Podcasts about australian union

The Australian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) organised a solidarity event in Melbourne University where students were standing up to demand physical and psychological safety.

Ben Davison looks at the established research which shows the NO campaign is leveraging misinformation and a global network of disinformation campaigners.  In a shock admission Ben admits that he agrees with Phil Coorey and Chris Kenny that the No campaign has become a grab bag of grievances. The disability royal commission report has been handed down with 222 recommendations from over 10,000 submissions.  Ben looks at how it intersects with the current NDIS review and why reform will take time but is urgently needed. Mike Pezzullo has stood aside while there is an investigation into his conduct by the public service commissioner.  Ben discusses why there needs to be an investigation, who this man is and what influence he has been wielding over our lives. Ben also give a shout out to the leader of the Australian Union movement, Sally McManus, for her being named the 4th most powerful person in Australia.  You can join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow   

Ben Davison gets under the hood of the minimum wage decision, the cuts the bosses wanted and how millions of Australian's will be better off as a result of the work of the Australian Union movement.  If you're not already a member join now at australianunions.org.au/wow because unions have won an 8.6% increase in the minimum wage, a 5.75% in award wages and unionised workers get paid an average of 26% more! The RBA governor said that we need more people to live in each "dwelling" during his senate estimates appearance and Ben breaks down why that's such a gaffe and how The Greens Party spokesperson against Labor's housing policy used his appearance on Insiders today to effectively double down on the conditions that lead economists to the idea that the housing crisis won't be solved with more housing anytime soon. Ben Roberts Smith lost his defamation trial this week.  Ben explores what the trial was about, what it means Ben Roberts Smith probably did, why it impacts our view of the defence force and how this demonstrates that billionaire and corporate owned media fuels, feeds and festers toxicity for its own purposes.   

Australian Union rugby player, James O'Connor joins Jonny this week to walk us through his learnings from his phenomenal and at times misunderstood career so far. One of the most talented players of his generation, he gives us an incredible insight into the highs and lows of his career. Having played stints in London, Manchester and Toulon before returning to Australia he has encountered challenging moments on and off the pitch to go with the amazing ones and is happy to open up about them. James talks about the immense importance of listening to his body and constantly seeking for his truth. Absolute willingness to accept and relax and the courage to stay true to passion and excitement plays a big part in this episode.

Australian Union rugby player, James O'Connor joins Jonny this week to walk us through his learnings from his phenomenal and at times misunderstood career so far. One of the most talented players of his generation, he gives us an incredible insight into the highs and lows of his career. Having played stints in London, Manchester and Toulon before returning to Australia he has encountered challenging moments on and off the pitch to go with the amazing ones and is happy to open up about them. James talks about the immense importance of listening to his body and constantly seeking for his truth. Absolute willingness to accept and relax and the courage to stay true to passion and excitement plays a big part in this episode.

Ben Davison takes a look at the Morrison Inquiry's role in safeguarding our democracy, the Robodebt Royal Commission's role in safeguarding our social democracy and Sally McManus's ideas to get wages moving again. Start by joining your union at australianunions.org.au/wow The government has announced an inquiry into Morrison's shredding of democratic convention to be conducted by a former High Court judge and Ben looks at why the Morrison supporters are squealing. The Robodebt royal commission has been announced and Ben discusses why this needs to be a watershed moment for how we think about citizens in need of support. Sally McManus, leader of the Australian Union movement, and Jennifer Westacott, head of the Business Council of Australia, were on Insiders debating proposals for bargaining reform, skills development and migration settings ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit. Even Westacott admitted that workers on collective agreements get paid better! Ben looks at some of the fake arguments that get used against collective bargaining and ow Michaelia Cash might have given us an unintentional insight into how the Coalition was deliberately keeping wages low. Don't forget you can become a supporter of the podcast at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday and get every episode emailed to you along with interesting links.

