Think Again

Jacques and Jennifer discuss how local governments answer to higher levels of government rather than communities, and operate like factories delivering products in the market place. They first talk about universities and proposed defunding of the humanities. The program finishes with a look at the long-term winding back of preventative public health that works with local communities, (which has ha...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about proposed changes to university funding, with attacks on the humanities, arts and social sciences to make people ‘job-ready’ and create docile citizens. Meanwhile, having lost the 'lucrative' international trade in students, things can only get worse... especially as it seems that it's all directed to privatisation of what needs to remain a public 'duty' to educate (...

Jacques and Jennifer wonder why certain media outlets are focusing so much on branch stacking in the Victorian Labor party, but ignoring all the other serious things that are happening – like the federal government’s outrageous rorting of various community funds for its own electoral advantage.

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Australia comparing some of the past policies andpractices, from disaenfranchising the locals, rejecting non-whites, accepting 'other' Europeans, then the breakthrough of the Vietnamese to the present terrible treatment of asylum seekers.... And the story is rather abysmal...      

Jacques and Jennifer talk about political discourses and polices in Australia over the last few decades, providing some context to the current Black Lives Matter protests. They finish with the Aboriginal ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’, proposed as a way forward in 2017.

Jacques and Jennifer talk about biased public discourse and the current focus on China as a diversion from failings in our own system. These failings are substantial and are economic, social and ecological. As a case study, Jacques talks about the deterioration in journalism from The Age newspaper, since being taken over by Nine Entertainment with its right wing Board.

Jennifer asks Tim Kennedy, National Secretary of the United Workers Union, to share some of his ideas about the future of work and what directions it could and should take. Amongst other things, Tim talks about fairer sharing of our country’s wealth, having a universal basic income, public ownership of essential services, and worker-owned businesses. Jennifer and Tim agree that union membership is...

Jacques interviews Michael Hamel Green about the online Australian Living Peace Museum, and his experience with peace activism from the Vietnam war to the present. Michael tells us how we can visit the museum online and make submissions for peace exhibits to be included. New exhibits on the Museum webaite:Doris Blackburn, by Carolyn RasmussenAustralian Conscientious Objectors to War, by Geoffrey S...

Jacques interviews David Hall about community development in the 70s and what we can learn from it for today. In particular, David talks about the Australian Assistance Plan introduced by the Whitlam government 50 years ago.

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the directions we are taking as a society, and where we need to re-direct ourselves and our systems to create healthy places where we can all live, work and thrive. Social and Solidarity Economy Is There a New Economy in the Making? Peter Utting, Nadine van Dijk and Marie-Adélaïde Matheïfile:///G:/various%20materials/UNRISD_Occasional_Paper_Social_and_Solid.pdf

This May Day, Jacques and Jennifer discuss the nature of work, its history and possible future directions of work in Australia and internationally, bringing us to the current time of the coronavirus and associated 'work-less-ness'....They wonder whether 'work' is indeed the solution for all welfare problems...? and why would the conservatives be so adamant about 'creating' jobs and suggesting the...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the shifting of financial risk in our system in a variety of ways, from those at the top to those at the bottom. They discuss examples of this including recent proposals for the tax payer to rescue airline Virgin Australia and to wear the financial risk that has come to fruit with the coronavirus.

Jennifer interviews Marcella Brassett from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre about the desperate situation of asylum seekers living in the community in the time of the coronavirus. Many have no income at all from the government and have lost the casual work they were dependent on just to survive. Marcella tells us what the ASRC is doing to support asylum seekers, and how we can support its work an...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the coronavirus pandemic and the western bias in the way it’s being reported. They look at the devastating effects of disease introduced by Europeans on Aboriginal people in Australia and on First Nation people elsewhere.  Why is no one talking about this?  They also discuss the anti-Chinese bias in media reporting of the coronavirus, and the excesses of capitalism...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about what’s happening with the coronavirus and how public policies and discourse have suddenly changed, as well as people’s everyday lives.  They begin a discussion about possibilities for lasting change.

In this program Jacques interviews Kate Wheller, Executive Officer of Community Information & Support Victoria (CISVic) about the effect of the coronavirus on the community welfare sector. CISVic is the peak body for community information and support services in Victoria, including emergency relief. Kate talks about the effect of the coronavirus on volunteering, especially as many volunteers are o...

The coronavirus has taken us all by surprise and revealed certain fault lines in our health system and all the other parts and processes connected to and sustaining that system. These fault lines include the systematic cuts in the resourcing of our public health system and the shift to privatisation, the casualisation of our workforce, and the neoliberal focus on people as 'mere' individuals rathe...

This is the third program focusing on community development (with some initial discussion about the federal government's economic stimulus package). An overview of trends in international community development over the last 60 years is provided, along with the impacts of these changes. Finally a brief overview is given of current community development initiatives.

Jennifer continues her interview with Jacques about community development and its relevance today. What is it? Is it something inherently conservative, such as helping people make friends, or does it offer possibilities for systemic change? Does the idea of healthy 'relationality' (with each other and nature) form a basis for doing both?

Following previous programs on community participation in the directions we are taking as a society, this program explores community development as an approach. Jennifer interviews Jacques about his thoughts and experience with community development, starting in the 60s. System-change and the fostering of healthy relationality are both seen to be important in community development.

In this program, Moreland Councillor Sue Bolton shares her perspective on the capacity for democratic participation through local government.

Many people have experienced or witnessed the devastating top-down, command-and-control approach of our 'democratic' governments, where the views and interests of ordinary people are often treated with disdain or disregard. This program begins an exploration of different types of attempt to integrate the views of the people - or at least to give the appearance that this is happening.

While governments use Public Private Partnerships (known as PPPs) to provide infrastructure, companies run off with the profit and the government and the people wear the risks and costs. This is certainly the case with the Westgate Tunnel, with builders threatening to walk away from the project due to the cost of disposing contaminated soil (which they knew about well in advance). The history of P...

If passed by Parliament, the Religious Discrimination Bill would privilege concerns about religious discrimination over concerns about other forms of discrimination, for example against women, people with disabilities, and gay people. It would 'sustain nastiness and hostility that [Australia] can well do without', [former high court justice Michael Kirby] with provisions that 'appear to be motivat...

While bushfires rage across Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison prays for rain and waits for the Rapture - but he doesn't 'hold the hose' he said as he was leaving for a Hawai holiday.... This program explores the scary ways in which Australia's public policy is being guided - or simply put on hold - by our PM's Pentecostalist faith. Most serious is the federal government's inaction on climat...