Latest Updates
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Re-engaging
Well, I’m back! As you may recall, I stepped down as Executive Director of the Green Institute back in March in order to focus fully on my election campaign for the seat of Canberra. The board kindly kept my position vacant for the duration, while the wonderful Elissa Jenkins very ably held the fort, and…
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Together? Apart? Where ARE we??
Welcome to 2022. And life doesn’t get less interesting, does it? As we head into our third year of pandemic, with the climate and ecological crisis hanging over us, and with threats to our weakening democracies looking ever more worrying, it’s hard to feel this is a happy new year. But yesterday I was privileged…
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Thank You For Being Part Of An Amazing Year
Well. That was quite a year. Again. Wasn’t it? From the storming of the US Capitol in January, through more waves of the pandemic, to the Glasgow climate conference’s first ever commitments to start seriously phasing down fossil fuels, history didn’t let up. Through it all, the Green Institute was here, doing our best to…
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Celebrating And Planning Climate Action
Well, what an inspiring conversation we had last night, coming together to mark the 10th anniversary of the Clean Energy Act passing the parliament, and discuss what the precedent means for the months ahead. Our three wonderful panellists, Christine Milne, Will Steffen and Adam Bandt took us through the full story of the Multi Party…
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Happy Birthday, Bob Brown’s Bank!
Tony Abbott and his friends in the Murdoch press derided it as “Bob Brown’s Bank”, and vowed to shut it down. But, ten years on, despite repeated attacks, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is still operational, and still channeling billions of dollars of vital investment into renewable energy. It’s one of the most successful policies…
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Sharing As Democracy – DemFest21
What does borrowing dress up clothes or lending a lawnmower have to do with democracy? Quite a lot, as it happens! When you do it thoughtfully. When the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy announced a call for pre-recorded videos for their DemFest21, celebrating local democracy, I knew I had to do one explaining the participatory…
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Launch Of “Unconditionally”
From reflections on lived experience to academic analysis of real life impacts to analysis of what people actually believe, the launch of our new paper, “Unconditionally: COVID response and the future of welfare” was a brilliant way to help us imagine a future where welfare is unconditional. The event featured Kirstin O’Connell from the Anti…
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“Unconditionally” – Covid Response And The Future Of Welfare
Can we imagine a future where income support payments in Australia are permanently made unconditional? The Covid response helps us do so – and it’s a brighter future! On the evening of October 27, I’m excited to bring you a discussion about this big idea with some of Australia’s leading thinkers, researchers and advocates in…
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What Is Green Politics? Discussion With Asia Pacific Greens
I was absolutely privileged on October 10 to join a panel for the Asia Pacific Greens Federation, discussing the question “What is Green Politics?” with Greens colleagues from Lebanon, Japan and Indonesia. It was a wonderful insight into how, in different circumstances and from different perspectives, our challenges, issues and vision are truly the same.…
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Exploring Green Politics And The Peace Pillar
So what actually do we mean by Green politics? And what’s the story with the peace pillar? I’m delighted to be participating in and co-presenting a couple of fantastic conversations in the coming fortnight exploring these questions, and I’d love it if you came along to take part in the discussions. On October 10, as…
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Peace – you wouldn’t read about it (elsewhere)
On September 21 each year, the United Nations marks World Peace Day. What a tragic irony that the day falls this year less than a week after Scott Morrison joined Joe Biden and Boris Johnson (both of whom seemingly forgot his name) to announce Australia’s purchase of nuclear submarines. The announcement is the latest in…