Van Badham and Ben Davison have COVID!  But that doesn't stop them from examining how a decade of Liberal/National government gave Morrison the chance to stack out various Australian institutions, ranging from the ABC to the Reserve Bank. While many appointments across government may have been on merit the uniform ideological background of people on the Reserve Bank Board have many people questioning the recent demands by the Governor of the RBA for workers to wear more pay cuts and suggesting a return to the board of a strong worker voice.  Just as Fraser, Hawke and Keating appointed the head of the Australian Union movement to the board of the Reserve Bank many are now calling for Sally McManus, or at least someone with a labour market understanding, to be appointed.  If you think worker's should wear the costs of higher profits but should get decent pay rises and want one for yourself join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow Van gives a background on where "long march through the institutions" comes from and Ben gives a rant about "If I was reserve bank governor."  Did we mention they both have COVID? COVID hasn't gone away.  Van and Ben have it and discuss how, after a lull, the numbers of infections, hospitalisations and deaths are again rising.  Wear a mask, get vaccinated, stay safe. The good news is that the Albanese Labor Government has signed up to a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030.  In a move that brought together stakeholders from across the environment, labour and business sectors Labor has set out an achievable ambition for real climate action. It might be a shorter episode but we'd never forget to acknowledge our Cadre and Extend the Reach supporters who Van reads out by name every episode.

Johnny Allen is a seminal figure in alternative arts and culture in Australia, and a recognised pioneer of the event industry, often referred to as the ‘Father of Events' in Australia.He published and edited Masque national magazine of the performing arts from 1965 to 1968, and wrote The Entertainment Arts in Australia published by Paul Hamlyn Sydney in 1968. In the early 1970s he ran the indy music venue The Arts Factory in Surry Hills.In 1972, as Cultural Director of the Australian Union of Students, he established a national touring circuit including activists such as Ralph Nader, Spike Milligan, Phil Ochs, Ron Cobb and Richard Neville. In 1973 he produced the Nimbin Aquarius Festival with Festival Director Graeme Dunstan.After spending time in the US in the mid-1970s, he returned to Sydney and ran the Paris Theatre opposite Hyde Park, producing the first gay film festival, Images of Gays in 1978. He went on to start the radical performance collective Cabaret Conspiracy, the Gay Theatre Company, and Palms Cabaret in Oxford Street.In 1985, he directed the 25th Anniversary Mattara Festival of Newcastle, and went on to direct that city's celebrations of Australia's Bicentenary in 1988, including the State Music Festival, the Royal Visit of the Queen and Prince Phillip, and The Longest Birthday Party on the Newcastle Foreshore, awarded Best Australia Day Event of the Bicentennial year. He returned to Sydney in 1989 as Event Manager for the Darling Harbour Authority, positioning it as ‘where Sydney celebrates' with an annual program including major celebrations of Australia Day and New Year's Eve.Now semi-retired, Johnny continues to practise event management, coordinating the cabaret program for the Sedition Festival in 2019, the Golden Mile Gallery exhibition of gay history in 20 shopfronts in Oxford Street as a feature event of the Oxtravaganza program for Mardi Gras in 2020, and gay cultural history exhibitions for Mardi Gras in 2021 and 2022. He is a board member of the proposed queer museum project Qtopia Sydney, a consultant to the State Library queer exhibition in 2023, and is currently preparing a major gay cultural program for Sydney WorldPride in 2023.Next Thursday June 16th he is presenting a Queer themed evening of events at the Powerhouse Museum - up late! The evening is part of the IDEAS program for the VIVID festival - now enthralling patrons across Sydney. Johnny joined STAGES to discuss this event - and a life-time creating memories.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Whooshkaa, Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Recipient of Best New Podcast at 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Van Badham and Ben Davison break down Morrison's re-election platform of wage cuts, job cuts and raids on retirement on the very day the Morrison government has delivered the worst wage figures in more than 20 years. With profits up, sales up, CEO pay up, the cost of living going up and Morrison demanding workers wear a $4,000 pay cut Van and Ben ask the question; "How can Morrison be promising to cut wages, cut jobs and raid people's retirements but still be in with a chance of winning this election?" Ben breaks down why the raid on retirement is bad housing policy and bad economics. The Australian Union movement has had a big win with working people on award rate winning 10 days of paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave.  After a decade of the "we won't campaign successfully expanding paid FDV  leave through many agreements with big employers, unions have won the right for more than 2.6 million award workers. If you want to make sure your workplace is safer, your wages higher and your job more secure join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow Van breaks down the real life implications of not having access to paid leave when experiencing intimate partner violence. As the polls tighten the lines between a re-elected, wage cutting, job cutting, retirement raiding, anti-women Morrison government and an Albanese led Labor government have become even clearer in the final week of the campaign.  Albo used his final National Press Club Address to reiterate his commitment to extending FDV leave to all workers, supporting wage increases, doing more to stop deaths from COVID, end the Morrison era rorts and introduce a federal ICAC. The election is on Saturday and Van Badham and Ben Davison will be hosting a live watch along broadcast.  Links and details on all Week on Wednesday social media and through the support page (www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday) And the good news is about rats being purged from an Australian island...maybe an omen? As always we give shoutouts to all our Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters too!

