Silencing environmental scienceThe Federal government has cut funding for environmental studies courses by almost 30%, more than any other university course. Professor Dianne Gleeson is a wildlife geneticist at the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra and President of the Australian Council of Environmental Deans and Directors. She joined me to talk about what the funding cuts will mean for Australia’s world class environmental studies programs. The paper she wrote with her colleagues Devastating!’: The Morrison government cuts uni funding for environment courses by almost 30% is available here. Proposed legislation could see foreign troops on Australian soil to deal with undefined 'emergencies'The Defence Legislation Amendment (Enhancement of Defence Force Response to Emergencies) Bill 2020 here has been passed without amendments and little debate in the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is now with the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. Critics of the Bill point to the delegation of too much responsibility for the call out of ADF forces to a single minister, the potential deployment of foreign troops and police on Australian soil and the impact on civil liberties. Individuals like lawyer Kellie Trantor here and groups such as Australians for War Powers Reform (WPR) here and the Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament (CICD), have raised their concerns in submissions to Senate Committee. The results of the Committee's deliberations will be released on November 4th. Romina Beitseen, secretary of CICD, joined me on Listening Notes to discuss the potential impact of the Bill. Getting active!The Commons Social Change Library is an online collection of educational resources on campaign strategy, community organising, digital campaigning and media. It's been in operation since April 2019.  The Library collects, curates and distributes resources of progressive movements around Australia and across the globe. Holly Hammond is the Director and she joined me on Listening Notes to explain how it all works. 

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Listening Notes: 'Devastating!' cuts to Australia's world class environmental studies courses; Defence Amendment Bill threatens civil liberties; Getting active with the Commons Social Change Library

Photo: Pioneer Of Freedom Street IV housing hundreds of refugees in Makassar City, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of Alfred Pek What China's commitment to carbon neutrality means for Morrison's gas plans In a statement at the United Nations General Assembly in September China’s leader Xi Jinping committed his country to carbon neutrality by 2060. If China is serious about this pledge, there are huge implications for Australia’s fossil fuel industry and the Federal Government’s plans for a gas-led Covid-19 recovery. Hao Tan is an Associate Professor with the Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle with research interests in China’s energy and resource transitions. He joined me on Listening Notes to discuss these developments. Hao Tan and his colleagues have written China just stunned the world with its step-up on climate action – and the implications for Australia may be huge. Link to paper Here Freedom denied: The impact of the externalisation of Australia's migrant control policies on refugees in Indonesia Alfred Pek is a filmmaker, video journalist and refugee advocate based in Sydney, Australia. He’s currently working on Freedom Street, a documentary about three refugees living in Makassar, Indonesia, and the impact of Australia’s external migration control policies on their lives. Fundraising website below:https://documentaryaustralia.com.au/project/freedom-street/  To find out more about how Australia's externalised migration control policies function in Indonesia check out:Policy Paper: Externalisation of Migration Control Policies: An Introduction by Amy Nethery and Asher Hirsh, Comparative Network on Refugee Externalisation Policies (CONREP) April, 2020 here Quote from the above paper: Externalisation policies undermine human rights principles, violate international law, cause significant harm for refugees and people seeking asylum, and undermine the entire system of refugee protection. Such policies must be resisted and challenged to protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees, including through legal challenges in domestic and international fora, democratic institutions, civil society and grassroots movements. Nethery and Hirsh 2020, p.14   

Listening Notes: What China's commitment to carbon neutrality means for Morrison's gas plans; Freedom Street documentary shows how the externalisation of Australia's migration control policies impacts refugees in Indonesia

Photo: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia,  by ej yao Unsplash Special Report on Aged care and Covid-19: Not a lot of actionThe Special Report into the Covid-19 pandemic released October 1st by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, contains “a lot of information and not a lot of action”, according to Professor Joseph Ibrahim. Joseph is from the Health Law and Ageing Research Unit in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash University. He joined me to discuss a paper he'd written for The Conversation entitled Older Australians deserve more than the aged care royal commission's COVID-19 report delivers here. Joseph is concerned that the report doesn't offer a clear picture of what went wrong and that the recommendations fall short and come too late.Colonial legacy behind talk of secession in Sabah and SarawakProfessor James Chin is the Director of the Asia Institute Tasmania. He studies governance issues in Sotheast Asia, in particular in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. He's wrirtten a paper for The Conversation entitled Is Malaysia heading for BorneoExit? Why some in East Malaysia are advocating secession here. James discuses the colonial history of Sabah and Sarawak, the Malaysian Federation's failure to deliver on its agreements and what it could do to resolve the problems.  

