Hi everybody, thank you very much for coming on what is a very hot day, very pertinent for our topic. I do want to say thank you to Kate; this has been sort of my pet project for the last year, but she has given me a huge amount of freedom to run with it and to take my vision where I wanted it to go, so thank you, Kate. Getting to Net Zero is one of the biggest challenges we will ever face, but it's also a huge opportunity to make our society healthier, cleaner, and fairer. Because of the co-benefits of climate solutions, many of the actions needed to reduce emissions also address other social, economic, and environmental problems, helping to improve physical and mental health, provide more affordable housing, bring down the cost of living, support local economies, restore our biodiversity, and adapt to a warming climate. These are things worth doing even if you're not that concerned about reducing emissions because they improve our daily lives. Climate change just means we need to do them a bit faster.

Let me walk you through two examples. If you live in a net-zero home, your rooftop solar panels and battery will mean that your electricity bill could be close to zero, and you'll be less susceptible to blackouts. The EV charging in your garage means you'll never pay for petrol again. Energy efficiency features like insulation, double glazing, or white roofs will improve home comfort year-round with less reliance on air con and heating, reducing power bills for those who don't have solar and helping us adapt to climate change. Without gas appliances and the toxic chemicals they release, we'll have better indoor air quality, reducing rates of respiratory diseases like asthma. Most of Australia's existing housing stock is very energy inefficient, and this is particularly true for rental properties. This means, with the right policy settings, retrofitting for energy efficiency across Australia could see significant cost of living relief for low-income households. All of these home improvements would need to be done in person by skilled tradespeople, creating local jobs all over the country.

To recap, making our buildings renewables-ready, energy efficient, and electric will reduce our power bills, improve home comfort, help us adapt to climate change, improve respiratory health, and create local jobs everywhere. I think that doesn't sound too bad.

Zooming out to the city level, better urban planning could improve the sustainability of our buildings, transport, and urban greenery at the same time as addressing the housing crisis and making neighborhoods better places to live in. In Curtin, imagine more medium-density apartments or units that have clear height limits and green space requirements so they don't stick out like a sore thumb among our existing homes. Smaller, more affordable mid-density homes will be located next to shops, schools, and other amenities, making walking convenient and supporting local businesses by increasing foot traffic. Frequent public transport services that stop close to your door will make it easier to leave the car at home. Well-connected footpaths and bike pods make walking and cycling safer for kids as well as adults, boosting health and fitness. These paths will be shaded by trees and native vegetation, which double as green corridors for local wildlife to move around safely. Beautiful, accessible public parks provide places to exercise, socialize, and reconnect with nature, improving our mental well-being. Our growing tree canopy will cool the city in summer, helping us adapt to climate change, and all of these plants will remove CO2 from the atmosphere, drawing down Curtin's own emissions.

To achieve all of this, we need our governments to approach decarbonisation holistically, looking at the intersections between buildings, transport, and urban greening. This won't happen without deep public engagement in our democracy. Governments need to be held accountable to act in the best interests of communities. Politics, in the truest, most earnest sense, is about people collectively deciding how they want to live. I hope that Curtin's Pathway to Net Zero helps you see the connections between decarbonization and our daily lives and makes you excited about what the future might look like. Thank you, thank you very much. I now will introduce our guest speaker, so Josh Byrne is an environmental scientist, a researcher, an author, a TV presenter, and an avid gardener. He's well known for his role as the WA presenter on ABC TV's Gardening Australia program and he's the director of Fremantle-based landscape architecture and urban design practice Josh Byrne & Associates, and a Dean of Sustainable Futures in the Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University as well. I don't know what he does in his spare time. His research expertise spans water-sensitive design, energy-efficient housing, and sustainable urban development. He's also a John 23rd boy, which is where I first met him at school, and I'm very grateful that he's come along today to help us celebrate the launch.

