I was very excited to be able to interview Norma Percy, an amazingly accomplished documentary filmmaker whose latest work, The Iraq War, explores the murky origins of the conflict, the machinations of the war itself and the depressing aftermath.
This was first broadcast on The Friday Daily on 2SER.
I’m back on The Daily on Friday mornings. Every week I chat to Ed Blakely, Honorary Professor in Urban Policy at the US Studies Centre (at the University of Sydney) about what’s happening stateside and around the world. Last week was particularly interesting – gun violence, the “Prison Industrial Complex” and race relations in America.
This was first broadcast on 2SER on August 23.
This week in politics was dominated by a failed bill that would have provided more public administrative funding to political parties and impose tougher rules on donations. Tony Abbott withdrew support for the bill, saying “the people have spoken”. What were the people saying? And who comes out looking the worst from this whole episode? Crikey’s man in Canberra Bernard Keane chatted to me on The Friday Daily on May 31.
Algae – Brian Goodwin (Flickr)
Finding alternative sources of energy is high on the country’s agenda – or at least it should be. Julian Cribb is a science writer who believes that Australia could feed and power itself using algal biofuels. He joined me on The Friday Daily on 2SER on May 31.
L-R Scott Sandwich, Jo Sri, yours truly and Miles Merrill.
This was the BEST FUN. Spoken word artists Scott Sandwich, Jo Sri and Miles Merrill came into the 2SER studios and performed live on the air. Their ways with words were really something.
The artists were out and about for Sydney Writers’ Festival, in collaboration with Word Travels.
This was first broadcast on May 24th’s Daily on 2SER.
This is the side of my house. Maybe there is a feast growing there!
I went exploring with Diego Bonetto, who takes city folk on tours to teach them what edible plants are growing in their own backyards. It’s all about a renewed connection to our environment, and recovering lost knowledge.
This was first broadcast on The Friday Daily on 2SER, on May 17.
I spoke to Associate Professor Claude Rakisits from Deakin University about the recent elections in Pakistan. The presumptive Prime Minister is Nawaz Sharif, although there were allegations of vote rigging from his opponent, Imran Khan. It remains to be seen how the new leader will deal with the Pakistani Taliban.
This was first broadcast on The Friday Daily on 2SER, on May 17. As of next week I will be that show’s new presenter.
(Correction from Claude: The PPP came 2nd, not 3rd.)
Last week the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) held a community conference in Redfern to call for changes to income support in tomorrow’s budget. I went along to hear all about it.
This package was originally broadcast on The Friday Daily on 2SER.
The Wikileaks Party is now registered and set to run Senate candidates in Victoria (Julian Assange himself), NSW and WA. Last week’s poll by UMR Research suggests that 26 per cent of voters would consider voting for Wikileaks.
So what’s different about the Wikileaks Party? What kind of policies can we expect to see? I spoke to National Councillor Cassie Findlay for The Friday Daily on 2SER on April 26.
Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say
This week acclaimed Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say was given a suspended 10-month sentence for blasphemy on Twitter. Although the international community was surprised that this could happen in a historically secular country, Say’s case is not an anomaly. I spoke to Jess Hill, former Middle East correspondent at The Global Mail and ABC journalist, about freedom of expression in Turkey.
This was first broadcast on The Friday Daily on 2SER on April 19, which was also my first day as a presenter of The Daily.
Lucie Heather Ethel 