Listening Notes: Special Report on Aged Care and Covid-19 too little, too late; Malaysian Federation fails to deliver for Sabah and Sarawak

Covid-19 Omnibus Bill: "Unprecedented, excessive and open to abuse" The Covid-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2020 passed the Victorian House of Assembly on September 18th and is headed for the Legislative Council. But statements by the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service here, Human Rights Watch here and the Victorian Bar here are saying the Bill goes too far in broadening the powers of the police with little or no oversight. Jude McCulloch is a Professor Emerita of Criminology at Monash University and has worked for many years as a lawyer in community legal centres. She’s written a paper for The Conversation entitled Expanding Victoria’s police powers without robust, independent oversight is a dangerous idea here. She joined me last Thursday to discuss the Bill and why so many legal and human rights groups are concerned. Update: On Wednesday, October 7, the Age reported that the Victorian Government had modified the Bill to address concerns about detention powers here Sianan Healy is an historian from La Trobe University. She’s begun work on an oral history study of the ways in which women’s experiences of infertility have changed since the post-war period from 1950 to 2010. She joins me on Listening Notes to discuss the research; why it’s needed, the response she’s had from women so far and how people wishing to participate in the study can become involved. Sianan sees her research as a beginning in the work of recording the history of infertility in Australia.  

Listening Notes: Victoria's Covid-19 Omnibus Bill “unprecedented, excessive and open to abuse”; Ending the silence on infertility in Australia

Proposed mobile phone ban for detainees unnecessary, adds to trauma The Migration Amendment (prohibiting items in immigration detention facilities) Bill 2020 would allow the Minister to deem mobile phones and other internet devices “prohibited items” and grant staff new powers to search detainees without a warrant and allow strip searches and detector dogs within the centres. Groups like Amnesty International, The Australian Medical Association and the Australian Human Rigts Commission have raised concerns about the Bill and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) is conducting a campaign to prevent the Bill passing the Senate. Jana Favero is the Director of Campaigns at the ASRC. We discuss how the measures contained in the Bill would affect people currently in and outside detention, the impact of Covid-19 on the people they're seeing at the ASRC and the September Hope Appeal to support the opening of a new community centre in Dandenong.  Myanmar's Rohingya GenocideMost of us remember the images on our television screens in 2017, of the Rohingya people fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh in the face of the extreme violence against them by the Myanmar military and civilians. Dr Ronan Lee is a visiting scholar at Queen Mary University of London’s International State Crime Initiative. He conducted in-depth interviews with Rohingya people during his PhD research and his book, Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech, published by Bloomsbury this month, draws on that research. Ronan discusses the history of the Rohingya people, how their citizenship rights deteriorated from 1962 and the genocide case against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice. We also look at concerns about Australia's training of Myanmar military, a matter raised with Foreign Minister Marise Payne by Human Rights Watch in February this year. See Human Rights Watch press release here. Also check out the 3CR Thursday Breakfast podcast for September 3rd to hear a conversation with JN Joniad, a Rohingya refugee and journalist presently living in Jakarta, Indonesia.   

Listening Notes: Banning mobile phones in immigration detention cruel, unnecessary; Myanmar's Rohingya Genocide

 These gasfields: If they were viable industry would already have developed themLast Tuesday Scott Morrison announced the Federal Government's plan for a gas-led recovery from the coronavirus recession. Described by Katharine Murphy in The Guardian as A gas-fuelled calamity, the plan has been widely criticised for not being financially viable, a boondoggle to the fossil fuel industry and ignoring the urgent need for action on climate change.Cam Walker is the campaigns coordinator for Friends of the Earth Australia. He outlines the problems with the Government's gas plan, describes what a green-led recovery would look like and encourages us to check out the Market Forces report on who’s funding fossil fuels in Australia. Global Day of Action: Fund our Future Not Gas!https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/ Super funds moving toward net zero emissions by 2050While Scott Morrison refuses to commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a new report has found that Australian Superannuation funds are following the advice of financial regulators and moving toward a net zero emissions future by 2050. Last week ClimateWorks released the results of research conducted with 20 Australian Superannuation Funds as part of its Net Zero Momentum Tracker series. The report shows that, while there’s still a way to go, results are encouraging. Amandine Denis-Ryan, Head of National Programs at Climateworks, joined me to discuss the report.   

