HEARD THIS WEEK👂

📄 Why Australia’s new visa proposals are worrying Iranians on the North Shore

For many in the local Persian community on the North Shore, the recent actions of the Albanese government have elicited mixed feelings.

While protection provided to the women’s national football team has been a cause for celebration, at the same time thousands of valid visa holders will be turned away from the Australian border under proposed new laws.

Ali Elliin, a member of Hornsby’s Aknoon Cultural Centre, expressed concern over the proposed laws.

“In wartime, we expect the government to support the Iranian people, not make limitations for the arrival of people”, he told the Lorikeet.

“I was surprised when I heard that the government [planned] to approve this... and the Coalition was going to support it”.

What happened: Prior to their match against South Korea in the Women's AFC Asian Cup, several members of the Iranian women’s football team stood silent while the national anthem played. Following this, Iranian state media labelled the players “traitors”.

• Over the weekend, assistant foreign affairs minister Matt Thistlethwaite said there would be “no special circumstances” for Iranian footballers seeking asylum.

• This stance drew criticism from local Berowra MP Julian Leeser, whose electorate is home to many Iranian-Australians.

• Leeser claimed that, given “serious threats” made toward the players via state media, they should be granted asylum in Australia.

• On Monday, Home Affairs minister Tony Burke announced that five of the players had been granted asylum.

The same day, the Albanese government moved a bill through the lower house, proposing amendments to the Migration Act.

The proposal: The changes put forward would allow the Home Affairs Minister to temporarily ban certain classes of temporary visa holders from entering Australia if authorities suspected they may overstay their visa.

Put it simply: Under the proposed laws, non-citizens who have already been issued a visa can be blocked from entry.

📿 Watch: Have you been inside the North Sydney Hare Krishna temple?

A local monk, Edward, shows us around his place of worship on Falcon Street.

Watch below.

🍻 How do you improve the nightlife in Chatswood?

Allowing for louder music and longer hours, new “entertainment precincts” across Sydney — including Marrickville, Newtown and Balmain — have aimed to help nightlife flourish in a city crippled by years of lockouts and lockdowns.

Now, the North Shore will also get involved, with Chatswood and Hornsby set to become the first Special Entertainment Precincts in the region.

Read the full story below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

☁️ Are we looking at our seasons all wrong?

A low of 10C and a thunderstorm wasn’t how many expected summer to begin, but in Melbourne, that’s how it was in December 2025.

“People were saying, ‘What's the go with this?’” Clancy Lester, an ecologist and environmental educator, told the National Account. “We're in summer, it's meant to be sunny, and then we'll say, this is the time of Garawang.”

Lester, who has an online following of over 42,000 people, said Indigenous seasons provide a more accurate way of working out the weather.

In Wurundjeri country, he said, Garrawang (December) is a time of unpredictable weather and the ripening of kangaroo apples, small edible fruits native to South East Australia and New Zealand.

“This is when you see the thunderstorms and the turbulent weather. This is not summer.”

Lester released a documentary on the seven Wurundjeri seasons late last year.

The self-described “bee nerd” also encourages Australians to ditch their lawns and nature strips for native flowers and grasses.

He said comparing the maintenance costs of traditional lawns, which are water and fertiliser intensive, with native plants that have adapted to the Australian climate, made the switch a “no-brainer”.

“So if the everyday Aussie can do something to replace their lawn with natives, and if our local councils and government can also take note, that would just be one of the simplest but best ways to transform our landscapes into biodiverse little pollinator patches.”

Watch the full interview below: