Earth Matters

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you would probably of heard about the proposed Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin of Queensland. The case against Adani’s coal mine is compelling. The mine will draw billions of litres of water from the Great Artesian Basin, the burning of the coal will produce billions of tonnes of pollution, dashing the hope of staying under t...

In this week's Earth Matters we explore the idea of Earth jurisprudence or Earth Laws with the director of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance, Michelle Maloney. Michelle discusses how the Australian Earth Law Alliance stems from global movements for earth justice, led by first nations people, and advocates for system change in governance and the law. Stay tuned for a glimpse of another world, and...

Victorian treaty and self-determination community forumToday on Earth matters we yarn on TREATY and Self-determination in Victoria. It was back in mid-December of 2016 when the Aboriginal Victoria Forum was held in Melbourne for some community mob to come together to yarn on a Victoria Treaty and Self Determination. The community forum was a chance for local Victorian Traditional Owners and commun...

On this week's Earth Matters we take you to the opening plenary of the Coalition for Community Energy congress, where Aboriginal elders and activists from around the country and around the world talk about meeting their communities' energy needs while looking after country. Guests:Gomeroi and Euahlayi man Michael Anderson from the Sovereign UnionKado Muir from Ngalia country and the Ngalia Heritag...

Bulldozers have been clearing land in the Beeliar Wetlands near Fremantle, WA, to make way for a new road known as Roe 8. The project has been plagued with controversy and effective blockading by thousands of people determined to stop the chopping. Meanwhile, huge tracts of land are being opened up for unconventional gas fracking, despite opposition from Traditional Owners and farmers. If elected,...

Melina Laboucan-Massimo is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta. On this week's episode of Earth Matters she talks about her community's fight against tar sands mining and their initiative to install solar energy. This talk was recorded at the Coalition for Community Energy congress.

An extinction crisis and a jobs crisis looms for Victoria's native forests as the state government tries to continue with business as usual. Victoria’s native forests are facing a crisis like never before. With species critically endangered and on the brink of extinction, and a logging industry staring down major closures. As the state-owned logging company Vic Forests is unable to keep up the sup...

This week on Earth Matters you’ll get an up close and personal guided tour with Melbourne based Aboriginal Artist Paolla Bella - A Wemba-Wemba & Gundijtmara woman & Co-Curator of the SOVEREIGNTY Art exhibition which is on at The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). Deadly fine indigenous contemporary art on display at ACCA featuring and focussing the solid artforms of Victorian Aborigina...

Come on a journey to the land of the English River Nation, in Saskatchewan, Canada. Earth Matters speaks to Candyce Paul, member of the English River Nation, and spokesperson for the Committee for Future Generations. Topics include the dirty tactics of the nuclear industry worldwide and the wisdom of Dene ecology in these times of environmental crisis. 

Regrette Etcetera, Sydney-based DJ, writer and artist speaks about transliberalism: a political framework that seeks to assimilate trans people into the existing social hierarchies of the capitalist state. Transliberalism privileges representation over redistribution; trans people in successful positions, e.g. CEO, celebrity, police officer, are celebrated as the modern success stories. Regrette E...

While the 26th of January is officially known as Australia Day, marking the day in 1788 when First Fleet made their unwelcome arrival to these shores. For many First nations peoples it is know as Invasion Day, or Survival Day. On today’s show, we hear from Celeste Liddle at the Invasion Day rally in Naarm/Melbourne. We also hear from Murrawah Burragubba and Naomi Murphy recorded at the Warriors of...

This week we're talking to Henrietta Marrie who's a Gimuy Walubara Yidinji woman, an associate professor at Central Queensland University and who formerly served with the United Nations environment program. We're discussing the patenting of genetic resources and who benefits from Indigenous knowledge.

Audio recorded by the scar tree at the MCG of the official ceremony on Boxing Day 2016 and paying tribute and recognising Australia’s very first sporting team to tour Nationally which was the All Aboriginal Cricket team from 1866 recognised for the very first time at the Boxing Day Test of 2016.Guests: Stephen Smith – President Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC)Jane Nathan - Chair Mullagh Wills Foundati...

