Radical Australia

Tune into this week's episode of Radical Australia if you want to hear what taxes are really about and just a hint: they're not about revenue for services, as much as we've been told they are. That's just one of the enlightening bits of economic juice you will hear from this week's guest, Kevin Gaynor, co-producer and presenter on 3CR's Friday afternoon show, Radio MMT,  a show that puts progressi...

This week's guest, Holly Hammond, is the director of the Commons Social Change Library, a one-stop online directory of progressive Australian activism. Holly hails from Western Australia and was both a teenage trot and teenage anarchist, inspired by Marx at the age of 15. At age 29, she had an epiphany to dedicate her life to social movmement work and has done much with that since. Holly is a trai...

This week's guest, Lotti Stein, is a 3CR legend, coming to the station at the wee age of 21. Lotti was a sound technician, trainer and producer and is well loved. Lotti is a '77 baby and grew up in Melbourne tormenting their younger brother. They were a self-described 'weird child', being neurodivergent but not knowing what that meant back then. Lotti now raises a young daughter who is also neurod...

This week's guest, Timothy Fitzgerald, has been a molecular biologist but is now an expert in intellectual property. In this episode we learn about Timothy's journey to starting thinking about the faults within parliamentary democracy and the lack of action by politicians on climate change. He started reading about imperialism, social democracy, Chomsky, anarchism, Social Ecology and Bookchin. Tim...

This week's guest is Julie Mac who came down to the radio station to join us from Bendigo. Julie has compiled a book, SNAP, about the Australian teen sharpie, of which she was a proud one. Julie says the sharpies are misunderstood: they weren't criminals, they were teenagers who got around on public transport. They wore Stagger's jeans, did the pogo at the Crystal Ballroom, wore cardigans and got...

On this week's show we welcome local Beaconsfield resident turned activist, Fran Healy, who came on to talk about her work campaigning for the protection of two gems in her community: the old railway house and the accompanying Bunya Bunya tree. The railway house was lovingly restored over 20 years by its previous owners and the Bunya Bunya tree is an ancient species, planted on this spot 144 years...

'Everyone has an imagination. Everyone has talent'. This week's wonderful guest on Radical Australia, Daniel Waters, lights the match of creativity to spark the fire of imagination among many diverse communities as an art group facilitator. Dan grew up with back-to-the-land hippies in 1980s Gippsland, playing football and cricket, before moving to select Art at Monash. He spent time in St Kilda's...

On this week's special International Women's Day broacast, Kelly sits down with 3CR media law trainer and broadcaster from Done By Law, Su Robertson, to learn about her formative years and reflections on growing up in her family. From a houseboat on the Parramatta River, to Perth and Melbourne, Su's father went where the work was in the aviation industry and Su followed in his footsteps by becomin...

This week's guest, Latoya Hoeg, shares her story of growing up and coming to understand her identity as fa'afafine in both Wellington and Samoa. Latoya works as a peer community health outreach worker in St Kilda with the sex worker community and was recently involved in the new 3CR program PX Whanau. It was great hearing some of Latoya's life story and we thank her very much for being our guest t...

Chelsea Knight called us from cane country in Mackay where she lives with her daughter and where she grew up. Chelsea is a violinist and terribly nice person who works in the Anarchists Against Poverty network in Queensland, holding free shops and distributing goods to those who need them. It was great hearing about Chelsea's life journey to now and her philosophies on life. Thank-you, Chelsea, fo...

Jay Coonan works for the Antipoverty Centre and hails from Perth. He used to pull beers and once worked as a journalist in Myanmar. It was fun hearing about Jay's life journey thus far! Keep up the great work, Jay, and thanks so much for joining us this week.antipovertycentre.org I @antipovertycent

We were honoured to welcome Yorta Yorta elder Aunty Daphne Milward into the 3CR studios late last month to hear some stories about her full life of 26 jobs, 3 careers and bagging the 2022 Victorian Senior of the Year. Congratulations, Daphne! Aunty Daphne was born in 1940 around Mooroopna and spent her days on the Cummeragunja Reserve. Her great uncle was William Cooper and she also had an uncle i...

