and resistance and resilience and First Nations people are still here and they’re still strong and now they’re reasserting their right to manage country and the treaty process will help to facilitate that. So it is an opportunity, it’s not a threat.
Tony: (34:11)
What’s the nuts and bolts of the treaty process?
Cam:
The key thing of the legislation being enacted and a statewide treaty being put in place is that it will involve First Nations people as decision makers rather than stakeholders. So up until now, generally, they’re one of the voices around the table when governments are taking decisions. This will actually place them at the centre of decision making at the state level. It will change, for instance, how we do our education.
I don’t know about you, but I learnt basically nothing when I was at primary school and high school about First Nations people in Victoria. That will start to change. We’ll start to see more dual naming of landscape features and places. We will all be learning more about Indigenous culture. The treaty itself will enable First Nations people to hold governments to account and will also bring with it financial support to do things like build up leadership in First Nations communities, upgrade community infrastructure and that sort of thing.
The practicality of what it means day to day on the ground is life will be the same as it was. It just means that we’ll be a lot more First Nations involvement in decision making and specific engagement with First Nations people around issues that matter to them. Again, what happens whenever something like this happens is you get the historical voices, ah, the sky is falling and they’re gonna come and steal your sheep and take your house and all that sort of stuff. None of that’s going to happen. We will all be better off through this process. And unfortunately, there are voices of division that are seeking to turn it into something that it isn’t, but it is a treaty process at the statewide level. It will be followed by nation by nation treaties.
So where I live, for instance, in central Victoria, Dja Dja Wurrung, the traditional owners have indicated their interest in doing a treaty with the state government. And that’s where a lot more detail will be hammered out. So in my part of the world, what might that mean for how they manage water and forests and landscapes? So a lot of the fine print detail will happen in coming years as the local treaties are negotiated and agreed on. But in the meantime, we do have the statewide treaty which basically just says First Nations people have been here forever.
We’re finally going to acknowledge them as being the owners of this landscape and to properly engage with them in taking decisions about how we, as the people of Victoria, move forward and live here into the long term.
Mik:
Cam, I’m sure quite a few of us understand that when Tony, every time we open our program, acknowledges that wisdom, the ancient wisdom, that indigenous people have here in Australia, but also around the world – that connection to nature, basically, and an understanding of how to live in balance with nature. But does the treaty sort of help any of that – these lessons – and getting them out in the broader society?
Cam:
I hope so, although the detail will be worked out as we go. So it’s important to understand the statewide treaty is very much a top order issue that places First Nations people at the centre of decision-making, but it isn’t about fine print detail. So to understand the fine print detail, we probably need to look at what’s already underway, particularly with native title claims. There are a number of people across the state, such as Gunai Kurnai in Gippsland and Dja Dja Wurrung in central Victoria who are recognised as native title holders and they are already starting to manage country and all of them, all of the five native title groups are developing their whole of country plans. And so that’s where the really interesting work will happen.
So for instance, up in Northeastern Victoria, Tungurong are talking about the idea of cultural parks and they’ve, they’re saying, well, you know,
There never was a wilderness. There was forest, there was biodiversity, there was landscape, but they were cultural landscapes. And the state government has recently announced its willingness to put in place the concept of a cultural park that is landscape that’s being managed for cultural and ecological benefits. So it will be fascinating to see how that unfolds. That’s in the Strathbogie Ranges up in Northeastern Vic.
There is co-management already of a number of our parks, for instance, Yorta Yorta co-managed the Barmer National Park, Gunnai Kurnai manage or co-manage part of the sections of the Alpine National Park on their country. So really the detail of what will come will play out in coming years. The architecture for that is already in place and that is the native title claims. I’ve noticed just recently Wurundjeri have announced that their native title application is now underway. That would be great if that can be facilitated because of course that covers a lot of greater metropolitan area. So the details will play out through the native title process and through the individual nation treaties that will be developed in coming years between state government and individual traditional owner groups.
Mik:
Can you just explain to someone, for instance, like me, who have no idea what a ‘native title’ actually means? What does it mean?
Cam: (39:35)
So Native Title came from the early 1990s when Eddie Marbo basically went to federal courts to say that the connection of him and his people went back pre-invasion. So basically Native Title is a very onerous process by which First Nations people need to demonstrate that they have ongoing connection back to their country. And of course in places like Victoria where dispossession was very thorough, where people were moved off their traditional lands into other parts of the states where there was mass dislocation, where there was mass murder, where culture was banned. It was very hard for people to demonstrate their ongoing connection to their country. And originally the Yorta Yorta claim up in the north of the state was actually rejected because in the words of one of the judges involved in that, their connection to country had been, quote, washed away by the tides of history.
So the fact that there are five groups that have native title claims that have been recognised for a very long and onerous process is remarkable testament to the resilience of these people. The fact that despite more than a century and a half of dispossession, they are still connected to country and they’re connected to country in a way that it meets the tests as defined through the native title legislation. And they’ve been able to demonstrate that ongoing connection to country and place.
Mik:
I’m curious, Cam, to hear your own personal story in terms of, again, the wisdom that Tony tells us about exists. What does that mean for you personally?
Cam:
So I live here in central Victoria. We’ve been working with Dja Dja Wurrung over their aspirations to manage country. I’ve been out for instance on cultural burns and am understanding how First Nations people relate to fire, what they call good fire or country fire. We’ve been working to support Dja Dja Wurrung aspirations for managing the Wombat Forest in central Victoria.
There is a lot of wisdom and there is a lot of knowledge that is still held in First Nations communities in Victoria. There is also knowledge that is being refound and recreated. And there’s a really strong desire to bring together the best of Western science and cultural aspirations. And people often talk about braiding those knowledges together to see traditional custodian knowledge as something that’s equal to Western science to bring them together to understand how to manage country and how to do so in a way that is good for biodiversity and is good for people and is good right down to the level of mental health and community wellbeing. So I feel really inspired when I see the way First Nations people are reasserting their rights to manage their country. I see that there is only an upside to this. There is no downside.
