Rights, Rorts and Rants

Global trade could be all about solidarity and meeting human needs. Instead it's a game of bullies, billionaires, bullets, and embargoes. How do we stand up - as nations, as people - for something better? Latin America has decades of experience of US interference in their economies and governments that the rest of the world can learn from. Dr Rodrigo Acuña  - journalist, filmmaker, teacher, La...

" Paul Robeson was once the most famous African American in the world. "Historian and author Ann Curthoys has written a book " The Last Tour " about the 1960 tour of Australia by singer Paul Robeson and his wife Eslande. Many Australians know about Robeson's performance of "Ol' Man River" on the construction site of the Sydney Opera House but his other activit...

Think about your list of the 10 best things about Katoomba. It's not hard to fill the list with World Heritage Listing, Scenic World, Echo Point, Garguree (The Gully) and the Cultural Centre at the top of the list. But the problem of derelict buildings and empty shopfronts brought into focus by the state of the Paragon Cafe cannot be ignored. In this interview on Rights, Rorts and Rants presen...

Merran Mclaren and Emmanuela (Manu) Prigoni co-founder and coordinator of Farm It Forward speak at Farm It Forward's central Katoomba, NSW organic vegetable plot. Manu speaks about the origin and evolution behind the social enterprise begun in 2019, recently with a youth focus including Katoomba High School in recent years. The Katoomba High School programme needs funding assistance and listen...

Member for Blue Mountains Trish Doyle updates listeners on a range of issues of interest to Blue Mountains residents. From PFAS to the Paragon Cafe - to DV and moving towards a new hospital in the Mountains and heritage protection, This interview provides a comprehensive update on all State issues. It's all here. Blue Mountains Unions & Community pays its respect to and acknowledges, the Darug...

Peter Lammiman and Nick Franklin spoke to Greens candidate Terry Morgan about his perspectives on the Greens 2025 Federal Election campaign and post the election the Greens political priorities under the new ALP Government. Terry kindly spoke to the Radio Blue Mountains studio in Katoomba by phone from Queensland accompanied by lovely bird sounds. The show was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountai...

Ahead of speaking at the Mountains for Palestine rally on 14 June 2025, Zuzia Buszewicz spoke with Peter Lammiman by phone on Rights, Rorts and Rants on 13 June. Due to the stopping of internet in the Gaza Strip Zuzia told listeners that they may purchase eSIMS for the Middle East & Israel online and send them through gazaesims@gmail.com Blue Mountains Unions & Community pays its respect t...

On Rights, Rorts and Rants 13 June 2025 show (on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1 FM) Nick Franklin discussed with Mike Holland his investigation into the Government's planned tax on superannuation earnings above $3m. Most of your questions will be answered. Blue Mountains Unions & Community pays its respect to the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this i...

Long term Blue Mountains City Councillor Don McGregor explains the complex creation of the valued Blue Mountains Cultural Centre through an intense charrette process during the late 1990s and early 2000s. With Ann-Maree McEwan. Sitting above Coles and the Village Shopping Centre in Katoomba how it came about is an interesting story. This episode was first broadcast on  ⁠⁠ Radio Blue Mountains 89.1...

On 11 April Presenter Merran Maclaren interviewed Kathie Herbert, chairperson and Ann-Maree McEwan, committee member, both from Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group known as BMRSG, about the work of the group ahead of the annual Sydney Palm Sunday Rally and March on 13 April. Merran finishes the segment with a brief description of portrait Red Marie by Paul Standen which is a portrait of one of th...

Jon Atkins of the Blue Mountains Peace Collective and Deb Smith in a thought provoking interview discuss how we can protect ANZAC Day as a day of reflection and mourning and prevent it from being a political tool of manipulation or as a justification for future bloodbaths? The nation of Australia was not born in a military tragedy at Gallipoli but in the Federation of Australia in peacetime in 190...

On Rights, Rorts and Rants on 11 April 2025 Merran Maclaren interviewed representatives from Macquarie Alliance for Climate (MAC). Shirley Lewis and Erst Carmichael spoke to Merran about what MAC is and some of the activities the organisation has organised to have conversations with the community about climate change and the cost of living. For more information about events, to get house signs on...

Greens candidate for Macquarie Terry Morgan speaks to Co-Presenters Peter Lammiman and Debra Smith about his teaching background and passion for bilingual education in remote Indigenous communities; what's is important to him and the Greens Party to achieve by Terry being elected in the upcoming Federal election. Peter asks Terry a series of questions about education funding, health, housing and c...

Jane Caro AM is a Walkley Award winning Australian author, novelist, columnist, broadcaster, documentary maker, professional speaker and social commentator. She is a staunch advocate and defender of public education. In this episode Jane discusses the unfair government funding of Australian schools with Debra Smith and Peter Lammiman - how did we get to a system biased in favour of private schools...

On 14th March 2025 this segment of Rights, Rorts and Rants went to air. Mike Holland briefly covered three high profile whistleblowers who have been subjected to detrimental treatment, financial ruin, jail time and psychological suffering at the hands of their employers and the media. The ill-treatment directed at employees who bring cases involving wrongdoing into public light has led Senators Ja...

Broadcast on March 14, 2025 on Rights, Rorts and Rants. Mike Holland and Fran Dyson discuss the latest update on Dutton's nuclear thought bubble by looking into the overseas experience to gauge the efficacy of claims from the Liberal Party regarding cost estimates and construction times to build nuclear reactors for the first time in Australia. Mike also looks at who is building nuclear reactors o...

Since being elected the Albanese government has created 36,000 secure jobs in the public service bringing immense benefits to the Australians they serve. Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton has signaled that, if elected, a Coalition government will fire 36,000 APS workers . Many of these people work in regional areas, providing local services and supporting local economies. Debra Smith and Nick...

Fran Dyson and Mike Holland start 2025 with a look back over union wins in 2024. The discussion includes the Woolworths Distribution Centre UWU win that defeated an AI-surveillance work system that threatened to injure workers. Also discussed is new criminalised wage theft legislation that commenced on 1 January 2025 that means criminal penalties, including 10 maximum jail time, for bosses who int...

As Australia races towards a Federal election in a matter of weeks Rights, Rorts and Rants' presenter Nick Franklin with his team of Peter Lammiman and Suzanne Rix interview the Member for Macquarie and candidate Susan Templeman MP. Susan was asked about a range of topics including where the government stood on the cost of living; climate change; 4-year fixed terms for Federal governments; increas...

On Rights, Rorts and Rants presenter Fran Dyson leads a discussion with co-presenter Mike Holland on the issue of housing non-affordability. A key issue hurting large sections of the community. The first part of the discussion includes an analysis of both the ALP and LNP housing affordability policies. The second part of the discussion explores how property tax benefits such as negative gearing tr...

Mike Holland shares his extensive research and reading in analysing the nuclear energy policy which is the key policy of the Liberal National Coalition ahead of the upcoming election. Mike Holland's summary is under this plan we won't be generating any nuclear power before 2040. By 2040 coal fired power stations will be shut down and we will be using cheaper wind and solar generated power....

This episode of BMUC's Rights, Rorts and Rants takes us through a fascinating interview with the the author of "Nuked" investigative journalist Andrew Fowler who discusses his book "Nuked - the submarine fiasco that sank Australia's sovereignty" with Rights, Rorts and Rants Presenter Fran Dyson and BMUC member Peter Lammiman. Andrew Fowler was recognised with a prestigi...

Cherie Brandon of the Blue Mountains Women's Health and Resource Centre talk to Merran MacLaren and Deb Smith about the 16 Days of Activism to stop violence against women. They also discuss what is meant by "coercive control". If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leave an audio comment about our show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ , which may be added to one of our p...

In Part 1 of "Creating Future Jobs - Politics in the Pub" , Steve Murphy of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and Dr Michelle Zeibots of the Lithgow Community Power Project talk about bringing jobs back to regional Australia and, more specifically, to Lithgow . You can sign a petition to the NSW government to reopen the Lithgow Locomotive Workshops here . In Part 2, the audience in the F...

The words of Bob Dylan's song, "the times they are a-changin'" are coming true as coal mines & coal fired power stations are being decommissioned at end of useful life and as energy markets and policies change. Nationally and locally, our community faces challenges to shape the future of jobs and the economy.  Lithgow locals ⁠⁠have a petition calling for Government to take back and use the idl...