Saving the Great Forest; Egyptian Government Repression; Human Rights vs #ReligiousFreedom; Informal Settlement Mythbusting

Wednesday Breakfast

Hosted by Eiddwen, Jess, Rob and Will [segment times in brackets][16:35] Last week, concerned local community members walked into an area of State Forest at Murrundindi to protest logging. Murrundindi is included in the area promoted as part of a future Great Forest National Park and local activist Adam Fletcher says that we cannot afford to lose this area of great environmental importance. Search for Kinglake Friends of The Forest on Facebook || [31:29] In reaction to a recent spate of anti-dictatorship protests in Egypt, the authoritarian government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has taken to detaining activists, jailing dissidents and severely limiting freedom of speech online and on the streets. Deborah Brown of the Association for Progressive Communications comes on the show to call on Australians to tell our government that we want Egypt to stop the crackdown on civil society || [59:40] In response to a Religious Freedoms bill that would compromise the rights of minoritised genders, sexualities, and other groups, Amnesty International is suggesting a Human Rights Act. Tim from Amnesty suggests that Australia, being the only "Western democracy" without a legally enshrined right to freedom of speech (among other oversights), sorely needs such an Act || [1:17:56] We meet Ishita Chatterjee, an architect and PhD Candidate who is breaking down stereotypes about informal settlements, looking past the archetypes of slums and squatters