Podcasts about northern sydney

Episode Title: A Romantic Journey with "Mary Christmas" Hosts: Leanne and Chelle Guest: Mary Anne O'Connor Episode Overview: In this episode, Leanne and Chelle welcome Mary Anne O'Connor, author of "Mary Christmas," a romance novel set in 1909 in the picturesque Cotswolds. The story follows Mary Richards, a teacher torn between societal expectations and her career aspirations. Through the lens of love and family dynamics, the book explores themes of independence, the suffragette movement, and the courage to defy traditional gender roles. Key Discussion Points: Introduction and Book Overview: Introduction of Mary Anne O'Connor and her book "Mary Christmas." Summary of the plot, highlighting Mary Richards' struggle between career and love as her sister Emily's wedding approaches. Mary Anne O'Connor's Background: Mary Anne's career in copywriting and marketing before transitioning to writing fiction and non-fiction. Her personal life in Northern Sydney and how her family influences her writing. Character Development and Historical Context: Discussion on the societal pressures faced by women in 1909 and the inspiration from Mary Anne's previous novel, "Sisters of Freedom." Emphasis on strong, independent female characters and the importance of career and independence. Transition to Writing Romance: Mary Anne's shift from historical fiction to romance, inspired by Christmas movies. The book's focus on a strong female lead and a kind, intellectual male character. Themes and Character Dynamics: Exploration of love and career choice themes, and the dynamics between Mary and Jonathan. Insights into Mary Anne's personal influences, including her family. Family and Romantic Elements: The emotional journey of Mary and her sister Emily, and the significance of family bonds. Personal anecdotes about Mary Anne's family and the influence of her mother. Historical and Modern Relevance: Discussion on the suffragette movement and ongoing gender equality challenges. Mary Anne's emphasis on supporting each other and challenging outdated gender roles. Romance and Real-Life Influences: The portrayal of genuine, thoughtful relationships in the book. The importance of mutual respect and support in romantic narratives. Emotional Impact and Reader Engagement: The book's aim to create an immersive experience through vivid descriptions of Christmas markets and bookshops. Strong, relatable characters that resonate with readers. Final Thoughts and Recommendations: The book is available for purchase on Amazon and other platforms, making it a perfect Christmas gift. Mary Anne shares her pride in the book and hopes readers will connect with the characters. The episode concludes with gratitude for the discussion and a wish for a Merry Christmas to listeners. Resources Mentioned: Book: "Mary Christmas" by Mary Anne O'Connor Previous Work: "Sisters of Freedom" by Mary Anne O'Connor

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Luke is a Northern-Sydney comedian and musical artist. He’s best known for his musical comedy ‘Chronic’ (2011) and his nationally touring children’s act ‘The Vegetable Plot’ signed to ABC Kids. He is a dynamic musician from Northern Sydney, renowned for his witty lyrics and engaging stage presence. Known for blending rock, blues, and comedic elements, [...]Read More... from Tuesday Drive Interview with Singer-Songwriter Luke Escombe

Kanthimathi Dhinakaran elucidates on the government assistance available to elderly individuals residing at home, detailing the application process and the complimentary services linking them with service providers. Additionally, Kanthimathi explains that the care Finder program runs through Australia and Your side provides care finder services in across Northern Sydney and Cumberland council. Produced by RaySel. - வீடுகளில் வாழ்ந்துவரும் வயதானவர்களுக்கு அரசு வழங்கும் உதவிகள், அதைப் பெற்றுத்தருவதன் வழிகள் மற்றும் அவர்களை சேவை வழங்கும் நிறுவனங்களுடன் (service providers) இணத்துத் தருகின்ற இலவச பணி குறித்து விளக்குகிறார் காந்திமதி தினகரன் அவர்கள். ஆஸ்திரேலியா முழுவதும் இயங்கி வரும் Your side நிறுவனம் Northern Sydney and Cumberland council ஆகிய பகுதிகளில் care finder services செய்யும் பணிகள் குறித்தும் காந்திமதி அவர்கள் தகவலை பகிர்கிறார். அவரோடு உரையாடியவர் றைசெல்.

Sixth Sunday of Easter - John 14:15-21 Sue Martin grew up playing in nature, living beside Devlin's Creek in Northern Sydney, with parents deeply committed to family and faith, especially a faith that does justice. Sue was educated by the Good Samaritan Sisters at Pennant Hills where she started to imagine herself as an eco-warrior. Sue studied agricultural science at Sydney University, becoming an agronomist, wanting to make our farming landscapes treed again. She married David and had four boys quickly and now has six amazing grandchildren. Her parish life is at St Madeleine's Kenthurst, and she is active in the synodal journey for Parramatta Diocese assisting with the Laudato Si' team there. Sue's working life has included working in school, university, catchment management and local government settings. When she commenced employment as the sustainability officer at St Ignatius' College, Riverview in 2009, she also found her home in the spirituality of the Jesuits. In 2019, the Jesuits called Sue to the position of national Project Officer for, what they then called, Reconciliation with Creation.  Sue also juggled the part-time Caritas National Earthcare Coordinator from 2019 to 2022. Since 2022 Sue has worked full-time assisting with Jesuit ministries better respond to Laudato si' both in Australia and Asia Pacific. These responsibilities include assisting the coordination of RAOEN (the Rivers Above ecclesial network) caring for oceans, Indigenous people and our Church across Asia Pacific. Globally Sue is also part of the Ecojesuit team.

Schoolkids in Sydney's north were the academic powerhouse in last year's NAPLAN results, but it's a different story for far west NSW. Matthew Hayden says David Warner's Test career isn't over yet. Peter Dutton accuses the federal government of wanting to hike taxes on super to pay for its budget measures. The Australian Army has intensified its training of Ukraine troops. For updates and breaking news throughout the day take out a subscription at dailytelegraph.com.au See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I speak with Cathy who in over 25yrs as a social worker has worked in the community sector and multicultural aged care, in an acute teaching hospital in rehab and aged care, and has developed training tools and social work group supervision. Cathy has now returned to community social work in Northern Sydney for the Community Nursing program, visiting patients with chronic and complex issues. Links to resources mentioned in this week's episode: Severe Domestic Squalor by John Snowdon, Graeme Halliday, and Sube Banerjee - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13218719.2013.761743 How to Use Social Work Theory in Practice, An Essential Guide by Malcolm Payne - https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/how-to-use-social-work-theory-in-practice Buried in Treasures - free 15-week online group program, providing in-depth training and support for people with hoarding tendencies - https://www.catholichealthcare.com.au/events/buried-in-treasures-support-groups/#:~:text=Buried%20in%20Treasures%20is%20a,12%20who%20share%20similar%20experiences This episode's transcript can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wMzkGX8GTQkKYxdXx6I_dt2WJUAu9TLIkKCGEXaL-tU/edit?usp=sharing --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/socialworkspotlight/message

This week in "the Warmup" we welcome special guests Brooke Mugridge, Chrissy Osborne , Kiera Boots as we feature the Northern Sydney Rebels. We talk about how to cultivate a championship culture in a team and players. How players and coaches with a winning mentality influence other players and set the vibe for the team. This week in "the Huddle" our guests talk us through the history of the club and how the Rebels team debuted in the Gridiron competition in 2016 with only 7 to 9 players. Having to suffer losses in Opals Bowls twice they finally pulled through and won the championship in 2020, defeating the UNSW Raiders in double overtime For the upcoming season, our guests talk about their preparations. They appreciate how the team has coaches for every single position. They give us insights into goals for this season and how they want to continue being champions. They also give us insights into the recruitment process in the Rebels and how they have been successful after a start with a low number. Our guests will be representing the Outback team on a trip to Finland, Congratulations. Ending the segment by describing their team in 3 words. And to round out the show in "Rapid Fire" we talk about the favorite underdog moment we've had in the sports. Do you have your underdog moment?~ Stacey, Dani & Bec

The question, “What is a woman?” has become the barbecue stopper of the 2022 election, thanks in part to the pre-selection of a courageous and outspoken candidate in the seat of Warringah in Northern Sydney. Katherine Deves' campaign for the rights of biological females not to compete against transgender women in sport has generated a level of media coverage that most candidates could only dream of. The price she has paid, however, is to be subjected to a vicious and intimidating attack which would have driven others into hiding. The mainstream media, by and large, has joined the pile-on, condemning her views as unconscionable and her candidacy dead.  None of her critics, and sadly all too few of the journalists who have written about Katherine, have taken the trouble to actually listen to what she is saying. Deves joins Nick Cater for a Watercooler Conversation aimed at correcting that imbalance. She speaks candidly about her experiences on the campaign trail and why she is putting her head above the parapet to fight for the rights of women and girls.

