Thursday Breakfast

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Anti-Zionist Jewish author and transgender educator Nevo Zisin spoke with us about organising amongst members of the Jewish community in so-called Australia in solidarity with Palestine against Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. Groups including Loud Jew Collective, Jews Against Fascism, Jews Against the Occupation and Tzedek Collective as well as Jewish comrades in Mparntwe/Alice Springs have been engaged in solidarity actions across the country putting their bodies on the line to demand an end to colonial violence against Palestinians and to fight alongside them for liberation. Listeners, whether Jewish or not, are invited to join Jews Against Fascism and Loud Jew Collective at a gathering tonight at Parliament Gardens from 6PM calling again for an end to the genocide of Palestinians and an immediate ceasefire.// Mohamed Semra, Founder & CEO of Endeavour Youth Australia (EYA), talks about the current crisis in Sudan where over 5 million people have been displaced, and the diaspora impacts in his communities. Mohamed has campaigned and advocated on issues such as climate change, racial equality and the importance of having decision makers that represent and reflect the people that they are serving. A former local council candidate, Mohamed was able to bring many community concerns to the surface of the political debate. He is also the Vice-chair at Melbourne Sudanese Youth. Mohamed was a state finalist for the 2023 Young Australian of the Year and received Liberty Victoria's Young Voltaire Human Rights Award for his advocacy for young people and vulnerable communities.// Emma Bacon, founder and executive director of Sweltering Cities, joined us to discuss the campaign to win heatwave safe homes for renters in Australia and to tell us about tonight's panel discussion about heat stress in rental homes, which Priya will be speaking on. Sweltering Cities is a grassroots campaigning organisation working with communities in some of Australia's hottest suburbs to fight for more liveable, equitable and sustainable cities. Find out more about tonight's panel event, which will be held at Trades Hall from 6-7:30PM, here.// Dr Sue Wareham, President of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, speaks with us about the health and medical system impacts of the occupation, genocide, and ethnic cleansing of occupied Gaza. MAPW is a professional not-for-profit organisation that works to promote peace and disarmament, aiming to reduce the physical and psychological impact, as well as environmental effects of occupation and war throughout the world.// Songs//Ramadan - R3D (Prod. Al Nather)

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// We listen to the final of a three part conversation between Spike and climate activist James from Blockade Australia. Blockade Australia is an organising network established in response to Australia's political and economic systems, and others like it globally, who are facilitating the collapse of the ecosystems that support all human and non human life. Last week we learnt from James that Direct action is synonymous with Blockade Australia and that it is aimed directly at industrial polluters and extractors. He also shared that he believes the major obstacles to achieving a socially and environmentally just world are systemic, connected to how information (scientific data) is produced and disseminated and "catastrophe fatigue" or trauma. Spike and James agreed that primary industry corporations have succeeded in convincing the public that climate degradation is due to individual consumption. Jamess also indicated that he believes that the promotion of activism on social media is a positive and effective way to promote the efforts of the activist community. Listen back to part one here and part two here.// Scott Drummond, Program Manager at the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, joined us to discuss a statement produced in collaboration with RMIT and supported by 77 health and community agencies highlighting the dire need for a drug checking and enhanced public alert system to be implemented in Victoria. The statement was published on Monday the 23rd of October, and you can read it here. VAADA is the peak body representing Alcohol and Other Drug services in Victoria.// This morning we will be speaking to Anne Wilson, CEO of Emerge Australia - the leading national patient organisation for ME/CFS in Australia. Emerge Australia works to drive policy change and is committed to ensuring that the needs and concerns of Australians living with ME/CFS and Long COVID are heard and addressed. Emerge Australia is currently recruiting people with post-infection diseases to join collaborative research efforts with universities to find a cure for complex illnesses. To learn more about ME/CFS, and hear people with lived experience of illness share their stories, listen to Emerge Australia’s Imagine Podcast.// Approximately a month ago the state government announced its plan to demolish all 44 public housing towers in Naarm/Melbourne, stating that the leasing of the public land to developers and proposed rebuild of "social housing" will improve housing availability. In reality, this will lead to the major dislocation of the lives of around 10,000 people from marginalised communities, who learnt about the life changing policy change only 24 hours prior to the announcement through a letter that was shoved underneath their door. To discuss the successful passing of a Merri-bek Council motion to oppose the demolition we spoke with Socialist Alliance activist and Merri-bek Councillor Sue Bolton.// Jamal Nabulsi, a diaspora Palestinian writer and scholar living on unceded Jagera and Turrbal Country, joins us to speak about his writing on Palestinian sovereignty and Indigeneity. This conversation builds on some of Jamal's published work, situating these political claims about Palestinian identity in relation to the present genocidal siege of Gaza by Israel and exploring the importance of Palestinian scholar-activism and the long history of solidarity between Palestinians and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. You can read Jamal's paper 'Reclaiming Palestinian Indigenous Sovereignty', published open access in the Journal of Palestine Studies, here. Jamal will be in conversation with a brilliant selection of scholar activists in the November Symposium on Blackfulla Palestinian Solidarity.//

