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Thanks. Very much ladies and gentlemen,
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what a fantastic classic Adelaide mid spring,
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Saturday afternoon rug up, stripped down,
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get ready to rug up a guy. And hi, my name is Greg Mackie.
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I'm the chair of the board of the Adelaide festival of ideas.
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And it's my very great pleasure to welcome you all this afternoon for what
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promises to be a most interesting conversation.
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I'm here to do the necessary housekeeping matches.
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There's been a couple of changes in the program,
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and if you've just come in this afternoon for the emphasis, your first session,
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you might've heard this Marion Terrell who's listed in our
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printed big program has had to
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cancel her participation.
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And so that 4:00 PM session at elder hall has been canceled indie
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Joe Hart, who was to be presenting at the open state hub,
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had to cancel yesterday for family reasons.
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And so what we're doing is we're bringing forward to that slot 10
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Tim Dunlop's session,
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which had previously been programmed following that at the
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hits or so at four o'clock,
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you can catch tin Dunlop at the Idaho.
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And of course you can catch Barry Jones here at 4:00 PM.
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Now I'm going to spare you over the long and
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necessary but long acknowledgments.
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And simply to recognize in particular,
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in relation to this session that we're grateful to open state and the government
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of south Australia for making Erin Brockovich has participation possible.
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And I particularly want to acknowledge and thank Gallo felon and
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Sharon McKay from the department of premier and cabinet for their assistance in
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in facilitating errands of visit to Adelaide.
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I really don't have anything else to do other than to recognize that our
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festival of ideas dedicatee Phillip Adams who is no stranger to any of
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you here is about to bring you a little wireless program.
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And I would ask you to please make welcome Phillip Adams
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and his special guest Erin Brockovich,
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welcome to the Adelaide festival of ideas and also
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to the wildest program called lake,
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not live on the ABCs are in very few of us
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are honored with an eponymous moving.
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It helps if you were a hero, if you're a bin, her or a Spartacus,
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Joan of arc, or an Erin Brockovich,
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the film made way back in the year,
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2000 told the world of Aaron's work to expose the contamination of
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community drinking water, you know,
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hometown of Hinckley in California.
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And it resulted in the largest financial settlement ever paid
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out in a direct action lawsuit in us history.
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Ever since that containment chromium six has been
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associated with Aaron's name. And just to recap,
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it was used to prevent corrosion in the cooling towers of the Hinckley
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compressor station, where a wastewater leaked into the groundwater.
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And she discovered that up to 30 years,
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her small town had been poisoned seriously affecting the health
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of so many residents. Now, the sad case of course,
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is that Erin and the case of Hinckley is not isolated
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as news of different kinds of contaminants emerge.
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One of the latest in our own backyard and Oakey Queensland and in
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Williamtown north of Newcastle.
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But before we can get stuck into environmental matters,
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I want to briefly discuss with, with you Aaron,
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the the political environment in your country, all,
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all of us here. Oh, watching it with fascinated horror.
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Now, when you and I first met about 10 years ago,
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I asked you then whether you were considering a political
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career and you were, you weren't sure
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isn't a time if you did get stuck. Yeah.
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[Inaudible] First of all, it was a pleasure to be here. Hello everybody.
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I'm Erin Brockovich, not Julia Roberts, just in case there's any connection.
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This is my first trip to Adelaide.
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I've been to Australia a lot and I have to tell you what it's,
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it's just lovely and it's a pleasure to be here, so good afternoon.
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And thank you for coming. Which do you want me to answer first?
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The state of affairs in America with Trump and Clinton, let's.
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Accept that as a given, I'm wanting to see whether you're going to change it
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by becoming a politician.
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Yeah. You know, I still do think about it.
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I'm up in DC a lot. I honestly don't know how they get anything done.
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When I am up there. It's hair-pulling experience.
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I thought I would run for Senator boxer's seat.
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She is finished and I changed my mind. I don't know that I was ready.
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I do believe that I can get more done on the outside.
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Sometimes when you get on the inside and you get all kinds of shackles on you
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and you can't get anything done most importantly, you have to behave.
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I don't always behave. Well. I try.
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And Senator Feinstein is retiring in two years and I've had a lot
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of people come and ask if I would really tear it,
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consider seriously running for her seat.
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So I'm thinking about it again, you.
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Were a supporter of Bernie Sanders, aren't you?
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I liked Bernie Sanders. I worked with Bernie before. He's just,
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he's genuine. He cares about the environment.
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He has a really good movement going.
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I will continue to work with him. He's back on the hill, but yeah,
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I know. Yeah.
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What I'm finding fascinating that's happening in America.
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And I think it happens in a lot of places.
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More recently is something that I've always wanted.
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I am an advocate for awareness and people.
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I think people have stopped believing in themselves and being active
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and being actively involved in who they're going to put into office.
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And whether it's Trump, Hillary, or Bernie,
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my fascination has been with the people and there is a movement going,
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people are frustrated, they're waking up. You know,
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I always tell people Superman's not coming.
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And we often think that agencies are there to protect us.
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And when we find out that they're not it wakes you up.
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And I think America is waking up to a lot of things with the establishment
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problems and fighting against them.
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And so the people are really out there using their voice and it will be
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interesting to see how it, it, it plays itself out. I'm,
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I'm frustrated though, with how the campaign's going.
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I feel like I'm watching high school children and you said this,
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and you said that I'd really like us to look at some of the issues.
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So all of us are,
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are not pleased with how this campaign cycle has been running at all.
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So I know I'm talking about several things here at once,
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and I will still consider maybe, maybe running for Senator.
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You.
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Reminding me backstage, that you were brought up in Republican household.
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I was.
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And you also reminded me that there was a time when there was the
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Republicans who were pushing for environmental rules.
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Yeah. Born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas university of Kansas.
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My mom was a journalist.
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My father was a mechanical engineer who worked for industry.
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I was raised by very staunch Republican man. Yet.
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He is the very one that taught me the values of water land,
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our environment, good health, and the most important gifts that we have,
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our family and our Republicans historically have
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implemented some of our best laws,
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the safe drinking act and saving our national forest.
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And they've kind of moved away from that platform.
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And for me, it should not be about politics.
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It does not matter what your party is.
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It does not matter how much money you have with the bank does not matter the
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color of your skin.
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We have a common denominator and we are all entitled to have
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clean water, good land and good health.
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And so I don't like politics coming into the environmental arena
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yet. It does.
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It is odd. In fact,
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it's more than a lot of it is appalling that climate change has hardly got a
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mention in the presidential debates.
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No climate change has gotten very little and it concerns me
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that the environment and the state of our water crisis in the United States has
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not been mentioned at all. And again,
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none of us, if we, if we continue to do what we're doing,
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none of us are going to live without water came over.
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And yet we don't have a conversation and we need to,
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there are solutions and there are ways.
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And that's the key word solutions. You know,
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we've not been solution-driven on these issues for a very long time,
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the elephants in the room, and we all walk around and fight about it,
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but nobody comes in and does anything about it.
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And that's what we have to get busy doing. Not only in America,
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but here and throughout the planet,
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we definitely have issues and his campaign. No,
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we've not talked about that at all. That's,
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what's been so sad about the campaign,
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certainly from my perspective is the immature tit for tat issues on who's said
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what, who slept with who and whatever else they want to talk about,
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but let's not talk about the water of the economy,
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the state of the health and the welfare of people in the country.
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So I'm, they're just not speaking about it.
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You don't think that Trump will call you to the white house.
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Trump?
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Yeah. Get you as his advisor.
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Doubtful.
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I just wanted to clarify that. Let's go back.
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Let's go back to Hinckley.
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I understand that these days it's almost a ghost town.
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Hinkley is a ghost town Hinckley's gone. It's done.
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After the film came out PGNE had to go back into Hinckley and buy up
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rest of the houses because the plume continued to March on the town
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is gone. The post office has gone. The schools are closed and
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PGE is looking down the barrel of a 250 year
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cleanup, 250 years.
