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Josie Jones OAM

@sharejosie

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Creative Director
Ocean Earth Lover & part time 🧜🏻‍♀️
@olympus_au UWPhotography freediving
@australianoftheyear Local Hero

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Sign our petition to cease the practice of mechanical beach raking. Link in bio. #plasticbeach by @sharejosie

I’ve come down to Rye foreshore after a week of onshore winds, and I was lucky enough to find a paper nautilus shell. The trick is getting here first thing in the morning before the beach rake turns up and smashes them to pieces.

@sharejosie had been cleaning these beaches for over a decade, and she reckons the rake’s not just expensive for the community, it actually buries and breaks plastic into the sand. Then the next high tide just brings all that rubbish back up again.

We should never litter, and we should always pick up after ourselves, but Mornington Peninsula Shire would be better off employing locals to do the job instead of this beach raking debacle.

We really need this petition signed so we can cease beach raking .

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved/petitions/cease-the-practice-of-mechanical-beach-raking2/ by @sharejosie

Good morning Bondi by @sharejosie

Another great show at the local - best time in my natural habitat with local champions passionate about the place we live in and love… thank you @sharejosie Josie Jobes OAM, John Karslake from SP Allies and Marnee Wills from @friendsofcoolart - for the incredible work you do in our community and your passion to make positive change. Such a joy to host the Good Things Breakfast Show every Thursday morning, 7am-9am. 💖🎶💖 by @sharejosie

It’s a magical sunny day here in Melbourne and, with warmer days ahead, this stunning photo is a beautiful reminder of what we have on our doorstep, and what’s worth caring for.

That’s Josie Jones OAM swimming with these beautiful rays. She’s an award-winning environmental advocate, self-described part mermaid 💞, and a woman whose care and passion for our coastline is inspirational.

Josie joined me on the podcast recently for a conversation about the courage to act on what matters. We spoke about her work protecting our coastline, the experiences that have shaped her, and what happens when we care enough about something to take action.

It’s an episode packed with wisdom and takeaways. One of my favourites: confidence comes through taking action. We don’t have to wait until we feel ready.

Throughout our conversation there are invitations to reflect, and at the end I invite you to choose one aligned action you’ve been wanting to take, and do it today. Something that matters to you, however small the first step might be.

If you’re enjoying a quiet moment this Sunday, or looking for something to accompany a walk or your travels through the week, come and listen.

A little inspiration to close the weekend, begin a new week, and appreciate the natural world and all this new season brings.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or via the link in my bio.

Let us know what you take away from listening, or one thing you care enough about to act on!

#FeelAlive #DoMidlifeDifferently #LivingWithPurpose #inspiringwoman #CourageOverComfort by @sharejosie

There are rumours. And then there are facts. ✅

Before mechanical beach raking ended, we were already testing the sand. We continued testing after it stopped.

The hypothesis was clear: during the first quarter of hand cleaning, we expected to see an increase in plastic being recovered as litter previously buried in the sand began working its way back to the surface.

And that is exactly what we watched happen.

At Safety Beach alone, I have picked up tens of thousands of pieces of plastic, fragmented and left behind by the mechanical raking process. We have watched old litter continually emerge from the sand, including packaging dating back decades: 1972, 1988, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2014…

This isn’t something that appeared overnight.

Mechanical raking doesn’t make all litter disappear. Our testing has demonstrated that the process can miss litter, bury it and fragment it, leaving smaller items within the sand.

Yet misinformation continues to be repeated while the actual data is available for people to examine. This is precisely why evidence matters.

If a beach-cleaning method is repeatedly driving over the sand but leaving litter behind beneath the surface, we should be asking serious questions about whether that is an acceptable way to manage our beaches.

Our petition closes tomorrow.

If you believe decisions about our coastline should be based on evidence — not rumours — please add your name today and share it.