Jacques Boulet is the co-presenter of 3CR's Think Again, produced by BORDERLANDS co-operative. Jacques was born and raised in Tongeren, the oldest town in Belgium, and received a classical education. He understands 12 languages. Jacques has spent his life in social work, community development and academia in Europe, the USA and Australia. He says the secret to a long, healthy life is to keep busy...

This week's guest on Radical Australia is none other than Mr. Paulie Stewart, he of Melbourne band Painters & Dockers fame and recent producer of the memoir, All the Rage, a life recounted whilst waiting to either live or die in the Austin Hospital for a new liver. Paulie has done many things in his life, from being a music journalist for 30 years, to fronting bands The Dili Allstars and The Trans...

This week's Sumer guest is none other than Melbourne icon, Rowland Thomson, who started Melbourne queer bookshop and institution, Hares and Hyenas, back in 1991. The shop, now housed at the Victorian Pride Centre, has just celebrated its 31st birthday. Rowland grew up in country Victoria before moving to the big smoke and at some stage starting the Dizzy Spinners record shop, which went on to beco...

We're really honoured to welcome this week's guest to Radical Australia, David Legge. David is a founding member of the People's Health Movement and was there during the introduction of community health centres during the Whitlam era. He grew up in the fields of Greensborough and went to uni amongst agitation against capital punishment. David read at the ANU for 5 years and somewhere along the way...

This week's guest was very entertaining and a delight to have in the studio: Charlie Hill-Smith - filmmaker, thespian, failed comedian, cartoonist and the list goes on. Charlie hails from Tanunda, South Australia, and his life changed forever when he went on exchange to Indonesia as a school-leaver, forging enduring links and opening his eyes to the people and politics of the region, eventually he...

Harry Millward is our lovely guest this week on Radical Australia. Harry turns up week in, week out, on the steps of Victoria's parliament house advocating for public housing. During the pandemic he organised with others in the retail and fast food industry to get better health protections for workers and a campaign was begun with RAFFWU (Retail and Fast Food Workers Union). Harry hails from count...

From doodling caricatures of his primary school teachers to his call centre customers, this week's guest, Sam Wallman, is our much-loved socialist, political cartoonist here in Naarm, creating many wicked images over the years that tell our story of class struggle and the wonk of capitalism in glorious, poetic detail and striking imagery. Sam is a member of the Worker's Art Collective, creating vi...

Kate Shaw was a runaway kid in Sandringham before becoming a bohemain type in post-punk St Kilda where she lived a good life on the Esplanade at the Mandalay apartments and at The Esplanade Hotel. Kate and friends witnessed firsthand the creep of global finance and property development in their seaside community, home and playground and started Save St Kilda. These days Kate is an academic who res...

This week's guest is Jacob Andrewartha, passionate activist and a Socialist Alliance national co-convenor. Jacob was turned on to activism through the Kevin Rudd 'PNG Solution' and hasn't looked back. His centre-left political orientation formed in a gaming world through contact with other gamers before he started joining others on campaigns. Jacob co-hosts Green Left Weekly on 3CR and when he isn...

David McLean was the Head of English somewhere in time and has been a teacher all his working life. David did a great job of explaining how right-wing governments have, over time,  instilled a program of How To Screw-up Education 101 in Australia's education system, with the introduction of business speak and running teachers down to the ground. David is a writer and enthusiastic amateur actor, st...

We are delighted to welcome this week's guest to Radical Australia, Sally Gibson. Sally is a powerhouse writer and all-round accomplished person currently running for political office in the seat of Brighton, an area close to her heart and in which she was raised. What hasn't Sally done? We were delighted to learn she wrote the synopsis for the television series The Dismissal (1983) and The Cowra...

Liza Dezfouli is one of those interesting people who have done a bit of everything in their life and who we love to speak to on Radical Australia. Liza is a Kiwi girl who made Melbourne her home at some stage of her life and has raised two boys in the security of a housing co-operative, originally through the Council of Single Mothers and their Children. Liza is an accomplished arts writer, poet a...

This week's guest, Timothy Neville, is on indefinite bail here in Naarm and once broke into the world's largest coal port as part of Blockade Australia. Timothy has seemingly been a life-long activist, beginning with a plan to ban plastic at his primary school at age 8. Timothy has always been aware of the world's geo-political, economic and environmental problems and has always tried to make the...