Thanks very much for watching. If you're wondering, I tend a garden in my spare time. Well, Claire, I'm sold on that beautiful vision that you so articulately presented to all of us, and I'd like to start just by congratulating Kate and her team for the leadership in delivering this quite remarkable body of work and also acknowledge all of the volunteers who have done much of the legwork and to turn around and see about half of the crowd here put their hand up who have been directly involved is really very special. But to coordinate that into such a cohesive piece of work is really impressive. So well done to you in particular. It's impressive in detail and also is very sophisticated, and I don't think we should lose sight of this. When I was approached to participate tonight and say a few words, I said I'd be delighted. I've got enormous respect for Kate and what she's doing, but I said I wouldn't mind seeing the document first, just give you know, the whole professional reputation thing, format, kind of jazz, and so I was pleased to see a working draft and I said straight away I'll do it, no problem at all. So not only is it incredibly detailed and sophisticated, it's also very accessible and practical, and I think that really is the part that makes it so special. It provides clear guidance for citizens to actively participate in the transition to a climate-responsive society. It's inclusive, it's instructional, and perhaps most importantly, it's achievable. There's nothing in this body of work that can't be done now, and from my perspective, that's incredibly encouraging and empowering given the inertia on climate change that has dogged us all for so many years. It's easy to feel a sense of paralysis in the face of what can seem an overwhelming challenge, but if we address these issues through a series of evidence-based, applied action at the household, the community, and neighborhood scale, it becomes less overwhelming. In fact, I would put it to you that it becomes incredibly empowering. As Claire touched upon, the initiatives required to mitigate emissions often serve as effective measures to increase climate and community resilience, so we get bang for buck for doing these things. For example, retrofitting a house to be more climate appropriate will reduce energy use and associated emissions, but importantly, it also improves resident comfort during extreme heat, and we know that these events are likely to increase in number in the future. A similar logic applies to increasing urban tree canopy, supporting local food production, and adopting active transport. A bit about my own journey in this space, just to put a little bit of personal color to it. As a young environmental science student living in the Curtin electorate, Cersei Circle, yes, the infamous rental property at number 63 Cersei Circle, I realized the power of positive personal and community action. I found myself frustrated at campaigning and protesting about knucklehead issues, of which there were many in front of me at that time in my life, old-growth forests logging, the potential of opening up more uranium mines in Western Australia, and of course, ongoing issues with the mismanagement of fisheries in our oceans, let alone waste and other related issues, all of these very pressing and at times a bit overwhelming. Now, while recognizing the importance of staying informed and speaking out where one can in these areas, I found great comfort from personal action on sustainability and supporting others to do the same. For me, that started with a modest permaculture garden in my student rental property in Circe Circle, which in turn led to my role on ABC Gardening Australia, arguably the best example of sustainability by stealth on national television. One way to get into people's hearts and minds, regardless of their political persuasion, is gardening, but also I've been busy applying, leading applied research projects in net-zero housing, using my own family home proudly in the seat of Fremantle, now as a living lab, and now through my role as Dean of Sustainable Futures at Curtin, where I help to shape courses, guide research activities, and deliver outreach programs. I continually reflect on the importance of increasing agency amongst our students and community and in industry stakeholders through highlighting the impact of positive personal and community action. What I love most about this manifesto, if I can call it that, is that it cleverly and respectfully sets out what we can expect from local, state, and federal government if our elected representatives fulfill the promise that we have a right to expect from them. It's a playbook for progressive policymakers and an instruction guide for the agitators amongst us who are happy to call laggards out. Perhaps most importantly, it's a manual for practical, positive, and achievable measures on climate change and a call to action to get on with it. Well done.

Thank you, Josh, for your insightful words. This leads us perfectly into the importance of personal action and participation. We are launching four community spin-off projects from this report, including the Electrify Curtin website set to launch in the coming months, initiatives to encourage active transport for kids, Verge makeovers and an open day in partnership with local councils to showcase native verges, and promoting plastic-free July. If you're interested in getting involved in any of these projects, please sign up at the front desk.