042 | 100 Zena Armstrong: Community recovery after disaster

Cobargo Bushfire Recovery Fund president Zena Armstrong is dedicated to leading the recovery of her community after the Black Summer bushfires. Recovery programs are fire-proofing infrastructure and utilities, re-planting forests, memorialising what was lost and investing in healing for their citizens.

See Zena Armstrong in conversation with investigative journalist Yaara Bou Melhem, recorded live at Powerhouse as part of 100 Climate Conversations. Entry is free, but bookings are essential as places are limited. Doors open at 9.15am for a 9.30am start. No late admittance.

100 Climate Conversations is a two-year survey of visionary Australians who are accelerating the net zero carbon revolution. To find out more and subscribe to the podcast visit 100climateconversations.com.

Zena Armstrong is a former senior Australian diplomat now dedicated to working for her regional community on the south coast of NSW. She is director of the Cobargo Folk Festival and president of the community-run non-profit Cobargo Community Bushfire Recovery Fund Inc that was established in the wake of the devastating 2019-20 bushfires. Armstrong advocates for improved humanitarian assistance to domestic disaster victims from the Australian Government. She is a former senior executive service officer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Her diplomatic career included working on Australia’s post-war recovery taskforce in Iraq and recovery efforts following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Yaara Bou Melhem is a Walkley award-winning journalist and documentary maker who has made films in the remotest corners of Australia and around the world. Her debut documentary feature, Unseen Skies, which interrogates the inner workings of mass surveillance, computer vision and artificial intelligence through the works of US artist Trevor Paglen was screened in competition at the 2021 Sydney Film Festival. She is currently directing a series for the ABC and is the inaugural journalist-in-residence at the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism & Ideas working on journalistic experimental film.