A screening of Regenerating Australia, the newest film by Damon Gameau was held at Taree Universities Campus
Panel members (from left) Dr Josephine Vaughan, Dr Jai Allison, David Rees and Uncle John Clark.
"What could Australia look like in 2030 if we simply listened to the needs of its people?"
This is the question asked by the latest film, Regenerating Australia, by Damon Gameau, award-winning director of the documentaries That Sugar Film and 2040.
The short film, a hypothetical news report looking back at the last 10 years from 2030 and based on interviews with a diverse range of Australians, had its debut screening at Taree Universities Campus (TUC) on Tuesday, April 14, followed by a panel and audience discussion/Q&A session.
The screening was well attended by interested members of the community and MidCoast Christian College students from years nine and 10, with a panel comprised of Uncle John Clark representing the local Biripi community, MidCoast Council Waste Services manager David Rees, Dr Jai Allison from The New Economy Network, and Dr Josephine Vaughan, course coordinator and lecturer of Construction Ecology and Research in the Built Environment at University of Newcastle.
The event was brought to TUC by a group of five professionals called Sustainable Building Futures Partnership - Russell and Carolyn McFarland of Austin McFarland Architects, architects Ian Sercombe, and Caroline Pidcock, Damien Hadley of Cantilever Engineering, and builder Walter Duber, working together with MidCoast Council.
"(The film) is an educational tool to show what regeneration is all about. Sustainability doesn't cut it anymore. We're now looking at regenerating Australia and this film shows that brilliantly," Walter Duber explained.
The short film imagines the possibility of a more positive future, where Indigenous people are recognised in Australia's Constitution, where a robust Independent Commission Against Corruption is up and running, where urban food growth and greening of cities is taking place, where the transition from fossil-fuel based energy to renewable energy is nearly complete, and where manufacturing turns waste into goods.
The film looks forward, rather than looking back and bemoaning what hasn't been done to mitigate climate change. It focuses on what role young people can plan in the transition to a regenerative future.
Following the screening, questions came from the audience to the panel regarding specific local issues, such as clothing and textile waste, and the necessity of chopping down trees on roadsides when improvements are being done, which students asked about what they could possibly do when they don't have a voice, and regenerative agriculture practices.
In regard to waste, Dr Jai Allison suggested instead of looking at specifics, take a step back and think about waste more generally.
"I challenge people to just even understand the term waste. What what does it mean? Because if we look out in nature, there's no such thing as waste. Everything in nature has a use and is reused in some way," Dr Allison said.
MidCoast Christian College students found the event thought provoking.
"It was very interesting hearing everyone's opinions, and what are the examples of things we can do. And what can we look for in our community? How can we make our community better? I thought it was a really good point that we need to move away from being more centralised and bring it back to the community," said James Archinall.
Student Jasmine Hill found the film and discussion a good learning opportunity.
"I feel like I learned a lot of things that I wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise, considering I usually don't see these kinds of things everywhere. There should be more of them and they should be more frequent. More people should go to them.," Jasmine said.
"It was really inspiring to hear how even if you feel like you don't have much of a voice, you can still do things; the community can still do things to help heal our country."
At the end of the panel and audience discussion, Russell McFarland said they hoped the event was only the first such one in the area, and hoped more schools would come on board.
To organise a viewing of the film at schools contact Russell McFarland at architects@austinmcfarland.com.au or Walter Duber at info@duber.com.au.
To learn more about Regenerating Australia visit theregenerators.co/regenerating-australia.
First published in the Manning River Times www.manningrivertimes.com.au
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