I just voted in triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2015 and it made me real happy, particularly the bit at the end where I chipped in some bucks to AIME.

Good music AND supporting an Indigenous education program??? FUCK YES.

Behold my personal favourites of the year…

COURTNEY BARNETT – DEPRESTON 

BULLY – TRYING

BASENJI – CAN’T GET ENOUGH 

SUFJAN STEVENS – THE ONLY THING 

KATE TEMPEST – EUROPE IS LOST 

MY MORNING JACKET – COMPOUND FRACTURE 

GANG OF YOUTHS – MAGNOLIA 

SKRILLEX AND DIPLO – WHERE ARE U NOW? (WITH JUSTIN BIEBER) 

DARREN HANLON – TRUST YOUR FEELINGS (WHEN YOU WAKE)

TAME IMPALA – THE LESS I KNOW THE BETTER

This is something I’ve been working on for a while but have had to keep it on the DL because of intense security concerns. It’s a radio investigation I’ve put together for ABC Radio National.

In the mid-1990s, the US Air Force considered investing $7.5 million in the development of a ‘Gay Bomb’—a chemical weapon designed to alter the enemy’s sexual orientation.

When out-and-proud comedian Tom Ballard saw this story being referenced on one of his favourite TV shows, he thought it was hilarious. When he found out that it actually happened, he was gobsmacked.

So Tom decides to do some digging… and finds out a lot more than he bargained for.

After finally receiving security clearance from the very highest echelons of the American military, he can now officially bring you this unbelievable story: a story of political intrigue, secrets, betrayal, death and sex; a story that proves once and for all that truth is always stranger than fiction.

 

Listen and have your mind blown here.

This gig will be great! And is for an awesome cause! So please go! GO I SAY! GOOOOOO!

Tickets are available here.

Go!

I loved all of this. Funny and smart men who disagree with but respect each other being funny and smart together.

Proud to sign this statement from Amnesty International demanding an end to the secrecy surrounding the way our government is treating people in immigration detention.

You can join Amnesty in demanding a royal commission into ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’ here.

You can donate to Amnesty here.

I wrote a piece for SBS Sexuality on the LGBT alphabet soup.

…the slightly-less-exhilarating option that emerged around the same time is the acronym “LGBT” (“Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender”), or its now slightly unwieldy descendent, “LGBTQQIPAA” (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Questioning Intersex Pansexual Asexual Ally).

Heck, if you’re feeling particularly inclusive, why not whack a “2S” (“Two Spirits”) in there to acknowledge the tradition of some indigenous peoples that considers sexual minorities to possess both male and female spirits?

But then what about the Kink community? And Swingers? And Polyamorous People? And Bears? And Twinks? And Rice Queens? And Butches? And Femmes? And Nudists?

And Parents, who should really be in a completely different sexual class of their own so we don’t have to think about them touching each other?

I normally love a mouthful, but “LGBTQQIPAA2SKSPPBTRQBFNP” might be bordering on excessive.

Read the whole thing here.

BEGIN THE SMUGNESS #qanda pic.twitter.com/Bquo9Z2I5d

— Tom Ballard (@TomCBallard) October 26, 2015

On Monday night I hosted Q&A live from Toowoomba in Queensland. I was joined on the panel by Rural Health Minister Fiona Nash, Shadow Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland Jan Thomas, Mayor of Toowomba Paul Antonio and singer-songwriter Katie Noonan.

Things got pretty PASSIONATE as we covered everything from CSG extraction, resettling refugees in rural areas, medical marijuana, obesity and daylight savings.

You can watch back the whole thing here if you like.

I believe in all of those things and am happy to be saying welcome at the Melbourne Walk Together on Saturday October 31st.

There are walks happening all over the country; find out if there’s one near you here.