Mel Yuan has run for local council three times — now she's stepping up to contest the Victorian state seat of Brunswick as a community independent. In this episode, Mel joins Owen and Peter to unpack what actually pushed her from playgrounds to Parliament, and why she thinks more "loonies" should put themselves forward for office.We get into:🏛️ Why Trump 2.0 and the Bondi attack were the wake-up call that convinced her to run🧸 Her origin story — going from pram-pushing mum comparing local playgrounds to council candidate💸 Decades of privatisation — public housing, aged care, childcare, and prisons handed to contractors and consultants🏗️ The "fiscal vertical imbalance" — how federal funding schemes have gutted what local government can actually do🗣️ Council code of conduct rules, free speech, and whether calling someone "a silly old bugger" should be a sackable offence🎯 Why she's positioning herself as a centrist — and copping "technocrat" as a fair-ish label🟢 Why the Greens only ever talk to themselves, and what a real cross-party forum should look likeIf you're in Brunswick, Princes Hill, Carlton North, or Fitzroy North — or just want to see what an independent, self-funded, low-fi campaign actually looks like from the inside — this one's for you.👍 Like and subscribe if you want more of these grassroots conversations💬 Know someone who'd be a great guest? Get in touch#Brunswick #VicVotes #independent #Auspol

Drew Wolfendale, President of the Fusion Party, returns to the show for round two. We cover Fusion's approach to the upcoming Victorian state election, why Drew rejects the "block One Nation" style of politics, and the real difference between aspirational and regressive populism. Drew also makes the case against a "take all ideas and sort them out later" approach to party platforms, and explains why Fusion leans on evidence and research rather than populist taglines — without becoming a technocracy in the process.If you missed our previous chat with Drew, that's available at https://youtu.be/D8ejhFlQm8o#auspol #reignitedemocracy #politics

Owen and Peter sit down with Nick Willis from Rising Tide — the direct action group that has been blockading the Port of Newcastle with kayaks for three years running, growing from 3,000 to nearly 8,000 participants.We get into:

⚓ The Newcastle blockades — how two people in a dinghy turned around two massive coal ships, and what that actually achieves beyond optics

💰 The 78% fossil fuel export tax — Rising Tide's demand to fund a fair transition for Hunter Valley coal workers, and whether that's rewarding bad behaviour or just good policy

🏛️ Section 214A and the NSW anti-protest laws — Nick is currently facing charges from the 2024 blockade, with test cases already winning in court and costs being pursued

🌍 The ANZ bank campaign — the only Big Four bank yet to rule out funding the North West Australia Pipeline, which would unlock fracking in the Beetaloo Basin and potentially double Australia's annual carbon emissions

🤝 The Gaza-climate crossover — how Rising Tide navigated supporting the Palestine movement while maintaining its identity as a climate organisation

🏗️ Political jujitsu — Nick's argument that government crackdowns on protest actually build movement power rather than suppress it#climate #climateaction #coal #politics #auspol #grassroots #grassrootsmovement #grassrootsmovements #blockade #port

Owen and Peter are joined by Alice — a pseudonymous cybersecurity expert with decades of experience working across government departments and private sector contractors — to dig into the uncomfortable truth about Australia's digital security landscape.We cover:* The government talent drain — why cybersecurity experts consistently earn two to three times more through private contractors than in direct government roles, and why this has hollowed out in-house IT capability across federal departments* The ASD's cyber response hotline — what actually happens when Australian companies get hacked, and why Alice has often found herself doing the same post-breach analysis with the same departments six to twelve months apart* Data privacy and the $1M revenue loophole — how Australia's privacy legislation leaves small businesses (cafes, restaurants, property agents) sitting on mountains of personal data with effectively no security obligations* The Palantir problem — how the Australian government is handing sensitive data to US-owned cloud providers and contractors, and why that's a fundamental sovereignty issue* Operation Ironside and the Anom app — how law enforcement ran a backdoored encrypted messaging platform used by criminals for years (Dark Wire is recommended reading)* Heartbleed and the open source funding crisis — why critical internet infrastructure is often maintained by one person working for free, and what the government could do about it* The case for an Australian open source OS — following France's lead in reducing dependency on Microsoft#cybersecurity #infosec #auspol #politics

The founder of the Omni Party joins Owen and Peter to discuss a recent controversy about new Gazans and what his stance actually is.Andrew explains how his certification program can help with humanitarian efforts for building peace in the Middle East.

Metin Pekin is the author of a recent book, Breaking Democracy's Chains. He joins Owen and Peter to discuss the problems with modern democracy, especially the phenomenon of parties no longer being compelled to represent their constituents.

https://www.metinpekin.com/

Kammy Cordner-Hunt is a candidate for the Fusion Party and has written a Masters' Thesis on the unaccountability of multi-national corporations.In this chat, we explore how these corporations cause refugees and what we can do to resist the evil around us.

Andrew Andreou is the founder of the Omni Party, a nascent party open to accepting all political ideas that arise.

Jess Robertson is from the Koala Alliance, a group pressuring governments at all levels to implement favourable policies for koalas and their habitats.

Jeremy Lawrence is the founder of Streets Alive Yarra, an organisation championing policies for more accessible transport and more harmonious neighbourhoods 🏡🏢🌈

· Streets Alive Yarra : https://streets-alive-yarra.org/about/· Suggestions for increasing revenue, i.e. how to pay for it: https://streets-alive-yarra.org/revenue/· Broad community support: https://streets-alive-yarra.org/community-support/· The social life of small urban spaces: https://streets-alive-yarra.org/journal/the-social-life-of-small-urban-spaces/