Former Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne Arron Wood Returns! Environmentalism, Misanthropy and Finding Purpose

The Discernable Interviews

Former Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne Arron Wood Returns! Environmentalism, Misanthropy and Finding Purpose

2 Hour 10 Minutes

Arron Wood was Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne until 2020 and served on council for 8 years. He has a long resume of environmentalism that began when, after swimming in the family billabong, he emerged with a rash all over his body due to blue-green algae blooms.

Since then, he has taken a practical approach to environmental campaigning and seeks outcomes that benefit not just the environment but also the people and businesses that operate within it.

He serves on boards such as South East Water in Melbourne and the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, combining his environmental and business nous to create a sustainable and profitable future. He is currently the Chief Industry Engagement and Education Delivery Officer for the Bendigo Kangan Institute.

2020 – Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant contribution to local government, the environment and the community
2012 – Winner Telstra News Ltd Micro Business of the Year (Vic)
2011 – Author of Billabong Boy
2007 – Recipient Melbourne Award for Contribution to the Environment
2007 – Winner Prime Minister’s Environmentalist of the Year
2007 – Author of Inspiring the Next Young Environmental Leader. Kids Teaching Kids – Addressing Our Environment Crisis
2006 – Recipient United Nations Individual Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment
2003 – Recipient Centenary Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Conservation and the Environment
2001 – Winner Young Australian of the Year (National Environment)



0:38 Receiving the Order of Australia
2:16 The ‘Billabong Boy’ from Mildura
4:20 Realising that environmentalism is good for people and business too
5:42 Kids Teaching Kids environmental program
7:05 Working with country people
10:25 Modern day environmentalism is fashionable
11:15 Finding common ground to champion the environment
13:08 The psychology behind environmentalism
16:48 The polarization of the environment debate
19:18 Opinions are the new facts
20:10 Australia’s penetration of rooftop solar
22:12 Government incentives renewables vs coal
25:04 You don’t have to shut down business for sustainability
27:28 Australia’s new export market: green hydrogen
30:45 The transition to renewables globally
34:40 The failure of governments to manage transitions to renewable energy
37:20 The middle ground is the hardest place to be
41:07 Is Nuclear an option for Australia?
46:52 Be honest when discussing renewables!
49:08 Melbourne council’s failure in recycling waste
53:03 What is humanity’s role in nature?
56:10 Adapting to natural cycles and businesses moving due to climate
1:06:00 Urban wetlands to slow down water
1:09:25 Misanthropy: humans are not a ‘cancer on the planet’
1:14:30 The art of compromise
1:15:40 Running for Mayor of Melbourne
1:21:03 Impact of lockdowns on Melbourne CBD
1:22:58 Arron’s struggle finding identity and purpose
1:27:08 The world is going through a collective trauma
1:30:45 Governments must adapt their pandemic response
1:33:55 Censorship culture: media shuts down debate
1:37:18 Creating a culture of fear is dangerous
1:39:16 In real pandemics governments fight fear (not create it)
1:45:40 What will businesses do if there is another lockdown? Non compliance.
1:51:00 Korean Fried Chicken and cuisines around Melbourne
1:52:21 Behind the curtain of Melbourne local politics
2:01:07 Predictions for the new Mayoral team
2:07:10 The Magic Wand Question


Culture Series Episode 2: Daisy Spratt (Lawyer and Singer/Songwriter) on Authenticity, Mental Health and Creativity

The Discernable Interviews

Culture Series Episode 2: Daisy Spratt (Lawyer and Singer/Songwriter) on Authenticity, Mental Health and Creativity

1 Hour 26 Minutes

Daisy Spratt was born in Queensland, Australia, but raised in the south and mid-west of the United States. Her draw to music started at a young age with artists like Shania Twain and Kenney Chesney, and even Aussie bands like INXS. By 18, she was gigging in local pubs and cafes along the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and competing in national competitions.

In 2016, Daisy released her debut single “Love Like That” which reached the top 10 on the iTunes Country charts. She went on to release a 7-song EP, which featured her fun single “Soda Pop”. In 2019, she wrote and recorded in Nashville, where she released her single “Think Again Boy”.

Following the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, Daisy pivoted from country music to indie pop, with her hit single “Thinkin’ Bout You”, which was, and still is, raising awareness about mental health. Her new single (written with Rob Amoruso and Alice Blake) releases on March 19th 2021.