Listening Notes: Stranded assets and Scott Morrison's gas-fuelled folly; Australian Super funds move toward a net zero emissions future

Predators, prey and moonlight singing: how phases of the Moon affect Australian wildlifeLast week Alice Gorman, an Associate Professor in Archeology and Space Studies at Flinders University, told us about the need to conserve the Moon's environment and protect it from potential exploitation by mining interests. This week we hear from three early career researchers, Ashton Dickerson, University of Melbourne, Grant Linley, Charles Sturt University and Kate Senior, University of Melbourne, about the way phases of the Moon affect Australian wildlife. They tell us what attracted them to environmental sciences, what they're discovering through their research and how they felt when they heard about a recent study showing that environmental scientists are being silenced. How business organisations shafted climate policy in Australia and their sudden about faceDr Marc Hudson is a post-doctoral fellow with the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity at Keele University. His PhD research investigated the strategic responses of incumbents to proposals for carbon pricing over thirty years of Australian political history, from 1989 to 2011. We speak with him about that history,  his paper,  A bit rich: business groups want urgent climate action after resisting it for 30 years, and speculate about why the sudden change from industry groups represented on the Climate Roundtable.   

Listening Notes: Predators, prey and moonlight singing in Australian wildlife; 'A bit rich'- business groups call for urgent action on climate change after 30 years of opposition

Photo by Jorge Gardner, Unsplash Responses to AGL's Environmental Effects Statement reveal the risks of a floating gas terminal in Westernport BayVictor Komarovsky is a community organiser for Environment Victoria working to stop the floating gas terminal project proposed by AGL for Cribb Point in Westernport Bay.  On July 2nd AGL's Environmental Effects Statement (EES) was made availabe for public comment. Submissions closed on August 26th and at least 10,000 were received. Victor Komarovsky explains why the response has been overwhelmingly negative and the reasons the community, councils and scientsts are concerned. Can the moon be a person?Alice Gorman (@drspacejunk) is an Associate Professor in Archeology and Space Studies at Flinders University. She's a leader in the field of space archeology and her research focuses on the archeology and heritage of space exploration, including space junk, planetary landing sites and off-earth mining.We talk about how she became involved in space archeology, the richness and magic of the moon's environment and the importance of valuing it; i.e. not seeing the moon as just one more mining opportunity. Check out Alice Gorman's article Can the Moon be a person? As lunar mining looms, could a change of perspective protect the Earth's ancient companion here and the link to the podcast of the MVA Public Forum on the Moon held on August 18th, 2020 here.  

Listening Notes: AGL's Environmental Effects Statement fails to convince Westernport community; Can the moon be a person?

  Creating dialogue through photography and advocacy Joshua Sim is an emerging artist and a Philosophy and Anthropology student. His way of seeing the world is grounded in his experiences growing up in Australia, and his love for his Chinese Peranakan and Indian heritage. Through his art Josh hopes to create dialogue about shared experiences of belonging, loneliness, disconnection and mental health. Josh is a Shout-out speaker for the Centre for Multicultura Youth (CMY) in Melbourne. He told me about his role as a Shout-out speaker, his experiences growing up in Australia and how food preparation in the Peranakan tradition influences his photography and writing.  Australia's climate inaction: 'Gaming the system' Matt McDonald is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland. His research focuses on climate politics and comparative national approaches to climate change. We discuss how Australia's inaction on climate change is viewed by the international community; i.e. as gaming the system, and we look at the implications of a Joe Biden presidency for Australia's stance in future international climate meetings. To find out more, check out Matt McDonald article in the Conversation, Under Biden the US would no longer be a climate pariah: that leaves Scott Morrison exposed.