This week we feature a discussion of Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Treaty process that is currently underway in what is now known as Victoria.  The forum was organised by the Moondani Balluk Academic Unit on Friday 4th November 2016.  The talks explore concepts of First Peoples' Sovereignty, what a Treaty could look like and who has the right to negotiate it. Featuring: Lydia Thorpe, Robbie Thorp...

Today we’re hearing from a campaigner with Rethink the Link, travelling West to the country of the Noongar people in Western Australia, to get the down low about the contested Roe 8 mega highway. Later in the show we'll turn to the global stage and hear from Tim Wright of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons about the recent UN resolution to begin negotiating a treaty for the elim...

In 2016 we celebrated 20 years of Earth Matters on the air, and 40 years for 3CR Community Radio. This week we’re delving into 3CR’s rich archive to bring you an interview with trade unionist Jack Mundey. Jack talks about the tumultuous era of the Green Bans, and how rank-and-file unionists in the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) took control of their union and forged links with the broader com...

Exarcheia is an urban community of resistance created by anarchists and anti-authoritarians in the heart of Athens, Greece. Just 10km from Parliament House, residents of Exarcheia implement their politics every day with prisoner and refugee support, anti-austerity protest, squatting, food banks, skill-sharing, mutual aid and “supermarket expropriations”.We discuss community, state repression and m...

Today we’re travelling to the Galilee basin in Central Qld, to the country of the Wangan and Jagalingou peoples, where Adani Mining is proposing to mine coal in what would be the southern hemisphere’s biggest coal mine. Adani has just been promised 1bn of Federal infrastructure funding. Hear from Murrawah Johnson, a young spokesperson of the Wangan and Jagalingu Family Council. As well as Kumar Su...

As part of the conversations happening for the 16 days of action on gender based violence,  Earth Matters speaks with Murri artist and writer Teila Watson, otherwise known as Ancestress. We discuss the links between domestic violence, the violent relationship that aboriginal people are trapped in with the 'Australia' established by the colonisers in 1788, and the violence against the earth that is...

Shalmali Guttal has worked for decades researching, writing and organising around the impacts of neoliberal development in Southeast Asia. She says that the ideology of private over public interest has become widespread in Asia in the last three decades, with detrimental effects for Indigenous people, women, workers and the environment. Shalmali argues that the new generation of proposed and opera...

Within the broader context of the corporatisation of higher education, visual art colleges are under attack. The University of Sydney is planning to slash its College of the Arts; deleting courses, sacking 60% of staff and closing the Callan Park campus. The students aren’t sitting on their hands. A vibrant movement of staff, students and supporters has sprung up. One tactic has been a live-in occ...

Jaime Heunchullan is a Mapuche Indigenous leader from Chile. He shares his experiences fighting for his land against multi-national resources companies and the Chilean government. This was from the panel on Indigenous struggles for autonomy and self-determination "This is our time" which was recorded last weekend at a conference held by Latin American Solidarity Network in Melbourne. 

An announcement on the future of Hazelwood power station is expected any day now. Situated in the Latrobe Valley, in eastern Victoria, Hazelwood is one of four coal-fired power stations in the region. It produces a quarter of Victoria’s electricity and is the biggest carbon emitter on the national grid. Engie, the French company who is majority owner of Hazelwood, is reported by French newspaper L...

Oil giant BP has withdrawn plans to explore for oil in the Great Australian Bight. After several years, the surprise announcement has thrilled local and national campaigns working to protect this pristine stretch of ocean. The Bight is home to 36 species of dolphins and whales, and is an important breeding ground for southern right whales and endangered Australian sea-lions. Amidst the increasing...

Pesticides are one of the most prevalent pollutants in our waterways and scientific studies show that minute amounts of some of the most commonly used chemicals can pose serious dangers to the health of people and the environment.  In Australia, very little is being done to detect and prevent contamination of waterways. In fact the Government is allowing importation and use of chemicals that have...