Time to Grow Up. Places to go to learn: @commongroundfirstnations @firstnationsfutures @seedmob @clothingthegaps Story of the signal fires told to me by Budawang Elder Uncle Noel Butler @nuragunyu Thanks to @kirli.saunders for inspiring strength in this piece of writing.

Today, Australia had a win. The Attorney General @mrowlandmp has formally ruled that it will not introduce a Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception into the Copyright Act. That means technology companies will not be allowed to use Australian content to train their AI models for free. It means Australian creators and creatives - artists, writers, media companies, musicians, actors, journalists, code writers will be paid for their work. This decision is a clear recognition that Australian culture, creativity and knowledge have value and that creators must retain the right to decide when and how their work is used, and what they want to be paid for it. This has come after tireless consultation, conversation and campaigning to government and the public by my friends across the media and creative industries. Thank you for standing up for Australians, thank you for making the right decision. @albomp @mrowlandmp @tony_burke_au @tim.ayres.904

Australian creatives deserve to be fairly compensated for their work! The music, the stories, the culture they create belongs to them! Not big tech companies, not the government. It’s time to stand with the artists who work tirelessly to shape and define Australian culture. ✨ #ARIA

Clean Bums for Little Ones is on this month and I’m backing @thenappycollective in support of their annual campaign. They’re Australia’s only nappy charity, and they’ve helped deliver over 10 million nappies since they began. Every parent knows the stress of nappy rash... imagine that feeling with no nappies left and no spare money to top up. Babies suffer first, and mums get stuck at home carrying the stress and isolation on top of everything else. So many families the charity supports are already dealing with housing insecurity, domestic violence, disability and severe financial hardship. And most are single mums, who need more support than ever. If you can, please donate this month so The Nappy Collective can keep getting nappies to families who need them. Link in bio x

Tomorrow night we're playing a very special show in Newcastle as part of @greatsouthernnights 🔥✨ there are still tickets available in my bio! Playing alongside @loonsband & @butterknifeband ❤️ this will be my last show in a little while as I lock down to finish album #3 🧨 LFG newy x

“Singing live is a whole other experience… you’re just like a vessel.”⁠ ⁠ Holly Rankin shares what her career in music has taught her about sharing grief, showing up honestly, and finding connection with strangers at scale.⁠ ⁠ In Episode 7 of There Will Be Dancing, we sit with Holly to talk about art as a meeting place, where stories are shared, held, and reflected back in unexpected ways.⁠ ⁠ @hollyrankin_ @jack_river ⁠ ⁠ 🎧 Listen to ‘Voices that Move Movements’ wherever you get your podcasts, or via the link below:⁠ ⁠ .au/podcast/

This week it was announced that my incredible, incredible friend - the absolutely inimitable @suigenerisjen will be awarded the Sydney Peace Prize for her fearless defence of free speech, her groundbreaking achievements in law for climate-affected communities, and her unwavering commitment to safeguarding international law itself. Jen joins a long line of recipients of the @sydneypeacefoundation prize - including Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu, Naomi Klein and my dear friends @ulurustatement - Professor Megan Davis @mdavisqlder and Aunty Pay Anderson. It makes perfect sense for Jen to be amongst this company. There are very few people on the planet who have the clarity of mission, the drive and the conviction that Jen has in her bones. And she is only just getting started. My god I feel lucky to be alive in the same time and place as you dearest Jen. As your IG name suggests you are sui generis, one of a kind. If you don't yet know about Jen's work here are some cliff notes. Jen: • Represented Julian Assange and WikiLeaks since 2010, securing his release in 2024 • Defended arbitrarily detained journalists, protesters, human rights defenders and Australian citizens worldwide • Secured the release of Australian Hazem Hamouda, imprisoned in Egypt for over a year without charge • Acted for the BBC World Service • Represented the bereaved family of assassinated Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia • Represented the International Federation of Journalists and families of Palestinian journalists killed in conflict, including Shireen Abu Akleh So yeah. Next time you wonder if you can change the world, think of Jen. AND make sure to see her film @silenced_film when it hits cinemas and festivals in Aus this year, and read How Many More Women🔥 Also pictured ~ fellow legal royalty Emma Johnson of Marque Lawyers @emmajsn ✨ ilysm.

Can a song shift a system? Can grief become fuel for social change? Episode 7 of There Will Be Dancing is here: Voices that Move Movements with Holly Rankin (aka Jack River). We sit down with Holly Rankin (@hollyrankin__ ), artist (@jack_river ), activist and organiser, to explore what happens when music, culture and community meet. From building festivals to leading campaigns, Holly reflects on the power of creative voices to shape the conversations a country is willing to have, and why songs can sometimes carry ideas further than policy ever could. At the heart of this conversation is grief, connection, and a deep belief in community. “We’re in something together,” as Holly puts it, and art can hold us through both. The episode also features a powerful audio contribution from Nidala Barker (@nidala.barker ), whose song Boldly Ahead invites us to “step boldly ahead, in hope” a reminder that the way we speak about the world can shape what we believe is possible. We hope this episode leaves you stirred, a little softer, and reminded that the songs we sing, the art we make, and the stories we tell are not just decoration, but tools for social change. 🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, or via the link in bio

next Thursday night I am playing a special show in Newcastle at King St Bandroom. aaaanddd I am going to play a song for the first time that I've had in my pocket for a few years now✨✨ if you're coming to the show you'll be the first to hear it! tickets are at the link in my bio ✨ come one come all! playing alongside @loonsband and @butterknifeband all thanks to @greatsouthernnights 📸 Sun and Oak

Messy notes from a Sunday night with children running round the house and week full of dichotomies. And yes, Sunrise was awesome and I'll be back next year. And shoutout to Jill for making the roast beef the night before netball. This piece is living on my Substack if you want to go and follow & wait for more notes written sometime in between making dinner and putting my three year old to sleep.

The other day I was watching @taylorswift videos on YouTube with Maggie. Up came a recommendation of a video of two 'girls' her age (3) dancing to a TS video. I could clearly tell it was AI, but Maggie said 'I want to watch that one!' insisting on watching the video. I said 'but it's not real'. And immediately, my heart broke for her generation. I was telling her brilliant young mind that what she was seeing with her eyes 'wasn't real'. I don't want my Daughter to grow up in a world where she has to second guess what is real and what is fake. I don't want her to have a diluted relationship with humanity, and human creativity, because my generation couldn't understand technology rapidly enough to regulate it. Our perception of reality has become an asset to be exploited. Strong laws protect us from a future we don't want. I am making a promise to myself to contribute to the regulation of AI, and the protection of perception and reality before my Daughter can scroll, swipe or wander through a universe of content all by herself. @abcnews_au thank you for having these conversations. #artificialintelligence #ai

Thank you to our servicemen and women, young and old, here and passed, for your belief and your sacrifice for our great country, our people and our way of life. You sacrificed your own peace so that my daughter could climb trees at a service next to your descendants, over a hundred years later as the reveille plays in a park. You didn't know us, but you believed in something greater than yourself and that it might last the test of time. And it did. The lightness of our peace was paid through the darkness and heaviness of war. Most of us will never truly know the cost of freedom, but may we try with all our might to know and to remember. Thank you to all the men and women who lost their lives in all wars - including those we don't talk much about - the Frontier Wars - those who defended this country first - who fought for country itself, the more recent wars - Afghanistan and Iraq, whose veterans we do not honour and recognise enough, and for all the men and women carrying our country now as we enter times of uncertainty and conflict once again. On this day, I am most proud to be an Australian. Song: Yadingi (thank you, in Dharawal language) by @cooeemusic