EarthChat

On this week's EarthChat, Jill and Tim talk with Andrew Kelly, a writer and waterways' advocate. As a writer, his focus is on children’s picture books, authoring and co-authoring many award-winning books, mainly with environmental themes. His most recent book is ‘Prayer for a River’ written with Uncle Glenn Loughrey.

He was the Yarra Riverkeeper for seven years, responsible for seeing the government follow through on its election commitment to treating the Yarra as a living entity. The living entity thinking has spread into our planning schemes for the Yarra Birrarung and into planning for Andrew, the waterways of the west of Melbourne, and the Barwon. Andrew has continued advocating for waterways as living entities as the convenor of The Waterways Network and as a founding member of the Concerned Waterways Alliance.

The focus of his work has extended beyond the Yarra to all southern Victorian waterways with an extended consideration of key policy issues involving water and waterways across Australia. He argues for a federal Water Act that encompasses all Australian waterways.

Water is a precious, life changing resource, essential for health, dignity and life quality.  It has a range of uses including:

Given the value of water in our lives and healthy natural systems, the fact that Australia is the driest inhabited continent should encourage everyone to work together on sustainable solutions to water challenges.

Fair access to clean, fresh water is a shared responsibility and this is often more apparent in regional and remote areas  where cost, availability and quality are limiting factors. 

Saving water leads to a healthy environment but urban expansion impacts on water availability and catchment health including damage to acquifers and public safety dangers from flooding. Capturing runoff and better storm water management are areas that need better planning and management.

Water has significant cultural values so improved water security and reliability of flow is strongly linked to Indigenous water interests.

Goulburn Valley Water www.gvwater.vic.gov.au

Annual Water Outlook https://www.water.vic.gov.au

Drought Preparedness Response Framework https://www.agriculture.vic.gov.au

Australian Water Association (AWA) https://www.awa.asn.au

Water Education Toolkit

Wanda the Water Warrior

Bureau of Meteorology www.bom.gov.au

Water in Australia

CSIRO Water Book

https://www.csiro.au

Concerned Waterways Alliance

https://concernedwaterwaysalliance.org

Taungurung Land and Waters Council

https://taungurung.com.au

Protects the cultural heritage of the Taungurung people and develops projects for the economic, social and cultural well-being as well as providing services for land and water management to ensure environmental and cultural heritage preservation.

River Connect www.riverconnect.com.au

An initiative of the Shepparton-Muroopna community to acknowledge the Goulburn and Broken Rivers as the heart and soul of the community.

Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists

https://wentworthgroup.org

Prayer for a River (Uncle Glenn Loughrey and Andrew Kelly), 2025, published by Wild Dog, distributed by Simon and Schuster, www.simonandschuster.com.au

Water Cycle Adaptation Plan https://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au

Waterways Network www.waterwaysnetwork.com.au

Victorian Water Accounts/Water Register  Https://waterregister.vic.gov.au

National Water Grid Fund (NWGF) www.nationalwatergrid.gov.au

Supports investment in nature positive projects on water security, water efficiency and resilience to droughts and ongoing water scarcity in regional Australia. Outcomes will address biodiversity, restoration of natural systems and sustainable construction of infrastructure to minimise negative impacts on the environment.

Is a River Alive? A Journey with water by Robert Macfarlane, Penguin, 2025.

My Garden Path - Andrew Kelly - Gardening Australia

Australian Broadcasting Corporation https://www.abc.net.au › gardening › how-to › my-gar...

This week we are talking weeds starting with Serrated Tussock Grass. We will learn how to identify and control it. We will also chat about the severe damage it can cause, its economic effects caused by productivity damage.

Has it been a good year for the climate and our environment? Is the glass half-empty or half-full and is the water polluted in the glass anyway? Is there any good news?

SHOW NOTES

Global Plastics Treaty Goal of 75% Reduction in plastic production and use by 2040.  Unfortunately the Treaty was not successful as countries were divided on how to tackle the crisis. 100 countries wanted binding caps on production and direct action on toxic chemicals arising from plastic. Action was opposed by large fossil fuel producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia so in the absence of global action, Country based local initiatives become more urgent.

