Climate Hustings: Recent Episodes
La Trobe University
As Australia faces a federal election, the Climate Hustings podcast features interviews with climate advocates attempting to influence voters to consider the climate crisis at the polls. Speaking with La Trobe University researchers, they share how they are looking to move the needle on crucial issues, such as climate justice, adaptation and mitigation. Will enough people put climate first to elect a parliament that will prioritise a speedy and just transition to net zero?
Simon Holmes à Court convenes Climate 200, a community crowd-funded initiative that was established in 2019 to support pro-climate, pro-integrity, and pro-gender equity candidates. Simon played a significant role in funding and supporting successful independent candidates in a number of seats previously held by the coalition. Following the election, he shares his reflections with Lawrie Zion, Professor of Journalism at La Trobe University, and Associate Dean, Research and Industry Engagement, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Jo Dodds is the President of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action (BS4CA) and a former Bega Valley Shire Councillor who was badly impacted by the Black Spring/Summer fires of NSW. Jo went to COP26 to hold the Government of Australia to account by sharing the stories of survivors on the international stage. She speaks with Liz Conor, an Associate Professor in History at La Trobe University and an ARC Future Fellow and Chief Investigator, on the tactics that BS4CA members are taking to influence the federal election.
Jarrah is active with Blockade Australia, who argue that corporate and institutional power is driving the climate crisis and blocking climate action. Australia, they say, plays a leading role in organising this destruction. Blockade Australia coordinates mobilisations at economic bottlenecks and centers of political power. Jarrah’s speaking with Julia Dehm, a Senior Lecturer at the La Trobe Law School, on the mobilisations that Blockade Australia are coordinating ahead of - and beyond - the Federal election.
Malte Meinshausen is one of the lead authors of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and also a core writing team member of the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report. His main research activity relates to climate science, climate scenarios and carbon budgets. He founded the Climate & Energy College at the University of Melbourne as well as the Co-Director of the Energy Transition Hub. He’s speaking with Julia Dehm, a Senior Lecturer at the La Trobe Law School, on the role of science in guiding climate policy.
Tom Webster Arbizu is a climate leader and advocate from Adelaide, Australia. He has been a youth leader in the Adelaide School Strike for Climate movement for the last 20 months. Tom was a named litigant in the legal case Sharma vs Minister for the Environment, suing the federal environment minister to block the approval of a coal mine. He speaks with Liz Conor, an Associate Professor in History at La Trobe University and an ARC Future Fellow and Chief Investigator, on the steps Australia’s young people are taking ahead of the federal election.
Farmers for Climate Action Chair Charlie Prell is a fourth-generation sheep farmer from Crookwell in NSW and has survived droughts. He has had 20 years of experience in renewables, focusing on wind farms and is a strong public advocate of the benefits wind and solar farms bring to small regional communities. Charlie was part of the working group and then the steering committee that formed “Farmers for Climate Action”. He’s speaking with Katie Holmes, Professor of History and Director of La Trobe University’s Centre for the Study of the Inland and co-convenor of La Trobe’s Climate Network, about the movement within farming for stronger action towards climate.
In the latest grim findings of the IPCC report, Australia received the dubious honour of being singled out as exemplary of climate inaction due to lobbying from fossil fuel corporations. As we watch in horror as the impacts of a 1 degree rise in temperature unravel, Australia - dubbed the ‘climate pariah’ - faces a federal election where climate is an issue like never before.
In the Climate Hustings podcast, La Trobe University researchers interview community campaigners, advocates, activists and observers on how they’re experiencing the election. Do they believe that enough voters will put climate first to elect a parliament that will ensure a speedy and just transition to net zero?