Gay Alcorn has been a journalist for over 25 years. She's been a Washington correspondent, edited The Sunday Age, won three Walkley Awards and is now the Melbourne editor for Guardian Australia.
I wanted to talk with Gay about a whole many things (we began by talking about this week's 4Corners report on the refugee children of Nauru and the roles and biases of journalism), but the bulk of our chat became focussed on the notion of "political correctness": the nature of our public discourse, section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, identity politics and cultural appropriation.
Gay describes herself as a progressive person but is a staunch advocate of the freedom of speech and has concerns about the way we go about talking with each other. Is it now longer possible for us to "reasonably disagree"?
This piece by Gay on PC is the basic starting point for our chat, I'd recommend reading that first before listening here. We also got on to Lionel Shriver's speech at the Brisbane Writer's Festival and the ensuing furore; this will also be the focus of next week's episode with Yassmin Abdel-Magied.
Boundless Plains To Share at Belvoir Theatre in January 2017
Gay's writing at Guardian Australia
The Media's Moment of Truth by Frank Bruni
Hunt For The Radical Centre: Confronting Welfare Dependency by Noel Pearson
The Pacific Solution's brutal fact: we need it by Jonathan Holmes
Those fighting offshore detention don't need all the answers by me
Section 18C Explainer: What is it, and why do some politicians want it changed? by Luke McNamara
Cause of the Week: Guardian Australia (theguardian.com/au), Oxfam Australia (oxfam.org.au)
TIME TO MEET ANOTHER HERO, EVERYONE! Shen Narayanasamy is the Human Rights Campaign Director at GetUp!. She's an outspoken activist for refugee and migrant rights who is seriously shaking shit up at the moment and she was nice enough to explain to me why (and how) she's doing it.
From her Di Gribble address on "The Great Immigration Con" to taking on the private companies that are complicit in human rights abuses through the operation of offshore detention centres to the task of defeating the philosophy behind the "detention regime" in its totality, I reckon this is a really illuminating and (mildly) hopeful discussion.
Boundless Plains To Share at the Belvoir Theatre, January 2017
Walk Together 2016 is happening THIS SATURDAY October 22nd
ABC's Q&A: Australia's Sovereign Borders
Article: Burning The Stakeholders by Chloe Hooper
Article: Lunch with lawyer and asylum seeker advocate Shen Narayanasamy
GetUp!'s #BringThemHere campaign
Cause of the Week: No Business In Abuse (nobusinessinabuse.org)
He used to co-host Australian Idol but this year James Mathison ran against former prime minister Tony Abbott for the federal seat of Waringah as an independent.
In this chat James explains why he decided to run, his frustrations with the current political deadlock in Australia, the limitations of election campaigns and his predictions of a new progressive movement on the horizon.
Plus he shamelessly advertises Coke.
Boundless Plains To Share at the Belvoir Theatre, January 2017
Comedy 4 Karma in Daylesford, Saturday October 15th
I'll be appearing in season 2 of SBS's First Contact in November
Walk Together 2016 is happening on Saturday October 22nd
#OurBrothersOurSisters on raisely.com
Me on Guardian's Token podcast
Me on Brendon Burns' Dumb White Guy podcast, Part 1 // Part 2
Article: CEOs bank on bonuses as average Australian worker left to flounder
Article: We're two-faced about 'wasting' money on welfare
Article: James Mathison wants to create a new progressive political movement to target the far right
Article: Thoughts on Junket 2016
Article: Leaked UNHCR report - Manus Island's world's worst
Cause of the Week: Barnados (barnados.org.au)
22-year-old student Brendan Busch is angry and frustrated about Australian racism and denial, particularly in relation to First Nations peoples.
He's spoken out against Andrew Bolt receiving a platform at the 2016 Festival of Dangerous Ideas and garnered some media attention last month when he offered to give away his Falls Festival ticket to anyone who could prove they had convinced radio station triple j to change the date of their massive annual song countdown, the Hottest 100, from "Australia Day" on January 26th.
Here Brendan (eloquently) explains his thinking and the ideas behind the #changethedate movement, reacts to the subsequent response from triple j and the public and discusses the murky distinctions between the expression of "challenging views" and hate speech, holding our public institutions to account and how we balance the importance of calling out racism with the goal of actually changing people's minds.
Boundless Plains To Share at the Belvoir Theatre, January 2017
Comedy 4 Karma in Daylesford, Saturday October 15th
Footage of Andrew Bolt's session at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas
Article: triple j Hottest 100 Man Starts Competition to Change The Date
Article: Briggs Reckons triple j Should Change The Hottest 100 Date
triple j statement: triple j's Hottest 100 is staying on January 26...for now. And here's why.
January 26th by A.B. Original on YouTube
change.org petition: triple j, change the date of the Hottest 100
Article: White Fragility: Why It's So Hard To Talk To White People About Racism
Cause of the Week: Clinton's Walk For Justice (clintonswalkforjustice.org), on StartSomeGood, on FB