Join author Royce Kurmelovs in conversation with Ebony Bennett as they discuss Royce’s new book Slick: Australia’s toxic relationship with Big Oil, a riveting expose of the global oil industry’s multi-decade conspiracy to muddy the waters around the science of climate change and use the Australian government to undermine worldwide efforts to address environmental devastation.

Slick takes a comprehensive look at the origins of the Australian petroleum industry, investigating what these companies knew about climate change and how they learned to wield influence and insert themselves into all facets of public life.

Royce Kurmelovs reveals how the US petroleum industry was warned about its environmental impacts back in the 1950s and yet went on to build the Australian oil industry, which in turn tried to drill the Great Barrier Reef, sought to strongarm governments, and joined a global effort to bury the science of climate change and delay action despite knowing the harms it would cause.

Slick also tells the stories of fire and flood survivors, as well as of the activists engaged in a high-stakes fight for the future of Australia and of the efforts being made to save ourselves from catastrophe.

This superb, in-depth work of journalism provides an on-the-ground examination of how the fossil fuel industry captured Australia, and outlines what’s at stake for the survival of the planet and our democracy.

SPEAKERS:

Royce Kurmelovs – journalist and author of Slick: Australia’s toxic relationship with Big Oil 

Ebony Bennett – deputy director of the Australia Institute and host of its webinar series and Follow the Money podcast.