Elizabeth St in Melbourne is prone to flooding, and beneath the streets runs a creek (Williams creek) which seems to be desperate to reassert itself. Other cities have successfully (re)integrated waterways into their cities, notably Seoul, South Korea. Should Melbourne do the same?

The lyrics are the last thing that matter to me when I listen to a piece of music (if I can even understand them it’s a plus). But for others they seem to be the most important thing of all (weirdos). Why is this so? Probably it doesn’t matter – I’m just curious.

It horrified people in the 1940s to have packet mixes, because powdered egg reminded them of the Great Depression. Now, people are oblivious, they expect everything to be in packets and forget the chemicals needed to preserve those foods. No more weevils in the flour, but yes plenty of good-fashioned-modern petrol in our flour, sugar, salt, cheese, bread… as well as our bottles of ‘self-care’ products we’re told are ‘necessary.’ You’d think every house-hold was a hotel for astronauts.

As the boomers get older, aged care will become a key economic issue. Automated systems will also become more sophisticated. We will have to make ethical decisions regarding what industries should be open to the disruption of automation.

I have always been called an expat, not an immigrant. But shouldn’t that be the same thing?

I have just finished a painting on the Myall Creek Massacre for the Blake Prize. Part of me feels like I should be advocating in my artist statement but I was not driven by advocacy when painting; I was driven by inquiry and emotional turbulence

People have great ideas all the time- how to help those in need, starting with providing water where there is none, sanitary and hygiene products where they are lacking, food and shelter to those without… but do politicians ever change? We keep electing and fostering a system where the greediest are given the role of decision makers… why is that?

I know this makes me a terrible person, but our art and literature festivals seem to increasingly skew towards the big (depressing, seemingly insoluble, overwhelming) issues. It must reflect a need, but I feel there also needs to be more space for play, joy, spectacle, experimentation, awe, hope.

Climate change and the arts are two prime examples of areas where seems difficult to apply this metric-based approach. I am curious about alternatives. What if everyone had a smartphone? Could we something radically different emerge?

I have a mental illness in a regional city. I had an episode of anger which I understand is due to acute anxiety, at my daughter’s school. Three years on, people still cower, there is gossip about me, that is of the effect that I am going to coffee shops to ‘meet’ and ‘pickup’ men, and that I am most interested in meeting married men. I am told I have to just move around and amongst the society, (by my psychologist) but I find it safer and apparently I am becoming more reclusive, to remain at home. I don’t condone aggressive behaviour. The school and my workplace, were trying to ‘support’ me, by having psychologists at the school, monitor my behaviour and have people behave ‘accordingly’. I began to feel I was living ‘The Truman Show’, and realise none of my interactions were authentic. Initially those people were being ‘kind’ but misguided, in supporting me, and I guess, my daughter. I have 3 years until she leaves school. I will go ‘somewhere else’. Michael Kirby has spoken of the chaplaincy program being a ‘front’ to filter through students of need/risk. I plod on. This stigma came into my new workplace. I plod on. Btw: this is not my paranoia. Underneath, I find it deeply alienating and distressing.

Democracy cannot thrive without transparency. Secrecy undermines grass roots participation in affairs that directly affect them.

The rise of adult colouring books, the return of the 90’s and just us reaching for things that remind us of our childhood constantly, made me wonder if it was like this for previous generations too or are we trying to postpone adulthood and all that comes with it more than before? Are we longing for simpler times with everything developing so fast around us?