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Many of these chemicals are very persistent in the environment
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and, you know, we do as backwards. You know,
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we we just throw chemicals out there and wait and see for us as Guinea pigs,
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what the result is.
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And I think that we need to study and understand these chemicals before we ever
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put them on the market. But Hinckley is virtually, it goes 10.
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It's gone. Sort.
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Of, it was fascinating that the LA times reported in 2015
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that the final cleanup plan was moving towards approval. But of course,
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by the time it gets underway, the community has vanished.
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Well again, you know bring up, you know,
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politicizing water or the environment in these chemicals is very frustrating
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because it takes agencies anywhere from 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 years to study
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just one chemical. And we've got 88,000 of them out on the market.
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And so there's a huge delay and a huge lag time.
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And we've got to find ways to,
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to speed that up,
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but we'll still be fighting about chemicals.
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Many of the people that you've helped over the years.
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Many of the people that you've fought for will be voting for Trump.
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And that comes as no surprise to you who doesn't because of the alienation,
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then their anger, their disappointments.
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Right. Well, I mean, people are frustrated. They're tired of the status quo.
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They're tired of the establishment and they want something to shake it up.
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Anybody to shake it up, even if it's Trump,
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they just are tired of it. And then I,
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I understand that. I mean, I bang my head against the wall. I'm like,
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here we go again. I just, I can't believe it. And it's,
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it's very frustrating.
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Do you have much confidence that Hillary Clinton will address these issues?
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I don't know. I don't know. You know, I'm disappointed.
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President Obama certainly ran a platform of environmental issues and he did
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good. I think he could have done some more. And I don't,
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I don't know that Hillary will. I, I'm just not certain.
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I w I wished I could say with certainty, I I'm uncertain about everything.
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Hell I think I'm just going to ride in a boat. I mean,
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we are all starting to feel that way.
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Aaron, the state of California set a safe drinking water
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standard of 10 parts, chromium six, 10 pads,
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chromium six per billion. But to many in the community,
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your level of 3.1 makes people anxious.
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Is there any such thing as a safe level of chromium six?
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There's see, that's the thing. There's no safe level of any chemical it's like,
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are you kidding me? A poison as a poison, as a poison all day long, right?
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I don't stop to ask if it's two parts per billion or 10 parts per billion.
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I just drank a poison. I don't want to drink a poison at any level.
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And, and we fought for 20 years to get a state
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maximum contaminant limit for hexavalent chromium, six set,
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20 years,
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we had the state brought in the top experts on hexavalent
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chromium and they set a public health goal of
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0.02 parts per billion. That's very low.
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And that is what's protective of the public health and welfare. Yeah.
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When they set the M C L because they knew most
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municipalities were going to exceed that limit.
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So for the sake of budgetary reasons and costs,
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they set the MCL at 10 parts per billion.
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That's still above what you just decided the public health goal
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was, is it's crazy. And sure enough
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when that goal got set,
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I can't tell you how many municipalities up and down the state of California
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clearly exceed the public health goal clearly exceed the 10 PPA
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B.
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And we have issues throughout the entire state of people who have been
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ingesting hexavalent chromium. Now, just recently,
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and I work a lot with the environmental working group out of Washington, DC.
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They took EPA data and the EPA has been
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sitting on it for a long time and put that information
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on a map
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218 million Americans are
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drinking varying levels of hexavalent chromium
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218 million. And we don't talk about it.
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We often discuss the phenomenon of what's called regulatory capture
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on the program.
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That's when an industry in fact takes over the regulator effectively,
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and it was seen vividly during the global financial crisis.
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Is there any degree of regulatory capture with the environmental
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protection agency? Hasn't been white anted?
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No, I could S I could probably pick on the EPA all day long.
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I don't know that I really like to,
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they have very well-meaning to people within that agency. They're overburdened,
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they're understaffed. They have no funding.
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They have 33,000 Superfund sites right now. They can't get to,
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it is a failed agency. We all know it.
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And I don't know that we need more regulations. What we need is enforcement.
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Nobody is out there and forcing these regulations that we've put into place.
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If we just did that, we might see some change.
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Through virtually no, no people to rest at noon.
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People charged with malfeasance after the, the GFC.
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Have there been significant charges in your country
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against people who are major polluters?
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No, we, we have seen a little movement, you know,
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lawsuits. Aren't always the answer.
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I've said many times that I think if criminal charges are filed,
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companies might start behaving a little better.
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If that CEO had to go to jail he might really consider what's going
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on in his company. And if there's a pollution issue,
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dealing with it very quickly,
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we did see some convictions on the river spill up
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in West Virginia minor, but they were still filed.
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Flint. Michigan has been heavily in the news.
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That was a situation that we called out a year before it happened.
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My water quality expert went to the city and wrote them a report on
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exactly how to deal with this.
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And they'd basically told us to go to hell and they did what they wanted to do
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anyway, that has resulted in a terrible disaster.
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And there have been some criminal charges filed,
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but not at the level it should have been.
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And that would be with the governor who knew what was going on,
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but other people have gone under the bus and there will be criminal charges.
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And we were in, in this instance, you're going to see some people go to jail.
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I want to talk briefly about another chemical PCBs
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ban by Congress. I think 40 years ago, as a cancer threat,
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a new logical problem. It still poses a serious threat,
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particularly to American school children.
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Pcbs. Yes, PCBs are in everything. And, you know,
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in Malibu high school,
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people don't realize that PCVs are in cocking that go around windows.
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So all these schools,
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when they're it's winter and rain and the schools are closed up and the kids are
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in there, this, these PCVs actually off gas.
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And yet we have,
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we're not coming in to look at a nationwide
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issue and removal of all caulking from schools.
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So PCBs are still in our environment in many
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of our products as is PF oh way.
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And that's another chemical per fluoro, Kaka tonic acid.
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It took me a while to learn how to say that one.
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High levels of the firefighting foam chemicals have been
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found in OGI in Queensland and north Newcastle,
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and also a military bases around the country.
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I understand that while the foam is no longer used by Australian defense forces,
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but there are similar cases in the us.
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Oh my gosh, PFO is a problem worldwide.
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It's been banned in the EU has been banned in the United States.
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I think you guys are now going to get rid of it. I think unfortunately,
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Australia has learned a very difficult lesson about this chemical that's in new
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south Wales. And, you know, there's advisories not to eat the oysters.
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It's very persistent in the environment.
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It will damage the food chain and it's not good to drink.
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And it is very toxic compound and an oaky.
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There's some of the highest levels we've ever seen of P F O A
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and here's what has to stop. And it was my recommendation.
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Get ahead of this right now,
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get to every military base,
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find out what your P F O A levels are.
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Get the communities advised immediately.
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That's the thing that was the problem.
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And oaky was the delay.
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And these people continued to drink this contaminant
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and consumers and communities can handle the
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truth,
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but you got to tell them the truth and you have to be transparent with them or
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otherwise they aren't able to protect and defend themselves.
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So the PFO is a problem in this country.
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You're going to probably find it at every military site.
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You're probably going to find it at a lot of airports,
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but you now know it's here got two aquifers right here in Adelaide.
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They're going to be closed down because of PFO contamination.
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You're not going to be able to use your bore.
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And there is a solution to this.
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It can be clean, even though it's very persistent in the environment,
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you can run filters, run those aquifers through them.
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It's going to be expensive. The Jimmy to get ahead of the problem.
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In the interest of disclosure, I think I should point out the Juul rum,
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the firm with which you were associated,
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shine lawyers are working on the proposition.
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The 200 oaky residents consider a class action lawsuit against the
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federal government. Given your experience,
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do you think class actions can be effective?
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They can, you know,
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the arm of the law is and can be an effective tool for the
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people, listen, an Oakey, you know, they've lost their land.
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They've lost their water. They could be losing their cattle.
