On this episode of Women on the Line we chat with Katia Schwartz about the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and its recent amendments excluding disabled people from accessing sex work services. We’re joined on the show by Katia who is a Deaf, professional erotic performer and career sex worker since 2008. She is also the National Programs Manager at Scarlett Alliance and on the Board of Touching Base. As a member of the disability, sex work and queer communities, Katia is a strong pub...
Sep 15, 2024
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners, please be advised that this program includes references to state violence and colonisation. If you need to talk to someone about the issues covered in the program you can contact: 13 YARN (13 92 76) which is a dedicated 24/7 national crisis support line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples Lifeline 13 11 17On this week’s episode we speak to Raelene Cooper, Mardudhunera Traditional Owner from the Mardudhunera coast line and in-land are...
Sep 08, 2024
On this episode, we listen to part of a speech by Dr Samah Sabawi, award-winning playwright, author and poet from Gaza city Palestine who lives and works in Naarm, speaking at a Free Palestine Rally on the 11 August 2024. We then hear from Kaushi, a feminist and activist based in Thailand and one of the founders of the group Chiang Mai for Palestine. Kaushi talks about organising for Palestine in Thailand, her ongoing activism in this space and the impact the group is hoping to have. This conver...
Sep 01, 2024
In this episode, we continue our conversation about the implications of AUKUS (part I was broadcast in May) with Professor Marianne Hanson, who is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland and co-chair of The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Aug 25, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we’re looking at the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in prison as well as the current policies and systemic structures that focus on over-policing and criminalizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and young girls. We first hear an excerpt from a press conference that followed the event ‘Truth Telling Yarns: Women in Prison that was held on the 26 June in Canberra. We hear speeches by Senator Lidia Thorpe and Debby Kilroy...
Aug 18, 2024
In this episode of Women on the Line, we hear from Violet - a non-binary, queer activist from Myanmar currently based in Thailand. Violet tells us about their experience as a queer activist in Myanmar, the circumstances that forced them to relocate to Thailand, how the civil war has impacted the already marginalised queer community in Myanmar, and what they hope the future will look like for their community. You can follow Violet on Instagram @montheviolet
Aug 11, 2024
On this week’s episode, we speak to Nina from Flat Out and the Formerly Incarcerated Justice Advocates (FIGJAM) Collective as well as Monique Hurley from the Human Rights Law Centre. We speak about their report, Ending state-perpetrated sexual violence in prisons, a Submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Justice Responses to Sexual Violence: Issues Paper published in May 2024. More specifically, Nina and Monique discuss the dehumanising, traumatising and humiliating practice of str...
Aug 04, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we hear from sex worker artists Rogelio Ruckus, Kayla Tange, and Daphne Nguyen speak to the erotic labour of art, family and futurity. This panel was held as part of ‘The Whore Gaze’– an exhibition curated by Elizabeth Dayton and Kim Ye at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. The exhibition showcased film, videos and a panel that celebrate the legacy of sex workers as visionaries reimagining representations of care, labor, and sovereignty. It was held on...
Jul 15, 2024
Trish Hepworth, Deputy CEO for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Dr Sarah Mokrzycki, academic in children's literature and creative writing at Victoria University, speak to Frances about the Cumberland city council’s ban of same-sex parenting books in May this year, its reversal, and the importance of free access to information and diverse representation. This conversation first aired on 3CR Tuesday Breakfast on 21 May 2024.Rohen from Pride in Protest speaks to Phuong...
Jul 07, 2024
On this week’s episode, we speak to Sanne de Swart, Coordinator of the Nuclear Free Collective at Friends of the Earth Melbourne, and has been part of the anti-nuclear struggle since 2011 when she joined the ‘Walk Away from Uranium Mining’ event in solidarity with Aboriginal people to push for a ban on uranium mining in Western Australia. With the Coalition’s power plan having thrust nuclear energy into the public sphere, I spoke to Sanne about the realities of this proposal, the dangers of nucl...
