How Good Are Humans

Why would we cut down trees?

Trees filter the air and exhale the oxygen we breath, sequester carbon and store it in the soil, clean the soil of pollutants and excess nitrogen, reduce urban heat, bring rainfall and stabilise climates, provide shade under which we exist in comfort, lock in soil to stop erosion, provide homes for wildlife and branches for children to climb, quell storm surges, reduce flooding and stabilise river banks, improve water quality, reduce noise pollution, grow an abundance of food free of charge, increase property values, form parks and forests for our recreation and leisure, improve mental health, add heritage and cultural value to an area, provide inspiration for product creation and innovation such as solar energy, building cooling and water harvesting systems, communicate with each other through a silent language to bolster their longevity, and then replicate and reproduce without any effort required from us. So I ask again: in our infinite wisdom, and considering all of this, why would we cut down trees?

We still find our reasons; and, unfortunately, we destroy more than we replace. In the absence of the Lorax, someone does need to speak for the trees. On this episode of the podcast, I found two: Boyd and Sarah from Treeforce Cairns. In 30 years, Treeforce volunteers have planted more than 200,000 trees in one city. Boyd and Sarah spoke to me about why that effort was necessary, and why the need for tree planting and reforestation is more pressing than ever.

Feminism achieved colossal triumphs in the 19th and 20th centuries after fierce battles for legal, social and economic equalities. The right to vote, the right to work, the right to divorce, the right to equal pay and freedom from sexual exploitation were a handful of important wins for Australian society. In the modern western world, it could be argued the great injustices have been corrected, or have they not? 

Despite what would seem to be the most pluralist time to be alive, trust between the sexes has been measured at all-time lows. Strident opinions are hurtling down echo chambers at both male and female audiences, demanding that no gender cedes ground to another. Bring in transgender activism, and you have a confluence of outrage and division rising social tension to a boil. 

In what contexts does inequality still beleaguer and harm Australian women? On what new fronts are feminists fighting? Where has entrenchment led to stalemate? Where do we risk regression? And how do we need to communicate to arrest and reverse the most alarming recent trends?

Author and senior writer for the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald Jacqueline Maley joins me to discuss this topic and put as many answers as she can to some difficult questions.

Jacquline is the host of the weekly Inside Politics podcast for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, and her column is published in both papers each Sunday. She is also the author of two books; her most recent, Lonely Mouth, can be purchased online and in bookshops today. 

Humans need stories. We are stories, each of us, and some of our stories are so great they've been written down. Others have invented stories, be they allegorical or pure fiction, for no reason more than brewing and spilling another provocative and entertaining piece to our cultural ether. 

But no story is guaranteed permanence. In fact, almost all are guaranteed the opposite. It takes a librarian to preserve them, and sometimes resurrect them.

This is what Rob Fadaely does for a living, and from behind his desk he has a unique view of the world through the books he stocks and customers he greets. Over the decades, he's noticed our collective story grow and change.

He's more than just a second-hand bookstore owner, and his shop is more than a second-hand bookstore. Here's why.

Bridges, roads and railways don't just appear out of thin air, and the government doesn't walk around tossing wads of cash into a city's letterbox. Someone has to not only ask for it, but put their reputation on the line by pointing out where billions of dollars in domestic and International investment will be best spent. An economy, therefore, relies on those who can best advocate for it.

Jennifer Spilsbury, CEO of Advance Cairns and former editor of the Cairns Post, is that person, among a few others, for Far North Queensland. The future image of Cairns and the Far North, the most populous region north of Brisbane, will be shaped in no small part by the decisions she makes. No pressure, right?

It's a tough time to become a politician in Australia. Housing supply is short and prices are high, the climate is changing but society still can't agree why or what to do about it, cost of living is on everyone's minds every day and AI is about to take all our jobs and maybe even exterminate us for good measure. Who do we consistently blame for our problems? Politicians. While they may deserve part of the blame, they're expected to fix the problems in a thankless environment; we demand of them, but we trust them less and less.

Add onto that layers of socioeconomic issues caused by the tyranny of distance and a category-5 cyclone closing in fast, and you have the federal seat of Leichhardt, which Matt Smith was elected to in 2024.

Matt joined me on the podcast to talk about housing, health and jobs. We discussed the government's recent climate change risk assessment, biodiversity loss and feral species management, rising house insurance premiums, growing burdens on the healthcare system, and the approaching AI tidal wave. We had this discussion with category-5 Tropical Cyclone Narelle about 24 hours from impact.

Starting a gym routine can be confusing and daunting. Many people still believe a gym is only good for stripping weight or getting uselessly buff, that real fitness is not built under barbells. Even if a newbie takes a courageous step into a gym, it could be just days before they're demotivated by the bewildering array of machines or the intimidating presence of god-like figures walking here and there in muscle singlets or scrunch shorts. For those that last a few months, the gap between their expectations and results, possibly caused by poor techniques and a terrible diet, will leave them thinking "what's the point?", and they'll never place a sweaty butt cheek on a gym bench for the rest of their lives.

All of this anxiety, uncertainty and confusion can be eliminated by working with a coach; specifically, a physical trainer and nutrition coach.

Enter a professional like Adriana Huyser. Adriana went through the standard stop-start-stop relationship with a gym, all the while battling body image issues. But something eventually clicked for her. Since then, she has won bodybuilding competitions, become a coach and used an empathetic mind to train many others into realising their fitness goals. Adriana has since grappled with other health challenges, but she still shows up for herself and her clients every day. On the podcast, she takes us through her personal and professional fitness journey and explains what worked for her and what she thinks will work for others.

Warren Entsch served in Australia's federal parliament for almost three decades. He worked with half a dozen Prime Ministers and witnessed the passage of some of the nation's greatest shifts in social and economic policy.

He was an entrenched backbencher with an outsized influence and outsized opinions. He stood against enraged gun owners in his own community after the Port Arthur massacre, he brushed off demands to scrap mentions of climate change from Great Barrier Reef health reports. But most famously, he stared down a Prime Minister and much of his own party to change Australia's marriage laws, a key moment of defiance that catalysed the legalisation of gay marriage. 

Mr Entsch attracted a fair share of criticism and controversy during his career and many have disagreed with facets of his conduct as a member of parliament. But tellers of history must not neglect the background of the endeavour to correct Australia's last great legal inequality, and the role Mr Entsch played in that crusade. 

Anna Middleton was elected as the Division 7 councillor to Cairns Regional Council in 2024 as an unaligned and independent candidate with a low budget, grassroots effort, beating other candidates with more cash and more recognisable names. Since her election, she has leant on the expertise of industry professionals, scientists and experienced public servants to guide her decisions in the council chamber — an evidence-based approach that has won and lost voter sympathy in seemingly equal measure, and caused her to clash with the emotional and idealised decisions of other influential people in Queensland’s political landscape. 

Bronwyn Opie is the director of the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, a leading Queensland advocacy organisation for climate change action and ecological conservation.

Adam Stephen is a journalist and radio presenter who has hosted ABC Queensland's regional Drive radio program for twelve years, a weekday show now broadcast to three-quarters of Australia's second largest and third most populous state.