Think Again

Greg Barns SC provides an overview of Australia's new hate speech laws at federal and state levels, and how they present a serious threat to free speech and dissent. While the patchwork of laws is confusing, in general they set some groups against others in partisan fashion, and favour the pro-Israel lobby. Some of the laws are over-reliant on subjective judgements such as what constitutes 'hatred...

For this May Day special, Jacques talks with Stefan Gigacz and Jorge Jorquera about the history of the Young Christian Workers (YCW), a workers' movement that emerged within the Catholic church starting in Belgium over 100 years ago and rapidly spreading worldwide. All three of us have been involved in the movement and have been influenced in various ways, Stefan starting in St Alban's in Melbourn...

Jennifer and Jacques return to the topic of Artificial Intelligence, this time focussing on the pressing dangers of Superintelligent AI, which is self-organising and self-directing and not within the understanding and control of any humans. They refer to a recent book by experts in the field, Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares. with the self-explanatory title: If anyone builds it, everyone dies: Th...

Following the program on this topic two weeks ago, Rob Hattam and Marie Brennan discuss how Australia's policy regime silences the voices of teachers who are treated as mere technicians who should just carry out instructions. In this regime teachers are treated as stupid, requiring dumbed down instruction about what to do in classrooms. Rob and Marie offer an alternative way, based on good social...

Jennifer and Jacques return to the theme of the state of democracy in Australia. They begin with our seriously misguided military alliance with the US, before moving on to the conservative and highly compromised positioning of the Australian Labor Party, leading many to wonder what it stands for in its pursuit of being the 'natural party of government'.ReferencesSean Kelly 2025, 'The good fight: W...

Marie Brennan, Borderlands Cooperative board member, hosts this program. She is joined by Professor Rob Hattam from Adelaide University, who talks about the ways that government policy has been impeding the ability of schools and teachers to carry out good education for several decades. Rob Hattam argues that we've been infected by a 'GERM', a Global Education Reform Movement. The logics of this i...

Jennifer and Jacques take a deeper dive into the wider, historical context of the latest conflagration in the 'middle east', brought on by US-Israel attacks on Iran. They share some ideas for building a better future for all in the region, including: restoration of people's ability to relate across divides and differences, processes for truth-telling, serious resources allocated to reparation, and...

Jennifer and Jacques talk about the US and Israel's full scale attack on Iran which started in late February. They examine some of the reasons given for the war, plus the devastating ripples of harm spinning out from it, harming and uprooting millions of people.

Conal Feehely from Get Up recently went undercover to an Advance conference and he shares some of his learnings. Amidst some predictably extreme themes from presenters (for example blaming migrants and climate policy for current woes) Conal had a range of civil conversations with attendees with legitimate grievances looking for a political solution. Advance has a deliberate, ongoing strategy of en...

It's a national disgrace and a tragedy that children across the country as young as 10 continue to be arrested, charged, and hauled before the courts, and are locked up in police and prison cells. And amongst all the rhetoric about 'closing the gap', Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are 29 times more likely to be growing up behind bars than other children in Australia. The systemic,...

Jane Gardner from the Australian Conservation Foundation talks about a current ACF campaign 'Love letters to nature'.Already many Australians have put their love letters online, expressing how they feel about places that are precious to them. Jane and the presenters read some of the love letters on air that have touched and inspired them. Overall, the letters provide evidence that nature is import...

Jacques and Jennifer continue their discussion about democracy from last week, coming back to the question of how we could imagine our political system to be truly democratic - to have a system in which we the people truly govern ourselves. Once again, the presenters critique the current system with two main parties presented by the media as the only way, as a sport in which two teams are in const...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the dismal state of democracy in Australia, especially with little space between the two main parties on things that urgently need to change (even before the current downward spiral of the Coalition).Cases in point are: lack of real action on climate change and environment, military and political/imperial entwinement with the US, our support for Israel's ongoing war...

Maree Pardy is the lead author of a new report by Footscray Community Response, which evaluates Maribyrnong Council's use of security patrols to address social and health issues. The research found that Council's reliance on security, police and surveillance is causing direct harm to those targetted and it is undermining the safety and wellbeing of the broader community. The report makes a range o...

After twenty years of working with and supporting the Womanjun Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley and a few years volunteering with communities in the Papua province of Indonesia, Robert reflects on what it all has come to mean for him. He talks about his deep spiritual learning and feeling of humility in the face of ongoing effects of colonialism and neo-colonialism and the arrogant assumpti...

Jacques and Jennifer catch up on a few cataclysmic developments since the last 'Think Again' in 2025, namely:(1) extreme weather events brought on by climate change;(2) the Bondi massacre and its fall out, including some shameful weaponisation of the tragedy for political purposes, and(3) the megalomaniac spinning out of control of the US under Trump and implications for Australia. 

If you've noticed people walking our streets and in public spaces, not looking where they're going while immersed on their mobile phones, it's not your imagination. It is happening everywhere! What is often referred to as 'distracted walking' has been well researched across the world, reducing people's safety and situational awareness, and leading to a variety of injuries and even death. Jacques a...

Whilst our official media and our government seem to have decided that all's now OK in Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank, and that Trump's so-called Gaza Peace Plan 'needs to be given time to work its way through', on the ground stories from the West Bank give a rather devastating account of what's happening behind the media silence... Reports of ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers/colonists on lo...

Tamar Hopkins from the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project talks about the latest data showing that Victoria Police target certain groups, with members much more likely to be searched than white people and have force used against them. These groups include people perceived by the police to be Aboriginal, African, Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Pacific Islander. Tamar propose...

Jacques interviews Professor Clinton Fernandes about his latest book: Turbulence: Australian foreign policy in the Trump era (2025 Melbourne University Press).Clinton explains Australia's involvement as a 'sub-imperial power' assisting the US in its attempts to maintain and extend its hegemony and imperial power with three foci: Europe, the Middle East and China... And in all three 'frontlines' Au...

Sophie Ellis from Youthlaw talks about the Victorian government's proposal for children (14 years and over) committing certain crimes to be given adult jail sentences. The Bill is set to go to Parliament by the end of the year even though the legislation hasn't been drafted yet. As Sophie explains, the proposal doesn't address the reasons for children offending in the first place, and it doesn't o...

Phillip Ripper from No To Violence talks about the escalating problem of violence against women, while centring the responsibility of men in its prevention. It is evident that the previous National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children hasn't worked, and Phillip discusses what needs to happen to bring in real change. This needs to include the wisdom and knowledge from the sector at a mea...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the thieving incursions that artificial intelligence (AI) is making into our lives, and the increasing rule and dominance of big tech. They argue that human creating processes in the real world are important for both producers and audiences, and for the social back-and-forth that happens in our human world. This cannot be replaced by AI mimicry of 'end products'.Fur...

Jennifer speaks with Hanna Shomali and Alice Drury about an event they have organised to raise funds for and support people in Gaza.'Voices under fire: Stories from Gaza' will feature readings of poetry and first hand accounts of Palestinians who have been forced to flee, who have died, and who are still trying to survive in Gaza. The event will be held at Trades Hall in Carlton on Thursday 6th of...

Jennifer and Jacques discuss the latest 'ceasefire' deal and the intrinsic impossibility of lasting peace without putting first Palestinian rights to their stolen land and their self-determination. LinksEvent: Voices under fire - Stories from GazaWe teach Life Sir - Rafeef ZiadahAustralian Palestinian Advocacy Network (APAN)Free PalestineReferences'The Gaza ceasefire deal could be a "strangle cont...