Rights, Rorts and Rants

In this episode Member for the Blue Mountains Trish Doyle talks about the impact of Covid-19 on businesses in the area, mental health, the slow rollout of support, vaccination passports, and ongoing local issues, including the fire season and funding of the RFS, raising Warragamba dam, Western Sydney airport and the non-disclosure of proposed flight paths, the battle over Katoomba airfield, and th...

In this  episode Jeannie discusses the recent preselection of Senator Christina Keneally  to replace  outgoing Labour MP Chris Hayes  in the Western Sydney electorate of Fowler, despite local lawyer Tu Le's  intention to run as a candidate.   Labors "political class" have  based their arguments on the idea that Keneally  has "executive talent" -  s...

Ross Jones is s former merchant banker who turned insurance fraud investigator. In 2012 Ross became interested in the Peter Sipper (the House speaker)/ James Ashy scandal and began writing on the subject for Independent Australia in 2013. In 2015 Ross wrote ‘Ashbygate. the plot to destroy Australia’s speaker’. Ross is currently investigations editor for Independent Australia and convenor of the ne...

Veteran news and current affairs reporters Matt Peacock and Nick Franklin discuss media - using the new series on ABC “The Newsreader” as a starting point to talk about television – the highs and the lows – particularly the ABCs Four Corners, which celebrated its 60th year of continuous broadcast in August this year, and is under sustained attack from the Murdoch media. This is followed by a discu...

In this episode John Merson – one of the founding directors of the Blue Mountains world Heritage Institute and recipient of the United Nations peace prize - talks to RRR reporter Peter Lamminan, about the background of the Blue Mountains’s world Heritage Institute and its current activities. The major focus of the theme - ‘think globally act locally’ is the urgent challenge of climate change, with...

With all the elements of a political thriller, this episode investigates the intrigue,  derangement, and plain stupidity, of the  origins and workings  of the Transport Assets Holding Entity (TAHE). Our legal reporter Mike Holland  outlines the peculiar status of TAHE  – a shell company set up to hold the  $40 billion costs of running public transport in New South Wal...

Andrew Villa, a teacher, grew up in Fairfield and lives there still. He tells us about the experience of his diverse community living under some of the harshest COVID restrictions since July, and enduring the unfair and highly political "naming and shaming" of his community. Interviewed by Nick Franklin. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show , w...

While the majority of  Sydneysiders are suffering under the lockdown, the quiet Australian reminds us that there is a group who are doing extremely well -  with house prices surging, government stimulus monies flowing freely,  and tax cuts for the wealthy  soon to be implemented,    the big end of town has  literally "never had it so good!". This episode was...

In this episode veteran ABC news reporter and author Matt Peacock discusses the reality that Covid-19  has  laid bare,  particularly during the hard lockdown of Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown,  Cumberland,  Blacktown, and  Liverpool.  These are the areas where the majority of essential workers live,  where  low paid and casual work  is concentrate...

Rights, Rorts and Rants producer Peter Lammiman discusses the history of May Day, and talks to Rita Mallia - State President of the CFMEU - about the NSW Governments proposed demolition of the Willow Grove historic site, the draconian and undemocratic Industrial Relations laws and how they impact industrial action, threats to workers safety and the need for  industrial manslaughter leglislati...

This episode features local musicians Wolf Van der Made and Sy Dyson  who, with Deb Smith and Fran Dyson, discuss some of the changes  to welfare  flagged by the Morrison government - including the cashless  welfare card.  They also talk about their music,  addiction, mental health,  insecure work and other issues  affecting young people. This episode was fi...

This episode features local musicians Wolf Van der Made and Sy Dyson  who, with Deb Smith and Fran Dyson, discuss some of the changes  to welfare  flagged by the Morrison government - including the cashless  welfare card.  They also talk about their music,  addiction, mental health,  insecure work and other issues  affecting young people. This episode was fi...

