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Climate uncertainty grows as COP30 progress collides with shifting global politics - UCA News

December 3, 2025 at 10:46 PM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Worthy Read: Climate change policy analyst Peter Kiernan, gives his take on COP30 and what it really meant and how the world is shaping-up.
www.ucanews.com/news/climate...
#COP30 #COP31 #Brazil #Turkey #Australia #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction #ClimateRisk

Expert Peter Kiernan analyzes COP30 outcomes, the $1.3 trillion finance pledge, and how the return of Trump and the oil lobby are impacting the global fossil fuel transition.

www.ucanews.com

December 4, 2025 at 3:44 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

My latest podcast is with climate change analyst Peter Kiernan who unpacks COP30 and details what worked and what didn't at the UN's annual climate change conference in Brazil. #COP30 #COP31 #Brazil #Belem #Turkey #Australia #ClimateCrisis
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tu0...

Climate Change, COP30, and Where the World Goes From Here

Corruption isn’t just a moral failure – it’s built into our political system

December 1, 2025 at 1:42 PM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Pearls and Irritations

@johnmenadue.com

Corruption in politics isn’t just a moral lapse – it’s a response to a system that rewards access, loyalty and survival over the public good, writes David Higginbottom.
#AustralianPolitics #Corruption #Democracy #Transparency #Power

Corruption in politics is not an accident or an exception. It is a predictable outcome of a system that rewards loyalty, access and survival over accountability, transparency and the public interest.

Led Zeppelin, my band that never ‘made it’, and the lost art of failure

November 30, 2025 at 9:30 PM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Pearls and Irritations

@johnmenadue.com

Our culture treats success as virtue and failure as a personal flaw – a sharp break from older traditions that saw failure as meaningful and transformative. We need to recover that wisdom in an age of burnout.
#Culture #Philosophy #MentalHealth #Burnout #Neoliberalism #Arts #Society

Our culture treats success as virtue and failure as personal flaw. Older traditions – from Greek tragedy to Christian thought – saw failure as meaningful. Recovering that wisdom may be essential to living with dignity in an age of burnout.

Making First Nations prisoners visible in Labor politics

November 29, 2025 at 9:45 PM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Pearls and Irritations

@johnmenadue.com

Incarcerated First Nations people remain politically invisible in WA – and that invisibility is driving the state’s incarceration crisis.
Real reform demands lived-experience voices.
#AusPol #WApolitics #ClosingTheGap #FirstNations #Justice #HumanRights

Despite Western Australian Labor’s rhetoric on equality and Closing the Gap, incarcerated First Nations people remain politically invisible. Without formal representation and lived-experience voices in party deliberations, meaningful reform is impossible. The 2027 State Labor Conference is the moment to change that.

Conflict, Crime, and SLAPPs in Southeast Asia

November 25, 2025 at 10:46 PM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Weekend Listening: My latest podcast is with the international human rights lawyer M. Rav and it's all about conflict, crimes and the law in Southeast Asia. #ASEAN #Cambodia #Thailand #war #SLAPPs #scams
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj-Y...

Thailand set to rearm border after Cambodian truce breaks down- UCA News

November 21, 2025 at 4:40 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

For what it's worth. www.ucanews.com/news/thailan...

Thailand has suspended its historic peace deal with Cambodia and halted the planned release of 18 POWs after a landmine blast injured four Thai soldiers. Bangkok is reportedly sending tanks back to th...

www.ucanews.com

November 12, 2025 at 2:25 AM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Pearls and Irritations

@johnmenadue.com

Though Labor is likely to remain in government for at least one more term, it is still struggling to move beyond rhetoric and appears far from having a coherent strategy to counter the surge of the far-right. #auspol #Multiculturalism #Socialcohesion

Australia’s fragile multicultural consensus under threat

Anti-immigration rallies around Australia in late August and mid-October exposed public divides over migration, social cohesion and national identity.

Asian Aviation: Post-COVID Trends

November 7, 2025 at 12:49 AM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

My latest video podcast is with Matt Driskill, editor of Asian Aviation. What's hot, what's not and how are the airlines faring given the state of the global economy.

#Aviation #ASEAN #Asia #Bali #Vietnam #Airlines
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veqj...

In Photos: Life on Cambodia’s Front Lines

October 6, 2025 at 11:50 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Photo Essay: Cambodian Frontlines. From a tour of the disputed Thai border. Despite difficult conditions, particularly in the camps, the honesty of those enduring the worst of an unnecessary conflict was refreshing.
#Cambodia #Thailand #conflict #war #ASEAN

thediplomat.com/2025/10/in-p...