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They've lost their health.
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They are clearly entitled and deserve legal
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protection. And so, yes,
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if they're handled appropriately they are there to
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help the people.
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So we we don't often do class actions in the United States when involved in
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environmental cases, we do direct action.
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So each person is heard as an individual.
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Each person has different varying levels of exposure and different amounts of
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time that they were exposed. And so we do direct actions.
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And in any settlement, based on your illness,
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how long, where you lived in a contaminated zone,
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if you're there 25 years and have cancer,
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you will get a higher dollar figure than somebody that moved there and lived
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there for six months and has no disease.
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So we don't do a lot of class actions in the us.
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You campaigned energetically against the worst excesses of fracking in the us.
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Fracking?
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Yeah.
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Well we have a, you know what, sometimes I have these conversations.
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I think this is very depressing.
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But having said that you, the people are the hope.
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And I mean that every time I get into a community and I see somebody speaking up
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and speaking out and taking charge it's always hopeful.
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I can share a lot of good stories with you that way.
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If fracking being one of them at fracking,
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we certainly are having problems in the United States with the water being
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contaminated people's Wells going dry.
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It takes millions of gallons of water to frack
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one. Well, and one, well can be fracked numerous times.
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00:25:28.540 --> 00:25:33.220
So it's untold the billions of gallons of
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water that have been used for fracking with up to 40,000
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chemicals involved that gets re-injected into the aquifer and it's going to
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pop up somewhere. And it always does. We're now dealing with,
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00:25:46.810 --> 00:25:51.730
because of the actual fracking specifically in Oklahoma earthquakes.
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So people's homes are being damaged, their water's being polluted,
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00:25:57.070 --> 00:26:01.570
but we have many states that have now
389
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banned fracking.
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We have many counties that have now banned fracking,
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and we have many communities really standing up and
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getting involved at a very, very local level,
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00:26:17.170 --> 00:26:20.620
your own city council or those permits first get had,
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and they're pushing back and they're actually winning.
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00:26:24.940 --> 00:26:27.850
So the hope always comes from the people.
396
00:26:28.120 --> 00:26:31.990
And I know that people are concerned about fracking in Australia.
397
00:26:32.320 --> 00:26:36.040
I know that no gate and I certainly support you,
398
00:26:36.041 --> 00:26:40.150
but it will be up to you to push back in your own community,
399
00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:44.700
to keep fracking at bay. And everybody's concerned about it.
400
00:26:44.701 --> 00:26:47.520
There's a right way to frack. There's a wrong way to frack.
401
00:26:47.521 --> 00:26:51.750
They always choose the wrong way to frack because it's the cheap way to frack.
402
00:26:52.260 --> 00:26:56.820
And I understand that we need energy,
403
00:26:57.150 --> 00:27:00.780
but we can't keep doing that
404
00:27:02.070 --> 00:27:05.370
and destroying our water and our people.
405
00:27:05.940 --> 00:27:09.930
So fracking comes with a lot of issues and people don't want it,
406
00:27:09.931 --> 00:27:12.150
but I will tell you, in the United States,
407
00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:17.520
they are very successful in communities and in states and they are banning it.
408
00:27:18.110 --> 00:27:18.380
Can I.
409
00:27:18.380 --> 00:27:23.360
Ask you a very personal question? What do you do with your nuclear waste?
410
00:27:26.180 --> 00:27:29.570
Well, apparently you bring it to Adelaide.
411
00:27:38.030 --> 00:27:40.130
Do y'all want that in your backyard?
412
00:27:42.590 --> 00:27:46.280
You know, I've, I've met with some of your environmental ministers and I'm like,
413
00:27:46.281 --> 00:27:49.490
you need to listen to the people.
414
00:27:50.930 --> 00:27:53.690
That's a no brainer. That's just a no brainer.
415
00:27:54.080 --> 00:27:57.890
It's not even your nuclear waste and you're going to bring it here to Australia.
416
00:27:58.220 --> 00:28:02.000
It's nuclear is dangerous,
417
00:28:02.060 --> 00:28:06.590
especially when there is an accident and there's no taking it back.
418
00:28:06.890 --> 00:28:11.000
We're dealing with a situation in Florida right now with mosaic.
419
00:28:11.060 --> 00:28:13.580
It's a big phosphorus mining company.
420
00:28:13.970 --> 00:28:18.110
They bring up the uranium and the radioactive waste and they store in
421
00:28:18.650 --> 00:28:21.350
ponds. They had a little problem,
422
00:28:22.130 --> 00:28:26.540
a huge sinkhole opened up underneath those ponds
423
00:28:26.930 --> 00:28:31.850
and all of that radio active waste went into the
424
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second, most prolific aquifer in the world.
425
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Can't take that back.
426
00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:45.020
We have to figure out as a world,
427
00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:49.550
how we are going to dispose of our hazardous
428
00:28:49.610 --> 00:28:54.140
waste and having a nuclear
429
00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:59.180
waste facility that isn't even yours in your backyard for me
430
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:03.800
is a, no-brainer no way, no, how fight like,
431
00:29:03.801 --> 00:29:05.930
hell, don't let it happen.
432
00:29:14.710 --> 00:29:15.580
Erin, don't hold back.
433
00:29:15.581 --> 00:29:19.960
So what you really think this is the festival of ideas and
434
00:29:19.961 --> 00:29:22.360
Adelaide, I guess, is here in Brooklyn bridge.
435
00:29:22.420 --> 00:29:26.350
And this is also a late night live.
436
00:29:26.410 --> 00:29:30.400
And that means it's time to hand over to the audience for questions.
437
00:29:30.910 --> 00:29:35.230
I understand that there are a number of microphones as one in the
438
00:29:35.231 --> 00:29:39.760
gods in the house and the, in the upper house is one in the Senate.
439
00:29:39.761 --> 00:29:44.650
And there's one on the rips. Can I see where the microphones are? Please?
440
00:29:47.140 --> 00:29:49.180
I cut this one there, ladies and gentlemen,
441
00:29:49.181 --> 00:29:53.950
if you'd like to interrogate Erin now is your opportunity. If you could,
442
00:29:54.270 --> 00:29:58.480
if you put your hands up, the microphone will be brought to you.
443
00:30:00.670 --> 00:30:05.110
Here we go is one brave hand on the left side of the
444
00:30:05.111 --> 00:30:07.300
auditorium, which speaks for itself.
445
00:30:09.510 --> 00:30:13.680
I will let you all know that I'm now a grandmother times three. That's
446
00:30:19.110 --> 00:30:19.943
fun fact.
447
00:30:22.710 --> 00:30:26.010
I was wondering when you were talking about enforcement,
448
00:30:26.310 --> 00:30:30.150
what you think about the situation in Brazil and the Brazilian government
449
00:30:30.180 --> 00:30:35.040
bringing some of the people in putting charges and some of the people
450
00:30:35.041 --> 00:30:37.830
responsible for that massive disaster
451
00:30:39.450 --> 00:30:42.600
in Brazil some of the people from BHP.
452
00:30:44.190 --> 00:30:46.530
Like I said earlier, we are seeing more of that.
453
00:30:46.531 --> 00:30:49.380
And I think it's something that needs to happen. I mean,
454
00:30:49.530 --> 00:30:54.420
sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a five-year-old could get all of us,
455
00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:58.590
told our kids pick up your mass. And I mean,
456
00:30:59.040 --> 00:31:03.030
these companies need to come in and pick up your mess.
457
00:31:03.060 --> 00:31:08.010
And if they don't and they knowingly have done this and harmed people,
458
00:31:08.280 --> 00:31:12.510
I think you're going to see more bringing them back in and holding them
459
00:31:12.511 --> 00:31:15.360
accountable in a criminal manner.
460
00:31:16.410 --> 00:31:20.730
So what do I think of it? Maybe it's high time.
