Here’s a quick taste of the in-depth radio investigation I 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 download the piece in full here

Merry Christmas everyone! To remind us all of the reason for the season, who better to talk to than the Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Lyle Shelton.

The ACL is a significant political force in Australian politics and Lyle and his team are active and determined about advocating on public policy issues from a faith perspective, from life issues to same-sex marriage to Australia’s treatment of refugees.

In the first part of this polite but passionate conversation, Lyle and I discussed the role faith should play in politics, evidence, reason, marriage, parenting and gender.

The iTunes Top Podcasts of 2015

The World Keeps Happening tour 2016

@LyleShelton

acl.org.au

Buzzfeed profile on Lyle

Kevin Andrews’ Maybe I Do

A “reality check” for the Regenerus study on gay parenting

tangledwebs.com.au

It’s An Urban Myth That Same-Sex Couples And Married Heterosexuals Have Equal Rights by Tracey Spicer

Cause of the Week: ChilOut Sydney fundraiser at Giant Dwarf Theatre

Direct download        iTunes         libsyn

Activist Ali Hogg is the Victorian convenor of national marriage equality campaign Equal Love. She’s proudly radically progressive and she’s been leading the call for same-sex marriage in Australia for over a decade.

In this chat Ali talked me through her progressive upbringing, her personal experiences with homophobia, the Socialist Alternative, the next steps in the equal marriage debate, the ethics of protest and that time she charged into a restaurant on Lygon Street to confront former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

My 2016 show The World Keeps Happening touring to Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane & Melbourne 

ChilOut Sydney fundraiser at Giant Dwarf Theatre

@alihogg99

The Socialist Alternative

Students stage a protest during Q&A

Article: Abbott not gay about dinner ambush

triple j says It Gets Better

Cause of the Week: Equal Love (equallove.info) 

Direct download          iTunes         libsyn

Respected journalist and MORTAL ENEMY OF GERARD HENDERSON (not really), David Marr is a self-described “bourgeois do-gooder”. He’s written for Fairfax Media, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper and Guardian Australia, appeared on Q&A, The Drum and Insiders and is the author of multiple in-depth profiles for the Quarterly Essay.

In this first part of our conversation, David tells me about who Bill Shorten is, Labor and the unions, why Australia is so late to progress, drugs, conservatism and right-wing commentators. Hot dang!

A Very Canberra Comedy Festival Christmas

David’s writing for Guardian Australia

David’s writing for The Saturday Paper

David’s Faction Man: Bill Shorten’s Path To Power

Cause of the Week: Maternity Worldwide (maternityworldwide.org)

Peter Reith was a member of John Howard’s cabinet from 1996 to 2001. He served as Minister for Small Business, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Defence. He’s perhaps best known for formulating the GST policy and his roles in the 1998 waterfront dispute and the “children overboard” scandal.

Peter’s just released The Reith Papers, an annotated collection of his diary entries during his time in government. Here we got to discuss (and occasionally lock horns over) the notion of humanising politicians, the recent Paris attacks, military action in the Middle East, Australia’s approach to processing refugees and the role of unions in today’s society.

Me in conversation with Darren Hanlon for MyTunes at Giant Dwarf Theatre

A Very Canberra Comedy Festival Christmas

peterreith.com.au

@peter_reith

The Reith Papers available from Melbourne University Press

Peter on The Verdict 

Peter on ABC News Breakfast with Virginia Trioli

Cause of the Week: Enterprise Victoria (enterprisevictoria.com.au), the French Red Cross (soutenir.croix-rouge.fr)

Direct download       iTunes       libsyn

Comedian, writer and activist Aamer Rahman jokes about race and detention centres and terrorism and hip-hop and comic books and cultural appropriation. Formerly of the comedy duo Fear Of A Brown Planet (with previous guest Nazeem Hussain), he now tours his stand-up internationally being very funny and very on-point.

Here Aamer articulates how the Adam Goodes controversy sums up the issues of Australia’s race problem, how he views the impact of his work, cultural appropriation, Iggy Azalea, ethnic faces on TV, Bill Maher, Cornel West and political correctness in comedy.

My gigs at the Comics’ Lounge this week

MyTunes with me and Darren Hanlon at Giant Dwarf Theatre

The A to Z of LGBT: my piece for SBS Sexuality

@aamer_rahman

Article: What Adam Goodes’ Invisible Spear Shows Us by Aamer Rahman

Aamer’s Reverse Racism routine

Buzzfeed article on Aamer and the Bollywood Industry Party

Aamer & Cornel West in Q&A

Cause of the Week: Refugees, Survivors & Ex-Detainees (riserefugee.org)

Direct download         iTunes        libsyn

Here’s a live panel on where the jolly hell Australian politics is heading at the moment, recorded at This Is Not Art 2015 in Newcastle, as part of Critical Animals. The panel featured myself, Labor Senator Sam Dastyari and academic Professor James Arvanitakis and was moderated by Alice Workman from triple j‘s Hack program.

We discussed political leadership, immigration, marriage equality and titles.

Critical Animals is a creative research symposium held annually as a part of tINA; find out more at criticalanimals.com.

My episode of Q&A in Toowoomba 

First Tuesday Comedy Club

MyTunes with Darren Hanlon

The National Young Writers’ Festival

triple j’s Hack

Senator Sam Dastyari

Professor James Arvanitakis

At just 33, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young already has eight years of experience serving as a Greens Senator for South Australia in the federal parliament. Once a protégé of Bob Brown’s, Sarah now holds the portfolios of Immigration & Citizenship, LGBTI rights and Youth, Early Childhood Education & Childcare for the Greens.

In this chat, recorded just before Sarah took to the stage at a Rally for Refugees in Melbourne, we discuss the future of her party, her path from student politician to youthful senate candidate, the 2009 CTRS decision, party donations and the horrible shit she’s seen in her visits to offshore detention centres.

The Sydney Just For Laughs Stand Up Series

Danny Bhoy at the State Theatre In Sydney

@sarahinthesen8

sarahhansonyoung.com

Article: Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young partied at Mardis Gras with taxpayer money

Sarah on The Chaser’s The Hamster Decides

Cause of the Week: Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (asrc.org.au), No Business In Abuse (nobusinessinabuse.org)

Direct download        iTunes        libsyn

It’s been almost a year since a magistrate gave whistleblower Freya Newman a two-year good behaviour bond for “unauthorized access to information” under the NSW Crimes Act. Her leaking of private information about Frances Abbott, the prime minister’s daughter, receiving a $60,000 undeclared scholarship at the Whitehouse Institute, a private design school, ignited a furious public debate about privacy, privilege and the public’s right to know.

At the National Young Writer’s Festival in Newcastle, I got to sit down with Freya and asked her to reflect on exactly how it all happened, what it’s like to be in the centre of a media shitstorm, the failings of the media’s handling of the issue, gaps in the law and whether or not she holds any regrets about the whole episode.

RJ Mitte event at the Athenaeum Theatre  

My shows at the Republic Bar in Hobart, Fresh Comedy in Launceston

Rally for Refugees this Sunday October 11th

@freyanewmn

Article on Freya: The Whistleblower

Cause of the Week: Students Support The Aboriginal Communities (on FB), Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation (dumbartungaboriginalcorporation.org), Kyol Blakeney for Cleo Bachelor of the Year