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Sue-Anne Hunter, proud Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman and Deputy Chair and Commissioner of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, joined us to discuss the recent commencement of the Commission's inquiry into land, sky and waters. This phase in the process of truth-telling aims to explore the issue of land injustice in Victoria, with the Commission's findings to inform law, policy and education reform as well as the drafting of future treaties between First Peoples and the Victorian Government. You can find out more about the work of the Commission, including about making submissions to the present inquiry, by heading to yoorrookjusticecommission.org.au// We heard the second instalment of a three part interview with climate activist "James" from Blockade Australia. Blockade Australia is an organising network established in response to the destruction of the ecosystems that support all human and non human life. The network is working to build a political movement that can physically resist Australia's planet destroying operations with disruptive and targeted action that shuts down the everyday functioning of this machine. In today’s segment, Spike asked James about how important direct action is to achieving an environmentally and socially just world, and what the main obstacles are to achieving this. They also discussed the general public's apparent suspicion of scientific data, the public information battle and whether the corporate world has succeeded in convincing the community that individual consumption is responsible for environmental degradation.// AJ from Melbourne Activist Legal Support joined us to talk about the recent points of concern legal observers and attendees witnessed at the Free Palestine Rally in Naarm on the 15th of October 2023. They described some of the observations MALS recorded at the event regarding heightened police surveillance, and shared advice about how to keep safe at upcoming events.// Anti-poverty advocate Robert joined us to discuss his personal experiences and analysis of social security ineligibility and poverty in Australia as part of a discussion focused on Antipoverty Week, which is running from the 15th to the 27th of October. Robert is disabled and works a casual job that is not sufficient to cover his basic expenses, but is currently ineligible for social security income because of his partner's income. Last year, he authored the blog 'Poverty 101: A Beginner's Course'. Robert will be sharing more of his story and his analysis of what needs to change in an upcoming piece for the Power to Persuade blog's special Antipoverty Week series moderated by Antipoverty Centre.// Songs// Nada - Clarissa Bitar//

Building Unity Against Fascism study circle, Palestinian solidarity with Muhib Nabulsi, Jesse Noakes on housing justice for Aboriginal families, Trasharama A-Go-Go Film Festival, Blockade Australia  Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// 

