Radical Australia

What a treat to have pioneering mathematics and statistics whizz, Alison Harcourt, join us on the show this week with her son, Pierre. Alison is 95 years old this year and only recently retired from lecturing and tutoring, a day before her 90th birthday. She really is an Australian treasure. Alison's life started in Colac where her father was a doctor. She remembers the declaration of World War II on a sunny, Sunday morning. She spent some time at Colac High School and boarding school, which was pretty isolating, before beginning her academic life at the University of Melbourne. Then it was off to the London School of Economics where she was pretty much head-hunted to return home to partner with Professor Ron Henderson on Australia's first statistical study of poverty in Australia, out of which came the Henderson Poverty Line, a standard used by researchers for years to come. Alison never had a problem with mathematics, never any difficulty. Apparently, it runs in the family on the female side. Her life advic

David Boarder Giles was born in Melbourne in the year of Reagan's election (1980), but his mother soon whisked him away to Disneyland and conservative California when he was 10. Boo. It took him a while to finally make his way back home. David witnessed many interesting cultural curios during his teenage years in the States, which probably informed his desire to eventually study anthropology and write his PhD about Food Not Bombs when he was an organiser in Seattle. The culmination of these efforts has resulted in a book titled 'A Mass Conspiracy to Feed People'. It features David with his arse hanging out of a dumpster as he dives for a still-good piece of cake. We love it. David has been a bit of a punk and musician, playing in ska bands and the like. He says that Americans have to decide early on how they are going to respond to the ever-present poverty in their country - ignore, blame or get active. David knows quite a bit about homelessness in America, particularly Seattle, and how the city has responded

Jack Brady has done nearly everything there is to do in life, or so we think. From joining the Air Force at 17, to becoming a trainee dive master, an anthropologist and an English teacher in China. Let's throw in a comedian for good measure. Jack was born in Upper Ferntree Gully in 1970, but soon after their parents upped sticks and moved all the way north to Tewantin in Queensland, on the doorstep of Noosa. After high school, Jack worked at Coles and saw heaps of British pop stars do their shopping there. At one stage of their life, they experienced 'The Bends' and suffered an acquired brain injury, taking many years to recover, some of it ongoing. Jack is a non-binary comedian with Aspergers whose PhD is titled 'You Can't Laugh at That'. However, they would very much like you to laugh at their show 'For Rent: Hot Comedy for a Rent Freeze'. It's on at Theory Bar on October 30. Check it out. Jack would also like to mention another group they hang out in - the Centre for Australian Comedic Action. They are int

What a thrill to have the very talented Tia Kasambalis join us on the show this week. If you haven't heard of Tia, you have probably seen his artwork around the streets of Melbourne, in a newspaper, or maybe even on the telly sometime over the last few years. Tia is one of those talented artist-activists that make up the Workers Art Collective. Check it out. In the beginning, Tia was born in '91 Sydney. His family eventually moved down to Melbourne, Mt. Waverley, where he went to school and played state rugby for the 'church league'. Eventually, Tia got into tagging big time, which led to design at TAFE and RMIT. Tia's art practise focusses on union, refugee and migrant stories and portraiture. He is currently painting journalist Anthony Loewenstein for the Archibald next year. Can't wait to see that one! Tia was a happy guest and we really enjoyed chatting with him. He is a fabulous artist and we encourage you to follow his work. Thanks so much for being with us, Tia. Keep it up!@tia_kasswww.workersartcollec

What a gun - Rosie Heselev. At 30, she is the founder of Australia's first national prison newspaper, About Time. The paper is intended to be a narrative shift about prison and prisoners, with the hope of it eventually being completely produced by peers. It is off to a great start, having just released its second edition. Rosie got to learn quite a bit about prison and the conditions therein during COVID, mainly, when she worked on the Prison Advocacy Program at Fitzroy Legal Service. She also learnt a lot from her clients as a duty lawyer at the Neighbourhood Justice Centre. Rosie brings Main Character Energy and a joyous spirit with her and it was fascinating to learn about her family heritage and the formative years of her life. We hope you enjoy Rosie's story and that you reach out to the newspaper to grab copies and maybe help out. Keep up your fantastic work, Rosie.www.abouttime.org.au I @about.time.media