Ben Davison looks at Morrison's explanation that his debate response to a mother who's child has had their NDIS support cut that he was "blessed to not have had to go through that" was about the difficulties in navigating the NDIS, rather than a comment about children with a disability.  Even if we take Morrison at his word it is, at the very least, a condemnation of his own failure to properly deliver the NDIS.  Plans have been cut by an average of 4%, appeals to the AAT have doubled, foreign private equity backed unregistered and unregulated "platforms" that "connect" workers and participants in, what has been described as, digital sham contracting arrangement are taking 14% margins out of the tax payer funded system.  As the campaigns head into the Northern Territory it is timely to remember that HALF of NDIS plans in the NT have been cut in the last six months. Insiders discussed in detail the failures of the Morrison government on the Solomon Islands and Ben explores how Morrison spent the end of the week setting up another pork barrel program while refusing to answer questions about Australia's largest foreign policy blunder in the pacific for over 70 years. Barnaby Joyce was the Insiders guest from the government and he made it clear that their only plan is to let multinational corporations sell our resources overseas.  While sitting in Gladstone, where people have to fly to Brisbane to get medical treatments as billions of dollars of resources depart the docks, Barnaby was asked what the government's plan for the future "If they want to buy it we will sell it" was his response. This ideologically lines up with the findings of two major pieces of work from the Australian Union movement this week.  The ship building company Austal received a Morrison campaign visit and a $124M contract after having been found to underpay its workers. The union, ETU, won the money back but Morrison wouldn't even acknowledge the request for safeguards to prevent this from happening again on government funded projects. The ACTU released research showing that while 100 countries put limits on the use of "fixed term contracts" Australia is not among that group of 100 nations and that casuals in Australia are being paid up to $350 LESS than ongoing workers doing the same job. Ben urges everyone to join their union at australianunions.org.au/wow and to put the Liberals last (with a brief explanation of how the ballot papers work)

Van Badham and Ben Davison take a long look into whats happened in aged care now that Morrison has had the Aged Care Royal Commission findings for over a year.  Hundreds have died, minister Colbeck cannot guarantee that funding for nutrition was spent on food, nursing homes don't always have a nurse, minimum care times are not being met and the workers need a 25% pay increase just to get a liveable hourly wage.  But unions have taken up the issue with a claim to lift wages to $30 an hour, have nurses in nursing homes, have staff to resident ratios and ensure people are feed more than $6 a day worth of slop. The Australian Union movement also released a report this week called "Morrison Missing: A record of his failure for working women".  The report shows how under the Morrison government 2 out 3 working women have faced sexual harassment at work, women are paid nearly $500 a week less than men, retire with half as much as men and are more likely to experience insecure work, unemployment and homelessness. The report coincided with the union movement bringing a case for paid family and domestic violence leave in the workplace commission.  While employer lobby groups were happy to contest the claim no employer was willing to put their face to opposing a paid day off for the victims of family and domestic violence. While the Australia Services Union has asked Qantas to get rid of some outdated gender bias uniform laws, Tony Abbott has been spouting American right wing talking points that "gender whispering" is basically why Putin has invaded Ukraine. It is not.  Putin has invaded Ukraine because he believes in a fascist ideology espoused by one of his advisors and praised by people like Steve Bannon. Putin's War in Ukraine has highlighted how his far right ideology has been supported by bad faith actors in the west and is based on a written doctrine of fascism, "Greater Russian" rule over large parts of Europe and the "destruction" of "liberalism" While the war is not going to plan for Putin it has unified democracies against his authoritarianism in some interesting and unexpected ways while also having devastating economic consequences for Putin and his cabal of oligarchs. The flooding disaster in south east Queensland and northern NSW has claimed 10 lives and left over 50,000 properties without power.  Van and Ben rail against the failure of Morrison and Dutton to understand the role of government in supporting people in a time of crisis while praising the selflessness of the volunteers and community members on the front line. Plus there is good news about Guinness and carbon capture!  And as always we give a shout out to our supporters, you can check out the supporter page at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday

