October 24, 2023

The Disability Royal Commission & Its Findings; Is China Is A Genuine Threat To Australia?; Melbourne Ghost Signs & Protecting Chiltern's Archival Heritage

2 hours 20 minutes

El Gibbs, writer, disability advocate, and editor of Bluntshovels.au joins Amy to talk about the Disability Royal Commission's final report. The commissioner's handed down their their 222 recommendations in September after extensive hearings detailing the violence, abuse, and neglect of disabled people in Australia. El analyses the Royal Commission's activities, its findings, and what should happen next. She also addresses the ongoing COVID impacts on disabled and chronically ill people who are effectively excluded from engaging with society properly and safely as almost all COVID measures have been dropped. James Curran, international editor of the Australian Financial Review and Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney, speaks in-depth about his latest essay for Australian Foreign Affairs, 'Excess Baggage: Is China A Genuine Threat To Australia?' James writes that, "Australia’s fears of China... are profoundly shaped by what is being said and discussed in Washington." Are Australia's fears largely unfounded? What are China's intentions toward Taiwan? What is the United States aiming to achieve through AUKUS? (Interview with Geoff Raby on China, as referenced). Sean Reynolds, cultural archaeologist and founder of @Melbourne_GhostSigns on Instagram, speaks about his passion for ghost signs in Melbourne and Victoria more broadly, and tells us what they reveal about our local histories. He also tells us about a community fundraising campaign for the Chiltern Athenaeum Museum building to get a climate control system. This will enable the Victorian gold rush town to protect their precious collection of items, photographs and records documenting the history of the Chiltern district and its people from the mid 1800s to the present.

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