Andrew Villa, a teacher, grew up in Fairfield and lives there still. He tells us about the experience of his diverse community living under some of the harshest COVID restrictions since July, and enduring the unfair and highly political "naming and shaming" of his community. Interviewed by Nick Franklin.

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 13th August 2021.

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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.

While the majority of  Sydneysiders are suffering under the lockdown, the quiet Australian reminds us that there is a group who are doing extremely well -  with house prices surging, government stimulus monies flowing freely,  and tax cuts for the wealthy  soon to be implemented,    the big end of town has  literally "never had it so good!".

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 6/8/2021. 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.

In this episode veteran ABC news reporter and author Matt Peacock discusses the reality that Covid-19  has  laid bare,  particularly during the hard lockdown of Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown,  Cumberland,  Blacktown, and  Liverpool.  These are the areas where the majority of essential workers live,  where  low paid and casual work  is concentrated,  and where low vaccination rates  are a direct result of low-wages  and insecure work.  Topics discussed include police surveillance, the militarisation of the pandemic,  government secrecy,  the unequal distribution of  stimulus packages such as Jobkeeper and their associated rorts,  and other issues relevant to lockdowns, the vaccination rollout, and the government's  broader political and economic agenda.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 6/8/2021. 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.

Rights, Rorts and Rants producer Peter Lammiman discusses the history of May Day, and talks to Rita Mallia - State President of the CFMEU - about the NSW Governments proposed demolition of the Willow Grove historic site, the draconian and undemocratic Industrial Relations laws and how they impact industrial action, threats to workers safety and the need for  industrial manslaughter leglislation and much more.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 30/4/2021. 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.

This episode features local musicians Wolf Van der Made and Sy Dyson  who, with Deb Smith and Fran Dyson, discuss some of the changes  to welfare  flagged by the Morrison government - including the cashless  welfare card.  They also talk about their music,  addiction, mental health,  insecure work and other issues  affecting young people.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 21/4/2020. 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.'s

This episode features local musicians Wolf Van der Made and Sy Dyson  who, with Deb Smith and Fran Dyson, discuss some of the changes  to welfare  flagged by the Morrison government - including the cashless  welfare card.  They also talk about their music,  addiction, mental health,  insecure work and other issues  affecting young people.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 21/4/2020. 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.'s

In this excerpt Jeannie Baxter  outlines the way that the big corporations are profiting from public private partnerships (PPP's) in the ongoing stimulus projects, funded by both state and federal governments -  that is, the taxpayer.  U onsing Westconnex  as an example, Jeannie  discusses the  influence of corporations - who are also members of both  political parties and large donors -  in the outcome of infrastructure grants,  the millions of dollars that the government has spent on  promotional advertising  connected to these projects, and the  lack of accountability in the way taxpayer funds are being spent.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 18/6/2021. 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 Rights, Rorts and Rants  legal expert Mike Holland describes the  origins of 'Cabinet in Confidence',  and increasingly, its use  by ministers including the Prime Minister, as a way of sealing documents from public, and even Parliamentary scrutiny.  As a result, the decision-making process and the formulation of policy can and is being carried out in secret,   pre-empting debate,  denying press freedom in the reporting of Parliamentary processes, and ultimately threatening the democratic process itself.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 18/6/2021. 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.

Deb Smith and Fran Dyson talk to local singer Grace Cooke from the Sydney based band Peachfield and premiere "Laneways", a track from their forthcoming album.

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 first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 27/12/19.

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.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 is joined by Warren Ross, Jeannie Baxter and Councillor Kerry Brown for a in-depth discussion about the World Economic Forum’s push for a “Great Reset”. Championed as a way of creating a equitqble and sustainable future, our panel digs down into both the propaganda machine and the corporate and governmental agendas behind it. We discuss the financialisation and digitalisation of our education and health systems, the involvement of the tech companies,  the ways that the covid pandemic acts a perfect enabler, the possibility of a Universal Basic income and what that would mean, the notion of humans as “biohazards” and ultimately redundant in a world run by AI, and much more.

This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 7/8/2020

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

Join a union - 1300 486 466 or join online.  Join BMUC.