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PODCAST

Below the Surface

Gunnar Haid & James Hammond

Casual chats between an Austrian and Australian on environmental topics that usually don"t get talked about openly.Hosts Gunnar Haid and James Hammond set out to provide a light-hearted and thought-provoking look into Contaminated Land, Resource Recovery, Ecology and general environmental issues in Australia, in particular NSW. They use their experience and industry connections to talk about subjects that, at least in their opinion, don"t get talked about enough or not in the right context. Join

science earth sciences

All Episodes

65:58

#48 The Basics: Heritage

Below the Surface ·

2026/09/18

What makes something worth keeping, and who gets to decide? In this episode of our The Basics Series, Gunnar and Hammond talk with heritage specialist Dr MacLaren North. They cover what heritage actually means, the differences between built, archaeological and Aboriginal cultural heritage, how heritage significance is assessed, and why the process can sometimes be surprisingly subjective. They also look at how heritage considerations affect development, why getting specialist advice early mat...

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61:54

#47 The EIANZ

Below the Surface ·

2026/08/28

Who keeps environmental professionals honest, and what happens when they get it wrong? Gunnar and James open with a deceptively simple question: would you take a guaranteed $50,000 or risk it on a coin toss for $1 million? Their answers lead to a revealing conversation about risk, certainty, running a business and how personal circumstances shape financial decisions. Then the episode switches to newly appointed EIANZ President Fiona Gainsford about the growing influence of professional certif...

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46:57

#46 The Career Path

Below the Surface ·

2026/07/17

What does a career in the environmental industry actually look like, and how do you know when it is time for a change? That change can range from minor adjustment in your life and your expectations and goals to a big one like changing jobs or even careers altogether. Gunnar and Hammond are joined by career coach Kellie Guenther to discuss career pathways, professional development, leadership, mentoring and workplace culture. They also explore the pressures facing young professionals, ...

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56:08

#45 The Disclaimer

Below the Surface ·

2026/06/26

Disclaimers in our reports. Useless fluff or necessary ass covering? Who better to discuss this than Sarah Mansfield (LinkedIn) who is returning to Below the Surface and almost immediately raises the bar for all future lawyer and engineer jokes. Sarah, Gunnar and Hammond tackle P&O cruise insults, ALGA glory, puppies, and why a useful “How to Read This Report” section may be better than hiding AI created legal fog at the back. Other subjects: Report reliance, executive summaries, co...

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74:58

#44 The Duplicate Pushback

Below the Surface ·

2026/06/05

In Episode #30 The Duplicate, Gunnar famously declared that duplicate soil samples in heterogeneous fill are useless. Risk assessor Belle Casement of Terravale Consulting heard the episode… and decided Gunnar needed correcting. 😲 In this nerd-out episode, they discuss QA/QC, dodgy duplicates, lab uncertainty, conservative risk assessments, and whether the typical QC sections in contaminated land reports are actually science or just expensive pseudo scientific fluff we do to please

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64:28

#43 The Negotiator

Below the Surface ·

2026/05/15

Hammond relives his time as a representative for Australia in international biodiversity negotiations at COP13 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. But before that a few updates, a hint for auditors and Gunnar almost completely loses it while talking about one of the latest EPA announcements leading to a most epic Gu-rant. Links: Clarence Coal mine penalty Constitutional heads of power. 'Getting to Yes'. Never Split the Difference. Rapport - The Four Ways to Read People. Sam Harris | #1...

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53:59

#42 The Basics: Microplastics

Below the Surface ·

2026/04/24

Microplastics: The Invisible Problem (or is it?) Brooke Kelly from Reditus joins Gunnar and James to unpack microplastics. From penguin carcasses and seal scat (that's science code for poo) to human exposure, they explore where microplastics come from, how they are measured, and why they are everywhere. There is a lot of hype surrounding microplastics and some evidence of ecological harm exists, but human health impacts remain largely observational. They tackle analytical limitations, media-d...

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58:52

#41 The AI Revolution

Below the Surface ·

2026/04/02

Artificial intelligence has gone from curiosity to daily tool almost overnight. In this episode, Gunnar and James sit down with AI consultant Alex Rankin who spent over 25 years in senior roles across the Australian Public Service before turning her focus to helping environmental consultancies figure out where AI actually fits into their workflows. Together they cut through the hype and talk about what AI can actually do for environmental professionals right now. In this episode: What L...

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57:49

#40 The Risk Assessment

Below the Surface ·

2026/03/13

If you've ever stared at a lab result that exceeds your NEPM HIL and wondered "okay, but what does this actually mean?". This one's for you. Gunnar and James sit down with Dr Kylie Dodd, environmental toxicologist and risk assessor at GHD, to get into the science behind the numbers that so many of us lean on without fully understanding where they come from. Kylie has a great way of making this stuff click, and the conversation goes places that are genuinely useful for day-to-day practice. The...

