from paddock to padlock to nick cave

45 years ago Tom Uren was worried about the future of Sydney – housing affordability, access to green space, preserving the harbour foreshore. On MondayDrive this week Melbourne historian James Lesh joined us to talk about the green bans of the 1970s and how much progress we haven’t made finding that balance between development and conservation that makes a city a great place to live. Skipping out to the countryside, we also delved into a fascinating paper about the future of farming in Australia, released by the Centre For Policy Development this week to stimulate the debate around agricultural reform – From Vicious to Virtuous Cycles. Sue Ogilvy and Sam Hurley talked us through the key points about innovative brands, transparent supply chains, ethical practice and how vital native plant and animal species are to the health of our soil and water. For energy news we turned to Total Environment Centre’s Mark Byrne, who gave us an update on the Green Electricity Guide which TEC, Greenpeace and Choice have created to help consumers negotiate the maze of energy retailers. Mark also walked us through the major parties’ latest climate policy (still a mess on both sides) and touched on China’s bid to buy up energy grids from Brazil to…NSW? To wind up we played some classic Warren Ellis and Nick Cave with a track from the film score for The Road. The pair have collaborated once again for a thoughtful new French film, Far From Men, starring Viggo Mortensen, reviewed by Riley Lavelle Long, our resident new romantic cineaste, who gave away some free tickets to the film. See you next week!