AQ 96.2 - New Apr-Jun 2025 Edition - Out April 1st

It may have been apocryphally credited to the Chinese, but the curse ‘May you live through interesting times’ has a particularly prescient ring to it these days. The post-war global order is being shredded before our eyes; the drumbeat of fear, confusion, and vengeance are becoming mainstream political tactics; and Australia is in the midst of its own electoral quagmire – with our own special class of wingnuts testing their individual brand of Trump-lite disaffection and manufactured outrage.

It is fair to feel a little untethered from reality…and it’s only April. But this AQ comes to you with a few rays of hope.

It is important to remember that the individual (you) is the smallest unit of change (and/or resistance). There might be storms raging at the level of nation-states, but most long-lasting progress comes from the ground up. The little choices that we make ourselves, the fights that we choose to fight, are what weave the fabric of our communities, which underpin the tenor of our towns, and that ultimately orient our nation.

All this and more in the new edition of AQ!

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Reimagining Our Cities: A Response To The Polycrisis

Many of the earth’s natural systems are on the verge of collapse, resulting in interconnected crises facing humankind. And while these disasters are global, the solutions are local. Our cities are the locus at which economics, sustainability, and wellbeing all intersect. By reimagining what constitutes a ‘good life’ we can remake the fabric of our everyday into one that respects planetary boundaries and that supports the people that make up our communities. What we do matters, and what we do together matters even more.

Kaj Lofgren

First Nations Are Bearing the Brunt of Rising Temperatures

2024 has been declared the hottest year on record globally. Yet extreme heat emergencies don’t trigger the same sense of urgency as bushfires or floods – despite killing more people in Australia that all other natural disasters combined. And it is rural and remote communities that are suffering the most, compounded by infrastructure failures, dramatic health inequalities, and critical lack of access to water. The situation is only getting worse.

Supriya Mathew

Automate the CEOs? Remember to Include Vice-Chancellors

It has been proposed that Artificial Intelligence might soon be better at strategic management than current CEOs. But what about in our education sector? In Australia, Vice-Chancellors command inflated remunerations while overseeing a decline in outcomes and student experience. As our educational institutions increasingly become ‘knowledge businesses’ disrupted by AI, V-Cs should ask themselves how exactly they differ from a machine tuned to maximise profit. Radical change is upon us; will it be a rebirth or a resignation?

Malcolm Patterson

Schmuck Science: How a nano-sized idea might save Australia’s iconic giants

Can a regular schmuck change the world? And can they do so while making biosecurity interesting and lab science fun and engaging? What begins as an experiment to save Robert’s plum tree, suddenly becomes a nationwide fight to save some of Australia’s most iconic natural wonders. Myrtle rust, is an invasive fungal disease that is ravaging Australia’s eucalyptus forests. If we don’t do anything we risk losing more than just our iconic giants.

JJ Richardson and Robert Mond 

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