Colin:
I’m old enough – and look, first of all, you might recognise from the accents, neither Mik or I are native Australians. I grew up in the UK and I can remember the same sort of furor that went on when Welsh nationalists got their amount of freedoms from the British government and it was almost a parallel to what’s happening with the Welsh.
Initially, the Welsh, all they were asking for was dual naming and an amount of autonomy over the water because most of the water that supplies Liverpool and Birmingham comes from Wales because it rains a lot in Wales because of the geography of the place. So they were providing the water and getting nothing back from it. And so that was where their land rights came in, if you like, it was the water rights. But the point is that was something like 50 years ago and now Wales is a very, very Welsh place, whereas it wasn’t before, it was pseudo English and it’s a delightful place to work and everybody is happier. So I can see nothing but good to come from what begins with this treaty is the first step. There are many more to come and it can do not, as you pointed out, it’s win-win or round. We’re all going to win from it.
Cam: (44:01)
Yes, I agree. And I think that that’s really true. And unfortunately, some people are always scared of change, as we know, and so they resist it. There are other people who just feel hesitant about, will this create a two-tiered society and unduly favor First Nations people, et cetera, et cetera. The fact is First Nations people are remarkably badly impacted in economic status. They’ve been dispossessed. They’ve had much of their culture taken.
I think that as we create space for culture to reassert itself, for people to reassert their right to manage country, it will benefit us all. And particularly if we can approach it with an open heart and an open mind, then it will only be, as you say in the case of Wales, it will only lead to good outcomes. And it really is a new era. It’s very exciting as an environmentalist. You know, our history comes from the concept of wilderness and seeing landscape is something that’s best when it’s separate from people.
And this is a whole new approach, but it’s also a very old approach, which says, Well, people have always been connected to place. They’ve always interacted with place, with country. And now we’re bringing that understanding into how we manage country. You know, that’s going to lead to great cultural deepening of the understanding of us as non-Indigenous people living in Victoria. So if we’re open to it, we should embrace it.
We need to look at the history. We do need to read the Europe Justice Commission report. We need to understand the intergenerational trauma, but we also need to see the inherent opportunity and potential that’s offered in this new era. And we’re very lucky to be here in this very historic moment.
Mik: (46:03)
And we can all take part in it physically by going to Federation Square in Narm, Melbourne, on the 12th of December, as I understand it, there’ll be a celebration of the fact that this treaty is now coming.
Cam:
Absolutely, yes. I attended some of the Walk for Justice, which went through Western Victoria, in through Geelong and to Melbourne. And that was a really powerful event. It was a really good community event. And I have no doubt that the celebration that’s going to happen on December 12th will be exactly the same. So I would encourage people to keep an eye out for it when it’s properly announced, when the lineup is announced and attend if they can, they will have a really fantastic day. And they will also, I think be quite profoundly moved because the years of work to get to this point by so many people is apparent and now we’re actually moving into the stage where the treaty will be enacted and it’s incredibly exciting and it will be an event you really don’t want to miss.
Jingle
Mik:
That’s all we could fit in one indigenous and climate-focused sustainable hour. And this is where we arrive at the ‘Be’-section of the sustainable hour, the ‘Be…’, because we talk about be the difference. And we usually ask our guests to be innovative and tell our listeners what you think we should be. Cam, instead of saying ‘Be the difference’, what would you say?
Cam:
I would say: Be the person who’s willing to listen. There is a vast amount of knowledge held by First Nations people here. And if we’re willing to close our mouths for little while and open our ears and listen hard and listen intently, there’s an amazing amount of knowledge that will be shared with us. So now is the time to listen.
Colin: (47:56)
Yeah.
Mik:
And Rory?
Rory:
Gee, it’s hard to top that, really.
Colin:
Be aware of being bold, Rory!
Rory:
I think, yeah, Be the change, act the change and find solidarity in those who represent that change. Don’t be alone, be collective, find strength together. That is the strongest and most effective way to find justice. And hey, you can’t have climate justice without having First Nations justice. So all of these things are interlinked.
Tony:
Just be open to new things. Don’t just cancel something because it’s new. Yeah, check it out and if you see an improvement in it, be open to going down that pathway.
Colin:
Be aware. Be involved.
Mik:
But first of all, be a listener.
. . .
SONG
‘Learn to Listen’
Verse 1:
I stand on the Earth
I breathe with the land
The rhythm of its heartbeat
weaves in with my own
I give it all the time it needs
Chorus:
(Listen…)
The treaty begins when truth is spoken
(Listen…)
Healing begins when harm is named
(Listen…)
Water will guide, fire will teach
(Listen…)
The stars will sing, when we learn… to listen (Listen…)
Instrumental section:
Bridge:
We sang the rain, and the rain came
We danced the land, and the land moved
Our sacred fire never dies
We are waiting for you to slow down
To sit with us – and to learn
Verse 2:
We are the river
We are the land
The eagle watches
The whale sings
We don’t own these stories
They flow through us
Every rock is a page of a living law
Every tide a verse of an ancient truth
Chorus:
(Listen…)
The treaty begins when truth is spoken
(Listen…)
Healing begins when harm is named
(Listen…)
Water will guide, fire will teach
(Listen…)
The stars will sing, when you learn… to listen (Listen…)
Outro:
Songlines have been drowned in pipelines
Kinship traded for control
But in a world that forgets – we remember
We carry the culture with us
And we are still here, walking
Still here, protecting
Protecting what protects us
So our future will be strong and safe
Learning takes time
Learn to listen
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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