461
00:31:22.770 --> 00:31:26.760
I think that it's, it's necessary to hold people accountable,
462
00:31:27.090 --> 00:31:31.860
especially when you knowingly because of a pollution issue and
463
00:31:31.890 --> 00:31:34.830
disaster harm people and take their life.
464
00:31:34.860 --> 00:31:38.190
I just think that you need to come clean up your mess and you need to be held
465
00:31:38.191 --> 00:31:43.150
accountable. Did that answer your question by the way? Hello? Did you,
466
00:31:43.151 --> 00:31:46.480
you went and sat down. Yes. Okay. Hi. hi.
467
00:31:46.690 --> 00:31:48.970
Erin, I'm a documentary filmmaker based here in Adelaide.
468
00:31:49.030 --> 00:31:53.770
And I've come to understand that the scientific community is
469
00:31:53.771 --> 00:31:58.300
often in quite a vulnerable position when it comes to the production of
470
00:31:58.301 --> 00:32:00.010
work that is of public good.
471
00:32:00.011 --> 00:32:04.630
Ultimately they're under economic pressure that comes from obviously
472
00:32:04.631 --> 00:32:07.420
within governance structures that they're answerable to.
473
00:32:08.410 --> 00:32:12.040
Do you have any stories you can relate where you've experienced scientists
474
00:32:12.041 --> 00:32:16.450
who've been under pressure and their work has either been compromised by being
475
00:32:16.451 --> 00:32:19.420
taken out of their hands or otherwise been interfered with.
476
00:32:20.950 --> 00:32:22.870
Well, I've always, yes. You know, we,
477
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:27.340
we see some of that in the United States and sometimes scientists do get paid
478
00:32:27.460 --> 00:32:29.830
and can do papers for the wrong reason,
479
00:32:29.831 --> 00:32:32.830
but there's really good scientists out there.
480
00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:37.360
I think oftentimes they don't have the data that they need
481
00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:42.950
for their, because, and I'm working on a map right now in the United States,
482
00:32:42.951 --> 00:32:45.560
we're going to build out a national registry base.
483
00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:47.330
Can you believe in the United States of America,
484
00:32:47.331 --> 00:32:50.480
we don't have a national cancer reporting registry database.
485
00:32:51.470 --> 00:32:56.210
And what we're learning through the map is people are migratory and they
486
00:32:56.211 --> 00:33:00.920
move away from a place and oftentimes long latency
487
00:33:00.921 --> 00:33:04.910
periods with chemicals. So we get a disease 20,
488
00:33:04.910 --> 00:33:09.590
25 years down the road, and people move away to, let's say Florida,
489
00:33:09.620 --> 00:33:12.170
but we're exposed in Hinkley, California. We'll never,
490
00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:13.490
we don't know those numbers.
491
00:33:13.491 --> 00:33:17.330
We need them to have a place to report what's going on,
492
00:33:17.331 --> 00:33:19.310
where they live and where they're from.
493
00:33:19.520 --> 00:33:23.900
So I think that there's a lot of missing data points available for science.
494
00:33:24.170 --> 00:33:27.800
We need to let science do its job. And in no way,
495
00:33:27.830 --> 00:33:32.000
do I think politics should come in and alter that
496
00:33:32.001 --> 00:33:33.530
information in any way,
497
00:33:33.531 --> 00:33:38.390
shape or form the scientists need to come out and get the information
498
00:33:38.391 --> 00:33:42.950
that they can. And nobody should be tainting with those,
499
00:33:43.760 --> 00:33:48.170
those reports. And I don't, I don't think agencies, no, no, no, no, no.
500
00:33:48.171 --> 00:33:53.090
That's not fair. No bad answers. No, no. See, now I'm going to get off.
501
00:33:53.091 --> 00:33:53.924
So
502
00:33:55.760 --> 00:33:59.750
we don't want to find that out that that's happening. But listen,
503
00:34:00.260 --> 00:34:03.440
science is here for us. There are really great people in science.
504
00:34:03.740 --> 00:34:06.230
I love the science. We want to work with the science,
505
00:34:06.470 --> 00:34:11.270
but they need the data and they don't need to be altered. Falsification.
506
00:34:11.271 --> 00:34:15.530
Falsification of reports is very bad. We're seeing that in the United States.
507
00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:17.880
And honestly, you're going to start doing stuff like that.
508
00:34:18.080 --> 00:34:20.090
You're another category you should go to jail too.
509
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:26.620
[Inaudible].
510
00:34:26.620 --> 00:34:30.130
The microphone in the house of reps is vacant,
511
00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:34.570
but I see a Senator wishes to raise a question, sir.
512
00:34:35.590 --> 00:34:39.580
Senator how kind. Erin,
513
00:34:39.910 --> 00:34:44.830
the issue of nuclear waste is is of course, sorry,
514
00:34:45.070 --> 00:34:47.230
up the top right up here.
515
00:34:48.010 --> 00:34:49.540
Yes. I was like, whoa.
516
00:34:55.780 --> 00:34:56.613
Hi.
517
00:34:57.790 --> 00:35:01.480
The nuclear waste issue is,
518
00:35:01.690 --> 00:35:05.710
is a problem for us all globally.
519
00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:11.890
We in this country have got a stable geological
520
00:35:11.891 --> 00:35:14.500
environment, particularly here in south Australia.
521
00:35:15.310 --> 00:35:19.600
We produce uranium and other
522
00:35:19.730 --> 00:35:24.640
radioactive products from medical waste and so on and so forth.
523
00:35:26.050 --> 00:35:28.900
Where, where would you, I mean, the tool,
524
00:35:28.901 --> 00:35:33.370
we get some other technology to solve the
525
00:35:33.371 --> 00:35:36.490
problem other than putting it in the ground.
526
00:35:37.290 --> 00:35:40.290
What else would you like to be done with it?
527
00:35:40.380 --> 00:35:45.180
And where do you think is, is it reasonable to, to say,
528
00:35:45.181 --> 00:35:49.710
well, the Japanese used the Dinair nuclear reactors.
529
00:35:50.070 --> 00:35:54.600
They can look after their waste. The country is too unstable for this.
530
00:35:55.080 --> 00:35:59.940
And that runs the risk of if there's another accent there or in
531
00:35:59.941 --> 00:36:01.380
other parts of California.
532
00:36:01.830 --> 00:36:04.020
We get the gist of the question, Erin.
533
00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:07.290
We will, you've got the gist of the question. Okay.
534
00:36:07.500 --> 00:36:10.440
Where else would you like it to be put?
535
00:36:11.570 --> 00:36:15.200
Well that's an excellent question, but not in my backyard,
536
00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:20.930
honestly. And, and I, I said earlier,
537
00:36:20.931 --> 00:36:25.820
the whole world has to deal with this issue of how we dispose of
538
00:36:25.821 --> 00:36:27.410
our hazardous waste.
539
00:36:28.220 --> 00:36:32.930
And it's concerning because we're having issues with that
540
00:36:32.931 --> 00:36:35.090
waste. Getting into the groundwater,
541
00:36:35.091 --> 00:36:39.740
we've all saw what happened in Fukushima and we're dealing with fallouts of
542
00:36:39.741 --> 00:36:43.700
that all the way in California. So it's a very serious,
543
00:36:43.701 --> 00:36:47.270
legitimate concern for all of us.
544
00:36:47.540 --> 00:36:50.540
Where are we dispose of it? I'm not really sure.
545
00:36:50.600 --> 00:36:55.310
I was short of shooting into outer space and that might not be
546
00:36:55.670 --> 00:36:59.900
about idea. It might not be a good idea. We don't want it raining nuclear on us.
547
00:37:00.260 --> 00:37:04.970
So the universe is.
548
00:37:05.690 --> 00:37:09.650
We don't want it in our black hole. No. Yeah.
549
00:37:10.550 --> 00:37:13.280
But you ask an excellent question.
