All Things Equal

This series is a collaboration with The Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney and 2SER 107.3FM. This podcast is hosted by Verity Firth. It was produced by Ollie Henderson, Miles Herbert and Ninah Kopel.

Veronique was five years old when her half brother first abused her. She says that for most of her life she was imprisoned in a cage of shame and silence.But upon hearing her abuser was now living with a woman who had children of her own, Veronique came forward, only to be let down by the criminal justice system.Hosted by Verity Firth and produced by Ollie Henderson, Ninah Kopel, Miles Herbert and Joanna Cabot.

It’s a walk in the park. This expression is used to describe something that should be easy, but is it really that easy to walk through a park? Our experiences in the city can differ greatly between individuals, and for some, a walk through the park isn’t so peaceful.Hosted by Verity Firth and produced by Ollie Henderson, Miles Herbert and Ninah Kopel.

Olivia was on a holiday when a man tried to force a kiss on her. It wasn’t the first time Olivia had her consent violated, but the thing that shocked her was how other people didn’t care. They blamed her.Hosted by Verity Firth and produced by Ollie Henderson, Miles Herbert and Ninah Kopel.

We started making this episode in May when the annual count of women who had died due to violence in Australia was 24. We finished making this episode in August when the count was 41. And in the time it took us to finish this episode, and upload it to your podcast feed, another woman has been allegedly murdered. This is about counting dead women- why we do it and what it means.Hosted by Verity Firth and produced by Ollie Henderson, Miles Herbert and Ninah Kopel.Thank you to everyone who helped create Destroy the Joint and Counting Dead Women, whose work inspired this episode.

Come be a "fly on the wall" with us as we listen in on men discussing feminism. What does consent mean? What impact did the #MeToo movement have? And why would anyone scan their penis?

They're all around us. They're in your family, or your circle of friends. Maybe you work with them. You could even be one. Immigrant women are a significant portion of our population. So what does #MeToo mean to them?This episode is about women who come to Australia for a new life, only to find themselves trapped in their old one. Or women who come for an education, and find themselves having to learn about sexual violence and consent.

Media outlets have long felt the pressure of Australia’s defamation laws – some of the toughest in the world – claiming stifled freedom of speech as a damaging symptom.This argument is now resonating in the context of #MeToo, revealing gaps in a legal system that fails to protect women.We spoke with journalist Jenna Price, lawyer Sophie Dawson, and Industry Professor Nareen Young to explore if our laws are silencing women.

We have some exciting news! Our podcast will be continuing for another season. We also have changed our name to All Things Equal, so we can continue making great listening material for you for many seasons to come. In season 2, we look at the great equaliser — education. We discover what happens to kids who fall between the cracks and meet some remarkable people who've been there to catch them.

Introducing Uniform, season two of All Things Equal. This series will take you into the school yard and beyond, where kids learn that things aren't always fair. Through the stories of real students and staff, Uniform will change the way you think about education; because when it comes to learning, one size does not fit all.

Choosing a school for your kids can be difficult. But what you see from outside the school gates is only one part of the story. What lies beyond is a complex web of funding and social systems, about to be directly influenced by you and your decision.

Jordan Baker, Education Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald, and Jane Caro, Novelist, author, columnist, broadcaster, and social commentator join our host Verity Firth to chat all things education politics and policy. Be a fly on the wall as we take the podcast into the pub!

Last episode we stood outside the school gates, peering in. But this episode we break down the fence and find out what it's really like to come from a supposedly disadvantaged school.

They're best mates. They get up to mischief like normal teenagers, hanging out and goofing around. One writes rap music, the other plays sport. They both know what it's like to be homeless. The duo met at a refuge for young people, and at the time neither of them were attending school. This is their story of getting back into education.

Homelessness, domestic violence, drug use, abuse; there are a myriad of reasons why students might struggle with mainstream education. In this episode you'll hear from the students who fell out of the mainstream education system, but through determination, and innovative new ways of learning, are sticking it out in school.

Israel was born with Down syndrome, but his mum Sunshine can't see why that should exclude him from a mainstream classroom. The problem is, lots of local schools think he'd be happier "with his own kind". This is the story of Sunshine and Israel's fight for inclusion.

In 'History' we look at an Indigenous primary school which is taking a holistic, community driven approach to learning. And then we look to the future; at an institution that could transform the way Indigenous knowledge and culture is shared in universities.

Technology offers incredible, life changing opportunities to people with disabilities... but only if they can use them. Otherwise, the discrimination they already face could only get worse.

When it comes to medicine, we can see some of the most obvious benefits new technology offers human kind. But equality of access to these expensive technologies will prove problematic, especially when it comes to our greatest, and most terrifying, feat: gene editing.

Who's watching?When was the last time you read all the Terms and Conditions before clicking “I agree”? We sign away our right to privacy on a daily basis, often for no more than a game. High-profile hacks have put the vulnerability of our information in the headlines. But is it foreign actors we need to beware of, or a threat closer to home? As governments ask for ever greater surveillance capabilities, should we more urgently question powers taken in the name of security?

Artificial Intelligence is the holy grail of technology. But the dawn of AI has already broken: we see it in algorithms that predict what you want to buy, decide what news you see… even judge whether or not you should go to prison. But should we trust these algorithms to make our choices for us? Do we have the right to a human-made decision?

Education will be as affected as everything else by technology, not just because of the innovations coming into the classrooms, but because of the students we need to send out.

How can our oldest continuing culture, and our Australian heritage, inform tech development? Perhaps Indigenous Knowledge Systems seem far removed from Silicon Valley. But it could be exactly the injection of cultural values that our profit- and disruption-driven tech sector desperately needs, especially given the discrimination already faced by people of colour at the hands of technology.