Listening Notes: 'The Spirit of Peranakan'-Photography, food and advocacy; What a Biden presidency means for Australia's climate politics and policy

 Creating dialogue through photography and advocacy Joshua Sim is a professional photographer, an emerging artist and a Philosophy and Anthropology student. His way of seeing the world is grounded in his experiences growing up in Australia, and his love for his Chinese Peranakan and Indian heritage. Through his art Josh hopes to create dialogue about shared experiences of belonging, loneliness, disconnection and mental health. Josh is a Shout-out speaker for the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) in Melbourne. He told me about his role as a Shout-out speaker, his experiences growing up in Australia and how food preparation in the Peranakan tradition influences his photography and writing.  Australia's climate inaction: 'Gaming the system' Matt McDonald is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland. His research focuses on climate politics and comparative national approaches to climate change. We discuss how Australia's inaction on climate change is viewed by the international community; i.e. as gaming the system, and we look at the implications of a Joe Biden presidency for Australia's stance in future international climate meetings. To find out more, check out Matt McDonald article in the Conversation, how a Biden presidency might affect Australia's climate politics and policies. 

Listening Notes: 'The spirit of Peranakan'- Photography, food and advocacy; What a Biden presidency could mean for Australia's climate policy

Stringray Sisters documentary poster, photo courtesy Katrina Channells 'We don't need anything more from gas'Peter Newman is a Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University and founding director of the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute. He is the Coordinating Lead Author for Transport with the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. His most recent book, published in 2017, is Resilient Cities: Overcoming Fossil Fuel Dependence, co-authored with Timothy Beatley and Heather Boyer. Peter Newman joined me on Listening Notes to talk about his article Creative destruction: Covid-19 economic crisis is accelerating the demise of fossil fuels, published in The Conversation on August 3rd. Katrina Channells is a documentary film maker based in Melbourne. Her video production company We Are Yarn, set up with Bridget O'Shea, focuses on films about social justice issues. Katrina joins me on Listening Notes to talk about Stingray Sisters, a documentary on the campaign to prevent fracking along the coast of Maningrida in Arnhem land and the role of the Eather sisters, Noni, Alice and Grace, in that campaign.  And a warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that this story speaks about and includes the voice of a person who has passed away.   The Stingray Sisters is being screened on Friday, August 28th as a fundraiser for Sue Bolton's re-election campaign to Moreland Council. You can book on trybooking.com/BKYIJ.   

Listening Notes: 'Many of these gas developments are going to go bankrupt'-problems with the Federal government's gas led recovery; Stingray Sisters-a documentry about the campaign to prevent seabed fracking in Maningrida

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety continues to hear damning reports about how the sector has been mismanaged. Professor Joseph Ibrahim is Head of the Health Law and Aging Research Unit in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash's Victoria Institute of Forensic Medicine, and a practicing consultant physician in geriatric medicine. His paper publised in The Conversation  in July this year, 4 steps to avert a full-blown coronavirus disaster in Victoria's aged care homes, sets out the problems with the sector. Joseph Ibrahim joins me on Listening Notes to discuss the current crisis and what has to change. As Scott Morrison progresses his gas-led Covid recovery plans, community groups are standing up for the environment against enormous odds. A few weeks ago Julia Stockitj told us about the Save Westernport Campaign to prevent AGL from installing a floating regassification terminal at Crib Point on the Mornington Penninsula.Another project attracting strong community opposition is the Santos coal-seam gas project proposed for Narrabri, New South Wales. The New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) has given the project the green light but the New South Wales Independent Planning Commision (IPC), the body which makes the ultimate decision, has received 23,000 submissions, 98% of which oppose the project. Madeline Taylor ia a lecturer at the University of Sydney Law School specialising in Energy and Natural Resources Law. She argues that DPIE's approval is based on flawed evidence and that Santos' proposed coal seam gas project may endanger critical water supplies, farmland and threatened species.       

