ChangeMakers

Rules and assumptions like economics are far from natural or neutral. They are written by a certain group of people and serve a particular set of interests. So what does it look like when a growing group of African women begin to disrupt these assumption by building approaches to economics, food, health and politics that starts with their lives? Crystal Simeoni has spent six years spearheading a p...

When war mongering has reached a new level of absurdity, this week we are tuning into a chat we recorded last year with comedian Sami Shah about the change making power of satire. Sami shares his story of finding comedy - and political satire in particular - as a way to cope with political instability in Pakistan, and how he brought those insights to his work as a comedian in Australia. He shares...

The world's attention is focused on War in Iran and across the Middle East, but less attention is being paid to the people who will have to uplift their lives and seek refuge in other countries because of the bombs. Mona Bani knows this journey as her family were refugees from Iran decades ago. In this podcast - that was recorded in 2024 - she tells the story about how her family's journey to seek...

Alex Kelly has been involved in climate and Indigenous campaigning and social change for decades - with a focus on communications, storytelling and the arts. She has long taught people about how to communicate their messages in the media. But in January 2026, she found herself at the centre of unprecedented bushfires then flooding in regional Victoria - and used her skills to project a message abo...

We talk with Michael Bradley who has taken on Murdoch as well as defending the rights of refugees about what it takes to be a lawyer and a change maker at the same time. He shares his 20 year journey from conventional law to a different kind of lawyering that he has now practiced for 17 years at  Marque Lawyers  – and how he now centres his legal practice around relationships. He also sh...

Trump's abusive war against immigrants has been jailing children and extracting people's neighbours for years - but in Minnesota his abuses are being challenged directly, powerfully and with enormous bravery. For our first episode for 2026, we speak with Erik Peterson who is a 40 year resident and community organiser and also someone who has trained community organisers across Minnesota, the rest...

For our last episode of 2025, we listen back to one of the leading communications specialists in US politics - Anat Shenker-Osorio. Lucky for listeners in Sydney, Anat is visiting Australia in December and you can get tickets to see her speak hosted by Australian Progress on December 11 at the University of Sydney. More details here: https://www.australianprogress.org.au/events/anat-in-conversatio...

When Zohran Mamdani voted in the New York Mayoral election last week he told the press that he followed the Working Families Party ticket. Who is the Working FamiliesParty? This episode is one we recorded earlier with the national leader of the Working Families Party - Maurice Mitchell. This episode was recorded in the wake of the Movement for Black Lives protests, but he also explains the origins...

We have a chat with Radio Nation's Saturday Extra Host Nick Bryant about all things America - and the long story behind the intractable conflicts in the US. This episode was recorded in December 2024 - after President Trump's election but before he took office so it doesn't focus on what has happened in 2025. Instead it casts a long history that sheds light on the fissures and conflicts, the trend...

In Australia, since 2012 there has been an explosive growth in community independents who have been challenging the two-party system and bringing new voices in the parliament. But there is a much bigger story than just the arrival of many new faces in parliament. Behind the new elected representatives is a massive movement of people - the "Voices of" movement - that started in Indi and has spread...

When millions of fish died overnight in Menindee in western NSW, the community came together to mourn, interpret and respond to what had happened through a series of powerful arts events. What happened was supported by the use of a socially-engaged arts practice that brought people together across difference to create a space where communities could lead a response. This chat is with Vic McEwan, a...

Senator Fatima Payman was the first hijab wearing member of parliament representing the Australian Labor Party and in 2024 she was removed from the ALP caucus in response to her campaigning (and crossing the floor of parliament) calling for the ALP to recognise the genocide in Gaza and the need for a Palestinian State. As it turns out, her leadership was ahead of its time, with much of the world n...

There is a lot of talk about co-design and community engagement in research and public policy - but in practice a lot of that talk ends up looking like window dressing rather than real community partnership. We talk to one of the world's leading co-design, community engaged researchers in nursing - Professor Brendan McCormak Head of the Nursing School at the University of Sydney - to find out stra...

The second Trump Administration has brought with it an unprecedented attack on migrants, led by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) focused on people who are living in the United States without formal documentation. In this conversation we talk with Alexandra Pineros Shields - a long term community organiser, immigrant rights campaigner and researcher about how communities are fighting b...

Climate change has led the Northern Rivers has been inundated by flood and flood threats, but it has also shown Australia - and the world - what it looks like to lead a community response to climate change. In this episode we talk with Rebecca McNaught, a community researcher on disaster response who shares with us how the community did respond to the extreme floods in 2022, and what all communiti...

On the Winter Solstice in 2025 Amanda spoke at an event in Albury held to raise awareness about Mental Illness and Suicide. She shared about her story of living with bipolar and some of the lessons it has generated about how we make a difference. In this podcast we replay that speech. Thanks to Survivors of Suicide and Friends for creating this event. For more on their work and previous events, vi...

In light of the release of Victoria's landmark truth telling inquiry, we are re-releasing this important ChangeMaker Chat with Terri Janke, one of Australia's leading advocates for the recognition of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property. -------- Terri Janke is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lawyer who uses the law to protect and advance Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Prop...

On Saturday 21 June, ChangeMakers Host Amanda Tattersall is speaking at the Winter Solstice Event in Albury organised by the Survivors of Suicide & Friends. There she will share some of her experiences of living with bipolar and what reflecting on those experiences have brought to her work as a change maker. You can find out more and tune into the event online at survivorsofsuicide.org.au . Th...

This is a re-release of an important conversation with the remarkable UK organisation called Love and Power, that is seeking to respond to violence against women by building the leadership and capacity of women to lead the change. **** While we know that too many women live with the ever-present threat of violence our societies seem to struggle with what to do about it. While we have refuges servi...

With all the tumult in UK and global politics, and the new Labor victory in Australia, we are re-releasing an episode with UK Labour Party Cabinet Minister and former Opposition Leader Ed Miliband. The topic - big politics! This episode was recorded in 2021. When can political parties be real change makers and produce big change? Ed Miliband, former Opposition Leader for the UK Labour Party shares...

Too often, when we think of public servants we think of paper shufflers and number crunches. But nurses, teachers and care workers as well as officers working in government departments - aren't doing it for the money! These public servants - bureaucrats - are driven by a sense of service, commitment and care that is so vital to support all of our lives. Dan Honig, from UCL (UK) and Georgetown (US)...

With a Federal Election almost upon us - this is one we recorded earlier (#ICYMI) - a long form audio essay about the refugee politics of 20 years ago, and the many lingering challenges we face when it comes to big issues that divide us - like refugee policy and climate change. This episode is a personal memoir about setting up Labor for Refugees and the challenges we faced in changing the Austral...

Can lawyers really be change makers? We talk with Michael Bradley who has taken on Murdoch as well as defending the rights of refugees about what it takes to be a lawyer and a change maker at the same time. He shares his 20 year journey from conventional law to a different kind of lawyering that he has now practiced for 17 years at Marque Lawyers - and how he now centres his legal practice around...

This is a re-run episode recorded in 2024 - importantly - before the 2024 Presidential Election, but its insights and lessons about ChangeMaking are still deeply relevant! What are some of the skills or insights shared by some of America’s extraordinary change makers, people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Alicia Garza or Loretta Ross? In particular, what can these people teach us about how to buil...

The Disability Movement famously argues ‘nothing about us without us.’ Wenn Lawson lives this creed as a world leading autistic advocate and researcher who has helped change how we understand autism and neurodivergence. He shares his journey, including how he shook the house of academia so it would listen to the lives of autistic people. He reflects on the power of co-produced research, identity a...