Rob Binns

In 2023, the climate crisis isn’t just rolling on – it’s picking up speed. Sea levels are rising, the planet’s land and oceans are heating up and tropical cyclones, wildfires, flooding and earthquakes are destroying lives and livelihoods.

It begs the question – is there anywhere you can go to weather the (both literal and metaphorical) storm?

For Refresh Marketing:

Phillip Kingston and Gary Peer. Best mates since 1975. Business partners since 1986.

We sat down with Caulfield’s original dynamic duo to get their own unique takes on… each other! To explore how 50 years of friendship have shaped their lives. And understand how, through it all, they’ve juggled close to four decades in business together.

Wix is one of the best-known website builders out there, but it also has a ferocious reputation as an ecommerce platform, too. It comes with a variety of features that are designed to make building and maintaining an online store simple.

It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years for Netflix.

After revealing it had lost 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022 alone – a report that led to the biggest single drop in the company’s stock, ever – Netflix lost another million subscribers in Q2. Compared to the previous year, the streaming giant’s revenue was also down, for the first time in a decade. Inflation, piracy, and account-sharing were rife – and Netflix was footing the bill.

Then, things changed.

For Refresh Marketing:

‘Flat white, please.’

After placing his order – and shooting the server he knows by name a quick, warm smile – Harry Lustig turns to face the window. Gazing out through the glass towards Inkerman Street’s lazy Monday afternoon lull, he gathers his thoughts.

Now, turning to face me across the table at Harper’s Kitchen – the coffee shop across the road from his office – Harry takes a deep breath. His eyes, alive and interested, dance. He chuckles. Exhales. Pauses. And tells me his story.

The Great Wall of China is one of the country’s best-known landmarks, designed to safeguard China’s people and national identity. But the country now has a more modern twist and, though it’s built far differently than its historical counterpart, it’s underpinned by many of the same reasons.

We’re talking about the Great Firewall of China – the colloquial term for the country’s extensive and globally unparalleled regime of internet censorship and control.

Ah, the sun; it gives us warmth, light, and social-media-friendly sunsets. Our world, quite literally, revolves around it. Yet, as the climate crisis rages on and we aim to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions – fuelled by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas for energy – pumped into our atmosphere, the sun’s role will take on an increasingly important dimension.

When you’re out and about in the city, there might be a few things on your mind. What should I get for lunch? That pointy building is really ugly. Do pigeons make good pets?

You’re probably not thinking about the air you’re breathing – even though the data says you really should.

Few who watched the first leg of Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix’s A-League Men Semi-Final at AAMI Park would have called it a remarkable match.

There were no goals, no genuine clear-cut opportunities, and, for the Phoenix, not a single shot on target. But, of course, this pattern of play was to be expected.

The teams – whose three meetings in the regular season produced just five goals and one win for the Phoenix in April 2024 – have a habit of sharing the honours in edgy encounters.

Once upon a time, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the local park, a young girl called Billie came across a little lost snail with a fantastic golden shell.

So begins the tale of The Golden Snail – a children’s book written and illustrated by Gravesend gardener Steve Franklin and dedicated to raising funds for local hospice charity ellenor.

Planet Earth has a pollution problem.

Air pollution factors into more than one in 10 (11.65 per cent) of all deaths globally and 368 million people rely on unsafe water sources. Every year, 12 million tonnes of plastic makes its way into the ocean – threatening marine life and the survival of its most delicate ecosystems – and, in 2021, the world pumped 37.12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere.

Be it air, water, or soil, it’s clear that whatever form pollution takes, it’s not only harming people – but the very world that sustains all human, plant, and animal life.

For Refresh Marketing:

I wrote all the updates: Market, New Projects, Asian, and Property Management. I also wrote two of the feature stories – Anthony Lee on Murrumbeena and 'The Softer Side of Darren Krongold' – as well as the Editor's Letter from Phillip Kingston and the "What's Been Happening at Gary Peer" section.

I edited the other articles within, proofread the final document, and project managed the whole publication: from concept to execution.

74 years ago, in his book 1984, George Orwell wrote of a society characterised by mass, near-constant surveillance: where “eyes follow you about as you move”.

Yet, while neither 1984 or 2023 have quite lived up to that dystopian vision’s darkest predictions, surveillance is a prominent aspect of modern life.

From Queen Elizabeth II’s death to interest rate rises to Liz Truss’s short-lived tenure at the top, the past year in the UK has seen its fair share of high-profile stories.

But masked by this headline-hogging news, the past few months have seen several other developments inch their way into the public conversation. Stories that stand to have a far more dramatic and long-standing impact on the way we send messages and use the internet – and that raise serious questions about how we interact online.

Picture this – an email pops into your inbox, and it’s from Apple.

“Your iCloud storage has expired,” it warns. “Upgrade before Sunday to claim a discount on your subscription, and avoid losing access to your saved photos.” Panicked, you click the link in the email, enter your card details and renew your subscription – or so you think.