Think Again

Jennifer talks with Pat McCafferty, Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water, and Kim Nguyen, a participant on YVW's Citizen's Jury. The guests tell how YVW entrusted big decisions about the future of water management to a representative  sample of community members. Aboriginal elders spoke to the jury several times about their relationship with water, which had a profound effect on jury members. F...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about ex-PM Scott Morrison's astonishing declaration that we shouldn't put our faith in governments - or the United Nations for that matter! They explore some of the implications of this, not least dropping the ball on climate change while he was in government.

Jennifer and Jacques re-visit the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and look at basic assumptions underpiniing the design of the scheme that set it on the wrong course from the beginning. They also argue for a type of evaluation that brings people who are  involved together at key points to review how the program is going and make the necessary changes. Reference:A lost Opportunity…? Dis...

Jennifer interviews Patrick O'Connor from the Committee for Public Education about the new wages and conditions deal for teachers in Victoria, brokered by the Australian Education Union. Among other things, Patrick explains how the wage rise is really a wage cut, as it is set way below the inflation rate. Apparently many teachers feel their interests have not been represented, and their widespread...

Matt Lloyd Cape from Per Capita talks about some of the findings from two recent studies of Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). He looks at the (economic) foundational model of the NDIS, which has had some dire consequences for people with disabilities, and for support workers participating in the scheme.

Consititutions have been in the news a lot lately, with the need to review our own one to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament, and the recent decision by the US Supreme Court that laws supporting abortion rights are unconstitutional. Also, as discussed in the last program, Australia needs to change its constitution to become a republic. With all of this in mind, Jennifer and Jacques give...

The new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has re-opened the conversation about Australia becoming a republic, with the appointment of an Assistant Minister for the Republic. Jennifer and Jacques have a look at our current system of constitutional monarchy, and they comment on how different it is to the system we think we have. In our constitution, the monarch (the queen), represented by the Govern...

This program is part of 3CR's annual radiothon, to keep the station going without having to depend on corporate dollars or government favour. Past guests tell us why this is important through their various testimonials.

Jennifer and Jacques talk about the economy and how it is controlled by sets of very powerful and wealthy monopolies and oligopolies. Examples of the dominance of a few wealthy corporations can be found in a range of sectors e.g. energy retailing (notably gas!), banking, social media, supermarket chains, mobile telecommunications, and internet provision. The presenters ask whether the concentratio...

Noongar author, Claire G Coleman, talks about creating change in Australia for Aboriginal people. She begins on an optimistic note with the ousting of the Liberals from federal government, and the rejection of policies and campaigning based on hate. On a hopeful note, the new PM has committed to a First Nations Voice to Parliament, to be enshrined in the constitution. While some think a treaty sho...

Jacques and Jennifer reflect on the recent federal election – a win for local grassroots democracy and diversity in parliament, and hope for doing something about climate change and government corruption.     It was great to see the Murdoch press stranglehold on our democracy loosened too.     Despite its blatant bias against Labor, the voting public made up its own mind.   Jennifer and Jacques sp...

Jacques talks with Melissa Willard and Tessa Stellar, members of the Harcourt Organic Farming Cooperative operating in Central Victoria; they revealed how they came to cooperative and organic farming, what it means for them, how they approach the 'community supported farming' practices they developed and what their hopes are for their local work and for the future of farming, food production and f...

Jennifer and Jacques talk about the war in Ukraine, particularly how the west has generated it as a proxy war with Russia - or at least as a ploy to deplete Russia as a force. This program is intended to remedy (to some extent) the outrageously one-sided account from our mainstream media. Refs:Jacques Baud - The military situation in the UkraineRAND Corporation - Extending Russia: Competing from a...

Jennifer and Jacques look at Australia’s fake two-party system of government (which has no formal or legal basis), and why we need to break out of it.    This is especially relevant in the run-up to the federal election, with Liberals becoming increasingly hysterical as independents gain favour in their electorates.    If no political party gains a majority in the House of Representatives (without...

Jacques and Jennifer look at the history of nuclear arms and nuclear strategy from the end of WW2 to the present, including US policies of ‘mass retaliation’, limited strike (SIOP), and ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’.     They refer to the current war in Ukraine, and criticise Australia’s strategy of following the US into global conflict rather than planning for peace.     NB: Listeners may also b...

Jennifer talks with Jack McLean from Equity Generation Lawyers who represented eight young climate activists taking a case to the Federal Court.   The activists argued that the Environment Minister, Sussan Ley, has a duty of care not to cause climate harm to young people when making decisions about fossil fuel projects.   Jack spoke about the initial decision in their favour on Think Again in earl...

Jennifer and Jacques revisit the conflict in Ukraine, and some of the things that have led to it, including the roles of the US and NATO.They look at US policy relating to Russia and China, and question why we are following the (US) leader rather than investing in multilateral, cooperative arrangements between nations.     Refs:Youtube - examples of racist reporting by western mediaJohn Pilger - w...

Jennifer interviews Mark Zirnsak from the Tax Justice Network Australia, about the federal budget just handed down.     While there are some positives, such as extra refugee visas for Afghan people, and funding for the ATO to target multinationals avoiding tax, in the main it is a regressive budget.     Tax breaks for the wealthy will be continued well into the future, despite some tax offsets for...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about how corruption has taken over national politics, with the open brazenous of politicians misusing and misdirecting funds, and being bought over by big money to further their own ends.   On the whole, ‘plutocracy’ would seem to better describe our current system than ‘democracy’, meaning government for and by the wealthy.   Sign the 'our democracy' petition:https://ww...

Jennifer talks with Kate Colvin from the Everybody’s Home campaign about the housing affordability crisis in Australia, which has very much gone mainstream as more and more people become homeless. The Everybody's Home campaign is asking the federal government to commit to building 25,000 new social homes every year.  Kate invites listeners to join the campaign for everyone to have a home:  Everybo...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the massive displacement of people due to global heating and international conflict, and how this is set to accelerate if we don’t take preventive action.     Starting with the floods in Queensland and NSW and moving 15,000 K North West to Ukraine and the Russian invasion, yet another two examples and instances of the millions of people displaced by the growing numb...

Jennifer talks with Ashlie, who became unemployed after being in the paid workforce for about 40 years.   She has applied for hundreds of jobs and desperately wants to work.   Despite this, she is forced to live on punishingly-low ‘Jobseeker’ payments.   These don’t cover the basic costs of living and, as a result, Ashlie has been homeless for two years. Join the campaign to raise Centrelink payme...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the international system of trade rules and agreements, and they give a bit of its recent history from post-WW2 to the establishment of the World Trade Organisation....   Lately, China has been accused of breaking the rules and undermining the system for its own advantage – especially in the US (and of course, echoed in the US's faithful follower, Australia), but is...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border and the drumming up of war by western leaders, particularly by the US and via the systematic expansion of the NATO now virtually encircling Russia. There's more behind all of this than meets the eye... and looking at recent history does indeed help!  And some of the below alternative bits of information will offer a rather d...

Jennifer speaks with Brendan Coates from the Grattan Institute about his report: A place to call home: It’s time for a social housing future fund. The proposal is for a $20b future fund for the federal government to deliver 3,000 extra social housing units a year into perpetuity – 6,000 per year if matched by state governments. Seems like a good idea, but would it be enough? Could it create real s...