In our first conversation, we will be learning more about Building Unity Against Fascism; a six session study circle co-hosted by Radical Women and Freedom Socialist Party in Reservoir. Immersed in the daily fight against racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-trans bigotry, and labor exploitation, Radical Women believes in multi-issue organising around the needs of the most marginalised. The Freedom Socialist Party is a feminist, working-class organisation, fighting for an end to all capitalist exploitation and oppression. Register and find out more about the Building Unity Against Fascism study circle here.// Muhib Nabulsi is a Palestinian writer, editor, filmmaker and activist living in exile on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Eastern Kulin Nation. He joins us today to speak about the fight for Palestinian liberation and solidarity. Muhib mentioned the following in the interview with Inez, following the Black People's Union and RMIT University's partnerting with ''so called Israel'' arms company Elbit Systems, and showing up for the Palestinian Solidarity Rally this Sunday 12pm at the State Library Victoria in Naarm (so called Melbourne).​// ​Housing justice campaigner Jesse Noakes caught up with Priya earlier this week to discuss the campaign to stop the Western Australian government's Department of Communities from evicting Aboriginal families from public housing and into homelessness. While public housing is frequently referred to as the benchmark for secure rental tenancy in Australia, the Stop Evicting Families campaign highlights how state and territory governments can choose to end public housing tenancies with no reason, process for challenge or sufficient notice to tenants. These decisions are disproportionately made about Aboriginal families in Western Australia's public housing sys​tem, and Jesse speaks about the dire consequences for families as well as their fight to end arbitrary evictions. Find out more about the campaign by heading to StopEvictingFamilies.org, and keep an eye out for news later today about one family's racial discrimination complaint about their eviction notice from public housing, which is currently under investigation by the Australian Human Rights Commission.​// ​We will also be having a phone conversation with the founder of the Trasharama A-Go-Go Australian Short Film Festival Dick Dale. Trasharama A-Go-Go Film Festival caters to the low-budget/no-budget end of the movie market focusing on genre films (Horror/Sci Fi) under 15 minutes in length, it is being held at the Nova Cinema this weekend and Dick is in Naarm/Melbourne to host the festival and screen his feature "Ribspreader". We will be talking to Dick about the video nasty genre, the Trasharama A-Go-Go film festival and his feature "Ribspreader".​// ​Blockade Australia is an organising network established in response to the destruction of the ecosystems that support all human and non human life. The network helps to build a political movement that can physically resist Ausrtralia's planet destroying operations with disruptive and targetted action that shuts down the everyday functioning of this machine. Today we will hear the first instalment of a three part conversation with "James" an activist from Blockade where we discuss Blockades mission, the reasons he got involved with the organisation, the role a commitment to social and environmental justice plays in Blockades work and the importance of direct action.​//

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Refugee women Geetha Ramachandran and Ghazaleh Ghaed Rahmati along with unionist and organiser Lavanya joined us to speak about their involvement in the march by a group of refugee women from Melbourne to Canberra to fight for visa equality and raise awareness about the plight of around 12,000 refugees left in limbo by the Australian Government’s failure to issue Permanent Protection Visas. Geetha Ramachandran came to Australia in 2013 with her husband and two children. She is a community childcare educator and teacher at a Tamil language community school, as well as a co-founder of Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality. Ghazaleh Ghaed Rahmati is an Iranian women who came to Australia when she was 14, and is now 26. While training as a dental assistant, she experienced the impact of visa rejection on her university education, her and her family’s wellbeing, and how the unfair and inhumane decisions of the Australian government cause grief and hurt to refugees. You can sign the petition supporting the Refugee Women’s Walk for Freedom here, and support them on their journey by donating to their fundraiser.// Earlier this week, Spike visited the public housing estate on Wellington Street in Collingwood and caught up with resident Valentina about the propose demolition of the towers, as well as the importance of drop-in health services for estate residents.// Josh Cullinan, Secretary of the Retail and Fast Food Workers' Union or RAFFWU, joined us to to talk about the upcoming national strike of supermarket workers at sector giants Woolworths and Coles in the face of the companies' failure to commit to providing employees with fair pay, job security and safe workplaces. The strike will take place on Saturday the 7th of October, with industrial action set to begin at 10AM. Support the RAFFWU strike fund for supermarket workers by heading to chuffed.org/project/superstrike.// Lawyer, youth worker, film maker, and comedian Will Crawford spoke with us today about his new show ‘'Rocksteady Baby', which traverses the surreal, absurd, cheeky, and the occasionally serious, exploring how to write a comedy about an invisible disability. Will has just returned to Melbourne after 15 years of living in Darwinm, and is an experienced standup and sketch comedian. ‘Rocksteady Baby’ covers a strangely optimistic journey through some dark times, and is running across October at TIC on Swanston Street. Find out more and get tickets here.//Yesterday, Spike visited the Kathleen Syme Library in Carlton and heard from Dee and Jenny about the production of a fantastic peer-produced and designed zine for people with lived or living experience of homelessness called ‘Need To Know’, which shares useful resources for people sleeping rough in Melbourne’s CBD. ‘Need to Know’ is produced in partnership between people with lived experience, local council and the Kathleen Syme Library, and community health services. The production process provides a safe, inclusive and supportive environment for people who have had traumatic or challenging experiences of homelessness to join together to produce a resource that may be of use to others, while giving them the opportunity to view their lived experience in a more positive light in the company of peers.//

