I want to lead the way in having difficult conversations says this week's guest, Ruth Clare. Ruth is perhaps best known either for her acting job in a genital herpes commercial or for her memoir about growing up with her returned serviceman father. One lighthearted and one serious fact about Ruth and we straddle both ends in our conversation with h…

Pauline Klemm is the woman behind the social media juggernaut, The Baba Desi Story, on Facebook, where she has taken some stunning pictures of Belgrave wizard, Baba Desi. She has been taking pictures for the last 6 years after coming to care for her brother's camera when it came into her possession. It was a sliding door moment and Pauline learnt t…

Antoinette Pitt used to roadie for 73 Bob Bob and was Australia's first female wrestling referee. She is a woman of many surprises. Antoinette is a nurse and an executive for Australian Progressives who have 6 pillars of E's: Ethics + Empathy + Evidence + Equality + Engagement + Empowerment. Learn all about Antoinette's goth phase in Lilydale and h…

This week's guest, Ribke Ovide, is a volunteer at the the West Papua Office in Docklands. She has been living in Australia for the last couple of years, coming here on a scholarship to further her studies in aviation mechanics. Ribke hails from Timika in West Papua and speaks 4 languages. She was born in 200. Her faith is very important to her, as …

This week's guest, Tim Hollo, is kind of like Green royalty in Australia. He heads The Green Institute, a think tank focussed on transformative issues in the green space, he founded Green Music Australia, he was the communications director for Christine Milne, and he has been at the environmental game since university in the 90's. His first love, h…

In case you missed it - here is the second part to our talk with Kutcha Edwards. Kutcha is a legend of 3CR, steering our annual Beyond the Bars NAIDOC prison broadcasts for many a year. In this chat, we are taken on a trip down the memory lane of aboriginal Fitzroy of the 1990s. From the MAYSAR/ Fitzroy Stars Youth Club gymnasium and Uncle Herbert …

We are thrilled to broadcast a couple of chats we recently had with the mighty Kutcha Edwards. This week, we learn the origins of Kutcha's name and some things about his early life. Kutcha tells us that he was born before The Referendum and politics has played a big part in his life. Kutcha went to high school in Taralgon before moving to the city …

A life full of mentors and a-ha moments. That has been the story of this week's guest, Rob Brown, a big tall Scotsman indeed. Rob was born in 1960 in the Gorbals, tenement housing in Glasgow, sharing one toilet among five families. That's just how things were. Rob's mother scrubbed the steps of the school on her hands and knees with a brush. That's…

We spoke with this week's guest, University of Sydney Professor of Law, Simon Butt, on Indonesia's Presidential Election Day. Simon came on to talk about some of the legal infrastructure in Indonesia, during the pre-1998 Suharto era and now. On paper, Indonesians have more legal rights than Australians, but corruption runs right through the system.…

The only left-winger in the family. That's Sue Bolton, well-known to many in Melbourne's left and socialist communities, long-standing councillor at Merri-Bek. Sue is always standing up for what is right, for people's rights, in her community. Sue hails from Western Queensland and says the class divide was really vivid in the bush. After boarding s…

This week's guests, Mecedes Zanker and Joe Lorback, are members of the Renegade Solidarity Audio Force crew who have been involved in all kinds of local radical activism, from #freeassange, to Melbourne's Palestinian motorcades, the Park Hotel protest actions and every Sunday Palestine rally to date. Joe joined us from his weekend at the Women's te…

This week's guest, Alexandra, has had an interesting life so far, most of that spent in England with radical collectives. She is a dancer who grew up in Canberra. Alexandra is currently our Wednesday afternoon reception volunteer and has an interesting story to tell. Thanks for being with us, Alex.By 3CR volunteer, activist, dancer

A fashion brand for people who give a shit. That's how this week's guest, Nick Savaidis, decribes his label, Etiko, winner of an Australian Human Rights Award and the most ethical fashion brand in the country. Nick started making sports balls under the label before branching into clothing. He has always had a thing for the underdog and has used thi…

This week's guest, Gatwech Wal, is a war survivor from South Sudan. When Gatwech was 11 years old, he had to flee his village with his older brother and he spent 11 years in a refugee camp on the border of Ethiopia. We hear this story and what it was like. Since coming to Australia, Gatwech has worked incredibly hard to have a successful life and i…

On our last live show for the year, we welcome the return of popular guest, Robert 'Smokey' Wolfgramm. We find Robert in conversation with Joe about his PhD on the ethnic identity. Robert set out on his research to answer the questions 'What does it mean to be Fijian? What does it mean to be ethnic? How do we know who we are?'. Find out what answer…

Jill Lockwood is a community-minded gardener from the Dandenong Hills, currently volunteering her time at the Knox Environment Society in Ferntree Gully with all the other 'seedy ladies' and 'HAGS' cleaning seeds and preserving the indigenous flora of the area. Jill was born in 1944 at Epworth Hospital, worked in insurance and also as a medical rec…

