Opinions

John HarrisListen to  john Harris tell ABC Radio about growing up with albinism, days before the Albinism Conference in Cairns.    

John is among dozens of people with albinism heading to Far North Queensland this weekend (September 26 and 27) for the xixth biennial conference of the Albinism Fellowship of Australia. 

Click here to listen to John explain his experience of albinism and discuss the value of the conference with Phil Staley on Radio ABC Far North Queensland, on September 22, 2015

Thank you to ABC Radio for permission to use this recording.

Simon Hackett this week spoke to RN’s Fran Kelly about how affordable power storage will revolutionise Australia's energy industry.             

Redflow chairman Simon HackettTechnology entrepreneur and NBN board member Simon Hackett has welcomed newly minted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s call for Australia to become a nation that is  “agile, innovative and creative”.

The Internode founder, who is now the biggest shareholder and chairman of the Brisbane-based battery storage start-up Redflow, explained the company’s recent breakthrough in affordable power storage to Radio National’s RN Breakfast host Fran Kelly in an interview this week.

Redflow is a competitor to the Silicon Valley electric car juggernaut Tesla, which is developing its own battery storage technology.

“For me it’s exciting because I’ve just gone through a decade or so of enormous growth in the Internet space and this energy storage sector is about to go through the same amazing cycle of growth,” Simon explained.

“We are right on the cusp of a revolution in the adoption of storing energy that people make, whether that’s from a power station or from their own roofs.

“The standard criticism of renewable energy, whether it’s wind or it’s solar, is that the sun isn’t always shining and the wind isn’t always blowing. So, logically, what you need to do is take the energy when the sun’s shining and use it when it’s not - whack it in a battery and take it out later.

“It’s a simple enough concept, but we’re only just on the cusp of having batteries that are cheap enough and effective enough to be able to do that job on a global scale.”

Listen here to Simon’s interview with Fran Kelly in the RN Breakfast Parliament House studio at http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programitem/pgZL78MeEG?play=true.

Internode founder Simon HackettProducers for ABC 891's Mornings with Ian Henschke show saw the panel light up like a Christmas tree for 45 minutes when Internode founder Simon Hackett answered talkback questions about the National Broadband Network on April 13, 2013. To listen to this marathon talkback session, try the player below or click on the link below.

Click here to listen to Simon's NBN interview on ABC 891 Mornings with Ian Henschke, April 16, 2013

Thank you to ABC Radio for permission to use this recording.