What a delight to have the lovely Sonia Randhawa on the show this week. Sonia is the current producer-presenter of 3CR's Wednesday Breakfast, but she has been around community radio a lot longer, starting up a pirate station in Malaysia some years back when she lived there with her Punjabi father and English mother who met in Liverpool in the 60s. Sonia spent her childhood between Malaysia and England, attending boarding school where activities included flying planes and eventually making her way to Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Sonia went on to working as a journalist for The Sun in Malaysia and completing a doctorate about the representation of women in Malay's newspapers. These days, Sonia works for The Sortition Collective who organise citizen's assemblies for whoever needs them. She was a warm and lovely guest and much smarter than us, we are sure. Thank-you, Sonia!www.sortitionfoundation.org

Chris Phillips is a serious person who is big on personal pledges. He grew up a strong Catholic in Box Hill, but didn't take 'the pledge'. He did it tough at tech school in Abbotsford before moving into a carpentry apprecticeship at 16. At some stage, Chris became a committed union organiser for the Building Workers Industrial Union, tackling poor working conditions, keeping the bosses honest and working hard on the shorter hours campaign. He was married on his 23rd birthday. Later on, during one of his many exciting travel trips, Chris was shot on a highway in New Orleans during the acclaimed Jazz Fest. It's a cracker story and we will let him tell it himself. In 2024, Chris works as a volunteer in palliative care, just because he can. A man of his word is Chris and we thank him so gratefully for being our guest this week. Thanks for the important changes you helped usher in for working people in Australia, Chris! Keep up the staunch attitude.

Daryl McDonald is a man who will live to 100, at least, but he grew up dodging magpies in Geelong. Now he is the co-presenter of Breadline, a program of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, broadcasting on Mondays at 6pm, here on 3CR. Daryl works on the advice line at the AUWU, letting people know about their rights as Social Security beneficiaries and generally working against the government. He says it is rewarding work. Daryl has had many different jobs in his life, from welding, truck driving, to the meatworks in Donald. Along the way he learnt to drum and eventually played percussion in orchestras and theatre companies when the band wasn't practising in his bedsit in Ascot Vale, a great location to watch the fireworks over the Melbourne Show. Listen in to the great work of the Breadline team here on 3CR and let people know about the AUWU. Thanks for joining us, Darly, and keep up the great work!Breadline - Mondays - 6pm to 6:30pm - 3CR - 3cr.org.au/breadline

Folks may know this week's guest, Justin DeLeeuw, via his gold toilets which have been spotted around Preston and most consistently on Google Maps at 'Modern Art - Not a Fan', a rather interesting parcel of grass on a median strip on St Georges Road. Justin and other assorted activists, including members of the Renters and Housing Union (RAHU), have all this week slept out in gold tents at the site as part of the Housing Crisis Survival Expo - a Homelessness Week event raising awareness and encouraging conversations about creative solutions to the crisis, including squatting and dumpster diving. They have been having good chats with students across the road at the Polytechnic and other assorted locals have stopped by with food and conversation. Justin was born in '71 Adelaide and has a lived experience of homelessness. He is a pointillist tattooist, a portrait painter and recycle auditor. He knows about all the crap people put in the wrong bin! Justin got into the rave scene in Lismore area as an art installa

Why is it so difficult to conduct research on the West Papuan Noken? How does an item of Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO) relate to nationalism? Who exactly owns cultural heritage? These are the questions our guest this week is grappling with in his thesis at the University of Melbourne and his name is Louis Liedel. Louis is interested in cultural heritage when he is not playing futsal with his mates. Louis is looking at the Noken: a multi-functional, knotted bag, usually made of bark and dyed, that is used to store goods, carry goods, a 'walking house' if you will. It was listed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2012. Listeners are invited to meet Louis and celebrate 10 years of the West Papua Office in Docklands this Sunday August 4th at 838 Collins St, Docklands. Entry via the rear. Find out about the West Papua Liberation Movement and meet some great people doing powerful things. Lunch at 1pm, speakers at 2pm, the regular auction at 3pm, finishing off with the Vanuatu Choir and West

This week we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the West Papua Office in Docklands - the only office in the world housing members of the West Papuan transitional government. There you will find its Foreign Affairs minister, Jacob Rumbiak, who has been in the struggle for his land's liberation since he was a young boy and who spent 10 years in prison for his threat to colonial Indonesia as an academic. Jacob came to Australia in 1999. There in the office you will also find Louise Byrne: general dogsbody and veteran of the Free West Timor movement. Louise says that one of the biggest advocacy purposes of the office is to encourage Australia to support the United Nations to conduct a fact-finding mission to West Papua. Close to 100 sovereign nations have so far pledged support for this effort. The West Papuan freedom movement claims colonial Indonesia carries out cultural genocide against its people and exploits its rich resources (have you ever heard of Grasberg mine?..). Indonesia claims West Papua to be

Mars on Earth. That's where this week's guest has been and she joins us to talk all about it. Sally ventured to Antartica this year, prompted by her deep concern for sea-level rise, having lived her whole life by the water. She got to see a lot of cold, blue water, icebergs, penguins and seals on her epic voyage across the Roaring Forties with 350 other intrepid travellers and scientists down to an icy rock twice the size of Australia. We learn about her packing kit, the Zodiac, the ship and the view out the window. What about that view! Thank-you so much for joining us to share your amazing journey, Sally, and keep up your care for our wonderous planet.Sally and Joe in the 3CR courtyard.

We sure wish Duff would write a book about his stay in an abandoned resort behind Cape Tribulation and his cosying-up with a cassowary. We might have to settle for his sci-fi, end of the earth epic about 4 blokes who return from the forest to find they are the last humans alive. In Warrnambool. Those old enough may know Duff as the fella who pie-faced himself then kissed Premier Stephen Bracks at the opening of the 2001 International Comedy Festival. It was Duff's humurous attempt to get back at the Premier for basically encouraging Victoria Police to bludgeon the crowd at the World Economic Forum protests / S11 a little while earlier. Greg paid a high price for his stunt, with it costing him comedy gigs and a history re-write. Greg hit his straps as an activist at the Jabiluka protests. He grew up on a sheep farm in Warrnambool with a very humorous brother, he's been a lab rat, he writes books, he squats around the place and says the mission in life is to achieve peace within yourself. He is currently gearin

Serial pest, Leon Zembekis, joins us on the show this week. He is our newly-appointed elder guest wrangler and we are so happy to welcome him to the Radical Australia team. Leon has always respected his elders and the wisdom they impart. He has worked for the Greens for a long time and grew up with a staunch Greek mum who knew how to keep the council officers at bay when they came knocking on their door about 'the animals'... Growing up in Kew in the 70s, he knew all the scrubby tracks down to the Yarra. He loves to collect hard rubbish and share pre-loved items with those who need it. Leon is fun company and we are looking forward to all the great elder guests he will bring through the door of 3CR. Welcome, Leon!

What a treat to have Gus Nossal on the show this week. He joined us on the phone from his home at the last minute. What a trooper. For the uninitiated, Gus is an Australian legend who has been bestowed with many titles and was on the telly all the time back in the day as scientific public intellectual. Gus says that public communication is vital. He was born and raised in Vienna during the 1930s before his family came to Australia on a long boat voyage which was very exciting for young Gus. He always wanted to be a doctor and studied medicine, landing in theoretical virology. His PhD supervisor was Frank Macfarlane Burnet, then he went off to Stanford during a very exciting time in medical science. Gus says he spent hours and hours a day at the microscope. In 1962 he returned to Australia and became the Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. Gus' big interest was in immunological tolerance and its impacts on the fields of transplants and auto-immune diseases. We'll leave the rest

Don Sun is a proud Sunshine boy from the 50s and has been around the community radio scene for decades. He penned the Admin Watch column in Farrago, University of Melbourne's student magazine, back in the day when he studied political philosophy and saw student unionism up close. He roadied for Lou Richards at Channel 7 and turned the quarter lights on at Waverley when the TV broadcasts resumed after the ads. Don's first encounter with 3CR was back in '77. He had a show called Local and Live with friend Marion Cincotta, but prior to that he had a show going on PBS called Lunchtime Legends. Don was obviously into celebrating local music and had a venue called 1C1. He has had a guerilla garden in Carlton since 1988 and was a numeracy, literacy and maths teacher at TAFE. He shared some advice about playing the lotto. Thank-you for bringing the lemons, Don, and for joining us on the show this week.

What are they like - these two muggins. These oafs. These silly sausages. Diggaling deep, shovelling the cash, doing what they can for their beloved 3CR. A hold-tight-to-your-seats thrill ride as these two oompalompas freestyle for your heartfelt pledge to keep the door open to anyone and everyone who has ever done anything good for the wider world. For those that take a political stand for justice, for peace, for care of our natural world. June is a special time to show your love and appreciation of 3CR. Staunchly grassroots, indepenent and radical for 47 years. Donate what you can now as every dollar makes a difference. Make a point of supporting 3CR. Follow the prompts at 3cr.org.au/donate or call the station and speak to our Radiothon angels on 03) 9419 8377. Thanks for your staunch support. 

Sue Bolton is almost peerless when it comes to having clear working memory and deep knowledge of Australian politics the last 40 years. She can tell you the details of so many leftist campaigns, what the issues were that were being caused by government and business, and key decisions that were made. Her knowledge is really quite astounding. We return to Sue this week for our second chat. We take up her story when she first came to Melbourne and was active with the Democratic Socialist Party and publication Green Left Weekly. This was in the early-90s during the school occupations to stop closures, nuclear testing in the Pacific, native forest logging, the election of the Howard government and the election of Pauline Hanson. This period began a certain era of refugee politics and policy in the country. Sue was a national trade union organiser for a few years beginning in 2003 and was the lead arrestee in the Max Brenner case. She was elected to Merri-Bek council in 2012 and bases all her work listening to her

Rowland G Schultz entertains us muchly this week with his poetry and one of his flamenco guitar tracks. He called in on the phone from Sydney and entertained us with many poems. Rowland acquired a brain inury through a transport accident some years ago and this precipitated a very difficult period of his life. We talk about what it is like to lose everything, to be affected by a traumatic injury, and to lose someone you love. Since his accident, Rowland's poetry talent has emerged and we begin the show with Disabled or PTSstabled. He says he was on fire with that one. Rowland was a very successful guitarist in Melbourne for many years, playing flamenco guitar and in bands such as the Bossa Nova outfit, A Train and The Gypsy Crims, a cover band. He frequented venues such as Open Studio. Rowland is now thinking of dedicating some time to the oud. He was born in '79 in Sydney and went to Newtown Performing Arts High School where all the other cool kids were. Rowland was a fab guest and we thank him greatly for j

These days, this week's guest, Ron Guy, is an artist activist for the cause of Western Sahara, the last colony of Africa. Earlier, he supported the cause of East Timor before it gained independence. Ron has been a union delegate for the AWU and was the OH&S officer at Dow Chemicals. He has had a long interest in the trade union movement, starting when he had to endure living with plenty of mice in property he lived in when he was a young fruit picker. Ron was born in Bacchus Marsh in '57 and was a miracle baby. He had an interest in painting from an early age. His father was a Rat of Tobruk. Ron was a lovely guest and we thank him so much for joining us this week. awsa.org.au