Laughter will fill the Year of the Ox final celebrations in northern Sydney. For the first time, two Filipino artists will be featured in Lunar New Year celebrations. - Mapupuno ng tawanan ang huling bahagi ng pagdiriwang ng Year of the Ox sa hilaga ng Sydney. Sa unang pagkakataon ng mga selebrasyon ng Lunar New Year, dalawang Pilipino artist ang makakasama.

Today's guest is dual FINA World Championship Gold Medallist, hailing from New South Wales in Australia - Jon Hawton.We chat about Jon's background in swimming, from training in rivers and small country pools in his youth, to now training in Northern Sydney pools.  What kind of sets does he like doing; does he do any dryland training and what is his strategy in swimming the 200m backstroke?We find out why Jon been so successful as a masters swimmer, his goals moving forwards and even his other passion of photography - especially when he focuses his lens in on fellow swimmers. 

Mason is joined by Jake Cassar on the show today. Jake is a bushman, conservationist, youth mentor and all round legendary character, who is out there doing good things for the planet and the community. Jake is a passionate bushcraft teacher with specialist knowledge in the area edible and medicinal plants native to both Australia and beyond. Jake works passionately to protect and conserve sacred land within Australia, and speaks with us today about the proposed development of the Kariong Sacred Lands by the Darkinjung Aboriginal Land Council.  "Good people have just got to band together and do as much good as we can. It's the journey, not the destination." - Jake Cassar Mason and Jake discuss: The mysterious big cat Jake has been tracking in the scrublands of Northern Sydney. Jake's work as a 'responsible adult' (Jake doesn't like the term activist) in the protection of the Kariong Sacred Lands and the politics involved.  The nature of activism; the sacrifice and the satisfaction. The value of coming together as a unified community, and doing what you can to preserve the land we live on with patience and persistence. The importance of appealing to the humanity in each person, and treating people with respect, even if you don't agree with their beliefs or behaviours. Moving from a survival of the fittest to a survival of the most co-operative mentality. Asking ourselves how can we best work together to create a safe and sustainable future.   Who is Jake Cassar ? Jake Cassar is a passionate Bushcraft teacher, youth mentor and conservationist specialising in edible and medicinal native and introduced plants in Australia. Jake is well known for leading successful campaigns to create new National Parks on the Central Coast and for his devotion to raising funds and awareness for local charities such as homeless outreach centres, mental health support services, suicide prevention networks, youth support organisations, animal welfare groups and many more. Jake is fast becoming known as one of Australia’s foremost authorities on edible and medicinal plants, and has been referred to as a “Bush Tucker Guru” by the Daily Telegraph and “Aussie Bear Grills” by the Today Show on Channel 9. Jake has featured on Triple J radio, ABC radio, The History Channel, and National Indigenous Television (NITV). Jake has spent most of life fine tuning his survival knowledge in what he calls “The University of the Bush” and has taught himself much of what he knows through personal experience spending over 20 years doing annual trips 'out bush' and living from the land for weeks at a time. Jake has worked with much respected Aboriginal elders in NSW and Central and Western Australia and has given presentations with well known people in Botany such as Les Robinson, Alan Fairley, Costa Georgiadis (Gardening Australia) and Aboriginal Bush Tucker Chef, Mark Olive. Jake has presented at Universities for nearly a decade with a presentation he calls " The Science of Survival" where University lecturers, Indigenous Elders and Indigenous students, all collaborate to share knowledge regarding the uses of native plants.  Jake’s presentations, courses and tours are upbeat, interactive, engaging and include a comprehensive display of native and exotic plants and an in-depth description of some of the plants uses. Jake will share information on how to make rope from tree bark, fire from sticks, soap from Wattle leaves and much more.   Resources: Jake Website Jake FacebookJake Youtube Coast Environmental Alliance Facebook Group     Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast?   A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or  check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus  we're on Spotify!   Check Out The Transcript Here:   Mason: (00:00) Jake, how are you, man?   Jake Cassar: (00:01) Oh, pretty good. It's all happening here. How are you?   Mason: (00:04) Yeah, I'm good. I'm very good. It's good to see your face. It's been a few years, been following along on your journeys and grateful for social media so I can stay tuned in to all that you're up to. And I'm really excited for all the... We're on a different podcast than the one we did originally. We're on the SuperFeast Podcast now, and I'm really excited about everyone meeting you and learning about your work and the important work that you're doing down where you are. So Jake let us know, what are you up to? What have you been up to the last 24 hours?   Jake Cassar: (00:38) Well, the last 24 hours I've been chasing this mysterious big cat that's been seen in North Sydney. I do a bit of tracking in all of my spare time. And I've started working with a pet detective agency recently, locating missing pets. I've been out there over the years finding missing pets, that's one of the things I do. And I've even found a few missing people in the bush with the help from some friends, one Aboriginal friend, in particular, helped us locate a missing person a few years back, which got on the news.   Jake Cassar: (01:07) But this time round, I'm out tracking another sighting of this big cat. Some people call it a panther. I'm pretty certain it's not a panther, but I don't think it's just a regular feral cat either. It's only about an hour and a half from where I live, so I've been out here in Northern Sydney in the scrub tracking it for the last few weeks actually. But I've been here for the last 24 hours.   Jake Cassar: (01:29) Excuse me, my sunnies is probably holding my eyes in at the moment. Because I've had about half an hour sleep on and off throughout the night, just getting up and checking traps and checking cameras and laying just baits to draw it in the trap that we set for it, wouldn't harm it, it'll go into the cage and catch it. And then I'm planning on extracting a little bit a DNA through its fur with a little bit of a follicle on it. And then if it's some kind of big native cat, which Aboriginal elders have suggested may very well be, we'll let it go.   Jake Cassar: (01:58) If it was a large feral cat, then I wouldn't have shot it, I have in the past, but I've actually got a wildlife sanctuary, the huge enclosure at Calga, the Walkabout Park, that'd be interested in taking it if it was the biggest feral cat ever seen, which it must be, this thing's a monster, to educate people about the issues around feral cats. So it's been really exciting. Lots of people following that on my Facebook page, on my Insta page. And you know, there's been a lot of heavy stuff going on as you know, Mason and its been a nice little break from all the heavy stuff and that mysterious creature in the bush, that's been fascinating humans for probably hundreds of thousands of years. It's back.   Mason: (02:38) Because we've all grown up whenever we'd go into the... From growing up in the city and even Tahnee, my fiance, living up in far North Queensland, everywhere you go, I don't know if it's the same up on the West coast, but on the East coast, everyone's got those sightings of the big black Panther that escaped from the circus growing up and the story. And we wonder if it's native, we were thinking about, we were talking about that... I wonder if that could possibly be a native cat and I was going to ask you that. So, that's fascinating. Have you able to been able to get any fur at all, just from tracking or you need it to be like a live sample?   Jake Cassar: (03:19) No fur yet, but I've got some really, really compelling footage in the last 24 hours. I've seen it about the last week, but I only got here yesterday and checked my motion detection / night vision cameras, and I've got an image of it. The problem is I've got them set up along about a five kilometre radius. The problem with the footage is you can pretty clearly see an area where it's coming and going. And there's a couple of landmarks in the background that might give away its exact location. And I'd love to share this footage, but I don't want every man and his dog going into the area trying to trap it. Especially if it is a cat that's probably been here for thousands of years.   Jake Cassar: (03:55) I think it's most likely a cross between a Asiatic Golden Cat, they call it. It's like a wild cat that lives in the forest, Catopuma is the genus. And it's certainly, from some of the evidence that I've found both in tracks, and on my video, I've got about 25 images on my motion detecting cameras, a cross between the Catopuma species likely and just Felis catus, your standard domestic cat gone feral. But as we all know, they can get two to three times the size when they get out in the bush, they can get enormous.   Jake Cassar: (04:27) And you chuck a bit of other wild cat into the mix, which are currently apparently a lot of the Asian wild cats can interbreed with domestic cats. Then you've got this incredible mix, which some people, if they want to jump on my Facebook page or Insta, Facebook Jake Cassar official or Insta, Jake Cassar Bushcraft, you can have a look at that video. You can have a look at the tracks that I found near where the video was taken, the plaster cast in comparison to different tracks.   Mason: (04:54) The plaster cast...   Jake Cassar: (04:55) Yeah, it's been really fun. At the very low end of the scale, it's been a little bit of fun. On the high end of the scale, we could be contributing something new to science here.   Mason: (05:06) I can imagine it comes in at a nice time, because it's been heavy down your way with all the illegal land clearing that's happened all of a sudden. You've been there for many years. For lack of a better word, your activist work was something, when I met you seven years ago, maybe we met and did the bush tucker, Bushcraft little run through the shrub there. Actually the first time I met you, I was with the Strongs.   Jake Cassar: (05:41) Oh were you?   Mason: (05:41) Father and son.   Jake Cassar: (05:41) Yes, please. [inaudible 00:05:40].   Mason: (05:42) Yeah. And Michael Tellinger. So that was the... And we were up at the hieroglyphs there and you, I heard that they were coming and you strode in and out, just like a shadow, all of a sudden you were just there. And then from there, we went on that little trek. And I think I happened to fall in that time when there was a native beehive that hadn't gone up and checked in about three years and we went in there and we had a bit of native honey...   Jake Cassar: (06:16) I gave you some of the honey, that's a privilege, not many people get to experience that.   Mason: (06:16) That was an absolute privilege, but yeah, since then you've been going hard. I mean, just watching what you're, it's interesting. You want to talk to us about what you're doing and why it comes down to someone like yourself in order to fund yourself and fund the protection of land and species, species getting decimated for the sake of further development, further non-necessary development, a lot of the time. It's just developers is just wanting more, more cash in areas that have cultural significance. Why is it you, that's having to go and work your ass off in order to fund yourself to go and do this activist work, that should be something that's done by, I don't know, say the land council.   