When the Albanese Government announced a Royal Commission into Robodebt, Deb Smith put the pieces together with a series of reports as the Royal Commission progresses, including an analysis of the history of the data matching program which compares tax data against social security records, its corruption by the "robodebt" policy and reports on the hearings, from a union perspective. What do we already know about what went wrong and what has the Royal Commission found?

This episode includes:

If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.

This episode was broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 23rd December 2022.

You can also listen to "The Robodebt Fiasco - Part 1", "The Robodebt Fiasco Part 2" , "The Robodebt Fiasco Part 3" or the complete collection "The Robodebt Fiasco - All Episodes"

Apply to be a guest on our show.  Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Join BMUC.

Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au.

The BMUC pays its respect to, and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

The Quiet Australian, with a few Blue Hawaiians under his belt, sends his end of 2022 greetings from the Trump Hotel in Waikiki, and shares his expectations for 2023.

If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.

This episode was broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 23rd December 2022.

Apply to be a guest on our show.  Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Join BMUC.

Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au.

The BMUC pays its respect to, and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

In this episode Jeannie Baxter take a closer look at the recent data leaks from Optus and Medibank Private and raises the question of who owns your personal data, and why do media giants like Google and Facebook believe that your online life experience belongs to them? As Jeannie discusses, the field of data collection is huge - and involves not only the data users are willing to share but also what is known as “incidental” data: the data that you wouldn’t normally share online, including things like emails, health records, trips, calendar entries, and, through targeted algorithms, your likes, dislikes, motivations, wishes, in other words your life experience. It's the wild West out there” and at present there is no set remedy for preventing leaks such as those in the recent past. At the end of the interview Jeannie suggests some organisations that listeners can turn to to help protect their own data and to address data leaks if they have occurred.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 4/11/2022. Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts..Apply to be a guest on our show. Join BMUC.

Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

In this episode Mike Holland, our legal expert, examines the new anticorruption commission legislation currently before Parliament, pointing out many of its shortcomings. of special concern is the “exceptional circumstances” rule which severely limits the opportunity for public hearings. the legislation also offers very little protection for whistleblowers, and Mike investigates the case of Richard Boyle – the ATO whistleblower who revealed some of the tactics the ATO was using to recover debt from small business owners, and Major David McBride, who uncovered illegal and unethical decisions made by the Australian government which affected Australian troops in Afghanistan. later in the program Mike discusses some of the anti-protest laws in the UK, the decline of democracy in the West and the extraordinary powers adopted by the Australian government over the past two decades.

This program was presented by Fran Dyson on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 4/11/2022. Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts..Apply to be a guest on our show. Join BMUC.

When the Albanese Government announced a Royal Commission into Robodebt, Deb Smith put the pieces together with this analysis of the history of the data matching program which compares tax data against social security records, and its corruption by the "robodebt" policy. What do we already know about what went wrong and what has the Royal Commission found?

This episode includes:

If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.

This episode was broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 21st October 2022.

You can also listen to "The Robodebt Fiasco - Part 1", "The Robodebt Fiasco Part 2" , "The Robodebt Fiasco Part 4" or the complete collection "The Robodebt Fiasco - All Episodes"

Apply to be a guest on our show.  Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Join BMUC.

Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au.

The BMUC pays its respect to, and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

When the Albanese Government announced a Royal Commission into Robodebt, Deb Smith put the pieces together with this analysis of the history of the data matching program which compares tax data against social security records, and its corruption by the "robodebt" policy. What do we already know about what went wrong and what has the Royal Commission found?

This episode includes;

If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.

This episode was broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 21st October 2022.

You can also listen to "The Robodebt Fiasco - Part 1", "The Robodebt Fiasco - Part 3" , "The Robodebt Fiasco - Part 4", or the complete collection "The Robodebt Fiasco - All Episodes"

Apply to be a guest on our show.  Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Join BMUC.

Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au.

The BMUC pays its respect to, and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

When the Albanese Government announced a Royal Commission into Robodebt, Deb Smith put the pieces together with this analysis of the history of the data matching program which compares tax data against social security records, and its corruption by the "robodebt" policy. What do we already know about what went wrong and what has the Royal Commission found?

If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.

This episode was broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 9th  September 2022.

You can also listen to "The Robodebt Fiasco - Part 2" , "The Robodebt Fiasco - Part 3", or the complete collection "The Robodebt Fiasco - All Episodes"

Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au.

The BMUC pays its respect to, and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

BMUC member Peter Lammiman discusses the Brazilian election results and the referendum on a new Chilean Constitution with Dr Rodrigo Acuña

Dr Rodrigo Acuña is a teacher, writer and expert on Latin American politics. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Politics and International Relations and Spanish/Latin American Studies from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, as well as a Diploma in Education from that same institution. In 2013 he completed a PhD on Venezuelan foreign policy after having been awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) by the Federal Government.

Rodrigo has published in numerous media and academic outlets and worked as an educator at both tertiary and secondary level. He has been interviewed in The Australian,  Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), SBS Radio (Spanish),  Al Jazeera (London), Sputnik (Montevideo), Radio Adelaide, 2ser, Venezolana de Televisión and The Wire. He currently works for the NSW Department of Education and is a contributing editor at Alborada: Latin America Uncovered. He is also the host of Alborada’s new podcast Indestructible: Latin America with Rodrigo Acuña.

Emails: [email protected]   [email protected]

If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.

This episode was broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 11th  November 2022.

Apply to be a guest on our show.  Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Join BMUC.

Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au.

The BMUC pays its respect to, and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

George Mann (US) is a songwriter's singer who would just as soon share stories and songs from the long history of folk music as sing his own songs. His concerts are singalong sessions as well as history lessons.

He will be playing at the Katoomba Family Hotel on 20th October 2022 and we thank the Family for their generous sponsorship of this event. Profits go to Blue Mountains Unions & Community to help with our activities, like Politics in the Pub, our radio show, Rights, Rorts and Rants, and these podcasts.

Tickets to his Katoomba concert can be booked via l.ead.me/GeorgeMann.

He has produced albums featuring such folk music legends as Utah Phillips, Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton, and produced national tours of the US and Australia in honour of the Almanac Singers (2013) and Joe Hill (2015).

George brings his experience as a union organiser and educator to his concerts - stories and songs about real events and the struggle for a better life.

He has played the Illawarra Folk Festival several times and performed for most of the folk clubs in Australia, and will be at the Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival and touring Australia in October 2022.

His latest CD “A World Like This” is featured at this link: https://georgemann.org/a-world-like-this/

Some songs from the CD are included in this podcast - Let the Healing Begin, We Only Turn Right Here, I Don't Miss What-His-Name At All, and They All Sang Bread and Roses.

If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts.

This episode was broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 7th October, 2022.

Apply to be a guest on our show.  Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Join BMUC.

Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au.

The BMUC pays its respect to, and acknowledges, the Darug and Gundungurra First Peoples of the Blue Mountains area and acknowledges this is Aboriginal Land that was never ceded.

Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.

In this episode Fran Dyson talks to Professor Simon Penny (University of California, Irvine) about the myth of recycling, greenwashing  and the need to take a radically different approach to consumerism and waste by maintaining what you have, and repurposing tools and materials instead of putting them in landfill.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 16/9/2022. Rights, Rorts and Rants is broadcast from 4pm to 6pm on 89.1FM or can be live streamed from rbm.org.au. If you'd like to add to the discussion, you can leave an audio comment about our show, which may be added to one of our podcasts..Apply to be a guest on our show. Join BMUC. Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Disclaimer: We seek a range of perspectives but that means that views expressed in these podcasts are not necessarily endorsed by the Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc.