Acknowledgement of Country//
Headlines:
We listened to one of the speeches from the community Town Hall Meeting to 'Stop the Plumpton AI data centre planned for Melbourne’s West' held on Thursday 25 June at Sydenham Neighbourhood House. In this speech, AJ Harris-Peixoto took attendees through a presentation on data centre-related issues facing the community. Thank you to Amy from 3CR's Kill Your Lawn for sharing the recording - you can catch Kill Your Lawn and Kick Your Fence every week on 3CR Fridays 9:00am to 10:00am. Stay tuned to 3CR’s Breakfast programs to hear more audio from this Town Hall.//
Researchers Dr Meagan Dewar (Federation University Australia) and Dr Sara Ryding (Deakin University) joined us to discuss the implications and emergency management of the highly infectious H5N1 strain of avian flu, which has now been detected in four migratory seabirds (including skuas and giant petrels) in Western Australia and one in South Australia since the first Australian case was identified nearly two weeks ago. Meagan is a wildlife biologist and lecturer at Federation University Australia researching infectious diseases in seabirds. Sara is an evolutionary ecologist researching bird movements, and how bird movements influence disease incursion risk, including for avian influenza into Australia.
From the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry: If you notice sick or dead birds or other animals, you should not touch them. If there are multiple dead birds or other animals, take photos or a video. Record your location and report it to the 24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.//
Stephanie Bashir, CEO of Nexa Advisory and a leading voice in Australia’s energy transformation, speaks with us about how the surge in Australian data centre construction driven by generative AI risks pushing up power bills and climate pollution. Informed by the latest report by Climate Council ''Clouded future: Managing risks of the data centre boom'', Inez and Stephanie talked about the implications of this boom and what we can do to take action. Stephanie has over two decades of experience driving major reforms across consumer energy, renewables, battery storage, and grid integration. She is widely recognized for her ability to turn complex energy challenges into actionable, real-world solutions that accelerate the clean energy transition.//
Merewalesi Tuilau (Fiji Nuclear Veterans and Families Association) and Samuel Barton (President of the Marshall Islands Student Association in Fiji) spoke about the 80th anniversary of the advent of nuclear testing in the Pacific, which occurred yesterday (Wednesday the 1st of July). Both Mere and Samuel have travelled to Australia as part of the Pacific Peace Pilgrimage, which shines a light on the history and intergenerational impacts of nuclear ‘testing’ in the Pacific region, including in Australia. The Pilgrimage is coordinated by ICAN Australia alongside The Quakers and the Pacific Conference of Churches, welcoming nuclear-impacted communities from the Pacific and Australia for a series of events which will highlight pathways towards nuclear justice in the region and call for a future that is decolonised, demilitarised, denuclearised and decarbonised. Listen back to Wednesday Breakfast's interview this week with fellow Pacific Peace Pilgrimage delegate Reverend James Bhagwan of the Pacific Council of Churches. Join Samuel and Frances Namoumou of the Pacific Conference of Churches this Friday 3 July at Balam Balam Place, Brunswick, for the public event ‘Commemorating the legacy of nuclear detonations in the Pacific: 30 years on.’//
Events on Saturday 4 July:
Emily, Inez, Leila, Priya, River, Candy