Jake Cassar: (07:08) Well, in this case, unfortunately it is the local Aboriginal Land Council that's acting as the developers. And they're the ones trying to develop an area known as Kariong Sacred Lands, they're saying that it's not connected to Kariong Sacred Lands, but that's the whole point of the official Aboriginal place listing, is that all of that land's interconnectedness. It's not my place to go right into the why, it's more of the traditional custodians. And I acknowledge those before I speak a little bit about this kind of stuff, but that whole area is a really, really important meeting place for many groups coming together.   Jake Cassar: (07:37) The good news is, is there's a lot of Aboriginal people coming together in the background and supporting us, are now more in the foreground, but it's an unfortunate situation where you've got the state government, actually they're calling it the Aboriginal sep where they're trying to empower, is one way of putting it, Aboriginal Land Council's to develop some of these very, very special places.   Jake Cassar: (07:58) And, basically if anyone tries to step in the way of these totally unsustainable and destructive developments, they call you a racist. So, which is interesting, because a lot of members of our group are Aboriginal, and certainly that's a fascinating situation to be in, to be called racist, which I was called while fighting to protect Aboriginal sites alongside traditional custodians.   Jake Cassar: (08:24) So it was very clever, good one, Rob Stokes, the Minister for Planning. He's obviously sat down with a few people, and if anyone gets in the way and believe me, they won't get in the way, the Greens don't want a bar of it, the big environmental organisations don't want a bar of it because it's too, I guess, politically incorrect to go up against the Aboriginal Land Council in regards to land development.   Jake Cassar: (08:46) To that point, should Aboriginal Land Council's have the opportunity to develop land, absolutely. Should they be able to make money off the land, and largely attempt to do whatever they want with the land, absolutely. I would prefer that than any other developer. And that makes sense doesn't it? But if it's an unsustainable development that could potentially desecrate ancient sites of human occupation, could cause extinctions, in this case the development they want to do, actually several developments they want to do on the Central Coast will severely impact or just wipe out potential koala habitat. Aboriginal sites are known to be in these areas and dozens of endangered flora and fauna species. If anyone does that, whether it's a overseas developer, an Australian developer or local Land Council, then Aussies irrespective of our background should have the right to object to it.   Mason: (09:35) What's the strategy that they have to be able to call you a racist? Because it seems from what I can tell from the Land Council and my dealings when I went to Alice Springs and dealt with the Land Council, as the elders were being pushed off the land for mining, when we went up there and we went and we probably had a bit of a pie in the sky kind of mentality at the time. We all serving them letters and cease and desists and that kind of thing. And you know, didn't really go anywhere because they just steam rolled it and pushed that mob off the land.   Mason: (10:06) And so I wonder, because when you look at who's working at the Aboriginal Land Council, a lot of the time there are Aborigines working there. But from what I went through, and what I'm reading about the developments that they're talking to you about it and from what I've just, what I'm seeing myself, it seems they're creating this ornamental Aboriginal protection culture there, within the Land Council. And then if anyone, as long as it doesn't get in the way of the development that ultimately the big business and government wants to have, there doesn't seem to be that much proper protection. Like, you know what, there's some species in there, and there's some sites in there. So you know what, you just don't go there.   Mason: (10:54) They will look for justification at whatever cost to make sure that they don't actually protect the majority of this country. The majority of the country is sacred. As long as you don't get in the way of that, we're okay to keep on pushing these nice Aboriginal cultural ideas and take you on nice little tours. And it seems like this ornamental version of what's actually potentially the oldest culture on earth. It seems like a terrible representative.   Jake Cassar: (11:27) Well, there's a lot of good people in the Land Councils, and there's a lot of good Land Councils doing really good things across the country. As I understand it, as I've been told, there's a lot of great people in our local Land Council. We got a letter of support from our page, Coast Environmental Alliance, from someone who's on the Land Council to stop the Land Council development. So more now than ever good people irrespective of our background may just stick together for the sake of our children. Is it not up to you or I to tell Land Councils how they make their money, with respect should we tell them that they should be doing cultural tours and different things? I'd like to see that personally, I'd love to take my daughter to that. I think it's important, but should they be able to determine how they make a quid? Absolutely.   Jake Cassar: (12:10) But what it really comes back down to for me mate is, is if it's totally unsustainable, if it's disrespectful to the environment and if it's going to destroy Aboriginal sites, I don't care who it is, I'll stick my neck out and I seem to be at the moment, one of the only people doing it. Not giving myself a pat on the back, because it's been full on, basically me calling a spade, a spade, and saying that the Land Council is set to benefit from the illegal clearing. Someone got through and bulldozed that land. They're threatening me with legal action, looks like they're taking me to court. I've had threats of violence towards me over the phone, the racism calls. So, so many hectic things have happened from this, but that's the way it goes. That's the way it goes.   Jake Cassar: (12:55) And that's when you know that you're on the right path, that you're making a difference. If we don't stop this from going right across the state or the greater Sydney area, the state governments actually used quite colloquial words. They've said, we're basically testing this out to see how it goes in the greater Sydney area. And, in the background, if we can get all these unsustainable development through, again the Greens, the Greens are for this development, they say they're not opposed to it, they don't see any problem with it.   Jake Cassar: (13:23) They'll be wiping out endangered species and potentially Aboriginal sites and encroaching on the Aboriginal sites in the area, the traditional custodians are totally against this development. And they're on our side, on the side of the land more. So you've got Labour, Liberal, we should call them laberal. And, the Greens now locally, they've got to me recently, they'll have a shot at me for saying this, but it's the truth.   Jake Cassar: (13:45) I can show you the letter. You can post it under this podcast. Basically they saying that they are for it, and this is all about Aboriginal self-determination. Tricky thing for me to talk about, for anyone to talk about. If this is about that, our Land Council's got tens of millions of dollars in the bank, they are the richest Land Council in New South Wales. I've heard them boast about that on many occasions and I use them loosely, some wonderful elders on the Land Council, and some friends I went to school with. I'm not just sugar coating what I'm saying, I actually mean that, and the largest private land owner on the Central Coast.   Jake Cassar: (14:20) So they have other options. It's just interesting to see them teaming up with the state government. So you've got a private, I'm getting a bit passionate here, you've got a private land developer, who's got a bit of a deal going with the government, who puts together these supposedly independent panels that they launched during COVID when people can't protest, to just rubber stamp any development going through, again a private developer, ok, with a relationship with the government. We know developers do have relationships with government, but you've never seen it so open, to just destroy some of the most important parcels of land, some of the most important places full of koala habitat, full of ancient engraving sites.   Jake Cassar: (14:59) And if you stand in the way they're going to do everything they can to bulldoze over the top of you, quite literally, they're illegally clearing the land. I'm not saying who's done it. I think I believe I've found who's done it, the guy's admitted to it. The Land Council made me take that video down because of some of the things I've said. Yeah, well that was part of the legal action, they gave me a few days to reply or else they're going to sue me, and I've worked really hard for the very little I've got to put my daughters, take my daughter to a decent school and get her a decent education.   Jake Cassar: (15:26) I'd like to keep my car on the road, keep my guitar and sound system. I don't know how that works when they do sue you, but they certainly got the power to. The good news is, is I've got a lawyer now that's going to be working for me at least for a while pro bono. So that's been really, really helpful, but they're basically just trying to tie me up. And the reason they're trying to tie me up is because this is a much, much bigger picture thing. If they can float this, if they can float this thing and keep these weak buggers purpose from the Greens and lie about supporting Liberal and their State Planning Panels that are too scared to be politically incorrect and I get it. I get it, believe me, I get it. I'm not saying it's good, it's gutless.   Jake Cassar: (16:06) Okay. But I absolutely get what they're doing. They are going to not only destroy massive areas of bushland, but the Aboriginal people that I know who I do not speak on behalf of, I can again, put you in contact with these people if you want to interview, my indigenous friends that are traditional custodians. They're going to be disempowering indigenous people, because they're going to be smashing their sites. They're going to be smashing their sites like they're trying to do here in Kariong, and right across the greater Sydney area. And if they can float it, if they can float it, then they're going to roll it out across New South Wales. The state government are saying this at the moment. So this is the time where we make a stand. This is a time where people have got to come together, black, white and everything in between. If we don't now, we're fucked mate.   Mason: (16:48) As you said there are lots of beautiful people that are working within these organisations absolutely, but what I said in terms of it being ornamental, anything that is there being under as a, basically being a bit of a chest piece for the government at large. And as you said this, them saying that they're testing out, whether they're going to be able to basically get away with it here.   Jake Cassar: (17:09) That's what they saying.   Mason: (17:13) It's not surprising because they know ultimately people don't care because they know they've ultimately again, got this ornamental relationship with a lot of beautiful people and beautiful people who are trying to do good work, but under the guise of that, and saying we're empowering Aboriginal people, we're going to go in and create, and basically clear whatever we want and develop whatever we want, as you said.   Jake Cassar: (17:35) And a handful of people make a shitload of money and what happens to the rest of the community?   Mason: (17:40) Well, who makes the money in this situation?   Jake Cassar: (17:44) I guess the Land Council as a private land developer because they pretty much come out and just said that they're private land developers, which again, I'm not anti-development mate.   