Jun 30, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line, we head to the Pride In Protest conference ‘Provocations’, which was held on Gadigal Land earlier this month. On International Whore’s Day, June 2nd, Asian migrant sex workers, Damien, Bee and NaMon spoke at the ‘Asian Migrants Sex Workers against the Border Force, racism and deportation!’ panel. Today we hear a portion of the conversation with Bee and NaMon speaking about the anti-immigration and anti-sex worker operation called ‘Project Inglenook’; the pro...
Jun 23, 2024
For more than four decades, the Sahrawi people have lived in exile, primarily in refugee camps in the harsh conditions of the Algerian desert. Despite these challenges, Sahrawi women have emerged as the backbone of their communities, driving both day-to-day survival and the broader struggle for self-determination.In this episode, we explore these stories of resistance with Gaby Alamin, a Sahrawi educator and member of the Australian-Western Saharan Association [awsa.org.au]. She was born and rai...
Jun 16, 2024
According to a 2021 report by the Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing, women on temporary visas experiencing family and domestic violence have been recognised as a particularly marginalised and at-risk cohort. On this episode of Women on the Line we speak with Peggy Kerdo, an experienced human rights lawyer practising mainly in immigration and refugee law, about working with clients on temporary partner visas, the barriers they face when trying to get help, what supports are available and ho...
Jun 02, 2024
On this week’s episode, we speak to Emily Duyên Đặng about her photovoice gallery project, Overcoming this Grief: Stories from Vietnamese women surviving family violence in Australia. Through photos and text presented in Vietnamese and English, these women share their experiences of migration, family violence and finding safety. In this conversation, Emily talks about her research into family violence within the Vietnamese context here in so-called Australia, she shares stories from the women wh...
May 26, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we speak with Cher Tan, who is an essayist, critic and editor based in Narrm. She previously lived in Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide and Singapore, where she was born and raised. Cher Tan recently published her first book titled ‘Peripathetic: Notes on (un)belonging’ through UNSW Press. She chats about (un)belonging, the internet and writing her first book. You can find both print and e-book editions online and at various bookstores.
May 19, 2024
In today's episode, Professor Marianne Hanson, co-chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, joins us to discuss the increasing US-Australian military ties and the militarisation of Australian society and the education sector. This is a two-part interview; the second part will be broadcast in August.Later, we headed down to the University of Melbourne Gaza Solidarity encampment, which was led by students from the UniMelb for Palestine group. Gender studies student Liz joined...
May 12, 2024
This week we head to Istanbul to speak with Tan Safi, a member of the Media Team for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is an international grassroots solidarity movement which is aiming to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza and deliver 5,500 tonnes of vital humanitarian aid by sea. Tan provides an update on what is happening now that the Flotilla has been unable to set sail on its scheduled departure date of April 26 due to having its flag or legal registration re...
May 05, 2024
On this week’s episode we speak with human rights activist Khadija Gbla. Khadija was born in Sierra Leone and spent their youth in Gambia before coming to Australia. We talk about their experiences living at the intersections of disability, neurodivergence, queerness and Blackness, their activism in these spaces, and their hopes for young people like themselves. A note that this conversation covers difficult topics including racism, ableism, childhood abuse, Indigenous deaths in custody, and pol...
Apr 28, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we continue our conversation with Yeoreum and Udie from Scarlet ChaCha– a sex worker-led organisation in South Korea. On 2 January 2023, the Mayor of Paju announced that he would demolish Paju’s red light district ‘Yongjugol’ within a year. In November last year the demolition commenced, and Scarlet ChaCha has been actively showing up in person for sex workers in Paju’s Yongjugol – protesting on the streets, creating signage to raise political awareness and s...
Apr 21, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we hear from Yeoreum and Udie from Scarlet ChaCha – a sex worker-led organisation in South Korea. On 2 January 2023, the Mayor of Paju announced that he would demolish Paju’s red light district ‘Yongjugol’ within a year. In November last year the demolition commenced, and Scarlet ChaCha has been actively showing up in person for sex workers in Paju’s Yongjugol – protesting on the streets, creating signage to raise political awareness and supporting sex worker...
Apr 14, 2024
This week on the program we speak with Danielle from Save Public Housing Collective about the Victorian State Government plan to 'retire and transform' 44 public housing towers in narrm Melbourne.While the state government is selling the scheme as an opportunity for improvement and renewal, those against the plan describe a poorly thought through strategy with zero consultation of residents, few answers on where displaced tenants will go and underlying questions around the privatisation of publi...
