Victoria Wilkinson - West Tamar

14/06/2026

The UTAS presentation in the video comes at 3:51:26
Making invasive long-spined sea urchin shell waste into frames for giant kelp regeneration.
https://www.biodesignchallenge.org/summit-2026
In their first year competing in the Biodesign Challenge (BDC), design students from the University of Tasmania have won the Terra Prize for Outstanding Digital Submission, awarded to the team with the best audiovisual presentation of a biodesign project at the 2026 BDC Summit.

The winning project, Upsurge, was developed by UTAS Design students Emily Brown, Alice Wilkinson, Fay Harjanto, and Jasmine Fast. Upsurge transforms invasive long-spined sea urchin shell waste into UrchCrete bioconcrete frames designed to support the regeneration of Tasmania's giant kelp forests. Warming ocean temperatures and urchin overgrazing have driven the collapse of these ecosystems across the Great Southern Reef, threatening biodiversity, habitat, and ecological balance. Upsurge frames are pre-cultured with kelp spores before being suspended in nutrient-rich waters along Tasmania's East Coast, reducing predation and improving survival rates during early growth stages. The project envisions a circular restoration system developed in partnership with aquaculture industries, the Palawa community, researchers, and conservation organisations, with the aim of strengthening marine resilience and expanding blue carbon ecosystems as tools for climate change mitigation.
The UTAS Design team was among 58 institutions from more than 20 countries to participate in this year's competition. Finalists presented their work over two days at Parsons School of Design and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, before a jury of leading figures in academia, industry, art, and design, alongside an audience of more than 600.

BDC Summit 2026

24/05/2026

Victoria has a state election in November this year. Here is some info that came up in a uni lecture.

07/05/2026

Alanah Pearce is an independent games producer - and tech industry expert. This 21 mins is entertaining, informative and scary. The AI-BOROS

18K likes, 2.2K comments. "The Entire Tech Industry is Screwed"

07/05/2026

In Huon - it's official. With an unassailable lead, GLADE-WRIGHT elected.
EXCELLENT

04/05/2026

I was alerted to this by a Tas university lecturer whose area of expertise is condensation and mould in houses. Trying to fix mould only goes so far - in the end the house has to be demolished. You'd think we would have this stuff worked out by now!
Leviticus 14:33-16:34
‘I have seen something that looks like a defiling mould in my house.’ 36 The priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mold, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean. After this the priest is to go in and inspect the house. 37 He is to examine the mould on the walls, and if it has greenish or reddish depressions that appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall, 38 the priest shall go out the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. 39 On the seventh day the priest shall return to inspect the house. If the mould has spread on the walls, 40 he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. 41 He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. 42 Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.
43 “If the defiling mould reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, 44 the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mould has spread in the house, it is a persistent defiling mould; the house is unclean. 45 It must be torn down—its stones, timbers and all the plaster—and taken out of the town to an unclean place.

26/04/2026

The information in this article tells what the Tasmanian government simplistically labels 'red tape" and is not adopting – the National Construction Code (NCC) updates. In Tasmania condensation, mould and heating are three big issues in housing.

"The proposed NCC 2025 updates will reshape how buildings manage moisture, ventilation and energy efficiency. In doing so, they represent some of the most significant changes to building performance requirements in recent years.

At a time when the industry is under economic pressure, the appetite for added complexity and cost is understandably low. But the case for better buildings remains clear.

Under-building is not a saving; it is often a deferred liability."

At HIP V. HYPE our aim is to influence and to build the safe, sustainable, inspiring future we deserve.

19/04/2026

We need more of this - Tasmanian pre-fabrication for housing.

We're an award winning Tasmanian team of architects and builders. Our bespoke timber houses are designed and prefabricated in our northern Tasmanian workshop and delivered to site. In 2023 we will be expanding into the southern Australian states of Victoria and NSW.

13/04/2026

CANDIDATES FOR ROSEVEARS.
https://kevinbonham.blogspot.com/2026/04/legislative-council-2026-rosevears.html
MCKINNON, Ben – Teacher – West Launceston – Australian Labor Party
McLENNAN, Charlene – Solicitor – Trevallyn – Tasmanian Greens
MONSON, Susan – Business Manager – Beauty Point – Independent
PALMER, Jo – Member of Parliament – West Launceston – Liberal Party

Tasmanian and Australian psephology, opinion poll analysis, election analysis and political commentary by Dr Kevin Bonham.

04/04/2026

This will be a great community asset - great stuff WTLC ! 💖