Mason: (17:53) Your elders, where do your elders sit on in receiving coin? Or just a little bit of an acknowledgement that, that's their land. If this gets cleared and they make millions and millions.   Jake Cassar: (18:07) When you say my elders, what do you mean?   Mason: (18:09) The elders in your area?   Jake Cassar: (18:11) Okay. Yeah. Because to make it clear I'm not indigenous, dad's from Egypt and mum's Aussie going right back to second fleet. The local elders, where do they sit in, in this whole scheme of things?   Mason: (18:22) Where do they see, in terms of where, if this goes ahead, and this multimillion dollar development goes ahead in that area, where do they set to benefit?   Jake Cassar: (18:31) Well, they don't set to benefit at all. They've written letters absolutely against it because they want to continue to use those areas for the reasons they do. It's not, again, not my place to go into it, but we've got, Darkinjung as they pronounce it in our local areas. Some Darkinjung people, the [inaudible 00:18:50], and some Guringai people are, [inaudible 00:18:51], [inaudible 00:18:54], I think is another local tribe. I think that's how they pronounce it. They're absolutely, absolutely passionately opposed to it. And they know why, because they know that land. They know what the engravings mean and the significance of those sites. The Land Council has said that there's no sites of significance within the area well they passionately disagree. And whether I've got a right to, or not, whether I've got a right to care about those sites or not, I've been gently visiting that area since I was about 11 years old and turning 45 this year.   Jake Cassar: (19:29) So been around a little while and I've dedicated 10 years of my life to protecting the land right next door, which is all part of what they call Kariong Sacred Lands. Part of the reason it got listed as an official Aboriginal place of significance is due to the work that I've been doing there with indigenous and non indigenous kids in juvenile justice, and DoCS/FaCS for the last 16 or so years, I met with the government there, met with elders.   Jake Cassar: (19:55) The Land Council actually supported, Darkinjung Land Council actually supported that area, being recognised as Kariong Sacred Lands. And I think again, the term here was used, the cultural landscape. So the overall landscape was really important. The bush tucker in the area is really important for the ongoing education of both indigenous and non indigenous kids side by side. And as you know, I run in four major elections as an independent and was able to eventually leverage a government. Rob Stokes, the Minister for Planning was actually involved in making that national park. I guess he wrote the check and we stopped the biggest development within any national park in New South Wales.   Jake Cassar: (20:32) Kicked off the sort of grassroots activism movement on the Central Coast, about 13 or 14 years ago, when we started having blockades and camps, and proper peaceful community actions, having three, four, 500 people at rallies, five, six, 700 people at concerts. I worked out we had over 45 events, over nine and a half years to get that in the national park and thousands of letters sent. And just sign much hard work. You know, the elections in particular were a pretty full on experience for me, the first federal election I ran in I was living in a tent at an activist camp at the side of the road. And going to these big forums with over a hundred people that was quite terrifying, but yeah, you do what you've got to do.   Jake Cassar: (21:19) And, when I walked my little daughter down there, she's about to turn seven in October. But when I walked her down there as a little two year old to the grandmother tree and showed her the hieroglyphs and tried to explain to her, even though she was only really little, what her daddy had done and her mum as well at the time, and the community had done to protect that land. And it was a very, very profound moment for me. And so it's been blood, sweat, and tears into protecting this land here. And, it's an incredibly unfortunate situation, Mason that here we are against the Land Council, some members of the Land Council. Because again, we've got some that are coming on board.   Mason: (21:57) Which is amazing all right, far out.   Jake Cassar: (21:59) It is. Yeah, it's incredible. And we're also getting some people within the government that are just been bloody awesome as well. Because, people are just sick of the rubbish. The magic word is we're not against development, we need development. It's a shame that development is a dirty word because what a great place Australia is in general, for world-class sustainable, exciting development that we need. We've got room for all kinds of different industry and to do it sustainably, but stop going for our most special places.   Jake Cassar: (22:32) Stop causing the extinction of koalas, get serious. I'm not a lefty or a righty or anything like that, I'm more of a centrist. I'm probably a little bit conservative in my old age, but just use some bloody common sense that especially after the fires that ravaged, this part of New South Wales, the greater Sydney area is an incredible, it's a Garden of Eden of ecological diversity. And it's some of the last bastions for koalas and they're still smashing their areas, their habitat, which is what's happening up here at Kariong.   Jake Cassar: (23:09) That's exactly what they're trying to do. They're not trying to do that, they have knocked down probably a couple of thousand koala trees. Now that was the illegal clearing that happened, I've got that on video, I don't know if you caught that.   Mason: (23:19) I did.   Jake Cassar: (23:21) We're looking into making sure that fines are issued and that land is regenerated. That more archaeological studies go in to that area. Just trying to keep an eye on it again. I'm going to give another plug to Coast Environmental Alliance, a little group we've got on Facebook. We've actually got close to 6,000 members. If you want to get involved in something, people that are watching this, that will bear results, win, lose, or draw. It's getting results because good people are coming together, again black, white and everything in between.   Jake Cassar: (23:50) We don't care what your background is. Join with us to push towards something extremely positive, sustainable development. We're not a no group, we're a yes group, but how can we work together to start to head in the right direction. But every now and then you've got to dig your heels in and say no more. If we don't, for example in this area, it's going to cause the localised extinction of koalas in this area, which will contribute to what they're saying, koalas being extinct on the mainland Australia or in the wild, rather in Australia within three decades, it's just not good enough. We need to draw a line somewhere.   Mason: (24:31) That's not, and I love how inclusive you are. And I really do recommend everyone follow your personal Instagram and Facebook for updates. But that's great to know that we've got that Facebook page there, whenever I can join the community and find out what action they can take, because there's also look, there's going to need to be resources and funds and people on the ground. As you said, it took nine years, for you to secure that largest area of national parks.   Jake Cassar: (24:56) Well, it was us, mate, it was a team effort, it was everybody that sent a letter. It was people like yourself. And I don't expect everybody to be, I don't like the term activist. I consider it doing your best to be a responsible adult for the country that you live in and do the right thing by your kids. Caring for the land is the ultimate act of self-care because you're caring for future generations, even after you're gone. All people have got to do is just follow what's going on. Send the occasional letter. We're not allowed to protest anymore, another debate, but people can take action. People can empower themselves by taking responsibility for the country they're privileged enough to live in, send a letter, make the phone call. If you go and see, there's always somewhere to send a letter to.   Jake Cassar: (25:36) There's always an action to take. With respect to a lot of environmental groups, mate they're experts at having meetings and delicious finger food and all that kind of thing. But when it comes to action, there's always something to do. You can write a press release, anyone. You could write a press release about this and send it to anyone. You can make a phone call about this. You can send an email, you can get in touch with me and say, "Jake, what can I do to help?" Which is my favourite question that I get asked. There's always a way of getting involved in environmental protection in your own area. People do things in different ways. And as I said, I not only know that a lot of people can't, work sometimes 20 hours a day like I do to protect the environment, which is what you've got to do.   Jake Cassar: (26:16) And I even don't recommend it for a lot of people because you'll burn out really, really quickly. But you know, realistically there is things people can do, but you start to see a lot of that. I know we touched on this last time, but a lot of the new age kind of stuff, coming into bloody activism now where they're talking about, activism's all about balance, and self-care, and taking it easy and that. No, it's not, it's about sacrifice. It's about hard work. You know, grab that balance wherever you can, don't get me wrong. Grab the self-care wherever you can, because there's going to be times where you're going to go without sleep. There's going to be times where you're going to have a lot of hate and anger coming towards you and probably from your own camp, a lot of the time other activists.   Jake Cassar: (27:02) That's been my experience, there can be a lot of toxicity within that movement. It's why I believe the doof scene and sort of the young hippie scene, if I had to label it has become less about activism and more about what's become modern leftism, I suppose. Its hard work, but it's deeply satisfying and it's absolutely paramount, it's critical that people step up now. It's really now or never, look at what's going on, I'm sorry to rant, but look at what's going on in the world today. We're just good people, good people got to come together, to say the left and right again, the left and right of politics wants to keep us all divided.   Jake Cassar: (27:39) Imagine if the beautiful indigenous people of our country, the first people of Australia banded with the beautiful whatever background. I don't like saying non indigenous because I'm from here. But imagine if all the good people in Australia dug our heels in and said nup, nup, you're not taking this any further. You're not going to keep trashing the land. You're not going to cause the extinction of koalas and all the other fauna and flora, you're not going to attack our water tables. Do it peacefully, do it respectfully, but do it passionately and stick together. Again, mate it's now or never.   Mason: (28:11) It is now or never. And your inclusive nature is like, all right, whether you're in politics, this organisation, whether you've got a business, whether you're a mom, whether you're a dad, whether you've got heaps of resources, not, whatever. It's just, as you said, it is a part of your own self-care practise to get involved, start protecting the land and doing the right thing. And it comes with the betterment of yourself ultimately. Man, I love it. And I love the fact that, someone like yourself is like, it makes me, which isn't, I don't think is necessarily a healthy thought. It makes me feel good, that there's people like you, Jake on the front line going, but ultimately what that does is it does really inspire me to stay involved, I'll keep on staying involved. Let me know and let us all know when there's any mass push for anything that you're going to be directly useful.   