Speaking of Social Justice

Everyone hates data centres. So what’s the alternative? 🏠💻

In this week's episode of Speaking of Social Justice, Dr Julie Macken is joined by Dr Michael Walker to unpack his latest article on a different way of thinking about data centres.

Instead of billion-dollar mega-builds, what if computing power worked like rooftop solar and household batteries: small, distributed units attached to homes, with households getting their power bills subsidised in return?

Julie and Michael also ask whether we’re living through an AI bubble (Julie was at the Financial Review during the dot-com crash, and the parallels are striking), why companies are walking back AI job cuts, and why most of us would still rather talk to a human.

They finish with Pope Leo’s teaching on technology: the Tower of Babel versus the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. Does technology serve power and domination, or human flourishing? And is the Golden Calf an even better metaphor for our relationship with screens?

Read more on our substack: https://substack.com/@jposyd

This week on Speaking of Social Justice, Michael Walker celebrates some big news: the Lane Cove Responsible Planning Group, who joined us on the podcast last week, has successfully forced the withdrawal of the planning application for a $1 billion data centre in Lane Cove West.

What started as neighbours from two streets around a kitchen table grew into a campaign that took on a major developer, and won. Michael traces how they did it: letterboxing, WhatsApp and Facebook groups, local media, support from councillors, a 100+ person town hall, backing from academics, and a Senate inquiry hearing held right in Lane Cove.

The campaign isn't over, with two more data centres proposed for the same business park. But it's a powerful reminder for parish social justice groups and community organisers everywhere: issues that seem enormous are not beyond us.

If they can do that, imagine what we can do about the environment, homelessness, and Sydney's housing crisis.

Read more here: https://justiceandpeace.org.au/lane-cove-residents-see-off-data-centre-proposal/

Speaking of Social Justice is back after a short break with a new series on artificial intelligence and its ethical implications, prompted by strong interest in Pope Leo's recent encyclical on AI.

This week, Dr Michael Walker is joined by Sasha Titchkosky of the Lane Cove Responsible Planning Group, a community group of residents living alongside proposals for hyperscale data centres in Lane Cove West.

Sasha explains why residents are worried about Goodman's Project Mars proposal, which would sit less than 20 metres from the nearest home and 160 metres from a school, beside bushland, playing fields, Lane Cove National Park and the Lane Cove River. She covers the constant noise from cooling equipment, a million litres of diesel and nearly 200 tonnes of lithium batteries stored in a bushfire-prone area, air pollution from backup generators, and heavy use of electricity and water. She also describes a community consultation process that left residents feeling unheard.

The pair also discuss the bigger picture on how little of the investment in data centres actually stays in Australia, why no one is assessing the cumulative impact of multiple data centres in one place, and where they should (and shouldn't) be built. Sasha shares the work of the National Alliance for Responsible Data Centres, which isn't calling for no data centres, but for the right ones, in the right places, with community support.

A reminder that the "cloud" has a very real footprint.

It has been a while but we are back! In this week's episode of Speaking of Social Justice, Dr Julie Macken cuts through the noise on Australia's latest budget and she's not here to crunch numbers. She's here to ask the bigger question: what does a nation's spending say about what it actually values?

From intergenerational inequality and housing unaffordability to the media's framing of the US-Iran conflict, Julie calls it like she sees it. This one's for anyone who's ever wondered why wage earners get taxed to the hilt while property investors collect the rewards and whether this budget is finally a sign things are shifting.

In this week's episode of Speaking of Social Justice, host Dr Julie Macken reflects on the past 24 hours and what this means for Australia.

The past few months, weeks, days, the past few hours, we have witnessed a world of chaos, a world of despair, a world of conflict. In Australia, 24 hours ago we were going to bed wondering if we will awaken to a nuclear strike, to Australian troops on the ground, the loss of a civilisation following the threat of a genocide. We were left wondering what do we even do in Australia? What can we do in Australia?

The good news is we have a defence against this and it's a little thing called the law. We are indeed a small country but there are things we can call on our leaders to do. Our leaders in politics, our leaders of unions, our leaders in business, our leaders in churches and synagogues and temples and mosques. We can stand up and articulate a demand for international human rights. We can demand that those who have committed war crimes are arrested, that some form of justice is served,

This week's episode is timely and it is a push that we actually do have the power to demand accountability, enforceability, and the end to violence.