Mar 31, 2024
On this week’s episode we hear from Dacia Abela, lawyer and program manager at Naarm-based Community Legal Centre WEstjustice, about economic abuse in the context of family violence. Dacia takes us through what this looks like on a practical level, the intersections of culture and gender, how CLCs are working to help victim-survivors and raise awareness, and what can be done better to support victim-survivors across the country. This conversation covers sensitive topics dealing with family viole...
Mar 24, 2024
On this week’s episode we bring you an excerpt from the Teachers for Palestine Forum called ‘Why There’s No ‘Neutrality’ on Genocide’ that took place in Naarm earlier this year on January 22nd 2024. We play a speech delivered by Samah Sabawi, who is a Palestinian award-winning author, playwright and poet. This forum was organised by Teachers and School Staff for Palestine.Later in the show, we play an excerpt from a discussion with three people working in the education space on the importance of...
Mar 17, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we pay tribute to Cecilia Gentili. She was a mother and sister to many transwomen, migrant women, sex workers and the wider LGBTIQA+ community in New York City and globally. On 6 February 2024, she passed away leaving a burning legacy of love and sisterhood amongst the trans and queer community. We hear snippets from her funeral service held at St Patrick's Cathedral on the 15 February in NYC.
Mar 10, 2024
This week on the program we take a deep dive into Victoria’s parole system.First we hear an interview by 3CR Broadcaster Priya Kunjan with Karen Fletcher, Executive Officer of Flat Out about the impact of compounding and increasing barriers to parole on incarcerated people in Victoria.Then we hear Marisa from 3CR’s Doin Time show speaking with Sarah Schwartz, manager of the Wirraway Police and Prison Accountability Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and lecturer at Melbourne Law ...
Mar 03, 2024
On this week’s episode we talk about birth trauma, why so many women and birthing people in so-called Australia are experiencing it, and how it can be avoided. We revisit a conversation with Naarm-based birth educator Vanessa Shribman from August 2023, a few months after New South Wales began its inquiry into birth trauma, which received over 4000 submissions. The inquiry found that 1 in 3 women experiences birth trauma with some of the main reasons being high rates of medical interventions caus...
Feb 25, 2024
Larrakia, Kungarakan, Gurindji and French writer and performer Laniyuk joins us to discuss the campaign to return Lee Point to Larrakia Care, as well as the history of the Australian and US defence forces' militarised occupation of Larrakia Country. Interspersed through this conversation, you’ll also hear from several Larrakia women - Jamilah Mills, Arbei Talbot, Hayley Mcadam, Aunty Aly Mills, and Arbei Adjrun - who have lent their voices and stories to the fight, using audiovisual storytelling...
Feb 18, 2024
On this episode of Women on the Line we speak with Ryan and Sangwon from Bae Collective 배 컬렉티브. This collective aims to connect and build a community of Korean queer and trans folks who are living, working or studying in Naarm (Melbourne, so-called Australia). We chat about the dreams of Bae Collective and also this lunar new year of the Wood Dragon which officially kicked off on the 10 February this year. The feature song on our episode was 'I'll remember me for you, I'll remember for me, I'll ...
Feb 11, 2024
This week on the program we hear from two of the speakers at the narrm Melbourne Invasion Day rally held on January 26.First we hear from Gunditjmara, Girai Wurrung and Djab Wurrung woman Sissy Austin.Then we hear the first part of a speech by Gunggari woman Dr Raelene Nixon, speaking about the death of her son Steven Lee Nixon-McKellar in police custody in Toowoomba in October 2021.#Justice4StevieLee
Feb 04, 2024
On this week’s episode we hear from Jaya Keaney, author of Making Gaybies: Queer Reproduction and Multiracial Feeling, published with Duke University Press. Jaya is a lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Melbourne, where she researches and teaches in the areas of feminist science studies, queer studies, and queer of colour theory. We speak to Jaya about her book, the complexities and intersections of race and queerness when creating queer families, how queer couples have to 'make do' ...
Jan 28, 2024