Mason: (28:59) Otherwise, I do encourage everyone to go and join that Facebook page, which we'll pop in the show notes. Everyone can get involved and keep your finger on the pulse. And I think another thing I've learned from you is to not get caught up in that, the delicious endorphins of jumping in, and getting upset and angry about what's going on and then burning out, and realising you actually don't have the capacity to hold that emotion. But rather going in sustainably, if you want to be screaming from the rooftops for sustainability from the government, from the Land Councils, from all these people, which is all we want. I didn't mean to insult anyone who is involved in the Land Council before. I just had to get my emotional baggage out.   Mason: (29:42) But, it's not about dragging any of these things down. It's just about, gentle asking for us all to become better, and sometimes we're going to bump heads, but ultimately you want to make sure you're going in a sustainable manner so that you can keep this up for the rest of your life. It's an important element of being alive on this earth. It's something, if we're going to learn anything from mob is that we're custodians. And I learned that from you a lot, that's why I love following along with you, mate. So I really appreciate you taking the time, especially since you've been tracking for the last 24 hours.   Jake Cassar: (30:15) Well, that's been pretty exciting. Yeah. And, back to people doing what they can, even if people do, like a shooting star burn bright for a little while and then burn out, that's okay. If you go to the top of CEA page, Coast Environmental Alliance, you'll see a pinned post there. As soon, in regards to this development in Kariong Sacred Lands, we'll be able to make submissions against that official submissions. But on CEA, we've always got a pinned post at the top of the page, which gives lots of information. And then there's an email for people to send. You want to send that one email, you can either copy and paste, but it's better if you put it in your own words, and then just follow through with each person.   Jake Cassar: (30:53) Once a week is fine, make a phone call, follow-up with a phone call. And then the key is to just not give up until you get answers, you can share things. My email's on there as well. So you can send things back to me. I've got this response from the local mayor or the local state member. If you're lucky and you get a response, and if you don't, then give them a call, give them a call and just keep chipping away. If we were to look at it like this, they've got a certain issue over here where there's piles or paper building up on their table. And you look at this issue here in Kariong and it's building up, building up, when this becomes overwhelming, especially in the lead up to an election.   Jake Cassar: (31:28) And just your average person, you know what, I focused on my friends that are Liberal voters, there's not heaps of them, but there's a few. So yeah, I had a Liberal politician turn up to one of our rallies and I heard him say to one of his minders on his way out, "There wasn't a Liberal vote in that place." And the penny dropped, the penny dropped. Then we stopped trying to appeal to the tree huggers as such, and lucky we've always been able to appeal to the general public, but started to really try and do letterbox drops in a local area and just try to appeal to everyday people with the kind of language we use. And that's what changes stuff. When someone messages, and says, "Listen, I'm normally a supporter of yours. I would vote for you in the next election. I love it that you've done this, this, this, and this." But if you don't and you've got to watch your wording, because you're dealing with a human being.   Jake Cassar: (32:17) If you don't support this and sustainable development, and again, I'm not against development, then I'll certainly won't be voting for you in the next election. And it's that kind of language not put so raw because again, some politicians will just reject you for saying things like that. It will certainly catch their attention. And that's really the kind of grassroots activism that works when they think that it's going to cost them the election. They say it's not about votes, but if they don't get re-elected, they can't do all the wonderful things that they promised just before elections. Some do, some deliver wonderful things.   Mason: (32:49) As you said man, got to drop all those political labels, right? We've got to not be caught up in that. That's all a smoke screen. We're all beautiful humans. And you know, ultimately as you just said, we're dealing with humans, we can always appeal to our own humanity, therefore other people's humanity. I needed that reminder, it's fun getting caught up in a little bit of us versus them for a while.   Jake Cassar: (33:12) I think there is a little bit of that, mate. I think there are some people that don't give a shit about the land and about our future, and they are focused on short term goals. But I'm more talking about the way that you interact with people, on a lesser degree, some people can be quite petty, and you see a lot of it on social media too. People don't agree with something, so they block them or they're just nasty or disrespectful in the comments. There's a lot of that getting around nowadays. A lot of politicians can be quite petty, so if you say something that upsets them, they will just ignore you. I'm just, I guess, talking about interacting with other people, even if you don't like them, with respect and just edging towards trying to get a goal.   Jake Cassar: (33:51) If you get correspondence from a politician and your toing and froing, here's that paper metaphor again, you've got the paper building up on their table. If they're getting back to you, then it shows there's an interest there. And if they're getting back to 16 other people that week, 20 people, 30 people, 50 people, and that paper keeps building up. And when they speak to someone further up the food chain in their political party, and they say, "What are the main issues that are pressing in your region?" They say, "Oh, this one." 'Oh, shit, what are we going to do? We've pretty much promised that that development's going to go ahead." I'm not insinuating this, but let's just say, for example, we've even set up a stacked planning panel here that's just going to approve it. What are we going to do? Well, it might cost us the election. This is how that stuff works, Mason.   Mason: (34:36) All right, well, let's keep on pushing, pushing and pressing.   Jake Cassar: (34:39) Yeah, we're good at that.   Mason: (34:42) Well, I think you've given everyone some really solid advice to where they can take it next. I appreciate you coming on. Were there any last messages or any little things you want to drop on everyone? And as well, tell them about your tours as well.   Jake Cassar: (34:57) Yeah, I'm a bushcraft teacher. I've spent the last probably 25 years. Wow, it's pretty cool to be able to say that, one of the good things about getting a little bit older. Spent about the last 30 years, my God, more spending time in the bush. The first time I did a survival mission, wasn't meant to be a survival mission, I was about 17 and lived off the land for like three and a half weeks. Up in (inaudible) national park. And then just basically kept doing that throughout my life. Went bush, just when I left working as a bouncer for 10 years, the local pubs and clubs. And I lived up in the bush for around four or five months up the back of Kariong, up there with an Aboriginal family that stayed with me for a while with their kids.   Jake Cassar: (35:40) And we all sharing knowledge and learning tracking together and developing our skills. And, since then I've started teaching. I worked as a senior ranger at a local wildlife sanctuary for quite a few years and I've done bush tucker talks right around Australia, worked with quite a few Aboriginal communities. University of Western Sydney, I'll go there and they bring between 50 and a 100 indigenous youth from remote communities there each year. For the last two and a half years, I've been leasing a property up at Mangrove Mountain, only an hour north of Sydney and an hour south of Newcastle. And I run tracking courses, bushcraft courses, mainly plant based because my forte is edible and medicinal plants, maybe we can get on and have a chat about that one day.   Jake Cassar: (36:24) And in supporting my courses, you're supporting all my environmental work, my youth work, I work as a youth worker as well, and in the local juvenile justice systems and places and running some programs up on the property up there soon, we calling it the Youth Trackers Camp. And yeah. So if anyone wants to get on board, it's all about building community.   Jake Cassar: (36:48) I don't sort of say very spiritual as such things very often. And I know that's very, very popular nowadays, but I do say to people, if you want to get involved in this brand of what's going on, it's all about to me, if anyone comes at me with wanting me to go and get into the ayahuasca, get into this, or get into that and learn about these spirituality and that spirituality, if it doesn't have at the core of it, and I can be quite arrogant here and I'll own that, if the core of it, isn't helping to create a safe and sustainable future for our children, then I'm really not that interested in it because in my opinion, that is the conversation we need to not only be having that conversation now that's the action we need to be taking now. Because if we don't, we're screwed.   Mason: (37:33) Yeah. That is at the core of all cultures. That and...   Jake Cassar: (37:35) It was.   Mason: (37:39) It was. You're right.   Jake Cassar: (37:42) It used to be. There's some pretty amazing things happening in the background at the moment, mate. I'm having some incredible conversations around the campfire with some incredibly wonderful people, some gentle people, but passionate people that are ready to go. And I've had so many people coming to me saying, "We should go this way, we should go that way, we should do this." I said, "I'm just going to keep doing what we're doing." Looking after the land, looking after the youth, taking counsel from the elders, which includes non-indigenous elders, anyone who's had the life experience and knows how to create again, to etch towards a safe and sustainable future for our future generations.   Jake Cassar: (38:16) When, I say our children I mean that collectively. Good people have just got to band together and do as much good as we can. It's the journey, not the destination. I tell people to go and learn survival skills because we're going to need them, that's becoming more and more apparent now that, that is highly likely to be in our personal future or in the future of our children or grandchildren.   Jake Cassar: (38:38) So it's not only survival, physically, being able to live off the land, but it's also survival, I'll use the word spiritually, how we can interrelate to each other, how we can work together. We're in this survival of the fittest society at the moment, we need to move much more towards how the land works and how all of our ancient ancestors lived. And that was survival of the most cooperative, resilience comes into it, being fit and being strong and sometimes survival of the fittest realistically comes into it, but you know, survival of the most cooperative, how can we best work together towards a safe and sustainable future? That's where I'm at.   Mason: (39:21) Amen. Everyone, especially if you're in Sydney, Gosford, Newey, it's easy for you to get down and do... And you've got day courses, you've got overnights. It's available to everyone and the youth work. You've always been doing such good work with the youth work. So, if that appeals to you, go check it out and let's definitely line up another chat talking about the bush tucker, talking about what it's like to actually come back and eat the food from this land and learn how to track this land. That'd be great.   Jake Cassar: (39:49) Good stuff mate, it was great spending some time with you again.   Mason: (39:53) Yeah, absolutely. Hope I'll see you soon.   Jake Cassar: (39:55) For sure champ.

