What would it take for communities reliant on fossil fuels to be leaders in the climate transition? In this chat Elise Ganley, the National Lead Organiser for the Real Deal for Australia project explores how communities like Gladstone and Geelong are leading the way in designing policies that create an economic transition in ways that are shaped by their interests. Elise lives in Gladstone and grew up in regional South Australia, she tells the story of how these communities have used community organising and worked with the Sydney Policy Lab at the University of Sydney to create a community-led transition from the ground up.

For more on the Real Deal see here: https://www.sydney.edu.au/sydney-policy-lab/our-research/real-deal.html.

Host Amanda Tattersall is involved in this project and has written about it, including a discussion of the work in Gladstone and in Geelong.

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We are all different - but some of these differences are hard to see. That includes differences based on our neurodiversity or our mental health. This conversation is with Jacinta Dietrich the co-host of the Differently Brained podcast. She is autistic and has lived with the challenges of mental health. She co-created a podcast to make a space for people to share how they live differently.

Jacinta shares openly about her neurodivergence and the community she has created. We also have a lovely chat about changemaking - and the power that “small” change, like one to one conversations can bring to changing the world.

You can find out more about the Differently Brained podcast here: https://differentlybrainedpodcast.podbean.com/, where there are links to episodes. The podcast can be found on all the podcast apps.

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If you are in Australia you might have heard of GetUp, or if you are in the United States you probably know about MoveOn - but you might not be aware that these kinds of digital advocacy movements operate in 20 countries around the world. These groups are linked through a global network called OPEN (Online Progressive Engagement Network) and today we talk with Nina Hall who has written the book about how the network works! 

We explore what makes these organisations similar and how their work differs across the world. We talk about a big debate inside the network - about having their campaigns between being led by member preferences and being stewarded by staff. This is a chat we at ChangeMakers particularly enjoyed as our host, Amanda Tattersall helped found GetUp in Australia. 

If you have been getting emails from one of these organisations - come and have a listen to how they work! 

For more on ChangeMakers check us out: 

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org 

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On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Making change is be invaluable, but without resources it is hard to do. This episode digs into the question of how to raise money to make changemaking happen. We talk with Martha McKenzie the Executive Director of the Civic Power Fund in the United Kingdom. The Civic Power Fund is dedicated to raising resources for community organising - providing seed grants and creating understanding amongst philanthropists of the particular power that organising can create. This Chat digs into how they have done this and some of the obstacles they have encountered. It is a tour de force about all things organising, and it demonstrates the power of using the principles of organising to ‘disorganise and reorganise’ philanthropy.

In the Chat Martha mentions a few ideas which you can find out more about here:

Jane McAlevey - there is a ChangeMaker Chat with Jane that you can find here.

Scale - the article that our host Amanda Tattersall wrote is here

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

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It’s been one year since the Australian Federal Election that swooped an unprecedented number of community independents into the House of Representatives, and it’s been 10 years since that “Voices for” movement started. In celebration of Voices for Indi, we are sharing this Chat with Nick Haines - in case you missed it (ICYMI). Nick worked on Cathy McGowan’s campaign and his mum Helen Haines is the current member for Indi.

In this conversation he shares the long story of how community independents used community organising techniques like kitchen table conversations to build an independent electoral base in Australia.

The Voices for Indi group has just released a new book called The Indi Way - and you can find out more about it here - https://voicesforindi.com/.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

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On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts

In the 2022 Australian Federal Election the Greens won an unprecedented number of seats in Queensland - producing what came to be known as the “Green Wave.” Max Chandler-Mather

was at the centre of that movement - and is now the current Member for Griffith. In this conversation he shares how the Queensland Greens translated community organising techniques into an electoral force.

He shares his unusal story into the Greens, as someone who was frustrated and disenchanted by traditional electoral politics. But gentrification and the Brisbane floods

changed his perspective, and he was encouraged to try and use lessons from political parties like Podemos and social movements around the world in the electoral arena.

Max goes into detail about how the Greens successfully organised, using door knocking, training programs and issue education sessions to create a space for political education

and movement building. He talks openly about the challenges of electoral politics, and how important it is for candidates and parties to be held accountable to the people that elected them.

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https://changemakerspodcast.org

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Australia is in the middle of a national conversation that could transform our relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. But how much do you know about the long story that sits behind the Voice to Parliament referendum?

Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man, born on Larrakia country in Darwin. He shares with us his journey into union activism and Indigenous struggle. This chat explores what it was like to be part of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the community movement following it. He talks about the power and importance of the Federal Labor Government’s commitment to a national referendum to change the Australian Constitution and create a Voice to Parliament in late 2023.

Thomas has written five books, and you can find out about them here. His latest book released in May 2023 with Kerry O’Brien called “The Voice to Parliament Handbook” is available via all major book distributors (see here). Thomas is on tour talking about the book and the dates and tickets can be found here.

There are lots of organisations campaigning for a yes vote, including:

https://yes23.com.au/ (space to volunteer)

https://togetheryes.com.au/ (supporting kitchen table conversations)

https://ulurustatement.org/training/#/ - a learning platform about the voice and the Uluru Statement from the Heart

The Voice is a produce of a powerful collaborative process led by and for Indigenous Australians that culminated in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

You can find out more about ChangeMakers:

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Few people have been as effective at agitating for a stronger climate and environment movement as Bill McKibben. He has consistently pushed new strategies and thinking in the battle to save our natural environment and our climate.

In celebration of his agitator spirit, we are re-sharing this #InCaseYouMissedIt episode with Bill McKibben recorded in June 2022. In this chat Bill shares how he found change making through a love of the natural environment and writing - and the lessons he has taken from the kind of movements he has helped bring to life, like 350.org and Third Act.

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Australian of the Year Grace Tame talks with us about her journey into change making and the challenges she has encountered. She talks about the power of even small action, and the impact that petitions had in the #LetHerSpeak movement. She talks about how the pathway to making change can be uneven, made difficult by the experience of trauma. It is a wide ranging conversation where, with a full heart, Grace shares some of the qualities that have made her a fierce advocate for change.

Grace’s book “Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner: a memoir” is available here.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

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Today we talk with Claire O’Rouke - a former journalist, climate campaigner and author of Together We Can - about the diverse and creative grassroots movement of people around Australia taking action to respond to the threat of climate change. Together We Can canvassed over 70 stories of Australians who have developed novel community based responses to help our climate, defying the logic that you need to be a scientist or a politician to make a difference, We unpack how people have sought to overcome challenges like climate distress and what Claire has learnt about what goes into the most successful forms of change.

For more information about Together We Can visit: https://claireorourke.com/new-book-together-we-can/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

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On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts