On this week’s episode we look into the prison industrial complex in so-called Australia and how private companies profit from the prison system. In particular, we focus on the high cost of phone calls and how this is impacting families and communities. Across the country, calls are free via payphones but in Victoria’s prisons they cost $7 and are limited to 12 minutes.We speak to Sarah Schwartz, Principal Managing Lawyer of the Wirraway Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, and Mo...
Jan 22, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we speak with Lena Chen, a Chinese-American artist and scholar currently pursuing PhD in performance studies at UC Berkeley and her creative practice and academic work looks at Asian womanhood in the diaspora. Today we chat about her draft paper, ‘Performing Power: Asian American Resistance through BDSM’ and the online game ‘Only Bans’ she created to address surveillance of sex workers online.Content warning that we do speak about Asian fetishization and raci...
Jan 14, 2024
This week on the program we head to Far North Queensland to hear about a grassroots First Nations response supporting remote communities impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper.We speak with Butchulla and Woppaburra woman Samala Thakialee Cronin in Gimuy Cairns about the work she and others undertook in collaboration with Meanjin Brisbane based, female-led, Blak small business Dreamtime Aroha in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone.Community worked together to to fly much needed supplies from C...
Jan 07, 2024
On this week’s episode, we continue with our coverage of the ongoing genocide in Palestine.Firstly, we hear from Sofia Sabbagh, Palestinian-Irish artist, who speaks to us about the recent action at ABC HQ in Naarm/Melbourne where 40 creators produced portraits of Palestinian journalists who had been murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces. These portraits were pasted to the ABC building and then torn down in what the collective called ‘Double Erasure’.Later in the show, we hear from Lana Laham...
Dec 31, 2023
On this week's episode we bring you a conversation I had with Nisha Thapliyal, an academic at the University of Newcastle who is researching social justice activism in the contemporary Indian diaspora, and Saba Zaidi Abdi, a Muslim journalist, creative director and actor from India who has lived in Australia for over 30 years, on the Hindu nationalist government in India and the escalating violence against Muslims in India. This conversation first aired on 3CR Tuesday Breakfast on 8 August 2023.
Dec 24, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we are diving into current issues in Disability Justice. As we head into holiday season and peak covid period, we listen to Iris Lee’s (3CR Broadcaster) interview with Farida about their experience with long-covid and the failure of the Australian healthcare system. We then hear Priya Kunjan’s 3CR Thursday Breakfast interview with Independent queer researcher Dr Shoshana Rosenberg about disability and trans solidarity with Palestine in the face of Israel's on...
Dec 17, 2023
This week on the program we bring you part of an online teach-in from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network called “How to talk about Gaza right now.”The teach-in took place on Friday December 1st following the end of the brief cease fire in Gaza and features Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, Dr Lana Tatour and writer Samah Sabawi with Associate Professor Jumana Bayeh facilitating the conversation.You can watch the full recording of the online teach-in here.
Dec 10, 2023
Ruby Hamad on the historic dehumanisation of Arabs and Muslims in the west, how that has impacted Israel's ongoing occupation and genocide in Palestine, and gaslighting as a tool for upholding Western power structures. Ruby Hamad is a Syrian-Lebanese author and academic with a journalism background. She is in the second half of a PhD in media studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Her best-selling debut book WHITE TEARS/BROWN SCARS traces the role that White Womanhood...
Dec 03, 2023
For this week’s episode, we hear from Yassmin Abdel-Magied on the war in Sudan and later in the show, we hear from Francesca Albanese on the ongoing genocide in Palestine.Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-born author, broadcaster and award-winning social advocate. She runs the website eyesonsudan.net, amplifying the voices of resistance movements on the ground in Sudan. In this conversation, Yassmin provides context to this latest conflict in Sudan and explains the role of neo-imperialism in th...
Nov 26, 2023
For this week’s episode, we speak with Rosa Campbell who is an historian and writer. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Cambridge and is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She works on the global history of feminism. She writes often for a public audience recently at Overland, Meanjin, The White Review and Public Books. She leads public history projects with cultural institutions. In this episode, Rosa uses the digital map she has created for Overland to take us...
Nov 05, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we speak with Fijian Australian-born artist Yasbelle Kerkow (iTaukei Fijian vasu Batiki, Lomaiviti), who is one of the lead artists for Kal Angam-Kal: Stories from West Papua. Kal Angam Kal illuminates the little-known history of exiled West Papuan Elders residing in Narrm through the unique lens of the community's youth. Yasbelle has collaborated with West Papuan artist, Cyndi Makabory (Biak and Waropen), to bring this project to life.The exhibition features...
Oct 29, 2023
This week on the program we bring you the voices of speakers from two Free Palestine rallies held in Narrm, Melbourne.We hear speeches from the rally at the State Library on Sunday 15th October, including rally MCs Noura and Hajar, Palestinian playwright, poet and author Samah Sabawi and Mai Saif, member of Free Palestine Melbourne and the Palestinian Community Association of Victoria.We also hear from Jordy Silverstein, member of Loud Jew Collective, who spoke at the earlier Free Palestine snap...
Oct 22, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we hear snippets from Shiralee Hood and Leah House who recently presented on the panel ‘Sovereignty in the time of the Voice’ held in Narrm on the 28 September. Alongside Shiralee and Leah, the panel also included Robbie Thorpe and Keiran Stewart-Assheton. Shiralee and Leah touch on themes of Aboriginal Sovereignty, the upcoming referendum, Black Deaths in Custody and the historical fights for land rights and Aboriginal sovereignty from the 60’s til now. You ...
Oct 08, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we hear about current issues faced by migrant and refugee women in both the workplace and more broadly in society in ‘so-called-Australia’. Phương Tran from 3CR Tues Breakfast chats with Dr Ellen Cho, Lecturer at Monash University, about her co-authored report detailing the experiences of women from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Victorian local councils. We then hear Kannagi Bhatt from 3CR Tuesday Breakfast chat with Rati and Lavanya from the Refugee Wom...
Oct 01, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we speak with Iranian-born, Narrm based, visual artist and fine art photographer, Ramak Bamzar, about her show Pro Femina. Pro Femina is currently being exhibited as part of the Ballarat International Photo Biennale at the Art Gallery of Ballarat until 22 October this year. Her show features new works which comment on women involved in the Iranian uprisings of 2022, as well as selected works of her photograph series Moustachioed Women and Rhinoplastic Girls. ...
Sep 24, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we hear from Alejandra Munoz, project officer at Dutch peace organisation PAX. She is currently leading the Don't Bank on the Bomb research, a joint project by PAX and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Alejandra spoke about PAX/ICAN's latest report, 'Moving Away from Mass Destruction', and the role that financial institutions play in the anti-nuclear weapons movement. We then hear from Emma, a primary school teacher based in Narrm/...
Sep 17, 2023
This week on Women on the Line, Dr. Shih Joo (Siru) Tan and Professor Marie Segrave discuss their study into migrant and refugee women's experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace. And later in the show, we play a poem by freelance writer Karen Wyld for this year's Red Room Poetry.
Sep 10, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we are looking at ‘Reproductive Justice among migrants and refugees in so-called-Australia. Earlier in May, the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health held a webinar looking at advancing gender equality in reproductive justice. We hear highlights from two presentations. Syahir (they/them) who is an abortion care doctor and advocate living and working in Garmilla/Darwin NT presents on abortion care among migrant and refugees in Garmilla/Darwin. We then hear f...
Sep 03, 2023
This week on Women on the Line, we hear a presentation by Nilüfer Koç, from the Kurdish National Congress, who spoke at the Ecosocialism 2023 conference. Her talk Women, Life and Freedom discussed the history of the Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement and the new challenges facing the revolution.
Aug 27, 2023
This week we speak with Noura Mansour, who is the Community Organising and Advocacy Lead at the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN). In this discussion, Noura speaks to us about Palestinian resistance and sumud in its many forms; the responsibility of the media when reporting on the Israeli occupation of Palestine; and actions that the wider community can take to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Aug 20, 2023
Nerita Waight looks at Victoria’s broken bail laws, and Mariam Issa shares her journey from trauma to empowerment.Nerita Waight is the CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service.Mariam is a storyteller, life coach and author.
Aug 13, 2023
This week on Women on the Line we are covering the recent abrupt cancellation of The Asian American Literature Festival in Washington DC on Turtle Island. We spoke with Liminal Founder and Editor, Leah Jing McIntosh as well as writer Hasib Hourani, who are currently over on Turtle Island and who were expected to attend the festival alongside 8 Asian-Australian and Aotearoa-based writers. You can learn more about the campaign to hold the Smithsonian accountable to the Asian-American literature co...
Aug 06, 2023
This week on the program we speak with Tasneem Roc and Chue, campaign managers for the Myanmar Campaign Network, a national coalition of aid organisations, unions, human rights groups, faith based groups and Myanmar diaspora organisations under the auspices of Union Aid Abroad APHEDA.Tasneem and Chue speak about what has been happening in Myanmar, the situation for political prisoners, and the ongoing Civil Disobedience Movement, as well as the MCN’s call for targeted sanctions from Australia to...
Jul 30, 2023
This week we discuss self-disclosure, a behaviour that on the surface sounds harmless but when done excessively can be overwhelming for the listener and pretty awkward for the sharer. Clinical psychologist and Professor Kim Felmingham helps us understand this common albeit embarrassing habit.And later in the program, Kristin O'Connell and Priya Kunjan discuss Australia's rising cost of living and its impact on people living in poverty. Kristin O'Connell is the research and policy expert at the A...
Jul 16, 2023
On this week’s episode, we chat with Daisy: a Narrm based family violence lawyer and queer parent of a newborn who has recently had to navigate the medical maternity system. Daisy joins us on the show to share with us her observations on the lack of continuity of care for birthing people; the learning and unlearning that was required to avoid a traumatic birthing experience; and the similarities she noticed between the maternity system and her field of work.
Jun 25, 2023
This week on the show, Marjorie Anderson, the National Manager at 13YARN, discusses cultural safety, and later in the program, we hear an interview that Women on the Line programmer Emma Hart did with Tuffy Morwitzer from the Goongerah Environment Centre.
Jun 18, 2023
On this episode of Women on the Line we are covering International Whore’s Day, which was on Friday 2 June. This year’s theme was ‘Access to Justice’. Scarlett Alliance, held a webinar featuring national and international speakers addressing issues faced by migrant workers and calling for improved immigration policies in ‘so-called-Australia’ and globally. We hear how anti-trafficking laws and media portrayals further harm migrant sex workers, especially asian migrant sex workers. Speakers inclu...
Jun 11, 2023
This week on the program we speak with Professor Kyllie Cripps (@CrippsKyllie), Director of Monash Indigenous Studies Centre and Palawa woman, about new research she has published on systemic racism embedded in the deaths of 151 Aboriginal women.Kyllie’s research examines police failures in relation to their role as first responders to situations of intimate partner violence against Indigenous women.Her article Indigenous women and intimate partner homicide in Australia: confronting the impunity...
Jun 04, 2023
On this week’s episode, we speak with Vina, Mayy, Farhana and Fazilat from An.Other Collective, a creative community that navigates the intersection of faith, identity and culture. An.Other Collective is a group of Muslim women creatives who are forming social connections and collaborating with each other to push back against the image and idea of a creative and design industry that is exclusive, white and dominated by cis men. In this interview, we talk about the beauty of connecting with peopl...
May 28, 2023
This week on the program we immerse ourselves in the world of queer culture shaping, sex-positive zine Wicked Women, which ran from 1988-1996. The occasion is the Queer Gaze exhibition at the Victorian Pride Centre in St Kilda in Narrm.The exhibition showcases images from the Wicked Women Collection at AQUA, the Australian Queer Archives, and this is the first public showing of some of the images for many years.We speak with Lisa Salmon, one of the founders of Wicked Women, as well as hearing th...
May 07, 2023