EPISODE 20 A stack of new music coming in this week. It's amazing seeing so many producers still releasing music during lockdown. Coming in hot this week for the feature is @geraldakasoldat . Raised in Northern Sydney, Gerald Lecaros (aka Soldat) is an aspiring DJ and producer within the Australian Drum & Bass scene. He specialises his style primarily within dancefloor and jump up areas through inspirations such as TC, Zinc and Friction. Whether it would be through atmospheric or vicious sound design, raw breaks or weighty basslines, Soldat brings a sound interest that will give quite an impression to fellow bassheads. DJ wise, his sets will bring drops of powerful synthesis, mixes of pure vibes and an entire selection that will cater to almost everyone's taste within the genre rolled into one. As time passes, Soldat continues to grow in his music selection and production where he will bring the danger as the chance arrives.

Joining Smarter Cities in this episode is Julian Leeser MP, Member of the Australian Parliament for the Northern Sydney seat of Berowra. Part of a rising class of young politicians focused on Australia's future, Julian is leading a range of public discussion on Australia as a nation, our constitution that governs us and on our place as a people in the world. In a wide ranging discussion, recorded on 13 March at the Commonwealth's Parliamentary Office in Sydney, Julian and I reflect on: - Our response to the emerging Corona virus pandemic and how we should respond after it - On the role of free trade in the economic well being of nations and the world - On Australia's constitution, the debate on a Bill of Rights for Australia and recognition of Indigenous Australian's in our constitution. Elected in 2016, Julian Leeser is Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, among other responsibilities.  You can find out more about Julian at www.julianleeser.com.au  