550
00:37:13.310 --> 00:37:16.760
I wished I had a really good answer for you and I don't,
551
00:37:17.240 --> 00:37:21.890
but the conversation we have really seriously got to look
552
00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:26.840
at how and where we're going to dispose
553
00:37:26.841 --> 00:37:30.980
of all this hazardous waste that we have created and we cannot
554
00:37:31.460 --> 00:37:32.810
continue to use,
555
00:37:33.320 --> 00:37:38.150
or water supply is some massive filtration system to get rid of all of
556
00:37:38.151 --> 00:37:41.390
these chemicals. And it's,
557
00:37:42.950 --> 00:37:44.960
you know, there's other places,
558
00:37:44.961 --> 00:37:49.070
if we're going to have to store nuclear waste,
559
00:37:49.100 --> 00:37:53.930
it shouldn't be in communities that are full of people
560
00:37:54.710 --> 00:37:59.690
in their backyard. Maybe move it out to some serious,
561
00:37:59.990 --> 00:38:03.620
far away, Sahara deserts in a big,
562
00:38:03.650 --> 00:38:07.430
huge vault that can't be breached under any
563
00:38:07.431 --> 00:38:08.660
circumstances.
564
00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:13.400
This is questioning the question time in the reps.
565
00:38:15.050 --> 00:38:15.620
If someone.
566
00:38:15.620 --> 00:38:18.920
Would like to go to the microphone, I'm going to settle this matter once.
567
00:38:18.921 --> 00:38:22.070
And for all with a good, simple democratic vote,
568
00:38:22.670 --> 00:38:26.720
those in favor of a nuclear waste dump in south Australia,
569
00:38:26.750 --> 00:38:31.730
please put up your hands. No, it's just interesting.
570
00:38:32.540 --> 00:38:37.540
This, I think two and a half those opposed. Oh,
571
00:38:37.541 --> 00:38:41.920
DeRay, dear Eric, look at that matter. Mature 10,
572
00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:46.270
just for the radio listeners. I think you'd have to say it was overwhelmingly,
573
00:38:46.900 --> 00:38:51.250
overwhelmingly against, but perhaps this is that sort of audience, Madam.
574
00:38:52.200 --> 00:38:55.740
Given the URI successful environmental campaigner,
575
00:38:55.980 --> 00:39:00.390
and we are currently faced with the possibility of a high level
576
00:39:00.391 --> 00:39:05.280
radioactive dumped in south Australia and a media blackout that won't
577
00:39:05.281 --> 00:39:09.810
report anything except something on page nine at the bottom left-hand side.
578
00:39:10.200 --> 00:39:14.250
Can you give us some strategies as to how we can get our message out there about
579
00:39:14.251 --> 00:39:18.690
how dangerous this is? Because there's way too much pro stuff going out there.
580
00:39:18.691 --> 00:39:21.720
That's persuading people that this might be okay.
581
00:39:22.830 --> 00:39:25.170
Well that's an excellent question
582
00:39:28.410 --> 00:39:31.410
again in your communities, you know,
583
00:39:31.620 --> 00:39:36.000
we have found something that's very effective and that's getting communities to
584
00:39:36.001 --> 00:39:40.890
do a Facebook page where anybody who has concerns can
585
00:39:40.891 --> 00:39:45.210
go and know where other community members are, where they stand.
586
00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:50.340
You could provide information out there and awareness for them as
587
00:39:50.341 --> 00:39:54.720
to what's going on the pros and the cons. And you know,
588
00:39:54.750 --> 00:39:56.400
by way of example, in Fridley,
589
00:39:56.401 --> 00:39:59.820
Minnesota we have a huge TCE contamination.
590
00:39:59.821 --> 00:40:03.090
There's about six defendants. There's not going to be any lawsuit.
591
00:40:03.510 --> 00:40:05.940
The state and the agencies have failed them.
592
00:40:06.240 --> 00:40:10.590
And they created a Facebook and boy, how did they get strong?
593
00:40:10.620 --> 00:40:12.990
And now people are more informed.
594
00:40:13.500 --> 00:40:18.120
I've seen the women in the United States of America who had the east shirt
595
00:40:18.150 --> 00:40:22.350
procedure, which is a medical device gone very bad.
596
00:40:22.590 --> 00:40:24.450
And as a form of birth control,
597
00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:28.620
they are 50,000 strong.
598
00:40:28.950 --> 00:40:31.740
When you guys get in numbers,
599
00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:36.720
you will be heard 50,000 women strong and growing
600
00:40:37.080 --> 00:40:40.890
the information and the facts that they haven't gotten out there on their
601
00:40:40.891 --> 00:40:45.780
Facebook page has now gotten them at a congressional
602
00:40:45.781 --> 00:40:50.430
level. They are being heard by the FDA,
603
00:40:50.640 --> 00:40:55.260
by senators, they're introducing legislation and bills.
604
00:40:55.410 --> 00:40:59.850
So in your community to get the word out, do a Facebook page,
605
00:41:00.150 --> 00:41:04.950
do posters go down to your local council.
606
00:41:04.980 --> 00:41:09.720
And again, we've had moments that are amazing
607
00:41:11.400 --> 00:41:16.320
shell and Carson, California. They weren't doing their job,
608
00:41:16.321 --> 00:41:19.770
the city council level. Have you ever been used city council meeting?
609
00:41:21.300 --> 00:41:23.190
No. Most of you now let me do,
610
00:41:23.220 --> 00:41:26.790
let me tell you what all they do is hear themselves talk in there because if you
611
00:41:26.791 --> 00:41:31.500
don't show up, they don't know what's going on. So in the situation in Carson,
612
00:41:31.501 --> 00:41:32.334
California,
613
00:41:33.020 --> 00:41:37.520
4,000 residents showed up
614
00:41:37.760 --> 00:41:42.590
by God. They were heard, then next day it changed.
615
00:41:42.860 --> 00:41:45.200
And that's what you need to do.
616
00:41:45.410 --> 00:41:50.390
Think of all of you in this room and getting out and campaigning or going to a
617
00:41:50.391 --> 00:41:54.230
Facebook page or letting your neighbor know in
618
00:41:54.231 --> 00:41:55.610
numbers,
619
00:41:55.880 --> 00:41:59.600
get a petition and start circulating it,
620
00:41:59.630 --> 00:42:02.090
go door to door. That's what I did.
621
00:42:02.840 --> 00:42:07.130
And you'll be heard it, the masses get heard, but right now,
622
00:42:07.131 --> 00:42:11.990
if it's fragmented and there's just a few, it doesn't get heard.
623
00:42:12.020 --> 00:42:16.010
So those are a few of the things that communities we've worked with have done,
624
00:42:16.280 --> 00:42:20.840
and they have been successful in getting the word out, start a petition,
625
00:42:20.841 --> 00:42:25.070
start a Facebook, get together as Adelaide,
626
00:42:25.280 --> 00:42:28.700
go door to door. If you have to get your facts information,
627
00:42:28.701 --> 00:42:30.770
be armed and go do it.
628
00:42:31.040 --> 00:42:34.010
And you'll be really surprised in the masses.
629
00:42:34.310 --> 00:42:38.030
I would think that you're going to be effective, get it to go to a boat.
630
00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:39.800
Push really hard.
631
00:42:41.200 --> 00:42:45.610
Yes. In the Southeast, there has been shell gas exploration.
632
00:42:45.850 --> 00:42:50.440
This is part of south Australia's 4.6% prime
633
00:42:50.441 --> 00:42:51.550
agricultural land.
634
00:42:52.240 --> 00:42:57.190
Normally we're recognized as the dry state and the driest inhabited continent
635
00:42:57.191 --> 00:43:00.280
in the world. We've had flooding down there,
636
00:43:00.370 --> 00:43:02.290
which has been quite unusual.
637
00:43:02.530 --> 00:43:07.000
It's an area of limestone and Western coals are occurring right now.