Van Badham and Ben Davison dive into the mess of Scott Morrison's ideology and the Boy Prince Dom's unenforceable COVID policies as the politics of material reality, that is millions of Australian's having COVID, being exposed to COVID and being too sick to go to work, starts to bite into both NSW based Liberal Party leaders.  Shelves are bare, businesses cannot function, economic activity is collapsing and the truism is being proved: To have a healthy economy you need healthy people. With workers being sick and exposed to COVID Morrison intends to use national cabinet to try and water down workplace safety protections while the Australian Union movement and leader Sally McManus have call on Morrison to abandon his plans and instead focus on more rapid antigen tests, masks and support for workers to stay safe and small businesses to function. Ben takes us through the state by state numbers, the impacts across industries and some of the more "interesting" policy approaches, while Van gets theoretical guns blazing against two political leaders who have chosen ideological blindness just when more Australian's than ever are experiencing the lived reality of COVID. In a late breaking addition Ben and Van look at whether Novak Djokovic was not only lying about his COVID situation but asks the question; Were Djokovic's tests altered?  Information published by German news outlet Spiegel questions the legitimacy of Djokovic's claims through an examination of public information, timelines and testing records.  https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/novak-djokovic-were-the-results-of-his-positive-pcr-test-manipulated-a-cf3e7344-e98f-4fc3-8bb3-7727d4795e97  Good news out of Germany, where rapid antigen tests can be bought from vending machines and despite KFC running out of some chicken products there is good news in the form of plant based alternatives! Plus we give shout outs to our first wave of Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters from our supporter page: www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday 

On the 11th of February, 1990, Nelson Mandela, the leader of South Africa's outlawed resistance movement, the African National Congress (ANC) was released from prison after 27 years of incarceration. Later that year, Mandela arrived in Melbourne, Australia, a part of his global tour to thank those who had supported the ANC in its fight against Apartheid. Australia's Unions were amongst the first organisations to recognise and support the ANC's struggle, and Mandela never forgot it. This speech delivered by Mandela at the Melbourne Town Hall on the 25th of October, 1990, is a special moment in the history of the Australian Union movement. ______________________________________________________________ * You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - otjpodcast@protonmail.com *On the Job is made by Australian Unions. More about On The Job podcast Need help with working conditions? Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466 About the hosts Sally Rugg - @sallyrugg Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFranklySupport the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Van Badham and Ben Davison examine how Scott Morrison's decision to fly to Sydney for father's day weekend, at tax payer expense across two closed borders, was compounded by the sleight of hand photo used on his social media and speaks to his continued poor judgement in the wake of his trip to Hawaii, the family pub crawl around Cornwall and his decision to deal with the politics, rather than the substance, of his party's "women problem". The Women's Summit, Morrison's attempt to make the rolling scandals and systemic mistreatment of women in Australia under his leadership go away, has been slammed by Grace Tame, Brittany Higgins, Victorian and Queensland Ministers as well as groups advocating for women fleeing domestic violence.  Brittany Higgins wasn't an invited delegate, even though in many ways she was the catalyst for the summit, and the Australian Union movement was invited at all.  Van looks at how this summit continues the Morrison approach of dealing with the politics rather than the problem, the sense of disappointment that comes from Morrison's refusal to impliment all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report and the baffling new human rights commissioner appointment that was announced, while the summit was on, who grace Tame described as "a grave mistake." COVID continues to ravage Australia with more deaths than at any point in the pandemic except when it got loose in commonwealth regulated aged care.  Australian Unions have joined the push to increase vaccination rates with a new campaign as the rate of full vaccinated Australians still sits just over 30%. The good news is the trial of electric scooters in Ballarat and a zero emissions Premier League game between Tottenham and Chelsea happening this month!

SBS Yiddish report with Alex DafnerThe Jewish Community Council of Victoria has elected Dr Andre Oboler, as its new President to replace the retiring Jennifer Hupert who held the position for the past six years.Two disappointing cases of antisemitic and neo-Nazi behaviour by prominent Australians, one a heart surgeon, the other a TV celebrity chef, were reported last week, with the former issuing an unreserved apology to those involved and the Jewish community in general.The Australian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) condemned the University of Sydney’s Student Representative Council for repeating the antisemitic behaviour for which the UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was suspended for recently, by their passing a motion defending the former UK Labour leader.The Gandel Philanthropy’s Australian Yad Vashem Foundation was awarded the Australian Bolder Philanthropy Award for their Holocaust Education Program, which funds 35 teachers annually to complete an intensive course about the Holocaust at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and then enables them to set-up Holocaust Education projects in schools back in Australia.

