NSW businesses and employees have been put on notice about their obligations to make workplaces safer, following after a number fatalities and serious injuries in the lead-up to National Safe Work Month, which begins yesterday.

Luke Grant is joined by Kevin Anderson, Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, who says SafeWork inspectors have been called to incidents in recent times involving workers from a range of sectors including manufacturing, construction, agriculture and transport.

“We want everyone to make it home to their family at the end of the day, which is why we are reminding everyone of their obligations and responsibilities, not just from employers to their employees, but employees’ obligations to each other.

“It is clear that more needs to be done to get the safety message through to people, which is why this month the NSW Government will be rolling out a number of new initiatives which aim to protect workers from serious injury or death.”

James Unkles, Lawyer, former Crown & Police Prosecutor, joins Luke Grant to talk about his book "Ready, Aim, Fire", the fourth victim in the Breaker Morant trial which is dedicated to the memory of the late Major James Francis Thomas – known as the fourth victim in the execution of Lieutenant Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant.

Thomas was the defence lawyer in the 1902 Courts Martial of Lieutenants Harry Morant, Peter Handcock, and George Witton who were tried and sentenced for executing 12 Boer prisoners, one of the first war crime prosecutions in British military history. Morant and Handcock were executed on 27 February 1902 and Witton’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

117 years since the Courts Martial, military lawyer and the book’s author, James Unkles, is still fighting on behalf of the men’s descendants for the Commonwealth Government to hold a judicial inquiry into the trial and sentencing of the three men and seeking their posthumous pardons.

Like many, Unkles believes the men were scapegoats for the war crimes of their British superiors – who were not prosecuted for similar offences and giving illegal orders to shoot prisoners.

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren

Luke Grants speaks to Hugh Alsop, CEO of Kinoxis Therapeutics Pty Ltd, which has just been awarded a grant for a potential of up to $6.8 million under the USA National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-Term.

 

The primary target of Kinoxis is the brain oxytocin system, which receives considerable interest for its role in the regulation of social behaviour and inhibitory effects on addictive behaviours.

 

Out of 375 funding grants awarded under the HEAL Initiative, Kinoxis Therapeutics’ grant is the only one received outside North America.

 

Opioid overdose is the number one cause of preventable deaths in the USA, killing more people than motor vehicle accidents. In Australia, opioids accounted for just over three deaths a day in 2018 and were linked to more than half of the drug induced deaths across the country.

Listen to the full show podcast with Michael Mclaren

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that ‘the next increase in compulsory superannuation and a string of budget savings measures that have crimped retirees' incomes will be investigated in the first comprehensive review of the nation's retirement income system in 30 years.’

 

Michael McLaren talk to Ian Yates, Chief Executive of COTA (Councils on the Ageing) who says the review "would have a lot of ground to cover" and the pressure on the government to act on its recommendations would become "quite substantial".

 

Mr Yates says he expected the review to investigate the level of compulsory super, the asset level at which pensions were reduced, housing and aged care.

 

"It's quite a powerful terms of reference," he said. "I think clearly taxpayers' money is not being used as well as it could be to achieve best outcomes. There are different bits that don't fit together at the moment."

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren

Luke Grant is joined by Angela Smith, President of the Australian Federal Police Association, about her concerns regarding the ACT becoming the first jurisdiction in Australia to legalise the personal possession & growing of cannabis.   

 

Ms Smith says the conflicting requirements of both the Commonwealth & Territory legislation means that police officers were being “set up to fail’’ as the territory served by Federal Police under Commonwealth laws continues to outlaw the drug.

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren

Dr Keith Suter, Managing Director of the Global Directions Think Tank, about the Morrison government setting up "positive" talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the second time in two months. 

 

This follows tensions that emerged after the Prime Minister declared China should be treated as a "newly-developed" nation and lose some of its special treatment at the World Trade Organisation.

 

A delegation organised by the Chinese embassy this week accused Australia of being "a pioneer of global anti-China sentiment" and said any country following Australia's lead would be viewed as "extremely unfriendly" by Beijing.