638
00:43:07.780 --> 00:43:12.610
And we've had two Wells drilled down there to four kilometers
639
00:43:12.611 --> 00:43:13.930
below the surface.
640
00:43:14.560 --> 00:43:17.770
The wastewater was removed from the pond.
641
00:43:18.100 --> 00:43:19.960
They nearly had overflowing. And I,
642
00:43:20.230 --> 00:43:23.620
I spoke to the government and the EPA on this and,
643
00:43:23.770 --> 00:43:28.600
and the company involved that was moved under an EPA
644
00:43:28.720 --> 00:43:32.890
emergency license to another pond for fear of overflowing.
645
00:43:32.891 --> 00:43:37.690
And this is a couple of years ago that wastewater has now been
646
00:43:37.720 --> 00:43:42.130
spread on agricultural land down there untreated.
647
00:43:42.520 --> 00:43:46.780
And there are a number of chemicals and contaminants that have not been tested
648
00:43:46.781 --> 00:43:51.460
for how many cases or what cases you're
649
00:43:51.461 --> 00:43:52.294
aware of,
650
00:43:52.420 --> 00:43:57.310
where chemicals and contaminants turn up in water or soil.
651
00:43:57.460 --> 00:44:02.410
Some years later when the companies may not exist
652
00:44:02.411 --> 00:44:03.244
anymore,
653
00:44:03.340 --> 00:44:08.230
or whether the petroleum or mining companies have left long ago,
654
00:44:08.800 --> 00:44:10.540
and who takes care of that?
655
00:44:12.010 --> 00:44:15.910
I could tell you that scenario is probably most of the United States of America
656
00:44:16.330 --> 00:44:17.920
and these chemicals.
657
00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:22.240
It is really it's common sense.
658
00:44:22.330 --> 00:44:27.310
And I get this all the time and I do want to share this with the community
659
00:44:27.311 --> 00:44:32.310
here tonight. I can't tell you how many times has said to me,
660
00:44:33.750 --> 00:44:38.370
or hasn't heard me or a community because we're
661
00:44:38.371 --> 00:44:42.780
not scientists and we're not doctors and we're not
662
00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:47.310
lawyers and we're not politicians. Therefore, what do we know?
663
00:44:49.170 --> 00:44:52.650
I don't have to be nor do any of you,
664
00:44:53.130 --> 00:44:57.000
any of that to be a human being.
665
00:44:57.660 --> 00:45:02.610
And to know that when you inject chemicals deep down into
666
00:45:02.611 --> 00:45:03.930
a groundwater aquifer,
667
00:45:04.200 --> 00:45:08.340
that they're going to pop up somewhere else and be a problem.
668
00:45:08.910 --> 00:45:12.750
And this is what I want all of you to go away today,
669
00:45:12.751 --> 00:45:16.140
knowing you can change things.
670
00:45:16.410 --> 00:45:21.180
It may not happen as fast as you want. You may want to give up,
671
00:45:21.210 --> 00:45:24.390
but if you stick together for the long haul,
672
00:45:25.110 --> 00:45:28.170
something will give and something will change.
673
00:45:28.650 --> 00:45:30.180
And in the United States of America,
674
00:45:30.181 --> 00:45:34.470
we see scenarios playing themselves out like that everywhere.
675
00:45:34.980 --> 00:45:39.150
This is why the EPA is in the position they're in with
676
00:45:39.180 --> 00:45:43.020
33,000 Superfund sites. There's no funding for them.
677
00:45:43.200 --> 00:45:44.700
There's no support for them.
678
00:45:45.060 --> 00:45:49.860
We're waiting for all this magic to happen from the top and trickle down.
679
00:45:50.220 --> 00:45:53.340
It's not working out, is it? I'll tell you what will work out.
680
00:45:53.970 --> 00:45:58.680
It starts in your backyard and at a very local level
681
00:45:58.950 --> 00:46:03.210
there's things that you can do in your city council there's cleanup programs
682
00:46:03.211 --> 00:46:06.150
that you can initiate. There's laws that can be passed.
683
00:46:06.570 --> 00:46:09.420
Imagine if every one of us did that,
684
00:46:09.570 --> 00:46:14.550
we would light up and we would be able to begin to tackle some of these
685
00:46:14.580 --> 00:46:19.230
issues. And so when the EPA is absent for us, you know,
686
00:46:19.231 --> 00:46:22.050
we'll have communities say, Ooh, the EPA is here. Well,
687
00:46:22.051 --> 00:46:24.480
that's the kiss of death because nothing's going to get done. Now,
688
00:46:26.700 --> 00:46:29.880
we're going to have to start doing it ourselves when I'm I'm serious.
689
00:46:29.881 --> 00:46:33.960
When I tell you Superman's not coming and I'm serious when I tell you tag,
690
00:46:34.020 --> 00:46:38.520
you are it. And so there will be frustration,
691
00:46:38.850 --> 00:46:42.780
but you can get the information. You can get a community together.
692
00:46:42.810 --> 00:46:46.470
You can get to city council and there's things that you can do.
693
00:46:46.650 --> 00:46:49.350
You know what everyone thinks it's so overwhelming.
694
00:46:49.530 --> 00:46:51.030
Cause we have to save the world.
695
00:46:51.270 --> 00:46:56.190
We're going to begin to do that by saving yourself first and what's happening
696
00:46:56.191 --> 00:46:59.910
in your backyard. And so yes,
697
00:46:59.911 --> 00:47:03.240
when you re-inject chemicals deep into an aquifer,
698
00:47:03.300 --> 00:47:06.900
I guarantee you we're going to be watching it happen right now.
699
00:47:07.140 --> 00:47:11.160
They are going to pop up and they're going to pop their ugly head up somewhere.
700
00:47:11.670 --> 00:47:14.670
And they've probably already passed through people's bores and people
701
00:47:14.671 --> 00:47:19.500
unknowingly have already been exposed. So I am really, really, really,
702
00:47:19.501 --> 00:47:24.090
really learning that these permits are happening at a very local
703
00:47:24.091 --> 00:47:27.420
level. And that's where you have to get in and do the work.
704
00:47:27.870 --> 00:47:29.830
I'll share something very with you.
705
00:47:30.100 --> 00:47:32.890
And I will tell you that almost 10 times out of 10,
706
00:47:33.220 --> 00:47:38.110
it's a woman that gets in there.
707
00:47:39.370 --> 00:47:40.540
It's true.
708
00:47:41.920 --> 00:47:46.750
Every single time off a mama, get out of their way.
709
00:47:47.080 --> 00:47:50.650
I'm not kidding. We know it. And Hannibal,
710
00:47:50.651 --> 00:47:53.920
Missouri chloramines are a big issue.
711
00:47:53.950 --> 00:47:56.050
You're starting to use chloramines here.
712
00:47:56.260 --> 00:48:00.220
They're a very big problem in the United States and in Hannibal, Missouri,
713
00:48:00.940 --> 00:48:02.620
these communities. And first of all,
714
00:48:02.621 --> 00:48:05.770
we have a lead and copper rule in the United States.
715
00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:09.790
And most people don't realize that you only have to test for lead once every
716
00:48:09.791 --> 00:48:13.630
four years, that's it. And then when you do test for it,
717
00:48:13.631 --> 00:48:15.310
you can take an average.
718
00:48:15.430 --> 00:48:18.520
So somebody that really has heightened lead levels in their water,
719
00:48:18.910 --> 00:48:23.050
you won't ever know because they just average the numbers. So in Hannibal,
720
00:48:23.051 --> 00:48:23.621
Missouri,
721
00:48:23.621 --> 00:48:28.120
a group of about five moms that I don't want this in my water.
722
00:48:28.540 --> 00:48:32.830
So they raised a little bit of money. They went around town,
723
00:48:33.040 --> 00:48:34.870
they got a petition going,
724
00:48:35.260 --> 00:48:39.460
they went to city council and they weren't going to go
725
00:48:39.461 --> 00:48:43.210
away. And it went to a vote.