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management ServicesDate: 9 October 2018 It’s an age-old question; should business or government drive innovation? Whose responsibility is it to support those emerging businesses who have discovered a gap in the market but may not have the resources to meet the demand?   And similarly should it be the role of big business to support small enterprises with this potential or should small business be left to their own devices; to sink or swim on their own self made vision?   Today we are joined by Jono Herrman; Chair of the North Sydney Innovation Network who is here to tell us about their work and how they interact with government and enterprise to foster innovation.   Welcome to the show Jono.   Topics we’ll be covering:   What’s the role of an Innovation Network in the small business community? How does the network interact with Govt at the local and state level? Tell us about the recent reports around Innovation and Productivity Scorecard which was released in August? Innovation prescincts     What is monitored in this data? How does the Northern Sydney area compare with previous years’ data and what major fluctuations have been noted? How do we compare with similar areas of Sydney? What can small businesses do to foster innovation in their area or even within their own business to tap into the opportunities it offers? What can local and state governments do to improve innovation opportunities in their own areas? Are these lacking in our area of Sydney in your opinion? Tell us about some of the the excellent events on the Innovation Network calendar and how the listeners can find out more??   To find out more go to their website: http://www.northsydneyinnovation.org/

We hope you enjoyed listening to some of the content from our CWIBCC18. Wow! What a journey God took us through that day and I hope that it blessed you as much as it blessed us! Christian Women in Business Community Conference 2019 will be a 2 day conference starting on Saturday 9th Feb 2019 in Northern Sydney. Our guest speakers are Pastor Leigh Ramsey Founder of SheRescue, Randa Habelrih Founder of the Mates Program, Sharryn Ludlow Founder of Grace and Confidence and myself as the host. Grab your early bird ticket to our Conference today! CWIB Membership...We’re open for membership intakes and would love to invite you to become a member. It’s time for you to join a community of like minded women.Click Here to apply >>Jo HobbsWhere to find JoHER WEBSITEHER FACEBOOK See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our first cast this morning comes from Andy Thompson, a Fly Fishing Guide in the Whitsundays who has had over 13 million views on his youtube fishing channel. We answer a question from Andrew in Busselton on catching yellowfin whiting on fly. Greg French joins us from Greenland to share his Arctic Char adventure, Bushy has been designing hard bodied lures for Mulloway and Peter LaBlang has the Northern Sydney scene covered on this episode of The Big Fish.