Listening Notes: Coronavirus lays bare the failures in Australia's aged care system; Narrabri's critical water supplies and agriculture threatened by proposed coal-seam gas project

A long-nosed Potoroo caught on a Reconyx HC600 camera during a nightly forage for truffles Photo courtesy of Vivianna Miritis As we've seen from recent reports Australia's environment is in decline due to the inadequacy of current laws and the Federal government's failure to administer the laws adequately and resource data collection. Rob Fowler is an Adjunct Professor in Environmental Law from the University of South Australia. He led the team of environmental law experts who developed the APEEL Report a blueprint for the next generarion of Australian environmental laws published in 2017. We discuss the Interim Report of the Samuel Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and his concerns that the Federal government is moving too quickly to devolve responsibility to the states.If you want to participate in the survey responding to the Interiim report of the Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act click here. The long-nosed potoroo has been declared vulnerable due to loss of habitat and predation by foxes and feral cats. Vivianna Miritis investigated the interaction between long-nosed potoroos and feral cats during her honours research conducted at Deakin University. There were a few surprises as she explains. Vivianna is now enrolled in a PhD at the Unviversity of Sydney where she's looking at ways of advancing fauna conservation in post fire landscapes.    

More environmental decline likely as Federal government seeks to devolve responsibility to the states; How the long-nosed potoroo is outsmarting feral cats

Photo: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park Courtesy Unsplash fezbot2000 #RaiseTheAgeIn 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended 14 years as the minimum age of criminal responsibility, but in Australia it's still 10 years old. Aboriginal organisations, human rights groups, youth advocates, doctors and lawyers have been urging the Council of Attorneys-General (CAG) to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 but at a meeting held on July 27th, the Council failed to act.Chris Cunneen is a professor in criminology at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney. His article in The Conversation, Ten-year-olds do not belong in detention. Why Australia must raise the age of criminal responsibility makes the case for immediate action. For the Hibakusha: ICAN marks 75 years since the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago this week, on August 6th, 1945, the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, followed by another bomb on Nagasaki on August 9th. Since then nuclear testing has had devastating effects on Aboriginal peoples in Australia and the Pacific. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, begun in 2007 and succeeded in introducing a nuclear weapons ban treaty in the United Nations in 2017. ICAN won the Nobel Peace Prize that same year for their work on this issue. Gem Romuld, Australian Director of ICAN, tells us about events organised across the Australia to mark the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to acknowledge the Hibakusha, survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and their pledge to make sure it never happens again.  

Listening Notes: #RaiseTheAge; For the Hibakusha-ICAN marks 75 years since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Photo: Cover of Independent review of the EPBC Act Interim Report Melbourne's hard lockdown created unique challenges for people who use alcohol and other drugs. Adjunct Professor Nicole Lee from the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University discusses how the Victorian government responded and what we can all to manage our alcohol use and stay safe during Covid-19. This month saw the approval of a pregnancy warning label that will appear on alcoholic beverages in Australia and New Zealand; labels that will be mandatory in the future.  But doesn't everyone already know that alcohol use during pregnancy may be damaging to the mother and the foetus? Well, maybe not. Elizabeth Elliott, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Sydney discusses why pregnancy warning labels on alcoholic beverages are needed. She tells us about the campaign to have have the labels mandated, the groups that supported it and the opposition from the alcohol industry. Two reports released a month apart have highlighted the parlous state of Australia's environment and the Federal Government's failure to protect Australia's unique wildlife and habitat. Both the Auditor-General's report Referrals, Assessments and Approvals of Controlled Actions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and the Interim Report of of the Samuel Review of the EPBC Act have highlighted the need for urgent action. James Trezise, Nature Policy Analyst from the ACF, explains why action is needed and his concern that the Federal Government will cherry-pick the recommendations that suit their desire to reduce so-called 'green tape', leaving the environment even more at risk.     

Listening Notes: Alcohol and other drug use during lockdown; Why it's taken so long to mandate pregnancy warnings on alcoholic beverages; Australia's environmental laws "not fit to address current or future environmental challenges"

Ratbags, Peaceniks and Agents of Change An hour of resistance radio that explores the movements that made us, drawing from the activist archives through to voices of resistance today. We take you under the hood to see how collectives and campaigns are formed, mobilise people, work cooperatively to transform systems of oppression and are sustained over time.

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Acting Up!

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