Jan 31, 2025 5 min read Culture

January Newsletter: Flood risks in East Brisbane/Woolloongabba, boarding house exploitation, cultural impacts of West End gentrification, Olympic submissions and upcoming events

Hey everyone,

It was great to see so many of you at the Invasion Day march last Sunday. I'm pressed for time, so I'll have to keep this update short. I'll save the long rants about Donald Trump, Peter Dutton and rising fascism for my next newsletter.

Below you can find a bunch of recent articles that I'm really proud to share with you. I'd particularly love it if people left comments and reflections on my piece about how gentrification has changed the culture of the Kurilpa peninsula on Brisbane's inner-south side.

I also wanted to invite you to a few upcoming events...

Speak out against wasteful Olympic stadiums

Tomorrow morning (Saturday, 1 February), I'll be speaking in Barrambin/Victoria Park at a community event to demonstrate opposition to proposals to build multiple Olympic stadiums and facilities over most of this special inner-city parkland. Many of you will have read my article from July last year explaining why Barrambin/Victoria Park should be restored as a natural green space rather than filled with Olympic venues.

Please join me at 'Gumtree Grove' in Victoria Park from 9:30am (I believe the Greens are organising a free BBQ). More details via the Save Victoria Park Facebook page.

Come see my hip-hop band Rivermouth

On Friday, 7 February, I'll be rapping and sharing poetry with my band Rivermouth as part of Foco Neuvo - a backyard community gig at 31 Arras St, Yeronga. We're sharing the stage with another great local folk music project, Jumping Fences. Doors open at 6pm. Admission is $15. You pay at the door, but the organisers would still appreciate if you can register online as capacity is limited.

This will be our first gig since releasing our latest single about the housing crisis. I'd love it if you could join us!

Stand against transphobia

On Saturday, 8 February, hundreds (hopefully thousands) of people will gather at Speakers Corner outside Queensland Parliament House from 10am to protest the LNP's attacks on trans kids' access to healthcare.

The government's decision to deny puberty blockers to kids experiencing gender dysphoria has been strongly critiqued by medical experts. It's obvious that the LNP are borrowing from the tactics of Donald Trump and other fascists to divide communities by targeting vulnerable minorities.

I think this is a very important political moment in Queensland where we all need to stand together and push back against the far right. Even if you don't know very much about trans healthcare and gender dysphoria, please come along to listen to the speakers, inform yourself and stand in solidarity.

Protests are being organised across the country. More details via the Trans Justice Project website.

Join me for letter-writing in support of Remah Naji

My good friend (and staunch Palestinian activist) Remah is running for parliament in the federal seat of Moreton on Brisbane's south side (stretching from Fairfield and Annerley down to Kuraby and Eight Mile Plains).

For anyone who lives in the Moreton electorate, I'm running a letter-writing workshop (and facilitating a general political discussion) on the evening of Monday, 10 February from 6:30 to 8:30pm. The goal is for residents across the electorate to write to their neighbours encouraging them to consider voting for Remah and the Greens. We'll be meeting at Annerley Hall (next to the Annerley Library) at 8 Waldheim Street.

If you'd like to catch up face-to-face with other politically conscious southside residents, and take some practical steps to help get Remah into parliament, this will be a good session to get along to. Please register via this link.

Ok that'll do for events. Here are some of my recent articles to check out. Even if you don't have time for them right now, you might like to bookmark them to read later.

You might also like to read this 6-page submission I made into the LNP government's Olympic venues review, but fair warning: it's a little dry.

I've also taken the time to record an audio narration of the article I published in December last year exploring how the Greens should approach the current political climate. You can find the audio narration player at the top of the written article, or you can also listen via Spotify at this link (Spotify is an exploitative and deeply problematic platform, so I'm aiming to distribute podcast episodes on other platforms in the near future).

Towards a new political orientation for the Greens

The Australian Greens’ overall strategy and approach simply isn’t working as well as we need it to - so what changes should we consider?