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56:28

#39 The Big ASS Questions

Below the Surface ·

2026/02/20

A deeper dive into Acid Sulfate Soils. In a slightly QLD centric episode, Gunnar and James are joined by all three main authors of the QLD ASS Management Guidelines, widely regarded as the best ASS guidelines in the world. Sue-Ellen Dear is a Senior Land Resource Officer with the QLD Department of Natural Resources and Mines and has contributed to acid sulfate soil policy and guidance since 1996. She is lead author of the QLD ASS Management Guidelines. Kristie Williams has spent nearly ...

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42:03

#38 The Bioavailability

Below the Surface ·

2026/01/30

How much of any given contaminant is actually taken up into human bodies? If we think about it, that is one of the single most important things to consider as an environmental consultant when reporting on a site's contamination status, yet it is not something that is very often done. Gunnar and James are yet again soaring with an industry eagle as they set out to get better at that very aspect of consulting. They chat with Dr Albert Juhasz, a Research Professor at the Future Industries Instit...

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42:36

#37 The 2025 Reflection

Below the Surface ·

2025/12/19

The 2025 Year in Review (That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen) What started as a neat 15-minute intro quietly turned into a full end-of-year wrap-up. Classic Below the Surface. Gunnar and James get side-tracked almost immediately and eventually realise they have recorded the accidental 2025 BTS year in review. They cover listener feedback, behind-the-scenes stats, favourite episodes and a special mention for Sandgate. Personal obsessions make an appearance, with both sharing their top five podcasts...

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43:31

#36 The Client - TMA

Below the Surface ·

2025/11/28

What it's really like to be regulated? Regulators, take note - this one’s for you. We are shining the light on the third corner of the Regulator – Consultant – Client relationship: the Client. What’s it really like to be on the receiving end of regulation? Do operators of licensed facilities feel supported … or just scrutinised? Are those hefty licence fees worth it? And is there a fair playing field between the licensed and the “let’s-pretend-we-don’t-need-a-licence” crowd? Of co...

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56:58

#35 The PFAS Heath Advice

Below the Surface ·

2025/11/07

The NSW Health PFAS Advice includes quite some statements: “The health effects of PFAS appear to be small.” “… there was definite evidence of increased psychological distress in … exposed communities, evidence for other adverse health outcomes from this study was limited.” “Interventions that reduce blood PFAS are of uncertain benefit and may cause harm.”These comments seem at odds with much of the mainstream media's presentation around PFAS. Or even the recently drastically reduced...

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49:57

#34 The Stormwater Stirrer

Below the Surface ·

2025/10/17

Gunnar (without James this time) gives it a go to get to the bottom of the very basics of what we need to think of around stormwater on a site. There are few better suited to talk about the subject than our guest Mircea Stancu, the founder of Cleanstormwater. Mircea is a civil engineer, software engineer and, you guessed it, an expert in anything related to stormwater. He is also quite a flamboyant guest and he and Gunnar managed to put together a show case of the very best of (what Gun...

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59:15

#33 The Waste Class Blues

Below the Surface ·

2025/09/26

James K (James Karagiannis) has personally completed a stack of waste classifications. And in addition, he has reviewed somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 reports written by other consultants for our clients. That gives him a rare, panoramic view of what great looks like … and what misses the mark. Gunnar and Hammond, James Hammond, sit down with him to unpack what he sees when reviewing these reports: some work that’s brilliant, some … not so much. We talk about the “not so much” parts in thi...

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52:49

#32 The EPA CEO

Below the Surface ·

2025/09/05

Tony Chappel, the CEO of the NSW EPA, is our guest today, so we are definitely back with a bang after the summer holidays. Gunnar and James are (surprisingly!) well-prepared and keep the conversation on track as they dive into Tony’s journey to leading the EPA, his early priorities, the role of politics in environmental regulation, and the importance of deep listening in leadership. They explore everything from the OCSE paper and the EPA's potential collaboration with industry bodies, t...

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59:45

#31 The Half Price EV

Below the Surface ·

2025/06/13

Electric Vehicles are basically half price in Australia right now, thanks to some little-known government incentives. Gunnar and James decided it was the perfect time to talk… tax. Yes, tax. And you thought resource recovery was a boring subject, right? But before you judge, listen to this episodes. Gunnar and James have brought in the big guns: chartered accountant Paul Mills (paulybmills at gmail.com). It really sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: Two engineers and an accountant ...

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79:26

#30 The Duplicate

Below the Surface ·

2025/05/23

Gunnar claims almost all duplicates we take serve close to no purpose. If you want to know why, have a listen and be entertained and informed at the same time. The OGs are back together in this episode, and quite an unusual one it is. This times it is James who goes on a few rants, quite to Gunnar's amusement. Of course, Gunnar has a few things to say as well and he will definitively ruffle some feathers with this episode. We start off with playing Wikileaks by talking about a letter th...

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35:00

#29 The New AS5370 Standard

Below the Surface ·

2025/05/02

Attention Asbestos in Soils Specialists, there is a new kid in town. The Australian Standard 4964-2004 Method for the qualitative identification of asbestos in bulk samples has been superseded with a new AS 5370. What's different? What's better, what's worse? Why are we reporting below the detection and below the reporting limit? Is NATA on board with it? What do all those different sub-categories the laboratories report actually mean? Gunnar is talking to Linda Apthorpe, a Certified O...

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48 results

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