Dr Costa Avgoustinos

How might Climate Change hurt our Constitution? 🧵👇

If you love IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE as much as I do, you should check out YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938), a masterpiece by the same director/star team of Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart. In this heartbreaking scene, Jimmy seems to be pitching an early version of solar energy.

Judges have become ‘human filters’ as AI in Australian courts reaches ‘unsustainable phase’, chief justice says #auslaw theguardian.com/law/2025/nov/2…

Lawyer caught using AI-generated false citations in court case penalised in Australian first #auslaw theguardian.com/law/2025/sep/0…

BREAKING: climate scientists say it's now easy to envision a collapse of human civilization 🧵

How does climate change impact constitutional law? Find out at this @AACL_AusCon webinar on Monday 23 June 2025 at 1pm with Prof Nicole Rogers (Bond) and Dr Costa Avgoustinos (UTS) Register: events.humanitix.com/climate-consti…

Labor just approved Woodside’s gas extension, endangering both the future (by unleashing a “carbon bomb”) + the past (50,000yo Aboriginal rock art).

HUGE NEWS: our greenwashing case against EnergyAustralia has settled, with EnergyAustralia set to make a public statement on Monday and take further steps next week. We see it as a win for consumers and our kids' climate. Stay tuned for details on Monday.

@mattrett Matt, what do you think is the best colour on her?

Such a pleasure to see Madonna in something other than black, always.

Sure, let’s get rid of all the people working on ‘climate’. Ignorance & hate, hastening our own extinction.

10 Great Books on Economics and Legal Institutions 1) The Code of Capital - Katharina Pistor This work begins with a simple formula: capital = assets + legal code. In detailing the ways the law creates capital it'll revolutionise the way you understand this important concept.

@SamBookman I don’t seem to have the power to DM you, but would love a copy of the draft syllabus please. Good luck with the course!

And I'm happy to share the draft syllabus with anyone interested! Just DM me.

I'll be teaching an intensive Masters course on "Constitutional Law and Climate Change" at @MelbLawSchool in March. Tackling all things climate through conlaw theory and comparative practice! If you or someone you know are interested, see here - handbook.unimelb.edu.au/2025/subjects/…

Dear Twtter Friends, YAY! BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT!!!

.@hasanthehun is right: What's going on in Los Angeles today will become fairly common in years to come — unless the global community comes together to change our energy systems, take on the lies and greed of the fossil fuel industry, and enact a Green New Deal.

@ryan_cropp Congrats on the gig 🥂

Hello. Next month I'm starting a new gig at the AFR covering energy and climate from Canberra. If you know anything about energy and/or climate, let's chat

"We cannot let the oil companies, the gas companies, and petro states tell us what is permissible," @algore There is no time to wait. #ActOnClimate #climate #energy #renewables #GreenNewDeal

@Sarah__Schwartz I’m sorry for your loss, but thank you so much for sharing. He sounds so special and what he achieved with your help is wonderful. ❤️

Today we lay my dear friend, Uncle Percy Lovett, Gunditjmara, to rest. I worked with Percy in his fight for justice for his partner, Veronica Nelson. In that time, he became far more than a client - he was an uncle, a friend, a comrade, a joker, and someone who always got us into absurd and chaotic situations. Some people shape you and push you towards becoming more of the person you were meant to be – working with Percy for Veronica did that for me. Percy, of Fitzroy stars fame, with deep roots in the Fitzroy community, was loved by everyone. He operated on his own timeline and was completely his own person. Percy was a kind soul & cared deeply about injustice. Knowing I was Jewish, he read Maus by Art Spiegelman. When I had a bike accident, he often checked in. After the Inquest, he made me a beautiful painting (sadly stolen - he had a knack for losing all his possessions). We shared a love of complaining – about family, cops, screws & my bad driving. He joked I was going to get us before the Coroner for other reasons. Veronica was everything to him. He loved living with her on Yorta Yorta country and making Aboriginal artifacts with her late father, Rusty Walker. The way she died, and the cruelty, injustice and abject neglect of her final moments, never left him. None of it, including the impact on him, will leave me either. Percy didn’t have to take up the hard fight for Veronica. But he wanted to do it for her, and for all the women inside. Almost every time we met he asked, ‘Sez, do you think I’m doing the right thing? I’m doing right by her aren’t I?’. Percy never believed the cover up of Veronica’s death, and never gave up pushing for the truth, even when the Court berated us for it. In the end, the truth came out. It was his advocacy, with Veronica’s mother’s - Aunty Donna’s, which led to changes in prison healthcare and bail laws – changes which have led to the lowest numbers of women in Victoria’s prisons. Percy, you did right by Veronica and then some. It’s because of your fight that we’re all more free. All my love goes to his family, who, with Ron Ron (doggie), were his everything. I promise to shower Ron Ron with love & to keep fighting for justice while you fly high with Veronica. Rest in Power Uncle!

"The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate. Phaseout." @UN Secretary General @antonioguterres | #ActOnClimate #climate #energy

"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world." Happy Birthday Noam Chomsky

@_ClaireConnelly YES. Every year my #1 song is gentle rain on a tin roof.