Baba Desi. The Wizard. The Doctor. Desmond Bergen. He is known as many things and has been many things in his long life: jazzer, hippie, bodgie, pirate. In fact, he's 'been them all', he says. We are delighted to welcome Baba Desi to Radical Australia this week to share with us some tales from his long life of 94 years. Baba Desi was born in Wangar…

We are delighted to bring you a very special episode of Radical Australia this week, sharing it with you today on International Day of People with a Disability #IDOPWD, Sunday December 3. This week's guest is intellectual disability self-advocate, Colin Hiscoe. Colin has been an active member of self-advocacy group Reinforce for decades and his sto…

"Encouragement is a great thing in practise". We welcome back Percy Rogers to Radical Australia this week for the third and final instalment of our conversation with this amazing medical doctor who has done so much for so many across his years of medical practise in Australia. Percy worked until he was 86 years old. We take up this conversation at …

Imagine being able to boast that one of your claims to fame was getting yellow-carded in a soccer match against a young Maradona. Such has been the life of our lovely guest this week, Tommy Latupeirissa. Tommy's family comes from Maluku (Spice Islands) in Indonesia and they were a military family. Tommy was a young gun soccer player and represented…

"Advocacy never stops. It keeps going". We were treated to conversing with the lovely Ricki Spencer this week. Ricki is a trans woman, mental health and disability advocate from Footscray who has endured some really rough treatment in her life and she continues to hold her head up high. Ricki tells us that she was stigmatised and bullied throughout…

"Things are not going to change unless we do something about it. Don't sit on the sidelines. Become involved". Bevan did get involved in activism and quit his job to work on the Vietnam moratorium movement in the 1970s. It was when Bevan first went to Africa as an Australian Volunteer Abroad in 1965 that his eyes were opened to African independence…

This week's guest, Sue Smith, has been a trailblazer and a great friend to many in the disability self-advocacy space in Victoria and beyond for many years and has just recently retired. Sue leaves a great legacy. In 2008, Sue and friend began the Self Advocacy Resource Unit (SARU) at Ross House in the Melbourne CBD, an amazing resource supporting …

This week's guest, David Ayliffe, has had a busy life with lots of different projects and this made for a bit of a rowdy show! David was born in Sydney and spent many years in Queensland, at one stage working for Murdoch newspapers before joining a cult for 21 years after a born-again experience. He met his wife there and raised four children. Davi…

The lovely, bubbly, Kayla Cartledge joined us on the show this week to rally support for the YES vote and to tell us all the amazing community organising she has been up to on the Mornington Peninsula. Kayla is a Gurindji woman who grew up on Larrakia (Darwin) country, people known for their land rights activism. Kayla carries her mother's strong s…

This week's guest, Deborah Gough, started out life on a good footing, leading a school strike in Year 7 when the bubble taps didn't work on a really hot day. So they all went home. Fast forward to when she was 12 and it was then that Deborah first thought about the life of a journalist and what that could mean for her. Deborah was a clerk at The Ag…

Percy Rogers joins us again this week for Part Two of our special as we learn about his professional life as a doctor in Melbourne. Percy has done a lot to change the birthing experience for women in Australia. He was appalled at the treatment of pregnant women in hospitals many decades ago and ushered in breathing techniques that were non-existent…

This week's show is Part One in our interview series with Melbourne GP, health innovator and activist, Percy Rogers. Percy was a kindly GP to many people over many decades in Coburg and beyond, specialising in maternity health, but he started life in Western Australia in 1927. Percy grew up in Australia's experience of the Depression and the Second…

Sash Gillies-Lekakis is a bright young PhD candidate and 3CR broadcaster who loves everything Latin America. He's been to Cuba a few times already in his young life and decided to learn Spanish at university, even though he comes from a family of Crimean Russians and Greeks. It's a family joke. Sasha has always loved modern history and produces Lat…

We are all phantoms. So introduces us to this week's very interesting guest, Robert Wolfgramm. Robert has done nearly everything you can pack into doing with a life: from lecturing in philosophical anthropology and sociology, to running a newspaper in Fiji during the military coup in the 00's. Robert has an interesting family background and was bor…

Marisol Salinas from 3CR's Mujeres Latinoamericanas joins us on the show this week for our second special commemorating the 1973 coup in her homeland of Chile. Marisol hails from the far south of Chile on an island called Chiloe. Her people are the Mapuche and Marisol shares with us the trauma of her mother's life being a first nations woman and li…

3CR Chairperson, Pilar Aguilera, joins us this week to talk about the day that changed Chile forever and her personal family story that was swept up in it: September 11, 1973. The day of a militiary coup when Chile's democratically-elected, progressive government was taken over, a day that began the routine of storming houses and instilling fear am…

Use the time. Don't let the time use you. Arthur says this was the best piece of advice he received during his 8 year stint in the netherworld of Pentridge Prison and other gaols for armed robbery when he was a young, confused man. He received another piece of wisdom during his time that he says encapsulated all the study he did in his Masters of C…