The Melbourne Jewish Care Victoria’s Hannah & Daryl Cohen Family Home for the elderly continued to suffer from the impact of Covid-19 infections in the state this week, with the death of a second elderly resident, but the number of infected residents fell to 8 and 16 staff were also infected with the virus.The Australian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) filed an official complaint with the University of Technology (UTS) in Sydney, after the university’s Students for Humanity club shared Instagram and Facebook stories calling Zionism inherently antisemitic and accusing Zionist mercenaries of planting bombs in Jewish buildings in Iraq and Egypt in the early 1950s in order to convince the local population to leave for Israel.The Rabbinical Council of Victoria is holding talks with representatives of the Victorian Government to plan and prepare the Jewish Community of that state for the observations and worship over the High Holy Days, which begin on the 19th September 2020.

A scene at the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY-SA, CC BY-SAToday, Trust Me, I’m An Expert brings you a special episode carried across from another Conversation podcast, Essays On Air. In the north-east corner of Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales is a small former dairying and banana farming community. Today, however, that village is unrecognisable. Nimbin is now widely acknowledged as Australia’s counter-cultural capital, a sister city to both Woodstock in New York State and Freetown Christiania in Denmark. Among Nimbin’s tourist attractions today are its Hemp Embassy and the annual Mardi Grass festival in early May, which argues for the legislation of marijuana for personal and medicinal use. The village’s transformation from a rural farming community to its present form can be traced to 1973, when Nimbin became the unlikely host of the Aquarius Festival – a counter-culture arts and music gathering presented by the radical Australian Union of Students. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY Why is Nimbin the way it is? These social and political origins of the commodified hippie culture on display today in Nimbin have become less apparent to visitors and more recent migrants to the region. Visitors, especially those arriving on bus tours, tend to shop, buy coffee and leave again. To counter this, the Nimbin Tourism Office commissioned me in 2016 to produce an app-based audio walk to promote a deeper engagement for tourists with the town and help answer the question: why is Nimbin the way it is? Here’s a snippet: Local voices on how the 1973 Aquarius Festival changed Nimbin forever. Jeanti St Clair, CC BY2.44 MB (download) The audio walk, an adapted version of which features on today’s episode of Essays On Air, was published onto the GPS-enabled mobile phone app Soundtrails. Soundtrails is owned by The Story Project, an Australian organisation focusing on oral history-based audio walks and they’ve published more than a dozen such walks in regional Australia. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith/harryws20, CC BY Anyone with a smartphone can access it by downloading the app and the Nimbin audio walk and following the route through the village’s streets and parklands. Headphones provide the best experience. The stories I share with you today are excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail and are drawn from consultations and interviews with more than 60 Nimbin residents, Aquarius Festival participants and Indigenous elders. Here, I’ve tried to reconnect the past and the present to make clear how Nimbin became the counter-cultural capital that it is. And the caveat is that many of the events in this documentary walk happened more than 40 years ago. I’ve recognised that memories have merged with other retellings that evolved over the years and the definitive truth is perhaps unavailable. Any version of Nimbin’s counter-culture will be an incomplete history. The nine months it took me to gather these stories and make some sense of how they fitted together were rewarding. And while there are some who might dispute the accounts of what happened in these stories, others agree that it’s a fair record of Nimbin contemporary history. The full Nimbin soundtrack can be heard by downloading the Soundtrails app and listening here. And if you are ever in the area, I invite you to take a day out, visit and listen to the stories in town. A crowd at the Nimbin Hotel during the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY New to podcasts? Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click here to listen to Essays On Air on Pocket Casts). You can also hear us on PlayerFM or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Essays On Air. Additional audio Recording and editing by Jeanti St Clair from Southern Cross University. This podcast contains excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail, used with grateful permission from The Story Project/Soundtrails. See the app for the walk’s full credit list. Selections of original music from the Nimbin Soundtrail by Neil Pike. Excerpt from Deke Naptar’s Culture, Culture from Necroscopix (1970-1981), Free Music Archive Fair Use Excerpts: Nimbin Mardi Grass 2018 parade ABC, Vietnam Lottery, 1965 Pathé Australians Against War 1966 ABC, This Day Tonight, anti-Vietnam War Moratoriam, 1970 Gough Whitlam policy speech, 1972 It’s Time, ALP campaign song, 1972 Snow by David Szesztay Jeanti St Clair would like to again thank Lismore City Council and Nimbin Tourism for commissioning the Nimbin Soundtrail, and all the many contributors to the audio walk. Additional reading/listening Nimbin Soundtrail Image Lead image from Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith/, published under Creative Commons. Correction: An earlier version of this article included a caption that described the 1973 Aquarius Festival as the “first”. In fact, it was the first Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, and followed other Aquarius festivals that had taken place on university campuses. Jeanti St Clair has consulted in the past for Soundtrails as an associate producer. She was paid by Lismore City Council to produce the audio walk. She does not have any ongoing financial benefit from Soundtrails or Lismore City Council.