2:00 A lawyer and a professional musician
4:04 Figuring out what you want in life
8:55 Switching between analytical and creative
11:00 A sample of Daisy’s music
14:04 Taking care of your mental health
15:05 Do creatives need pain and/or drugs to be creative?
16:55 How to come up with a song (live demo)
23:51 Raw talent vs a shiny brand
27:50 What is brand?
31:32 Being raw and authentic – showing the messy and ugly parts of life
35:00 Daisy hates showering
40:10 Attitudes of younger generations
45:55 The ethics of a COVID-19 world
50:11 Political pressure in the creative industry
52:57 Not selling out to popularity
53:40 Cultural impact of music
56:10 Social enterprise café – training and supporting young people
1:00:00 Looking back on your life at 25
1:02:26 Trapped by fame
1:06:05 The electrification of aviation and robotic vacuum cleaners
1:08:38 Podcasts
1:11:22 The future will be blurry
1:17:25 Daisy’s Magic Wand
1:20:12 Chocolate fish ‘Sprats’


Geert Vanden Bossche PhD and his warning to the world against 'Immune Escape'

The Discernable Interviews

Geert Vanden Bossche PhD and his warning to the world against 'Immune Escape'

1 Hour 49 Minutes

9 March 2021

Geert Vanden Bossche PhD, DVM is an internationally recognised expert in vaccine development. He has acted as global director of a number of vaccine programs around the world, including for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Teaching and working in virology his entire professional life, Geert is raising the alarm over the global vaccination rollout and lockdown methodology which he believes is causative in the immune escape fears being raised by journals such as The Lancet and Science in January/February 2021.

He presents scientific evidence that ‘innate’ immunity is the actual determinant in recovery from and prevention of COVID-19. This is distinct from ‘acquired’ or ‘adaptive’ immunity where pathogenic response in T Cells and B Cells confers a memory upon the immune system. Vaccines work on the ‘adaptive’ immune system, not the ‘innate’ immune system.

His research points to over-zealous infection control procedures, as well as vaccines that do not produce sterilising immunity, as the two key drivers of evolutionary pressure upon Sars-Cov-2 that may result in vaccine-resistant phenotypes of the virus. If correct, this predicts much larger waves of COVID-19 including in younger, previously resistant people. He describes our current actions to combat Sars-Cov-2 as a ‘giant experiment’ and grossly irresponsible on such a global scale.



3:22 Placing pressure on viruses without stopping transmission forces mutations
6:00 Sars-Cov-2 requires hosts and cannot survive without one
7:20 The analogy of antibiotic resistance to explain vaccine resistance
9:38 Mass vaccinations during a pandemic are contra-indicated
10:40 Extended vaccine dosing intervals creates opportunity for Sars-Cov-2 immune escape
11:20 Being an asymptomatic carrier produces a suboptimal immune state
12:58 We are creating a worse problem than natural pandemics
14:30 Infection prevention measures and lockdowns are pressuring Sars-Cov-2 to mutate into new strains
17:57 The ‘innate’ immune system is the most important determinant in COVID-19 outcomes
20:16 We are weakening our innate immune systems by isolating them from exposure to pathogens
22:18 Australia and New Zealand are so isolated from Sars-Cov-2 that they have become the most susceptible in the world to bad COVID-19 outcomes
23:44 Lockdowns prevent mortality at the individual level but create disasters at the population level
25:28 Allowing a natural pandemic cycle
27:06 The virus itself teaches us how to intervene without causing immune escape
27:40 Antibodies are not responsible for elimination of COVID-19 because they comes too late. The mechanism responsible are NK Cells in the innate immune system
30:04 In natural pandemics viruses jump between immunological populations
32:19 Surges in antibodies (adaptive immune system) post infection outcompete natural antibodies (innate immune system) thus suppressing innate immunity
35:00 In pandemics, the likelihood of encountering a virus explodes
36:35 Young people will soon get COVID-19 because of higher likelihood of encounter combined with suppressed innate immunity
37:05 In a normal pandemic, viruses feel no selective mutation pressures (the story of herd immunity)
39:22 We are creating asymptomatic carriers and achieving the opposite of herd immunity
41:57 The Spanish Flu – over in 2 years. Naturally.
44:10 A summary of how we are pressuring Sars-Cov-2 to escape immunity and target young people
46:43 We have already created mutated strains so ‘letting the pandemic run’ may have been an option at the beginning but not now
49:00 Properly assessing the impact of human intervention
50:15 The binary of pro-vaccination vs anti-vaccination is not nuanced enough
51:08 Geert’s dire warning – ‘we are at the eve of a huge disaster’
54:12 Testing Geert’s hypothesis – watch the countries who have large vaccination coverage
58:40 This is the first time in the history of humanity that we have intervened in a pandemic in such an aggressive way
59:41 How long until this hypothesis is proven?
1:01:05 What would prove Geert’s hypothesis incorrect? Spoiler: endemic and benign outcomes.
1:02:22 Where is the scientific evidence that we are heading toward herd immunity?
1:03:52 Sterilising immunity would change the game by closing sources of immune escape.
1:04:42 NK cell based vaccines (innate immunity) and introducing memory to NK cells.
1:05:58 The only scientifically reasonable approach is to completely eradicate the mutated strains through bolstering innate immune systems
1:07:55 How NK cell vaccine technology would work
1:10:57 The lack of interest in NK cell immunity
1:13:24 Mass global vaccination can only cause 2 outcomes: massive success or massive failure – anything in between is temporary and illusory
1:14:55 Innate cellular immunity will allow the destruction of infected cells and thus successful intervention in ongoing disease processes like cancer
1:21:46 There is no one currently funding innate immunity technologies such as NK cell memory
1:23:40 Natural approaches to strengthen innate immunity: good general health
1:27:39 The most important defence during the pandemic: our innate immune system
1:28:01 Do NOT vaccinate young people against COVID-19 (because of innate immune suppression, and specific antibodies do not explain viral recovery)
1:30:31 Distinguishing between immunological populations, not just simple demographic populations
1:33:02 Are there any immunological populations that we should still vaccinate with current vaccines that don’t confer sterilising immunity?
1:33:50 Sterilising immunity vaccines will not be possible because they are based on adaptive immunity (T cells and B cells)
1:37:32 Strong innate immunity at any age is not appealing to big pharma because you can’t sell it but it’s a powerful protective measure
1:40:20 What would be the best response humanity could mount to destroy Sars-Cov-2/COVID-19?
1:42:05 We cannot determine the level of natural antibodies, but we can determine the level of specific antibodies
1:44:15 If positive for specific antibodies your innate immunity is supressed, so stay isolated until the titers disappear
1:45:55 Geert has worked inside the major vaccination companies and their work is exceptional, but it misses the point


