Uncommon Sense

With the mushroom season well underway, Amy chats with fungi expert Dr Alison Pouliot about her new book, Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers. Epidemiologist and WHO Adviser Professor Mary-Louise McLaws talks about what Australia must do to "reset" and fix the vaccine rollout. PhD student, author, and photographer James Dorey explores his fascinating rediscovery of the rare cloaked bee, Pharohylaeus lactiferus, last seen in Australia in 1923.

Amy talks with fungi expert, ecologist, natural historian, and photographer Dr Alison Pouliot about her new book, Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers, co-authored with Tom May (CSIRO Publishing). Alison takes us on a foray and forage through the Kingdom Fungi. She shares how we can forage for mushrooms with safety, respect for nature, and conservation at the forefront. This is a special extended conversation.

Guardian Australia reporter Luke Henriques-Gomes returns to discuss poverty, disability and unemployment policy in Australia, as well as the government’s proposed introduction of controversial NDIS ‘independent assessments’. A special panel of experts join Amy to discuss the Declaration of the Rights of the Moon, which they co-authored. Hear from US-based nature rights advocate Mari Margil, Executive Director of Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, as well as space archaeologist Alice Gorman aka 'Dr Space Junk', and Thomas Gooch, founder of the Office of Planetary Observations as they talk about why we must protect the moon from human exploitation and interference now, more than ever. Professor David Lindenmayer, a world-leading expert in forest ecology based at the ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society’s returns to discuss his latest co-authored research paper showing that 19 major Australian ecosystems are collapsing. This includes Victoria’s critically-endangered Mountain Ash forests.

A panel of experts join Amy to discuss why the Moon has a "right to exist, persist and continue its vital cycles unaltered, unharmed and unpolluted by human beings." Hear from co-authors of the 'Declaration of the Rights of the Moon’; US-based nature rights advocate Mari Margil, space archaeologist Alice Gorman aka 'Dr Space Junk', and landscape architect Thomas Gooch. They talk about why we must protect the moon from human exploitation and interference, especially with plans currently underway to mine and extract resources on the Moon. Two additional co-authors were involved in the writing of the Declaration; Ceridwen Dovey and Dr Michelle Maloney.

Rick Morton, senior reporter at The Saturday Paper speaks in-depth about the aged care sector in crisis and which has been deteriorating since 1997. Rick also discusses the major findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and its recommendations to the federal government. Philosopher Danielle Celermajer talks about her new book, Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future, which examines the 2019-20 bushfires and what it reveals about our relationship with nature. Street artist Tyrone 'RONE' Wright and curator Lisa Sullivan discuss RONE’s first major survey show now showing at the Geelong Gallery, called RONE in GEELONG.

Rick Morton, senior reporter at The Saturday Paper speaks in-depth about the aged care sector in crisis, which has been deteriorating since 1997. Rick also discusses the major findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and its recommendations to the federal government.

Former war correspondent Elizabeth Becker talks about three brilliant women war reporters who made their own way to report on the frontline during the Vietnam War – Australian combat reporter Kate Webb, French daredevil photojournalist Catherine Leroy, and American intellectual Frances FitzGerald. Elizabeth draws out their fascinating careers in her new book, You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War.

It's an International Women’s Day special. Maddison Connaughton, Editor of The Saturday Paper talks about sexual assault allegations in politics and the Aged Care Royal Commission findings. Author and former war correspondent Elizabeth Becker talks about three brilliant women war reporters on the frontline during the Vietnam War, from her new book, You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War. And biographer Jacqueline Kent discusses her book, Vida, which examines the lives of women activists and politicians who shaped Victoria, including suffragist Vida Goldstein.

Award-winning investigative reporter Marian Wilkinson joins Amy to talk in-depth about her revealing book, The Carbon Club: How a network of influential climate sceptics, politicians and business leaders fought to control Australia's climate policy.

Award-winning investigative reporter Marian Wilkinson joins Amy to talk in-depth about her revealing book, The Carbon Club: How a network of influential climate sceptics, politicians and business leaders fought to control Australia's climate policy. The Australia Institute’s chief economist Dr Richard Denniss discusses the permanent change (ie. cut) to the rate of the unemployment allowance. After years of lobbying is the rate adequate and what does this mean for people currently struggling and living below the poverty line? We talk about all things relating to Australia’s economy and federal politics. Virologist Associate Professor Stuart Turville from the Kirby Institute explains what a viral strain, mutation, and variant is in relation to SARS-CoV-2. What do new variants mean for our current vaccines? He also shares with us the ‘immunological unicorn’ he discovered - a person who had the perfect immune response to COVID-19 - and what we can learn from it.