Freelance journalist Andrew McMillen writes about all sorts of fascinating stuff. While I was in Brisbane I sat down with him to briefly discuss dead bodies and Wikipedia, but we spent most of our time focussed on getting high.

Andrew’s book Talking Smack: Honest Conversations About Drugs saw him interview big names in Australian music about their relationship with and opinions on illegal drug use. I asked him what he learnt from putting the book together and we talked about the history of drug criminalisation, the relationship between drugs and creativity, the problems with the public debate about the issue, why people take drugs, how to buy them and where he sees the conversation going next.

@andrew_mcmillen

andrewmcmillen.com

Article: How I Snuck Through Wikipedia’s Notability Test

Article: Meet The Ultimate Wikignome

Lisa Pryor’s A Small Book About Drugs

FriendlyJordies on sniffer dogs

Cause of the Week: Headspace (headspace.org.au)

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Clementine Ford is a self-described “feminist killjoy to the stars”. As a Daily Life columnist, speaker and activist, Clem is a proudly outspoken advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and a staunch critic of rape culture and all that entails.

Our conversation covered the perceptions of and challenges faced by modern-day feminism, society’s attitude towards the perpetrators and victims of rape and sexual assault, men’s role in feminism, checking one’s privilege, “rape jokes” and more.

Please note this discussion comes with a strong trigger warning; details of sexual assaults and victim blaming are mentioned.

@clementine_ford

Clementine on Tumblr

Clementine’s TED Talk: Your Vagina Is Not A Car

Opinion piece: It Was Easy For Bayley To Stalk, Rape And Murder

Article: Comedian Ray Badran Tells Audience Member To Die For Objecting To Rape Joke

My blog on rape jokes after the Daniel Tosh controversy

Opinion piece: There’s Nothing Funny About Misogyny

Opinion piece: How the Offence Debate Misses The Point Of Comedy by Helen Razer

triple j’s Hack program: Are rape jokes ever OK?  

Cause of the Week: Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre (safesteps.org.au)

Journalist and comedy writer Richard Cooke has worked with the likes of The Chaser, The Checkout, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian and The Monthly.

He gave me some of his time to sound off on Aussie hip hop, Australian political satire, the theory of “mutual obligation” and tax evasion and the role of polling in today’s politics.

@rgcooke

richardcooke.net

Matty B’s Fridays

Article: Why I Have Resigned From The Telegraph

Article: Much Obliged

Article: The People Versus The Political Class

Cause of the Week: Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org)

Ben Riley describes himself as a classical liberal, a Queenslander and a larrikin. He’s a former president of the Young Liberals and the current Vice President of the International Young Democractic Union.

We came together to find out exactly where we do and don’t agree on things like the privatisation of public assets, the State’s role in our lives, puppy farms, same-sex marriage, diversity in politics, the environment and our Prime Minister’s character.

Plus we laughed about that time he got drunk and was a bit silly.

@benrileyQLD 

Malcolm Fraser Obituary

Bootgate 2013

Cause of the Week: The Young Liberal Movement of Australia (youngliberal.org.au), Oxfam Australia (oxfam.org.au)  

Adelaide’s Welcome Centre is an initiative of Welcome To Australia, an organisation dedicated to changing the conversation around Australia’s immigration policies and to providing support to asylum seekers, refugees and new arrivals.

My guests were Kate Leaney, the Centre’s manager, and Ali, an Iranian refugee who was kind enough to share his story of fleeing his homeland and coming to Australia by boat. We discussed the notion of being welcoming, faith, children in detention, fear and hope.

My Brisbane Festival blog for The Daily Review

@welcomecentreSA

#youarewelcomehere

The Welcome Centre on Facebook

Article: Turning Back The Boats Is A Moral And Legal Failure Say Academics

Article: Goodwill Letters To Asylum Seekers On Nauru Returned Unopened 

Cause of the Week: Welcome To Australia (welcometoaustralia.org.au), @welcome2aussie

The one-and-only Arj Barker is hilarious on stage, but serious when it comes to reports and lore surrounding Unidentified Flying Objects. He told me about the cases and evidence that have influenced his thinking, the philosophy surrounding the idea of extra-terrestrials and the nature of belief.

We also covered his interest in meditation and his former life as a bit of a stoner.

@arjbarker

arjbarker.com

The Marijuana-Logues

Arj investigates UFOs for The 7PM Project

Jacques Vallée’s Passport To Magonia

President Jimmy Carter on his UFO experience

I Know What I Saw

The 1966 Westall Incident

The Ruwa, Zimbabwe Incident

The Kelly Cahill Case

Japan Airlines Flight 1628

The Pascagoula Abduction

Cause of the Week: The RSPCA on the greyhound racing industry (rspcavic.org/)

Jimblah (aka James Alberts) is a producer, MC and vocalist based in Adelaide, SA. He hails from the Larrakia Nation and on his two albums to date, Face The Fire and Phoenix, he’s produced smart, self-aware, passionate and original music.

Our conversation covered his recent philosophical evolution and the focus for his new album, pervasive racist systems, Australia/Invasion/Survival Day, love, power and eating meat.

@jimblah2500

Jimblah on Elefant Traks

Jimblah performs “March” live on triple j

Article: Hip Hop A Poor Cop In A White Man’s World

Trailer for Cowspiracy

Cause of the Week: The Hilltop Hoods Initiative (hilltophoods.com), AIME (aimementoring.com)

Quentin Kenihan is a movie star, a TV presenter and producer, friend to celebrities, disability advocate and enthusiastic Jewel fan.

Brought into the national spotlight as a 7-year-old boy with osteogenesis imperfecta (or “brittle bone syndrome”), the Q has experienced the dizzying heights (and lows) of fame, sex and drug use. As he brings his autobiographical show I’m 40…Now What? to the Adelaide Fringe, we chatted about everything from sex workers to inspiration to the late Stella Young to the death penalty to his own funeral.

I even met his dog.

@qkenihan

Frances Ryan on actors “cripping up”

Stella Young’s TED Talk

Stella Young’s memorial service

Quentin on the Osher Gunsberg podcast

Medium article on young paedophiles

Cause of the Week: The Attitude Foundation (attitude.org.au)

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Comedian, writer, TV & radio host and outspoken activist Nazeem Hussain escaped the watchful gaze of ASIO to join me in my house for a chat.

The creator and star of Legally Brown discussed comedy, the white media landscape and his intense martial arts training, as well as reflecting on his approach to Islam and his single mother’s role in fostering his commitment to helping other people.

@nazeem_hussain

The Lupe Fiasco Alien Abduction Interview

Aamer Rahman on reverse racism

John Safran’s article on Musa Cerantonio

My opinion piece on children in detention

Cause of the Week: RISE (riserefugee.org)

For an in-depth breakdown of what exactly is going on with Australia’s immigration policy and the number of laws we’re breaking, I talked to academic and advocate Senthorun Raj.

Currently completing his PhD in law at Sydney University, Senthorun has worked extensively with the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Amnesty International, ACON Health and many other organisations. Hear us discuss how his Tamil family background (and a TV show) influenced his passion for human rights, our society’s tendency to ignore certain kinds of violence and how Australia is, as we speak, complicit in state-sanctioned torture.

@senthorun 

Senthorun’s writings for The Guardian

Cause of the Week: Amnesty International, The Pinnacle Foundation 

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