Ooh.

So, um, um, back in the '90s when I started the work on what was it from bushfire, and of course, we then found it was smoke, and that was fabulous.

The f- one of the first things, ooh, I wanted to put in was of course the eastern states flannel flower because it's, it's a plant that w- had totally mystified everybody about how you grow it from seed.

You can put it in your seeding mix or put it in the garden and it would come up when it wanted-

I love it now

... sexual deception and all the rest.

Um, but you know, it, it actually got, uh, I think 13,400 votes, which means 13,400 people in Australia, out of the 70,000 that voted for the popular flower, um, actually love the flying duck.

So I feel there's a secret society-

[laughs]

... and they're happy in their skin.

So I think they're a monument to- The little plants of the world that, in their own way, tell extraordinary stories-

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, not sure how it gets on with its pollinators because of course, these use all, all use, uh, a remarkable sexual deception-

got so many questions that explains so much of we're not just putting native plants into our front garden i mean excluding the phosphorus that we may have put on it and realized in hindsight but all of the places we try to put regenerative vegetation in that we may not have thrived

but the way you get native plants to grow and includes the garden right place right time right species The greatest trick to growing a great native garden for any of those that want to grow it is don't put nutrients in, don't put mulch in.

There is, and please don't put wood mulch in, which is very fashionable.

There is no wood mulch in nature on the planet.

Nature doesn't chip a tree and then spread it.

We do.

The first thing that happens is you lock up iron, manganese, and you'll lock up your nitrogen big time.

And

... and having her way with them, doing them away entirely.

Well, of course, yeah, the, but the Queen of Sheba orchid, um, does the same illusionary trick.

It actually brings, uh, native, uh, insects that would normally go to the blue tinsel lily, and that...

And she just...

The orchid puts on the wonderful, uh, camouflage of pretending to be an even bigger and more colorful, uh, tinsel lily, and so the poor unspe- unsuspecting insect visits that.

And, and, you know, it's a great and successful system, um, for pollination.

Tell me, tell me what you and your team have done.

done.So the research team, we- we- they're working across all of the, um, because there's, um, a four species that, that are really the targets.

What are your concerns then environmentally?

Environmentally, we now have Worsley and Alcoa as the same company Worsley, as with Alcoa, has never been able to complete any of their forest rehab and handed it back to the government.

The same course applies to 320 square kilometres that have been impacted by Alcoa's clearing.

So it means the size of the footprint that Alcoa now have responsibility for to hand back to the people as restored forest is large.

I don't have the exact figures.

We're just working those out right now.

A greater concern is that this is the very biodiverse eastern margin of the Jarrah and Wondoo forest.

If this is the case, that the refinery at Worsley opens up this new cache, cache of land that they can now mine on, why do you think that they're moving further south? Are they having problems in the northern elements and leases?

Yeah.

More unique plants and animals than any other place on Earth.

And it means that we don't have the simple solution to save them, restore them, rebuild their population.

And I guess the future of what I hope to produce here is that we inspire fine young Australian minds to go forward with vision, passion, the science, and the ambition to make the change that we need.

It doesn't mean a change to business or the way people have incomes, but it will mean people will be able to enjoy the bush as I've enjoyed it, and as generations before me have.

Mm

... of working with the nature that we have.

I think this is what I would call the transition point, or if we didn't, it's not a very nice future.