National Adaptation Action Plan (Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water) Developed after the Climate Risk Assessment  by the Australian Climate Service, Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia. Direct Action on Physical Risks  such as bushfires, storms, floods, coastal hazards etc and action on the associated health and social cohesion impacts across 7 key systems – urban: regional and remote; natural environment; economy, trade and finance; infrastructure and the built environment; and National security.

Banksia Foundation National Sustainability Awards https://Banksiafdn.com

For 36 years the entrants in the Awards had been inspiring organisations and individuals to drive positive change and make a difference to sustainable development goals across all sectors

We’ve heard a lot over the past year or so about our housing crisis. The commentary has dominated governments, and yet the suburban sprawl continues over farming and grazing land, over wetlands and precious green belts are disappearing.

This week we will be exploring our wonderful planet and why we need to act to protect it. We will attempt to unravel the complexities of nature and what we need to do for it to flourish.

We will be explaining concepts like biodiversity, symbiosis and ecosystems

‘Othering’ is the process of viewing and treating a person or a group as "other," because they seem different, alien, or inferior to us. This "us vs. them" mentality often involves creating a dominant social group identity resulting in exclusion and stigmatizing another group due to assumed perceptions about the other’s race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. It can lead to marginalization, social exclusion, and prejudice.

This week Marie chats with Paul Lloyd about their recent trip to Madagascar on a Rotary International project. The aim was  to deliver aid to a very poor school in rural Madagascar.

“We will discuss the needs and what we were able to achieve and hope to do in the future.”

Did you know that renewables produced more electricity than coal across the world in the first half of 2025? What a huge shift in a short amount of time. More change is to come, with projects like this photo, of an orchard in Switzerland (does the sun even shine there?) where panels produce 300MWh per year in electricity. What a harvest!

Mark and Tim will be chatting about how to make the most of wonderful opportunities renewables can offer. How can we better use the power of the sun? How do we apply for government subsidies around batteries and energy efficient appliances for everyone?

Legislation for Australia's first Treaty between the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria and the Victorian Government has just been introduced in the Victorian Parliament. An historic moment built on over 200 years of First Nations' advocacy.

North East Representative of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, Levi Power, returns to EarthChat to chat with Ruth and Phil about this latest exciting Treaty news.

The journey to a Statewide Treaty for Victoria, led by First Peoples, is going to benefit everyone living in this State. And, it is going to take all of us to make Treaty a reality.

By working together we will naturally build a better future for everyone in Victoria. Treaty will therefore bring us together and will unify Victoria because we share the same values about freedom, care, family, community and equity….

The Yoorrook Justice Commission began a profound process of healing through Truth-telling thereby creating the first public record of our true history, an opportunity to understand history since colonization, and to see why Treaty is needed. This truth telling and history gathering in Victoria has enabled a ‘turning toward’ the truth of the past allowing us to start building a better and unified future together. Treaty is therefore not about division. On the contrary. Treaty is a pathway to acknowledging the past and making real practical change to achieve better outcomes for First Peoples in Victoria and close the ‘gap(s)’ once and for all. This can only benefit everyone living here in this State.

Treaty won’t change any ownership laws - what’s yours today is yours tomorrow. First Peoples won’t become part of the Victorian Government either, just simply have their say in the decisions that affect Aboriginal communities.

Next week the Treaty bill will be debated by the Parties in Parliament, when they resume sitting between October 14 - 16. To receive Treaty information and updates about how you can help, go to: https://fpav.good.do/victoriansupporttreaty/email-your-mp/

You can read the full Statewide Treaty text here.

Here’s what else you can do to support Treaty:

The Yoorrook Justice Commission website is a key resource for all who live in Victoria.

Join Peter Lockyer, Vanessa Malandrin and Janice Mentiplay-Smith in a great discussion around the value of old trees, hollows and understory -  each part of a local ecosystem which has a valuable contribution to the whole.  The strength of this Web of Life is the sum of the parts - the more diverse, the greater the health.