Soldiers stand guard in Oddar Meanchey as civilians make the best of things after being evacuated to displacement camps during the border fighting in July.

thediplomat.com

October 24, 2025 at 5:18 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

My latest story from Cambodia's frontline:
www.ucanews.com/news/a-peace...
#Cambodia #Thailand #Asean #War #Conflict #POWs

A peace deal in sight is cold comfort on Cambodia’s frontlines- UCA News

Our correspondent recently toured Cambodia’s frontlines and displacement camps near the Thai border

www.ucanews.com

October 21, 2025 at 4:57 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Easy Listen: My latest podcast is with Bangkok-based human rights activist Phil Robertson, the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand, and can the Trump administration find a way out.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vryR... #Cambodia #Thailand #War #Trump #malaysia #asean

Is Reconciling Cambodia and Thailand Possible?

Stephen Stockwell 1975: The Ballads of the Whitlam Dismissal

October 19, 2025 at 3:41 AM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Pearls and Irritations

@johnmenadue.com

It would be comforting to think that we could exercise real choices about our future. Remembering and learning from 11 November is essential to our sovereignty. #auspol #Stockwell #Whitlam

The 50th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam Government on 11 November 1975 should prompt all Australians to ponder the strength of our democracy.

Blame and frame: How Chinese Australians are counted when blamed, discounted when needed

October 18, 2025 at 8:45 PM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Pearls and Irritations

@johnmenadue.com

Some of our media and political elites may need a gentle reminder: multiculturalism isn’t just something we clap for at footy grand finals, Chinese New Year parades, or swing through during campaign stops in Box Hill and Hurstville. #auspol #chinathreat

We say we want to understand China. Then we glance past a million Chinese speakers at home and start counting somewhere else.

Australian Journalist Detained in Thailand Over Malaysia Defamation Charge Speaks Out

October 16, 2025 at 8:30 PM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

For what it's worth. My take on Thailand's psy-ops along the Cambodian border.

October 14, 2025 at 4:53 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

My latest podcast is with Murray Hunter, the Australian journalist charged with defamation in Malaysia but arrested in Thailand. Can you get sued for writing an unflattering review in ASEAN.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMQ... #Thailand #Malaysia #ASEAN #Defamation #TransnationalRepression

Asian Aviation: Post-COVID Trends

October 14, 2025 at 4:50 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

My latest video podcast is with Matt Driskill, editor of Asian Aviation. What's hot, what's not and how are the airlines faring given the state of the global economy.

#Aviation #ASEAN #Asia #Bali #Vietnam #Airlines
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veqj...

Nation's innovation surge continues a long tradition

October 6, 2025 at 11:50 AM

Reposted by Luke Hunt

Pearls and Irritations

@johnmenadue.com

As #China consolidates its role as the world's manufacturing hub, its aspiration to become a global innovation leader is a logical progression. Western scepticism reflects outdated assumptions and a failure to grasp the evolving dynamics of global technology. #auspol #Innovation

Many in the West mistakenly think that China lacks innovation, but this view is outdated.

Connecting the Concept of Dignity with Transnational Criminal Justice

October 5, 2025 at 10:01 PM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

My latest podcast is with Craig Tuck, a barrister and specialist in transnational law and its about the cutting edge where a legal framework for concepts of dignity and even your soul is being crafted. Recorded in Bali.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5KQ...

Meta, Trump, and Facts: A Conversation With Sushi Das

September 11, 2025 at 6:31 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Our first video promo. The Beyond the Mekong podcast is shifting to video from audio only. I hope we don't scare too many people.

September 10, 2025 at 2:44 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Easy Listen: My latest podcast is with Sushi Das and it's all about fact checking and the shifting influences of Meta since the return of Donald Trump as US President and the brave new world of AI slop and enshittification.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBxq...

‘Conflicted’: A British Doctor’s Work in a Khmer Rouge Refugee Camp

September 8, 2025 at 12:18 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Easy Listening: A podcast I recorded recently with the British doctor Edwin Pugh who has just released his latest book “Conflicted” about his time in a Khmer Rouge-run refugee camp in the late 1980s.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qORM...

Myanmar: Situation Update with Paul Greening

September 2, 2025 at 2:53 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

Weekend Listening: My latest podcast is a situation update with Paul Greening, a military analyst and a regular on the program and its all about the latest news from Myanmar and Thailand.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qluV...

EU Report Urges a Much Tougher Stance on Transnational Repression

August 29, 2025 at 8:55 AM

Luke Hunt

@luke-hunt.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uErs...
Weekend Listening: My latest podcast is with the EU Parliamentarian Chloe Ridel. It's all about her report covering the EU's shortcomings when dealing with transnational repression, and what must be done.
#EU #Russia #Iran #ASEAN #humanrights #transnationalrepression