In this excerpt Jeannie Baxter  outlines the way that the big corporations are profiting from public private partnerships (PPP's) in the ongoing stimulus projects, funded by both state and federal governments -  that is, the taxpayer.  U onsing Westconnex  as an example, Jeannie  discusses the  influence of corporations - who are also members of both  political p...

In this episode Rights, Rorts and Rants  legal expert Mike Holland describes the  origins of 'Cabinet in Confidence',  and increasingly, its use  by ministers including the Prime Minister, as a way of sealing documents from public, and even Parliamentary scrutiny.  As a result, the decision-making process and the formulation of policy can and is being carried out in secret...

Deb Smith and Fran Dyson talk to local singer Grace Cooke from the Sydney based band Peachfield and premiere "Laneways", a track from their forthcoming album. 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 podcasts. This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 27/12/19. Apply to be a guest on our show ....

In this episode Fran Dyson is joined by Warren Ross, Jeannie Baxter and Councillor Kerry Brown for a in-depth discussion about the World Economic Forum’s push for a “Great Reset”. Championed as a way of creating a equitqble and sustainable future, our panel digs down into both the propaganda machine and the corporate and governmental agendas behind it. We discuss the financialisation and digitalis...

In this excerpt Greens Councillor talks about plans by the NSW government for the development of "Western Parklands" in the Western Sydney region, and some of the consequences of creating a large city housing an additional 1 million people in this environmentally sensitive area.  This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 7/8/2020 If you'd like to add to the discussion...

In this episode Merran McLaren talks to year 11 student James Dawes and the head of the National University Education Union David Birchall, about the widespread effects of cuts to the university sector in the 2020 budget. This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 3/7/2020. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be a...

Continuing their discussion about the new jail to be built in Parramatta, Nick Franklin and Mike Holland ask who it is that goes to jail, noting that those that probably should do time are the least likely to be incarcerated, whereas those who commit minor offences, such as indigenous youth, are vastly overrepresented. Mike reminds us of the enormous amount of corporate crime that goes unpunished...

In this episode Nick Franklin talks to our legal correspondent Mike Holland about plans for a new jail at Parramatta, which would have a capacity for 5000 beds by 2025, and will be privately run by a conglomeration of businesses including Serco, known for running  prisons in America on a strictly business model. Nick and Mike discuss the rationale for this venture given that crimes statistics...

Deb Smith and Fran Dyson ask the people who marched on May Day 2021 in Parramatta, "Why are you here? Why is this important to you?" Many thanks to the people who agreed to talk to us. We acknowledge that these interviews took place on Darug land which has never been ceded. 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 podca...

In the interests of balanced reporting, Rights, Rorts and Rants’ occasional interloper, the Quiet Australian, gives his opinion on the Morrison Government's “women problem”, the cabinet reshuffle, the bubble inside the Canberra bubble, the Christine Holgate affair, Porters defamation case against the ABC and his own interpretation of the rule of law. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can...

In this episode Rights, Rorts and Rant’s legal correspondent, Mike Holland, continues his investigations into the awarding of so-called Henry VIII powers to ministers in the Morrison government. He focuses on the draft proposal to radically change assessment criteria for the NDIS, some of which would include employing public servants from the “Robo debt” fiasco, and giving the minister ultimate po...

In this episode Rights, Rorts and Rant’s legal correspondent, Mike Holland, discusses the basic principles of the Rule of Law and Porters attitude towards those principles, as demonstrated by his proposal for a Federal Integrity Commission and his complicity in the treatment of “witness K” – a whistleblower who has been prosecuted by the government under the National Security act. If you'd like to...

This is a perspective changing episode of Rights, Rorts and Rants where your attitudes to people with an intellectual disability will be challenged.  Hotel Etico Australia in Mount Victoria, Blue Mountains, is a social enterprise hotel with its roots in Italy. "Its purpose is to deliver a fantastic holiday experience to guests that powers a program providing work, training and live-in opportu...