This is a broadcast of a Panel Session called Meeting the needs of male victims of domestic and family violence, presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology's Meeting the needs of victims of crime conference held in Sydney on 19 May 2011. Part 3 of the Panel Session features Greg Andresen, researcher and media liaison with Men's Health Australia, presenting a paper called Meeting the needs of male victims of family violence and their children. Contrary to common beliefs, around one in three victims of family violence and abuse is male. While many services and community education programmes have quite rightly been established over the past four decades to support female victims of family violence, the needs of male victims remain largely unmet. Male victims of family violence and their children are one of the most underserved populations of victims of crime in Australia, with appropriate and tailored services being almost non-existent. This paper will present a brief overview of what is required to meet the needs of Australian male victims of family violence and their children. It will: Present the often unheard voices of male victims of family violence and their children Describe the specific experiences of male victims of family violence and their children (barriers to disclosing and finding support; different forms of abuse; impacts upon victims and their children) Review the scant support currently available in Australia for male victims of family violence and their children Outline the support required in order for the needs of male victims of family violence and their children to be met Discuss recent overseas and Australian support initiatives for male victims of family violence and their children that could be adopted more broadly.  Listen now (MP3) |  Download PowerPoint |  Watch presentation Elizabeth Celi: Greg Andresen has been working in the field of men’s health and wellbeing since 2004, both in Adelaide and in Sydney. He currently works as a researcher and a media liaison for Men’s Health Australia and as senior researcher for the One in Three Campaign which Greg will certainly give you a bit more information about. So please welcome Greg up. Greg Andresen: Thanks very much Elizabeth. I’ll start by talking a little bit about the organisations that I work for. Men’s Health Australia is a website that’s been running since 2007. It’s Australia’s primary source of information about the psychosocial well-being of men and boys. The One in Three Campaign was launched about 18 months ago. I’m Senior Researcher with the campaign. The aim of the campaign is to raise public awareness of the existence and needs of male victims of family violence and abuse.  What am I going to cover today? Often when this area is discussed – the area of domestic and family violence – people get lost in facts and statistics and numbers. I really wanted to let the voices of male victims and their children come through in this presentation – the human beings that are experiencing these dreadful situations. I’m going to look at the specific experiences of male victims and their children. Look at what’s happening overseas – there’s some really great initiatives that are happening overseas in terms of specific support initiatives for men and their children. I’m going to look at what’s currently happening here in Australia – what’s available. And then outline what we think is required in order to truly meet the needs of this group of victims of crime.  I’m not going to talk about violence against women today. I’m merely talking about male victims of family violence because they are an underserved population that unfortunately receives scant attention. What we believe is that both genders need and deserve appropriate support and especially, I think we’d all agree, the number one point is if we care about stopping children from being exposed to violence, we need to focus on both men and women.  I’m not going to be talking about intimate partner violence like Toni – I’m going to be talking about broader family violence. Of course that includes intimate partner abuse from current and ex-partners, both straight and gay, but it also includes often ignored victims of broader family violence: parents, step-parents, children, uncles, aunts, etc. Often when family violence is discussed, people assume we’re talking about intimate partner violence, but we really want to include all of those family relationships. I’m going to start by playing a short two-minute news report from the UK that interviews a couple of male victims just to give you some of the voices of those men and what they’ve been through.  [VIDEO] Reporter: The majority of domestic violence is committed by men against women. But now, an increasing number of male victims are coming forward. Men who are more aware of the help available and are more prepared to talk about the issue. The Montgomeryshire Family Crisis Centre in Wales is one place which provides a refuge. This victim escaped from his partner a month ago, fleeing with their three children after years of mental and physical abuse.  Male 1: I was threatened very aggressively by complete strangers that she had invited into the house. Alienated me from my family and my friends. I felt like I had nowhere else to go. I literally felt like I was trapped in there.  Reporter: This victim is one of the centre’s success stories. He’s now in his own home and has custody of his daughter after three-and-a-half years of violence from his alcoholic partner.  Male 2:  I would be asleep, she would come upstairs after she’d been out and the next thing I know I’ve got a fist being put in my face and things like that you know and that’s how the violence would erupt. The lowest point was when, you know, the baby was say a year old, the knives and things like that started coming out. I honestly believed she was going to kill me, I really did.  Reporter: But not all men find it easy to call for help.  Male 1: I don’t feel like a man because of what’s been done to me and what I feel I allowed to be done to me.  Reporter: While centres like this are doing good work, the challenge now is getting society to recognise men too can be victims of domestic abuse. Jonathan Samuels, Five News. [END VIDEO] Greg Andresen: You can really see from those interviews some of the issues that are faced by men when they are in this situation. There was a great qualitative study done by researchers in W.A. last year called Intimate Partner Abuse of Men, and it found that abuse of men really takes the same forms as it does against women. It involves a pattern of controlling behaviour and often involves multiple different forms of abuse, but it can really include the spectrum of abusive behaviours that we are all familiar with in the literature: physical violence, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, etc. The researchers also identified what they termed Legal-Administrative abuse, which is the use of legitimate services in a way that abuses the rights of the victim. For example, taking out a false restraining order to prevent the victim having access to his children. Now, on the right-hand side [of the slide] here in the blue boxes, I’ve put up some more quotes from men. These have come from the research literature or they have been left on the One in Three website. Read them if you’re comfortable with them, but once again, I really wanted those men’s voices to come through.  The impacts of family violence upon male victims. Obviously, there’s fear and loss of feelings of safety. That can be challenging for many men because they’re often raised to feel that they shouldn’t feel scared. And so to admit that fear is very challenging for many men. Feelings of guilt and shame is another big one. Once again, if men are raised to feel that they as men should be strong and tough and independent, there’s a lot of guilt or shame in admitting the fact that they are being abused.  Feelings of helplessness – we saw that in the video we just watched – the man feeling like he was literally trapped and had nowhere to go. Difficulties with trust, anxiety, stress, flashbacks. Unresolved anger is a big issue. Loneliness and isolation is huge for men who are victims of  social abuse and isolation. They really can lose all contact with friends and family and that’s especially debilitating for them because they feel they have nowhere to turn. Mental health impacts... there’s a good quote there at the top, this man really feels like his life is crushed and he has really lost his dignity. Low self-esteem and/or self-hatred is another big one. There’s another good quote there from Kevin feeling vile and dirty, not only because of what had happened to him, but what he feels society says about what’s happened to him.  And at the severe end of the spectrum we have depression, suicidal ideation, self-harm and attempted suicide. We have a number of stories that men have left on the One in Three Campaign website about their attempts to take their own lives.  Impaired self concept: once again it’s that challenge to the sense of manhood that male victims can go through. If men are raised to feel that they’re supposed to be able to deal with whatever is thrown at them and to take it on the chin, that can get… as this guy says, “It can get pretty heavy to carry around.” Physical injuries, illness and disability, obviously, and especially when weapons are used. Use of alcohol and other substances to self-medicate. Sexual issues. Loss of work can be a big issue. Just like with women, a lot of men who are severely abused really can no longer function in the workplace and so, for example, this guy Robin here ended up on a disability pension. Loss of home is another one. Often if men leave the situation that they’re in, they will have to start again. As do women, of course. This was the situation that was faced by Tad here. Loss of relationships with friends and family – once again, that’s that social isolation. Then there are the issues to fathers around their children. Many men fear that if they leave the situation they may not have access to their children – they may lose contact with their children – so many men stay for that reason. And many men have a protective instinct – they wouldn’t want to leave because their children will be left with the abuser and so they stay in the abusive situation in order to be able to protect their kids.  And lastly, in terms of the impacts on the men themselves, some violence against women campaigns, by suggesting that men are the only perpetrators and females are the only victims of family violence, this can actually re-victimise men who watch these campaigns and increase their feelings of helplessness, isolation, low self-esteem, depression, anger and that loss of manhood. There’s a good quote there by Peter about how him and his boys feel whenever they see those ads.  Impacts on the children of male victims: the literature is quite clear that it doesn’t matter if it’s mum hitting dad or dad hitting mum or another family relationship, if children are witnessing violence in the family, that’s abusive to the children and could cause them long term harm. And of course many children will also experience direct violence and abuse themselves. The long-term impacts on children include immediate impacts on their behavioural, cognitive and emotional functioning, their social development, and long-term harm to their education and employment prospects. There was a good study done, the National Crime Prevention Study – a survey of 5,000 young people nationwide – which found that in terms of predicting whether children who were exposed to violence would grow up to either be perpetrators or victims, the best predictor of perpetration was witnessing certain types of female-to-male violence. Witnessing mum hit dad was the best predictor for children growing up to use violence. The best predictor of victimisation was witnessing male to female violence. So if we’re going to break this cycle of violence, we really need to say, ‘no’ equally to violence against women and men so that boys and girls don’t grow up to either perpetrate or be victims themselves.  I’m briefly going to look at the barriers to male victims disclosing their abuse. Like women, men face a lot of barriers to disclosing their abuse. However, men face a set of unique barriers which make them much less likely than women to report: about a third to half as likely to report being a victim. I’ve grouped them into two basic areas: external barriers refers to the fact that many barriers are created or amplified by the lack of public acknowledgement that males can also be victims and also the lack of appropriate services out there for men. Men may not know where to seek help, they may not know how to seek help, they may feel there is nowhere to escape to, they may feel they won’t be believed or understood. If they do seek help, they may feel that their experiences may be minimised or they may be blamed for the abuse. They may fear they may be falsely arrested if they call the police because they’re the man and in that case, the children will be left unprotected.  Under internal barriers, once again, it’s those challenges to their sense of manhood. Because men are raised to feel that they should be independent and strong and be able to protect themselves, there’s a lot of shame and embarrassment about disclosing. There’s the social stigma of being unable to protect themselves. There’s the fear of being laughed at or ridiculed. The fear of being seen as weak or wimpy. And a lot of men will actually be in disbelief or denial of what’s happening to them or make excuses for it.  What’s happening overseas? There’s been some really good work done in Western countries overseas that we’re aware of. There are now dedicated telephone support lines for male victims of family violence in the UK, Ireland, the U.S. and Canada. For example, The Men’s Advice Line in the UK. There are some great printed and electronic resources available now which are available on the web to anyone in the world, for example, The Greater London Domestic Violence Project has a great booklet called, For Men Affected by Domestic Violence, and the Alberta Children’s Services in Canada put out a booklet called, Men Abused by Women in Intimate Relationships. These are great resources that men around the world can draw from.  There are a number of charities and support groups in the UK, Ireland, U.S. and Canada and India, for example, the Mankind Initiative in the UK. There’s some great community awareness campaigns especially in the UK. The National Centre for Domestic Violence, which is the main organisation around the issue of domestic violence in the UK, ran Male Domestic Violence Awareness Week in 2010 with lots of TV ads and media attention to the issue. And there’s an example there [on the slide] of a Scottish police campaign that was run at Christmas in 2009 with some male faces on it. There are shelters for men and their children now in the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and New Zealand. For example, in Holland, Stichting Wende provides shelters in the four largest cities of Holland – government funded shelters – and all of those are currently full. And in the U.S., it’s not so much that there are shelters specifically for men and their children, but a number of women’s shelters have started taking on men and their children as well, for example, WEAVE in Sacramento County. And recently the Parliament in Taiwan changed laws so that welfare aid – financial aid – was available to male victims as well as female victims.  So that’s what’s happening overseas. What’s happening in Australia? There’s a fair amount of generic support available that both men and women can access: police, ambulance, legal aid, etc. However, generic support is often unaware of the unique issues faced by male victims because of the silence around this issue. So they are often unable to offer effective or appropriate help. And at the worst, some generic services may not believe men when they disclose, they may minimise their experiences or even blame them for the abuse.  And the Western Australian Research done last year surveyed about 200 service providers around Australia and they rated themselves and their agencies as only moderately effective in overcoming those barriers to men disclosing, so there’s a lot of work to be done.  What I’ve done here [on the slide] – I’m not expecting you to read this tiny font – but I basically went to the main domestic violence websites around Australia in all the states and territories and listed all of the services that they referred to there. So that’s a snapshot of what’s available in Australia today. The boxes in pink are women’s only services. So men, unfortunately, can’t access them. So we can remove them from the chart. The boxes in grey are the generic services I was talking about. It’s really a lucky dip as to whether men who approach those services get the appropriate support that they need. Another issue is that individual workers in generic services may be aware of these issues and may have training and appropriate skills, but their workplace cultures often don’t support them. So let’s remove those generic services.  What we have left are male-friendly services that are set up for men, but some of these don’t specialise in issues of family violence – they may support men around relationship breakdown or other issues. So, let’s remove those.  This is what we’re left with [on the slide] in terms of tailored, specific resources supporting male victims of family violence in Australia. So what do we have? Mensline Australia – the national telephone counselling line. Recently, the Federal Government committed three-quarters of a million dollars for them to train their counsellors to support male victims of family violence. That’s the first federal funding for male victims that we are aware of in Australian history. However, we don’t know if the funding has been allocated or who will be conducting the training or how appropriate it will be. Also, Mensline is often the only port of call for many men, especially in regional areas, because Mensline is a referral service and there’s often no services for Mensline to refer the men on to. And until the One in Three Campaign launched 18 months ago, Mensline only provided resources for male perpetrators, not for male victims. So it’s only recently that they’ve taken this issue on.  Men in Queensland are particularly lucky. They’ve got their own Mensline telephone counselling service. There’s also a court support service supporting men through the court process in Queensland. There’s a small service in the Hunter Valley that was established a year ago, maybe two years ago, to support male victims. Since the beginning of this year, police in Windsor in Northern Sydney have been referring men to the Hawkesbury District Health Service for counselling.  There are some great individual counselling services and practices like Toni’s and Elizabeth’s, but they can be harder for men to find, and sometimes harder for men to afford. And the last three dot points there [on the slide] are all websites. It’s great to have websites out there, but they’re no substitute for face-to-face services. In terms of professional development for workers in the sector, Greg’s going to talk about his program after me, so I’ll leave that to him. That’s the only training program we are aware of.  So, what is required to meet the needs of this group of victims of crime? The Western Australian Report from last year had four key recommendations. One is government-funded public awareness campaigns to raise community awareness for this issue – that it can happen to men. And they were really, really clear to say, these campaigns need to be very carefully designed so as to complement campaigns that are stopping violence against women and not damage the effectiveness of those campaigns. So we want to support men and women here. It’s not a competition.  The second point was to consider providing a range of publicly-funded services specifically for male victims. So, that would be a similar range of services that are available to women. Examples would be counselling, helplines, crisis response, community education programs, specialist services for different sections of the male population – gay men, Aboriginal men, CALD men, etc, financial support, legal advice. The full spectrum of services. They’re not recommending that as many services would be available for men as for women, but a similar range, so at least there are some services there for men to access. Also perpetrator programs for women which are relatively absent, and health service screening tools. In a number of states, when women come in contact with health services, they have a compulsory screening tool to see whether they have experienced domestic violence. Men aren’t screened at all and so men often fall through the gaps there.  The third recommendation is to consider how services for men could be integrated with women’s services and generic services. Obviously, some services would be able to be integrated and others may have to stay gender specific. The fourth recommendation was for training for workers in the sector especially around dismantling those barriers to men disclosing so men can actually come forward and tell their stories in confidence that they’re going to be trusted and supported and their experiences won’t be denied, minimised or questioned.  What else? We’d also recommend MP’s and public servants need training because they’re the ones who are writing the laws and rolling out the programs that unfortunately have excluded men in the past. Men need to be included in the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children and all the systemic reforms that are rolling out across the country. At the moment, it’s acknowledged that men can be victims, but basically that’s it. They haven’t been included in any other way. We need better ABS and other data. The upcoming Personal Safety Survey is the gold standard of research in the country in terms of a broad community survey. There’s a new survey being planned for 2013 and it’s going to have three times the women’s sample compared to men, so the data on male victimisation is not going to be as good as for women. Finally, we need tertiary education courses so people who are going into social work, health and other human services actually get good training so that they have the skills to support men when they are working in their professional roles. My contact details are there [on the slide] and I’ll hand it back to you, Elizabeth. Thank you. Elizabeth Celi: Thanks very much Greg. If we can give Greg a round of applause please. It’s his second presentation. I think he’s done a fabulous job of pulling together a whole bunch of information. And obviously in terms of looking at methodological considerations and the unique experiences of men, whilst some of their abuse may be similar to the levels of abuse women may experience, there are certainly some unique experiences from the masculinity perspective, so please prepare your questions for Greg.