How Victoria Voted for Lockdowns (again) and Voted Against Fresh Air

Discernable® News and Editorials

How Victoria Voted for Lockdowns (again) and Voted Against Fresh Air

30min

An early Merry Christmas to all: the VIC State of Emergency Extension passed by 1 vote.

In this explainer we look at:
1. What actually changed in the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008
2. How the MPs voted and what deals were made?
3. WHY did they vote that way (reading Hansard)?
4. The Liberal push to make it month by month
5. Victoria ‘the most transparent state’ in Australia
6. The Ombudsman report on what happened to the housing commission towers in July 2020
7. The MPs that voted against FRESH AIR


All MPs who voted against fresh air (source: Hansard 2Mar21):

Fiona Patten MP (Reason Party, formerly Sex Party) fiona.patten@parliament.vic.gov.au
Samantha Ratnam (Greens) samantha.ratnam@parliament.vic.gov.au
Andy Meddick MP (Animal Justice Party) Andy.Meddick@parliament.vic.gov.au
Jaclyn Symes MP (ALP, Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council) jaclyn.symes@parliament.vic.gov.au
Nazih Elasmar MP (ALP, President of the Legislative Council) nazih.elasmar@parliament.vic.gov.au
Gayle Tierney MP (ALP) gayle.tierney@parliament.vic.gov.au
Enver Erdogan MP (ALP) enver.erdogan@parliament.vic.gov.au
Jane Garrett MP (ALP) jane.garrett@parliament.vic.gov.au
Mark Gepp (ALP) mark.gepp@parliament.vic.gov.au
Tien Kieu MP (ALP) Tien.Kieu@parliament.vic.gov.au
Shaun Leane MP (ALP) OfficeMinLeane@ecodev.vic.gov.au
Cesar Melhem MP (ALP) cesar.melhem@parliament.vic.gov.au
Jaala Pulford MP (ALP) jaala.pulford@parliament.vic.gov.au
Harriet Shing MP (ALP) harriet.shing@parliament.vic.gov.au
Ingrid Stitt MP (ALP) Ingrid.Stitt@parliament.vic.gov.au
Lee Tarlamis MP (ALP) lee.tarlamis@parliament.vic.gov.au
Sonia Terpstra MP (ALP) Sonja.Terpstra@parliament.vic.gov.au
Kaushaliya Vaghela MP (ALP) Kaushaliya.Vaghela@parliament.vic.gov.au
Sheena Watt MP (ALP) sheena.watt@parliament.vic.gov.au


Rukshan Fernando - Independent Journalism, Racism and Hypocrisy.

The Discernable Interviews

Rukshan Fernando - Independent Journalism, Racism and Hypocrisy.

1 Hour 48 Minutes

Rukshan Fernando is the creative mind behind The Real Rukshan – a fast growing independent journalism page.

Rukshan had the courage to attend all the major protests and rallies in Melbourne, Victoria throughout 2020/21 to document what the mainstream media failed or refused to cover.

Spending a lot of time in his studio editing wedding photos for clients, he often has the news playing in the background and was shocked to witness the hypocrisy at Dan Andrews’ daily press conferences and the way our establishment media report on things.

Not only does he catalogue all of these he produces parodies, satires and straight comparison videos that remind us all of how far we’ve moved as a society.