726
00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:46.720
They no longer have chloramines in their water.
727
00:48:46.780 --> 00:48:51.160
And two of those women now sit on city
728
00:48:51.220 --> 00:48:55.660
council and they made a change and you can do that.
729
00:48:55.661 --> 00:48:59.320
This is the hope, and there are steps that you can take.
730
00:49:00.370 --> 00:49:04.300
So I, I hope that helps all of you. And I wish that I,
731
00:49:04.390 --> 00:49:08.800
and I won't always have an answer. None of us will, but I do know this.
732
00:49:09.100 --> 00:49:13.660
If we, we just get complacent and we think someone's going to fix it for us
733
00:49:14.650 --> 00:49:17.650
and we give up and go away, we lose hope.
734
00:49:18.010 --> 00:49:20.860
Then we're done and we can never do that.
735
00:49:21.040 --> 00:49:24.730
And I am every single time I go out to a community,
736
00:49:24.790 --> 00:49:29.410
I am inspired by what these people do and what they will fight
737
00:49:29.411 --> 00:49:32.290
for. And they stay with it for the long haul.
738
00:49:32.320 --> 00:49:36.520
They don't back down and in the end they get a
739
00:49:36.521 --> 00:49:39.190
change and they have been effective.
740
00:49:39.610 --> 00:49:44.230
And so really it does start with just one person and that one
741
00:49:44.231 --> 00:49:48.580
person could be you or every one of you in this room.
742
00:49:49.770 --> 00:49:53.160
It's quite clear that Julia Roberts wasn't up to the task.
743
00:49:53.190 --> 00:49:56.010
Only Erin can play Erin.
744
00:49:56.460 --> 00:49:59.220
This is a Adelaide festival of ideas.
745
00:49:59.310 --> 00:50:04.020
The theme is make or break it's question time, Madam. Hi there.
746
00:50:04.680 --> 00:50:08.640
My name is Lisa. I live in port Augusta, a small town north of Adelaide.
747
00:50:09.360 --> 00:50:13.380
And we've had I've been involved in a campaign there for the last five years to
748
00:50:13.381 --> 00:50:18.120
transition from a coal fired power station to a clean, renewable solar,
749
00:50:18.121 --> 00:50:19.140
thermal power station.
750
00:50:19.260 --> 00:50:23.820
And it's been a long road and I know that there's lots of campaigners and
751
00:50:24.930 --> 00:50:26.970
environmentalist in this room today. So I just thought, I'd just,
752
00:50:27.410 --> 00:50:30.830
what is it that sustains you on the long, long road.
753
00:50:32.480 --> 00:50:36.320
That keeps me on the inspiration that keeps me going,
754
00:50:37.430 --> 00:50:40.050
oh, I can think of a whole lot, you know,
755
00:50:40.100 --> 00:50:44.480
it was just recently it wasn't that recently go there.
756
00:50:44.481 --> 00:50:48.860
A documentary came out called baby boomers and I got a phone
757
00:50:48.861 --> 00:50:51.200
call and they're like, you know,
758
00:50:51.260 --> 00:50:55.550
we've picked you to be one of the baby boomers that, you know,
759
00:50:55.551 --> 00:50:58.820
made a difference and I'm like, you've called the wrong number.
760
00:50:58.821 --> 00:51:02.330
I'm not a baby boomer. They're like, yeah, Erin, you are...
761
00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:08.470
Wow, that caught up with me.
762
00:51:11.830 --> 00:51:16.150
But they asked me a question very similar to that. And,
763
00:51:16.151 --> 00:51:19.750
but here's what they says asked. And here's what I'll ask all of you,
764
00:51:21.400 --> 00:51:24.940
what will be your legacy? And I get, I do,
765
00:51:24.941 --> 00:51:28.720
I get very emotional what keeps me going, what will be my legacy?
766
00:51:30.130 --> 00:51:32.950
I have the cutest little grandchildren,
767
00:51:33.910 --> 00:51:35.560
grace and Molly and Charlie,
768
00:51:37.120 --> 00:51:42.010
if we don't continue to find our inspiration and our
769
00:51:42.011 --> 00:51:45.580
hope for them and change,
770
00:51:46.600 --> 00:51:51.370
we leave a bad legacy and I don't want to be a part of
771
00:51:51.371 --> 00:51:55.870
that. And I look at all of us and that is my hope.
772
00:51:56.320 --> 00:51:57.400
That was my inspiration.
773
00:51:57.820 --> 00:52:02.290
And I look into those grandchildren's eyes and I will go down
774
00:52:02.291 --> 00:52:03.100
fighting.
775
00:52:03.100 --> 00:52:07.690
And I mean that to make sure that they have a decent enough planet
776
00:52:08.230 --> 00:52:11.860
and a safe environment to live in long after I am gone.
777
00:52:12.190 --> 00:52:14.560
So that's what keep me going.
778
00:52:19.030 --> 00:52:21.730
Hi, I'm really nervous right now. You're like my idol.
779
00:52:23.320 --> 00:52:25.110
That's okay. I'm crying now. So it's no problem.
780
00:52:26.380 --> 00:52:27.213
My
781
00:52:28.331 --> 00:52:31.750
question for you is what would you personally do to help save our great barrier
782
00:52:31.751 --> 00:52:32.920
reef? Oh.
783
00:52:32.920 --> 00:52:37.030
I love your great barrier reef, everything, everything that you can possibly do,
784
00:52:37.600 --> 00:52:42.220
everything I know climate change is a huge problem.
785
00:52:42.640 --> 00:52:47.290
Anything that you can remove that eases the stress on your great barrier
786
00:52:47.291 --> 00:52:50.530
reef? It's, it's a huge task.
787
00:52:50.910 --> 00:52:53.800
I know that there's a portion of it that is already dead.
788
00:52:53.801 --> 00:52:58.510
There's a lot of bleaching that's going on, but anything that eases that burden,
789
00:52:58.780 --> 00:53:03.010
I would hope that you would all come to do and to aide that
790
00:53:03.011 --> 00:53:04.900
incredible, incredible,
791
00:53:04.901 --> 00:53:09.370
incredible gift from God that most gorgeous resource that you have right here
792
00:53:09.371 --> 00:53:13.300
off of your coast. Anything that you can do to be involved,
793
00:53:13.330 --> 00:53:17.410
whether you go out there or signing petitions or educating
794
00:53:17.411 --> 00:53:18.430
yourself,
795
00:53:18.730 --> 00:53:22.510
making certain that your government in fact is God,
796
00:53:22.540 --> 00:53:27.210
it's arms wrapped around that and everything you can do to protect and
797
00:53:27.211 --> 00:53:30.330
preserve it and prevent further damage from happening.
798
00:53:30.810 --> 00:53:33.830
It's a glorious, glorious, yeah. Left.
799
00:53:34.850 --> 00:53:35.720
Listening to that.
800
00:53:35.721 --> 00:53:40.130
I've decided to change my name by deed poll to Paula Adams.
801
00:53:41.240 --> 00:53:42.073
Madam
802
00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:48.440
last chances to ask questions. Yes, please.
803
00:53:50.240 --> 00:53:54.290
Going back to the nuclear dump proposed for south Australia again.
804
00:53:55.100 --> 00:53:59.360
This is a question on manufacturing consent today.
805
00:53:59.361 --> 00:54:03.410
An Aboriginal person raised a concern with me that a delegation came to their
806
00:54:03.411 --> 00:54:06.470
community, talking about the proposed nuclear dump.
807
00:54:07.580 --> 00:54:11.810
They were left feeling that the visit was a tick, the box exercise.
808
00:54:12.140 --> 00:54:15.440
So for this visit, they got themselves two ticks,
809
00:54:15.800 --> 00:54:20.360
one for community consultation and one for consulting in Aboriginal
810
00:54:20.361 --> 00:54:21.194
community.
