For the final episode of the first season of Hot Spots, we explore the power of innovation at Bell Bay Aluminium. Not just the ideas themselves, but the people who help them take shape. Host Penny Terry speaks with three guests who’ve been part of driving change across the site: from world-leading operational processes, to rethinking how the plant uses energy, including its ability to flex demand, to fresh ways of engaging with and supporting the community. Together, they show how innovation isn’t just about being inventive, but about creating the right conditions for new thinking to thrive.

At Bell Bay Aluminium, family ties run deep. In this episode of Hot Spots, we hear from a mother and daughter, and a husband and wife - colleagues who also share a home. Their stories stretch beyond the household, connecting to uncles, cousins, and kids who’ve worked at the smelter too. Together, we explore why families keep coming back, what it’s like when your colleagues are also your kin, and how shift work shapes life beyond the gates. From juggling rosters and debriefs at the dinner table, to carrying on traditions across generations, this episode shows how the smelter isn’t only full of work stories, it’s full of family stories too.

In this episode, host Penny Terry takes us on a road trip through George Town and beyond to see the smelter from the outside looking in. From cooking programs and community gardens to bike tracks and emergency services, Penny discovers that the size of a project isn’t always the measure of its impact.

Along the way, she learns how local people and Bell Bay Aluminium have worked side by side to bring ideas to life for people young, old, and everyone in between. These stories reveal more than the projects themselves, they uncover a history of connection, resilience, and community spirit. It’s almost impossible to drive through the region without seeing something touched by the smelter’s hand.

What does it feel like to give your working life to one place? In this Hot Spot episode, we sit down with three retired employees whose stories are stitched into the very fabric of Bell Bay Aluminium.

Among them is the longest-serving female employee, who first applied for a job for "young men" and went on to experience both shocking and heartening moments that few outside the gates could imagine. Alongside her, we hear from a woman who walked in as a temp and walked out 22 years later, and a recent retiree who says the smelter was his life, second only to his family.

These conversations pull no punches. They’re raw, surprising, sometimes gobsmacking, and full of memories that reveal just how much innovation, transformation, and humanity lives behind the gates. These are the voices that tell us what it truly means to be part of the history of this place.