National Petition. Link in Bio

https://www.change.org/p/stop-mechanical-beach-raking-on-australia-s-coastlines by @sharejosie

Grant Hackett mentioned the other day that at Olympic level, the difference between silver and gold came down to just under a second.

And it seems timing plays an important role in nature too.

The female seahorse gives the male her eggs, and within moments, he’s pregnant.

And we thought human relationships were complicated. 😂

After years of freediving and photographing these incredible little creatures, I’ve learnt that if you find one seahorse, keep looking. There’s a good chance there’s another nearby.

Their habitats overlap, particularly males and females, and here in southern Australia, pot-bellied seahorses breed roughly between October and March.

The females tend to be the feisty ones. They’ll sometimes come towards you, bump you or seemingly try to distract you, while the males are generally much shyer and prefer to hide or just pretend you can’t see them. 🤭

They may be terrible swimmers, but they’re incredibly resourceful. And underneath those cute little faces are remarkably effective predators, using a lightning-fast suction strike to capture their prey.

Despite what many people think, seahorses don’t necessarily mate for life either. If they lose a partner, they can move on and find another surprisingly quickly.

It seems having no morals crosses the entire animal kingdom. 😂 and perhaps the biggest misconception? You don’t have to go deep to find them.

For me, it’s about knowing the seaweed they love and then really looking. Once your eyes learn what they’re looking for, suddenly you start seeing them.

And often, where there’s one… there’s two. 💛🐴🌊

@grant__hackett by @sharejosie

Before you throw rocks, please hear me out!

Over the past 15 years I’ve worked with politicians from all levels of government and across the political spectrum. My role has never been to support a political party, it has been to advocate for evidence-based decisions, stronger governance and safer communities.

I’ve learnt that you can tell a lot about a leader by their willingness to have a conversation. We won’t always agree, but leaders who genuinely listen create better outcomes than those who put politics or bureaucracy ahead of the people they represent.

I’ve also learnt to look beyond the words. It’s easy to adopt the language of community engagement; it’s much harder to genuinely practise it. Communities should ask themselves whether their representatives are listening because they believe in collaboration, or because it sounds good.

In my experience, Ben Carroll has always taken the time to listen, remembered my work and been prepared to have a conversation. That doesn’t mean I’ll agree with every decision he makes, but it’s a quality I respect in any leader.

Congratulations, Premier @bencarrollmp Victoria’s 50th Premier. I genuinely wish you every success because when our leaders succeed through accountability, transparency and genuine community engagement, Victoria benefits.

I’ll continue doing what I’ve always done, working with anyone prepared to listen and holding everyone, regardless of politics, accountable to the evidence. by @sharejosie

💉 Do needles make you nervous?

Stop scrolling for 20 seconds…
If you think mechanical beach raking removes syringes from our beaches, think again.

We tested it.
It failed to pick up a syringe.

Today, we found another syringe after the beach had been mechanically raked.

That’s why we’re asking for evidence-based beach management—not assumptions.

If you truly want healthy beaches? Sign the petition below. 👇

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved/petitions/cease-the-practice-of-mechanical-beach-raking2/

#morningtonpeninsula by @sharejosie

Every beautiful drone shot starts with someone who had absolutely no idea what they were doing. I’m still learning… Flying the drone is one thing… being in the shot while someone keeps the controller safe is another! 🤍 And I’m loving every minute of it. #starfishbeach #starfish #vietnam by @sharejosie

Confession… I finally did it! 😂

I’ve resisted poking these little earthstars all season, but today I gave one a gentle poke (or 3 😝) just to watch the spores puff out.

It might be one of the cutest little miracles in nature. 🍄💨
The song is just for fun! These little earthstars aren’t on the menu. 😄 #mushrooms by @sharejosie

There’s something special about seeing someone where they belong.💙💙💙
@sharejosie

#morningtonpeninsula #lovewhereyoulive #stingrays #wildlife #sealife #oceanlovers by @sharejosie