811
00:54:21.560 --> 00:54:25.790
Although the Aboriginal community didn't feel that they had been consulted.
812
00:54:26.660 --> 00:54:31.190
What advice or comment can you make for these communities?
813
00:54:33.230 --> 00:54:37.040
I'm not sure how to answer that. They're not getting information.
814
00:54:37.880 --> 00:54:41.990
It's called manufacturing consent where there's a token
815
00:54:41.991 --> 00:54:45.590
process of going out and consulting with the community,
816
00:54:45.950 --> 00:54:49.040
but it's not really consulting with the community.
817
00:54:50.540 --> 00:54:54.290
So it's to be able to say that they have done this and the community said, yeah,
818
00:54:54.291 --> 00:54:57.560
it's okay, go ahead. Do it. When they really didn't.
819
00:54:59.050 --> 00:55:01.370
Are, is this an agency that's doing this?
820
00:55:01.580 --> 00:55:03.200
It's a government government department.
821
00:55:03.950 --> 00:55:08.810
It's a fake process of consultation, a fake process,
822
00:55:08.811 --> 00:55:13.520
a pseudo process of consultation and government agencies
823
00:55:13.640 --> 00:55:15.050
around the country do it.
824
00:55:15.860 --> 00:55:18.770
And they come along to an individual to immunity,
825
00:55:18.771 --> 00:55:22.880
to a group and they have a bit of a chat and they say,
826
00:55:22.881 --> 00:55:24.770
see you later, nothing changes,
827
00:55:24.771 --> 00:55:28.910
but they can tick their apparatchik box.
828
00:55:29.420 --> 00:55:33.980
The due process has been observed. It must be a common phenomenon in the us.
829
00:55:36.560 --> 00:55:37.393
You know,
830
00:55:38.060 --> 00:55:41.900
one thing that comes to my mind that that is helpful to spread a word like that
831
00:55:41.901 --> 00:55:46.460
is media. And they can,
832
00:55:46.490 --> 00:55:49.130
because sometimes you need a broader awareness.
833
00:55:49.430 --> 00:55:53.690
So have there been local reporters in and around these
834
00:55:53.691 --> 00:55:58.370
communities that you can reach out to that could cover this story to
835
00:55:58.371 --> 00:56:01.100
help get a larger.
836
00:56:02.040 --> 00:56:04.400
I think the answer to that is pretty much, no.
837
00:56:05.360 --> 00:56:06.170
Yeah, that's right.
838
00:56:06.170 --> 00:56:07.003
No?
839
00:56:11.510 --> 00:56:13.290
Sorry. You can't be heard...
840
00:56:13.850 --> 00:56:16.340
Yeah, she's saying, I can hear, they won't print the stories.
841
00:56:16.990 --> 00:56:18.260
They won't print the stories.
842
00:56:21.020 --> 00:56:25.270
It may be is it may, could still be some of the process again, you know,
843
00:56:26.290 --> 00:56:29.650
when I did my work in Hinkley, isn't it amazing.
844
00:56:29.651 --> 00:56:32.440
We have this incredible technology right at our hands,
845
00:56:32.500 --> 00:56:37.280
whether you get a Facebook going or tweet some information out,
846
00:56:37.330 --> 00:56:41.740
a lot of people aren't using that. It's amazing to me today,
847
00:56:41.770 --> 00:56:46.540
sometimes still the good old fashioned way to do it is hands on and door to
848
00:56:46.541 --> 00:56:51.400
door and you yourself or your neighbors going out to
849
00:56:51.401 --> 00:56:56.260
let people be advised of a situation like this and that it's
850
00:56:56.261 --> 00:56:59.560
happening. And isn't it really though the truth.
851
00:56:59.561 --> 00:57:03.010
We have all this great technology and yet we're still not really talking to each
852
00:57:03.011 --> 00:57:07.780
other. And we still really don't know a lot of information. So
853
00:57:09.750 --> 00:57:14.130
door to door, hands-on person to person, the old fashioned way,
854
00:57:15.130 --> 00:57:17.970
doesn't history repeat itself, and things come back in a cycle.
855
00:57:17.971 --> 00:57:22.440
I'm hoping that some of this, you know, common sense stuff door to door
856
00:57:23.670 --> 00:57:28.230
grassroots and pull your boots up and get
857
00:57:28.231 --> 00:57:32.820
marching comes back because even in all this
858
00:57:32.821 --> 00:57:36.030
technology, we still aren't communicating that well.
859
00:57:38.010 --> 00:57:40.230
I think this will be the final question.
860
00:57:42.390 --> 00:57:43.040
Hi Erin.
861
00:57:43.040 --> 00:57:47.930
I've been interested hearing about your concerns in regards to certain
862
00:57:47.931 --> 00:57:51.650
forms of nonrenewable and clean energy sources.
863
00:57:51.651 --> 00:57:56.360
So I'm wondering what types of renewable and clean energy sources
864
00:57:56.361 --> 00:57:59.030
you promote or are you excited about?
865
00:58:01.820 --> 00:58:04.070
Well, you know, I think solar's kind of interesting,
866
00:58:04.071 --> 00:58:08.750
you know in the U S solar panels and that's a good
867
00:58:08.751 --> 00:58:11.990
form of renewable energy.
868
00:58:13.040 --> 00:58:17.480
That's an excellent question. I'll have to think about that.
869
00:58:19.610 --> 00:58:24.290
Solar comes to mind right away for new, renewable energy. You know, we,
870
00:58:25.910 --> 00:58:30.350
we have energy sources that, that are fine.
871
00:58:30.950 --> 00:58:32.570
We've come a really long way,
872
00:58:33.320 --> 00:58:36.980
but we're going to have to make some amendments and changes in some of these
873
00:58:36.981 --> 00:58:39.410
energy sources and how we get them.
874
00:58:39.830 --> 00:58:44.140
And as we extract them to strike a balance of the,
875
00:58:44.150 --> 00:58:49.010
how we protect the environment and our water supply
876
00:58:49.340 --> 00:58:53.840
and our health and our welfare, and that's really, what's been missing a lot of,
877
00:58:53.841 --> 00:58:57.050
some of the energy out there is perfectly fine and acceptable,
878
00:58:57.051 --> 00:58:58.430
and we all know that,
879
00:58:59.630 --> 00:59:03.860
but we're going to have to find a better balance. We can't, it's,
880
00:59:04.220 --> 00:59:08.420
it's the system, the scales are tipped really unfairly. And again,
881
00:59:08.421 --> 00:59:13.310
we talk about fracking and these companies need to come in and we all understand
882
00:59:13.311 --> 00:59:17.900
that we need energy and we want energy that we're going to have to strike a
883
00:59:17.901 --> 00:59:20.570
balance of how we get that,
884
00:59:21.050 --> 00:59:26.030
where we dispose of it and make the priority of the environment in our
885
00:59:26.031 --> 00:59:30.200
health first and their profitability
886
00:59:30.440 --> 00:59:31.273
second.
887
00:59:31.760 --> 00:59:36.050
And so we need to work on how we're going to find that balance.
888
00:59:36.110 --> 00:59:40.580
And so there are some new energy sources out there. I am a fan of solar.
889
00:59:41.060 --> 00:59:45.710
And some of what we have is clearly obviously acceptable,
890
00:59:46.190 --> 00:59:49.980
but some of the things and how we're obtaining it or not. And we,
891
00:59:49.981 --> 00:59:52.550
we have to work on that and change our mindsets.
892
00:59:53.110 --> 00:59:57.070
We're at an event where the energy is generated by ideas.
893
00:59:57.071 --> 01:00:01.270
It's the Adelaide festival of ideas. I think the festival,
894
01:00:01.660 --> 01:00:04.720
I thank the audience and Erin, I thank you.
895
01:00:05.920 --> 01:00:07.870
It was a pleasure to be here.
896
01:00:15.910 --> 01:00:15.910
[inaudible].