Read the JPO's full statement here: https://justiceandpeace.org.au/war-crimes-and-australias-obligations/

In a week marked by deep global uncertainty, Dr Julie Macken reflects on what it means to speak about social justice when democracy itself feels under strain.

Drawing on recent global reports, this episode explores the erosion of democratic values, the decline of freedoms, and the devastating realities unfolding across regions including Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, and beyond. In what some have described as “a time of monsters,” it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, powerless, and disconnected.

Julie reminds us that human rights are not conditional, they are inherent. In a world increasingly shaped by division, violence, and political manipulation, our responsibility remains the same: to stand firm in our humanity, to support one another, and to demand more from our leaders.

This is a call to resist apathy, reject division, and hold onto the simple but powerful truth that our dignity is bound together, because in times like these, holding onto our humanity is not just an act of hope, it’s an act of resistance.

In this episode of Speaking of Social Justice, Dr Julie Macken explores the growing geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, and what they reveal about the risks of military alliances. As conflict escalates in the Middle East, Julie asks a difficult question: what happens to smaller countries that host military bases or align themselves closely with global powers?

Drawing on recent events in the Gulf states, she explains how countries that host U.S. military facilities can quickly become targets during conflict — even when they were not consulted about the decision to go to war.

This raises serious questions for Australia.

Through the AUKUS agreement, Australia is committing $368 billion in defence spending and allowing expanded U.S. military presence on Australian soil. But does this arrangement actually make Australia safer, or could it place the country on the front line of conflicts that are not our own?

At a moment of rising global tension, this episode calls for public scrutiny, democratic debate, and greater transparency about one of the largest defence decisions in Australian history.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, we gathered five influential women from diverse backgrounds for a powerful conversation about leadership, justice, and the ways power shapes our world.

Too often, the models of power we inherit are hierarchical, extractive, and patriarchal. But what if power could look different?

In Reimagining Power, our panelists drew on lived experience, leadership, and critical insight to explore how power can be rooted in justice, care, solidarity, and shared responsibility. Together, they challenge traditional assumptions and reflect on how power can be exercised collectively, in ways that strengthen women, communities, and movements rather than dominate them.

This episode captures the heart of that conversation: an invitation to question the systems we have inherited and to imagine new ways of leading, collaborating, and creating change.

For a better listening experience, we recommend wearing headphones.

In this episode of Speaking of Social Justice, host Dr Julie Macken turns her attention to International Women’s Day and to a deeper, more uncomfortable question: how do we exercise power?

Ahead of a special panel discussion, Julie reflects on the state of the world for women today. From persistent gender pay gaps to gender-based violence in Australia, and from global scandals of abuse to political leadership that simply replicates old models of dominance, it’s clear that putting women into positions of power hasn’t automatically transformed how power is used.

This conversation asks something more radical: is it possible to exercise power differently? Can leadership move beyond command-and-control, bullying, and exploitation, and toward models that are collaborative, creative, accountable, and life-giving?

Drawing on feminist critique, lived experience, and the wisdom of older cultures that organised differently, this episode invites listeners to imagine forms of power that don’t just change who is in charge, but change how leadership itself works.

If you’re interested in justice, gender equality, and rethinking leadership for a fractured world, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/iwd-2026-reimagining-power

Dr Michael Walker steps into the host’s chair to unpack why capital gains tax has surged back into national debate and why it matters for every Australian feeling the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis.

At the centre of the discussion is the 50% capital gains tax discount, introduced in 1999, and how it has fuelled property speculation, inflated house prices, and pushed home ownership further out of reach. As house prices have soared far beyond wage growth, average earners are increasingly locked into lifelong renting, while rising mortgages and rents drive widespread housing stress.

Drawing on recent polling and research from groups including the Everybody’s Home Coalition, Dr Walker highlights the stark trade-offs households are making just to stay housed—skipping meals, avoiding medical care, and cutting basic utilities. With housing now the single biggest driver of cost-of-living stress, the stakes could not be higher.

The episode also grounds the debate in Catholic Social Teaching, referencing the Australian Bishops’ affirmation that housing is a basic human right and a cornerstone of the common good. Winding back the capital gains tax discount, Dr Walker argues, would not solve the crisis overnight, but it would be a crucial step toward a fairer, more just housing system.