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Earlier this week, Spike and Priya visited the Hoddle Street public housing estate and spoke with resident Sim, who has been living in one of the towers for 7 years. In this interview, Sim reflected on last week's announcement by the Victorian State Government that all 44 public housing towers in the Greater Melbourne area have been slated for demolition and redevelopment in the coming decades. Sim spoke about how the announcement was delivered to residents and discussed the stress and uncertainty this has caused.// Last week we caught up with Izzy Brown, a public housing walk-up resident, local community organiser and artist, to talk about the launch of the Resident Frequency Recording Studio out of the Hoddle Street public housing towers' community centre. We heard from Izzy prior to the announcement that the towers were to be redeveloped, so today we spoke with her again about what this announcement means for various communities and local culture at the estate.// On Tuesday, Spike and Priya also caught up with Christopher Sprake, Community Development worker at The Wellington, a community organisation that services the Wellington Street public housing tower. Chris was able to briefly speak about the public housing redevelopment announcement from a community worker perspective, noting the lack of information provided to both residents and workers by the Victorian Government either before or immediately after Victoria's Housing Statement was made public.// Louisa Bassini, Acting Director of Legal Practice at Inner Melbourne Community Legal, joined us to speak about the implications of the Victorian government's public housing tower redevelopment plan from a community legal sector perspective, and shared some information about the rights of public tenants. Inner Melbourne Community Legal is the service that represents clients on the North Melbourne, Flemington, Kensington and Carlton public housing estates. Louisa previously represented clients being relocated from the Abbotsford St and Walker St estates as part of the Public Housing Renewal Program and has worked on housing and tenants’ rights issues for about 15 years.// Professor Libby Porter and Dr David Kelly, housing researchers based at RMIT's Centre for Urban Research, joined us in the station to situate the Victorian Government's public housing tower redevelopment plan within a longer history of scholarship and independent evaluations of previous processes of public housing renewal in Melbourne, presenting a critical analysis of the process and its impact on public housing estate communities, the roll-back of government provision of housing, and the ripple effects in the broader landscape of tenancy in the state. Libby, David, Priya and colleagues Dr Iris Levin, Dr Liam Davies and Professor Kate Shaw published an explainer breaking down last week's Victoria's Housing Statement - you can read it here.//

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Fighting for Banaba Part 3//Last week, Priya caught up with Professor Katerina Teaiwa and Itinterunga Rae Banteiti to discuss the colonial history of phosphate mining on Banaba and the fight by Banabans for reparations and an end to extraction. This conversation occurs in the context of a recent push by Australian mining company Centrex, which has sought to conduct phosphate prospecting activities on the island under the greenwashing premise of “rehabilitation.” This week, you will hear third segment a three-part interview with Katerina and Rae - listen back to parts 1 and 2 here.// Katerina is an interdisciplinary scholar, artist and award winning teacher of Banaban, I-Kiribati and African American heritage born and raised in Fiji. She is Professor of Pacific Studies in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Rae is of Banaban and Kiribati origins and was raised and educated in Fiji. Rae’s environment and social justice work are linked to Kiribati people’s histories and the extent of environmental degradation caused by extensive mining.// You can find the petition started by the Banaban community on Rabi Island, Fiji, which demands a defence of Banaban rights and the prevention of any further mining of the island, below. There are also links to further information about the impacts of mining on Banaban people and their tireless campaigning to protect and restore Banaba.// Sign the Petition: STOP CENTREX MINING ON BANABA, DEFEND BANABAN RIGHTS, AND CHALLENGE THE RABI ADMINISTRATORArt Exhibit Brings Banaban Human Rights Struggles to Global Stage [article]Forced Displacement, Banaba, and the Right to Life with Dignity [article]Why you must see Project Banaba – an Exhibition by Katerina Teaiwa [article]We are the Fiery Canoe Foundation [video] Driving the Nazis out of Melbourne//Ellie from Campaign Against Racism and Fascism joined us to talk about an upcoming protest event that CARF is holding to drive the nazis out of so-called Melbourne! A few weeks ago, we had fellow CARF member Jasmine on to discuss this upcoming rally, but since then we've seen some successful anti-fascist resistance to attempted neo-nazi intimidation of a fundraiser event last Friday at Cafe Gummo in Thornbury. Today, Ellie will continue the discussion about the importance of broad-based anti-fascist resistance, let us know about the speak-out held this past Tuesday at Gummo, and remind listeners about details of the protest coming up this Saturday the 23rd of September, meeting at 2PM at the IGA in Sunshine West.// Dementia Action Week 2023//Maree McCabe AM, CEO and Board Member of Dementia Australia, joined us today for Dementia Action Week 2023, which runs from 18-24 September and includes World Alzheimer’s Day on Thursday 21 September, to talk about stigma, discrimination, and lack of awareness of dementia. A recognised leader in the health and aged care, Maree brings more than twenty years’ experience across the health, mental health and aged care sectors. If you live with dementia or are the family member, friend or carer of someone who does and would like further information or advice about dementia, you can call the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500 for free support 24/7. // National Union of Students on the Housing Australia Future Fund//The National Union of Students supported putting pressure on the federal government to introduce a rent cap to address housing stress experienced by students. Recently, however, the Greens backflipped on withholding support for the Housing Australia Future Fund after getting a commitment for extra spending on social housing from the Labor government, reducing the pressure to introduce a rent cap. To discuss how this contributes to the housing stress faced by students, impacts federal housing policy and influences their campaigning in the future we were joined by National Union of Students’ Education Officer Xavier Dupe. During the interview, Xavier mentioned the NUS Education Office’s ‘Get A Room’ campaign to fix the rental crisis - find out more here.// Building Community with Resident Frequency Recording Studio//Earlier this week, Spike caught up with Izzy Brown to congratulate her on the launch of the latest grassroots community project she has been involved in called the Resident Frequency Recording studio. Located at the old men’s shed at 253 Hoddle St Collingwood, the Resident Frequency Recording Studio is an important local community controlled resource that should be celebrated, and Izzy spoke to us about its launch on Sunday September 17th, the importance of building free, safe and inclusive community spaces, and shared the local community's hopes to develop autonomous skillshare and mentoring programs from the Collingwood public housing estate site.//

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Science Owes Us An Apology Part 2Professor Glenn McLaren lectures in Philosophy, Media and Society at Swinburne University, and in Science Week 2017 wrote the article "Science Owes Us an Apology" that discussed how science has been separated from the humanities, and the impact this has had on critical thought. Spike sat down with Glenn for a two part conversation where he was asked who science owes an apology to, what it owes an apology for and what needs to happen for society to develop the wisdom required to overcome crises like climate change. We played part two of the discussion during today’s show, and you can listen back to part one here. You can find more articles from Glenn on his Substack.// Fighting for BanabaEarlier this week, Priya caught up with Professor Katerina Teaiwa and Itinterunga Rae Banteiti to discuss the colonial history of phosphate mining on Banaba and the fight by Banabans for reparations and an end to extraction. This conversation occurs in the context of a recent push by Australian mining company Centrex, which has sought to conduct phosphate prospecting activities on the island under the greenwashing premise of “rehabilitation.” This week, you will hear the first two segments of a three-part interview with Katerina and Rae - stay tuned next week to catch the final part of this conversation.// Katerina is an interdisciplinary scholar, artist and award winning teacher of Banaban, I-Kiribati and African American heritage born and raised in Fiji. She is Professor of Pacific Studies in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Rae is of Banaban and Kiribati origins and was raised and educated in Fiji. Rae’s environment and social justice work are linked to Kiribati people’s histories and the extent of environmental degradation caused by extensive mining.// You can find the petition started by the Banaban community on Rabi Island, Fiji, which demands a defence of Banaban rights and the prevention of any further mining of the island, below. There are also links to further information about the impacts of mining on Banaban people and their tireless campaigning to protect and restore Banaba.//Sign the Petition: STOP CENTREX MINING ON BANABA, DEFEND BANABAN RIGHTS, AND CHALLENGE THE RABI ADMINISTRATORArt Exhibit Brings Banaban Human Rights Struggles to Global Stage [article]Forced Displacement, Banaba, and the Right to Life with Dignity [article]Why you must see Project Banaba – an Exhibition by Katerina Teaiwa [article]We are the Fiery Canoe Foundation [video] LGBTQA+SB Crisis Support AccessListeners, please be aware that this discussion contains mention of suicide. If you need support, you can call LifeLine on 13 11 14. For First Nations specific support, call 13Yarn on 13 92 76, and for LGBTIQA+ support you can call QLife on 1800 184 527.// Katherine Johnson joined us to discuss the recent report: “Understanding LGBTQA+SB suicidal behaviour and improving support: insight from intersectional lived experience.” This report is a collaboration between researchers Katherine Johnson, Nicholas Hill, Vanessa Lee-Ah Mat, and partners specialising in LGBTQIA+ community support and lived experience of suicide; Switchboard Australia and Roses in the Ocean.// Songs//Love Like Water - Leah Flanagan//