We were delighted to welcome Indonesian anti-corruption activist and teacher, Todung Mulya Lubis, online from Indonesia, onto the show this week. For many decades, Todung has committed his life to talking about the truth, in his idealistic and fearless way, about corruption in his homeland of Indonesia. Todung studied law and human rights at univer…

We've been waiting to welcome Lana Woolf onto Radical Australia for some time. We first became aware of Lana's work with storytelling at a homelessness forum organised by then named Moreland Council a number of years ago. Lana is now part of the 3CR family, joining the team on PX Whanau Radio, Australia's first and only queer pacifica program, broa…

We've got another guest on the blower from Queensland this week: Ian Curr. Ian was born in a private hospital and nearly died! Lucky for his Italian doctor, the only one in the state. Ian has got up to all sorts of activist mischief in his life, including preventing freeways. Check out 'The Battle for Bowen Hills' on Vimeo. Ian was a lifelong union…

We had so much fun listening to this week's guest, Arthur Bolkas, who kept us on the edge of our seats with his tale of his armed robbing stint back in the day. Arthur was born in Carlton to parents from Lemnos, Greece, and was a top athlete in school, throwing javelin, and becoming both dux and school captain. He enrolled in Arts and Law at Melbou…

"What is the best use of me for the world?" So asks Jiselle Hanna from 3CR's Asia Pacific Currents, broadcasting every Saturday morning, who joins us this week and shares some of her life journey so far, from a childhood growing up in Coburg, where she and her sisters ruled the local pool, to a high school on the other side of town that changed her…

We were delighted to welcome 3CR legend, Robbie Thorpe, to the show this week for NAIDOC celebrations. It was a rare opportunity to hear some things about Robbie's life away from the mic and we learnt a few things about the great man. Robbie intended to be a sportsman and was a keen footballer and boxer before a trip to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy …

We are delighted to welcome Brett Collins to this week's episode of Radical Australia. Brett has done some staunch work over the years campaigning for prisoner rights. These days that takes the form of rights to digital technology and communications. Brett heads up Justice Action, which grew out of a prisoner's action group, upon release from over …

This week's guest on Radical Australia is a well-known and well-loved progressive activist who gets himself around the land quite a bit: Andy Paine. Andy says he has a restless soul and it has recently taken him to northern Iraq to witness some inspiring political action. A far cry from Mudgee, New South Wales, where Andy grew up with a bunch of ot…

This week's guest, Donna Stolzenberg, has done some amazing things for Melbourne's homeless community. Donna began the Melbourne Homeless Support Group, organising the collection of blankets and sleeping bags across 80 drop-off points. She can tell you a thing or two about 'shit people give to the homeless'. Donna also began the Melbourne Period Pr…

Our show notes tell us that this week's guest, Su Robertson, has done an enormous amount with her life in the community law sphere and elsewhere. Su began her working life as a flight attendant where she roamed the skies for over 19 years. During this time she was the State Secretary for the Flight Attendant's Union which she got involved in after …

Self-described sports nuffy, Patrick Morrow, is our latest guest on Radical Australia and we are so glad he could join us! Patrick was born in 1999, a Millenium baby, 3 months premature. Pat has certainly made up for that, rising now to a height well over 6 feet. Patrick is a producer on 3CR's Wednesday Breakfast and Talkback With Attitude when he …

Our guest on Radical Australia this week is a lovely artist and activist who called in from beautiful Gympie, Queensland. Zela grew up in the gorgeous surrounds of Hervey Bay and was into progressive grassroots organising and activism from a young age. Zela was a member of the Self Management Group, a libertarian communist organisation and was a pa…

We are joined in the studio this week by one of our charming receptioninsts, Grace Kelly. Grace has only been living in Australia and Melbourne for 18 months and has already found her way to 3CR. We're looking forward to seeing her 3CR journey. We thank Grace for sharing some of her life with us this week, including tales of many travels around the…

This week's special guest, Margaret Kelly, is holding out on being evicted from her home on the Barack Beacon estate in Port Melbourne while the Andrews Labor government seeks to knock it down from under her feet. Margaret has lived on the estate for 25 years and says it is the friendliest place she's ever lived. The buildings are structurally soun…

Tune into this week's episode of Radical Australia if you want to hear what taxes are really about and just a hint: they're not about revenue for services, as much as we've been told they are. That's just one of the enlightening bits of economic juice you will hear from this week's guest, Kevin Gaynor, co-producer and presenter on 3CR's Friday afte…

This week's guest, Holly Hammond, is the director of the Commons Social Change Library, a one-stop online directory of progressive Australian activism. Holly hails from Western Australia and was both a teenage trot and teenage anarchist, inspired by Marx at the age of 15. At age 29, she had an epiphany to dedicate her life to social movmement work …

This week's guest, Lotti Stein, is a 3CR legend, coming to the station at the wee age of 21. Lotti was a sound technician, trainer and producer and is well loved. Lotti is a '77 baby and grew up in Melbourne tormenting their younger brother. They were a self-described 'weird child', being neurodivergent but not knowing what that meant back then. Lo…