A scene at the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY-SAIn the north-east corner of Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales is a small former dairying and banana farming community. Today, however, that village is unrecognisable. Nimbin is now widely acknowledged as Australia’s counter-cultural capital, a sister city to both Woodstock in New York State and Freetown Christiania in Denmark. Among Nimbin’s tourist attractions today are its Hemp Embassy and the annual Mardi Grass festival in early May, which argues for the legislation of marijuana for personal and medicinal use. The village’s transformation from a rural farming community to its present form can be traced to 1973, when Nimbin became the unlikely host of the Aquarius Festival – a counter-culture arts and music gathering presented by the radical Australian Union of Students. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY Why is Nimbin the way it is? These social and political origins of the commodified hippie culture on display today in Nimbin have become less apparent to visitors and more recent migrants to the region. Visitors, especially those arriving on bus tours, tend to shop, buy coffee and leave again. To counter this, the Nimbin Tourism Office commissioned me in 2016 to produce an app-based audio walk to promote a deeper engagement for tourists with the town and help answer the question: why is Nimbin the way it is? Here’s a snippet: Local voices on how the 1973 Aquarius Festival changed Nimbin forever. Jeanti St Clair, CC BY2.44 MB (download) The audio walk, an adapted version of which features on today’s episode of Essays On Air, was published onto the GPS-enabled mobile phone app Soundtrails. Soundtrails is owned by The Story Project, an Australian organisation focusing on oral history-based audio walks and they’ve published more than a dozen such walks in regional Australia. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith/harryws20, CC BY Anyone with a smartphone can access it by downloading the app and the Nimbin audio walk and following the route through the village’s streets and parklands. Headphones provide the best experience. The stories I share with you today are excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail and are drawn from consultations and interviews with more than 60 Nimbin residents, Aquarius Festival participants and Indigenous elders. Here, I’ve tried to reconnect the past and the present to make clear how Nimbin became the counter-cultural capital that it is. And the caveat is that many of the events in this documentary walk happened more than 40 years ago. I’ve recognised that memories have merged with other retellings that evolved over the years and the definitive truth is perhaps unavailable. Any version of Nimbin’s counter-culture will be an incomplete history. The nine months it took me to gather these stories and make some sense of how they fitted together were rewarding. And while there are some who might dispute the accounts of what happened in these stories, others agree that it’s a fair record of Nimbin contemporary history. The full Nimbin soundtrack can be heard by downloading the Soundtrails app and listening here. And if you are ever in the area, I invite you to take a day out, visit and listen to the stories in town. A crowd at the Nimbin Hotel during the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY New to podcasts? Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click here to listen to Essays On Air on Pocket Casts). You can also hear us on PlayerFM or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Essays On Air. Additional audio Recording and editing by Jeanti St Clair from Southern Cross University. This podcast contains excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail, used with grateful permission from The Story Project/Soundtrails. See the app for the walk’s full credit list. Selections of original music from the Nimbin Soundtrail by Neil Pike. Excerpt from Deke Naptar’s Culture, Culture from Necroscopix (1970-1981), Free Music Archive Fair Use Excerpts: Nimbin Mardi Grass 2018 parade ABC, Vietnam Lottery, 1965 Pathé Australians Against War 1966 ABC, This Day Tonight, anti-Vietnam War Moratoriam, 1970 Gough Whitlam policy speech, 1972 It’s Time, ALP campaign song, 1972 Snow by David Szesztay Jeanti St Clair would like to again thank Lismore City Council and Nimbin Tourism for commissioning the Nimbin Soundtrail, and all the many contributors to the audio walk. Additional reading/listening Nimbin Soundtrail Image Lead image from Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith/, published under Creative Commons. Correction: An earlier version of this article included a caption that described the 1973 Aquarius Festival as the “first”. In fact, it was the first Aquarius festival in Nimbin, and followed other Aquarius festivals that had taken place on university campuses. Jeanti St Clair has consulted in the past for Soundtrails as an associate producer. She was paid by Lismore City Council to produce the audio walk. She does not have any ongoing financial benefit from Soundtrails or Lismore City Council.

Will Tracey assistant secretary of the MUA speaks about the Web Dock Melbourne dispute: what happened and finally a victory in a dispute that looks like many of the anti union anti worker behaviour that has been a hallmark of 2017.Finally we talk with Josh Cullinan the Secretary of the newest Australian Union the Retail, Fast Food Workers Union (RFFWU), after it’s first year of operations.

To many the name Kevin Bracken is a new one in regards 9/11 Truth. The reality is that Kevin has been a champion of the 9/11 Truth cause since 2006 by disseminating information throughout the Victorian Union Movement and the Maritime Workers Union of Australia. He has distributed DVD's, shown films and shared information regularly with his associates and the people of Melbourne and he achieved motions calling for a new investigation from both the Victorian Trades Hall Council where he is the President and the Victorian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia of which he heads as Secretary. Kevin has also attended numerous conferences on 9/11 and has been the facilitator of such in Melbourne, Australia. Over the years Kevin and I have developed a close working relationship, both striving for the truth 9/11 to come out to bring end to the wars and to get our rights back that have been eroded since 9/11!This is the motion passed on the 28th of March of 2008 at the VTHC;"That this meeting of VTHC Executive Council calls for a thorough, independent enquiry into the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11.The events of that day have been used to start pre-emptive wars "that will not end in our lifetime". They have been used to attack civil liberties and legal principles that have been the cornerstone of civilized communities. There is an urgent need to reassess the way we view the world after September 11 and we call for proper investigation into the events around that day.On the 20th of October 2010 Kevin was asked to ring into ABC 774 Mornings with John Faine although Faine disputes this. This was following an email that was sent to Faine by Kevin questioning 9/11 in the context of Australia's ongoing support of the Afghanistan occupation. After the recent Australian Election it was demanded by the Australian Greens in a "balance of power" deal that the Australian involvement in the Afghan War be debated in parliament in it's first sitting. This debate had been going on this week and it was the first time any such debate had happened since 9/11, which is simply outrageous.This interview by Faine was possibly the most biased ever heard in Australia on radio broadcast by the tax payer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This attack by Faine of Bracken's questioning the 9/11 events included a torrent of ad hominem slurs and an absolute refusal to discuss any evidence that the events were anything but what we have been told by our governments. A reasonable explanation of what happened and also with attached audio can be found here.  This story titled "Trades Hall president Kevin Bracken Stands by his 9/11 Conspiracy" has been reported all around the world and included a poll which started off running at around 50/50 asking if Kevin's questions about 9/11 were "reasonable" but has continued to move in his favour ending up at the time of writing these notes at 75% in favour of Bracken.Kevin has received literally thousands of thank you's from around the world for his brave stance for 9/11 Truth! Standing his ground even after being directly verbally bashed by the Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard saying he was "stupid and wrong" and having his own leadership comrades buckle at the knees if the face of unfounded ridicule. Rather than running for cover Kevin with his chin in the air has reiterated his position defying any to debate him on the issue! As usual all media presstitutes have refused, as there is obviously "no debate to have".  It seems that the vast majority of the public disagree and would like to see such a debate but none of the so called "journalists" dare to tread such a path.  Interesting to note that John Faine is now complaining that the ABC has been swamped by 9/11 activists and it may take the ABC many weeks to deal with the massive amount of complaints and comments they have received. Many of these I know to be formal as I have received many courtesy copies of the complaints to the ABC accusing them of breeching their charter and broadcast policy.The battle for 9/11 Truth is far from over and as long as the fools in power maintain their policy of occupation of Afghanistan they will remain exposed and at risk of criminal prosecution due to the lies of 9/11. Lets hope it comes soon or they realize and stop the bloodshed.