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Yoorrook Commissioner Travis Lovett is a proud Kerrupmara/Gunditjmara man who has spent his life advocating for truth and justice for First Peoples. Commissioner Lovett has held senior leadership roles in the Victorian Public Service, including as Executive Director and Acting Deputy Secretary, First Peoples State Relations, at the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and has played a key role in supporting Victoria in Treaty and Truth telling. He joined us today to talk about 'Yoorrook for Justice: Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems', which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, making recommendations to the Victorian Government to transform child protection and criminal 'justice' systems to address systemic injustice against First Peoples.// Professor Glenn McLaren lectures in Philosophy, Media and Society at Swinburne University, and in Science Week 2017 wrote the article "Science Owes Us an Apology" that discussed how science has been separated from the humanities, and the impact this has had on critical thought. We sat down with Glenn for a two part conversation where he was asked who science owes an apology to , what it owes an apology for and what needs to happen for society to develop the wisdom required to overcome crises like climate change. We played part one of the discussion during today’s show. You can find more articles from Glenn on his Substack.// Professor of Practice in Environmental Wellbeing at the University of Sydney Melissa Haswell joined us to discuss the findings of a recently-released report investigating the human health and wellbeing impacts of the fossil fuel industry. The report, co-authored by Melissa, Jacob Hegedus and Professor David Shearman, synthesises peer-reviewed academic evidence of the myriad direct and indirect risks to human health and wellbeing posed by oil and gas developments and highlights some serious concerns about the immediate health impacts of oil and gas extraction and processing for people and the environment, as well as their downstream contributions to the climate emergency. You can read a co-authored article about the report's findings and access the report here. You can also watch the report's launch on the 4th of September at the Sydney Law School here.//Dr Meg Mundell is a Naarm/Melbourne based author, social researcher and advocate whose work has explored themes of social inclusion, belonging, nature, homelessness, and spatial justice. Meg's work includes editing a collection of stories of lived experiences of homelessness called ‘We Are Here: Stories of Home, Place and Belonging’. Meg believes that hearing people's lived experiences of exclusion is key to changing social attitudes and achieving social and political change.//

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines// Today’s show was themed around content that may be distressing to some listeners. If you would like to talk to someone, you can call:Alcohol Drug Information Service on 1800 250 015Lifeline on 13 11 14For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 13 YARN (13 92 76)Beyondblue on 1300 224 636 Inez took us through the Penington Institute's 2023 Annual Overdose Report, discussed a recent tour of Richmond's medically supervised injecting site and the petition for a new overdose prevention centre in Melbourne's CBD, and spoke about the impacts of stigma.// Chris Gough, Executive Director of the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy or CAHMA, joined us to provide updates on the CanTEST program, Australia’s first fixed-site drug and pill testing facility, which has now been running for just over a year. CAHMA is the alcohol, tobacco and other drug consumer organisation for the Australian Capital Territory.// Harm Reduction Promotion Worker Brit from Harm Reduction Victoria spoke with us about the importance of harm reduction programs, challenging stigma and the work of Harm Reduction Victoria to keep people safe through the provision of health information. Harm Reduction Victoria is a community based, membership based, not-for-profit organisation that provides peer education, advocacy, outreach, advice, support, information and training to Victorians.// Finn, a Harm Reduction Practitioner from the 24/7 Needle and Syringe Program St Kilda and founder of International Overdose Awareness Day, and Andy, a Harm Reduction and Needle and Syringe Program worker, joined us for a conversation about International Overdose Awareness Day. They spoke about the day’s origins, its significance, and the importance of sharing overdose awareness information.// IOAD 2023 Events:10:30AM-4PM: International Overdose Awareness Day @ Harm Reduction Vic HQ3-5PM: International Overdose Awareness Day at North Richmond Community Health5-6:30PM: Keep Our City Alive Candlelight VigilAll events are listed on IOAD website here