Women on the Line

Sarah Jefford OAM is a family creation lawyer, who helps families across Australia with surrogacy, donor conception and co-parenting arrangements. Sarah is an IVF mum, an egg donor and a surrogate, and has written the only guide to surrogacy in Australia.Sarah joins us on this episode of Women on the Line to discuss her surrogacy experience, what exploitation of surrogates can look like and putting practical protections in place, surrogacy in other countries and the links to human trafficking, and how best to improve Australia’s surrogacy laws to be more ethical.

In July 2026, we joined the many people travelling to Mparntwe/Alice Springs (Arrernte Country) for the Close Pine Gap Convergence.In this episode, we play excerpts from anti-war and anti-nuclear campaigners and women who first protested at the base's gates more than forty years ago, at the 1983 Women's Peace Camp. Among them were Aunty Oongi Barb Flick, Lee Rhiannon, and Michelle.We then play audio from the live-recorded handover of a letter of demand to Pine Gap officials on Monday, July 20, from Senior Elder Felicity Hayes and members of the Hayes family, sovereign owners of Kuyunba on Arrernte Country, on which Pine Gap stands.

For this week’s episode of Women on the Line, we speak to Sunday, Chairperson of Anakbayan Melbourne and member of Migrante Australia about the exploitation of Filipino migrant workers in so-called Australia. In response to workers’ testimonies of wage theft, unpaid mandatory superannuation, coercion, and unsafe conditions in the workplace, Migrante Australia has launched a new campaign called “Laban Migrante! Unite all workers to fight all forms of exploitation.” In this conversation, we talk about Australia’s neoliberal policies that set the conditions for employers to take advantage of workers, the social, political and economic conditions in the Philippines that are forcing people to seek work in Australia, and the ways in which Migrante Australia is organising for self-determination back home and for the rights of workers in this country.Song: figure it out - francine bell

For this week’s episode we look at Artificial Intelligence in two domains.Firstly, we hear from Associate Professor of Social Work at ACU, Jessica Russ-Smith, a sovereign Wiradyuri Wambuul woman, from the Smith and McGuinness Wiradyuri matriarchy. Jess’ work focuses on the embodiment of First Nations sovereignty and critical anti-colonial practice. She also co-authored the groundbreaking 2024 book "The AI (R)evolution: Valuing Country, Culture and Community in a World of Algorithms", which challenges dominant narratives about artificial intelligence by centring First Nations sovereignty. Recently, she spoke to 3CR Thursday Breakfast presenter, Kate, about the current harms of the AI transformation on Country, climate and social justice, fighting back against what she calls ‘digital Terra Nullius’ and centering First Nations ways of being and knowing when in relationship to and with AI.Later in the program, we hear from Lilia Anderson who is Policy and Strategic Research Lead at MEAA (the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance). She recently spoke at the event - Artificial Intelligence and Work in a Remade World, organised by Arena, NIBS (New International Bookshop) and Search Foundation on Wednesday 12 August. In her presentation, Lilia speaks about the impact that AI has and will have on journalism and how it is used by media companies to replace underpaid roles such as sub-editors. She also outlines how this so-called digital disruption has been underway for decades, uprooting the media and resulting in the casualisation of the workforce and increased workload.

The first episode of Women on the Line was broadcast on July 16, 1986.This week on the program we mark 40 years of Women on the Line with an interview with WOTL’s first producer, Deb Welch.We’ll also hear some archival excerpts from the first episode of the show.

In this episode, we interview Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and the author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula, to discuss the longer lineages of imperialism and capitalism currently exemplified through the escalation of US war against Iran and what role the Gulf states play. This is a two-part series.Part II examines in deeper detail Iran, as well as histories of worker-led revolts.Laleh is one of 500 academics in Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Exeter facing redundancies. For more information, see: University of Exeter cuts an ‘existential threat to humanities’. Show your solidarity, please sign the following petition:https://www.change.org/p/stop-redundancies-at-the-university-of-exeter-706befbf-8195-4b87-a96c-13666e695878/psf/share

Professor Prabha Kotiswaran is a Professor of Law and Social Justice. Her main areas of research include criminal law, transnational criminal law, feminist legal studies and sociology of law. She has edited and co-authored a number of influential books on sex work, trafficking, feminism and the law, and is a leading voice on gender, labour and social justice.On this episode of women on the line, Prabha tells us about Prajwala v. Union of India, a recent landmark Supreme Court case that makes the vital distinction between autonomous sex workers and victims of trafficking, as well as recognises that those who are survivors of sex trafficking have a right to meaningful rehabilitation, support and opportunities to rebuild their lives.Content warning: mentions of sexual assault, suicide

On this episode of Women on the Line, we hear from Emily Stephenson, an educator and social-emotional learning specialist based in Thailand working at the intersection of education and mental health.Emily talks to us about creating safe, inclusive spaces for students, challenging systems that prioritise compliance and conformity at the expense of belonging and student wellbeing, her experience working with and supporting neurodiverse students across cultures, and the systemic failings of schooling structures around the world.

This week, we hear from Mais, a longtime women's rights organiser from Nablus in the occupied West Bank. After 7 October, the Israeli occupation designated the women's union -where she had worked for two decades- as a terrorist organisation, and Mais was subsequently imprisoned at Al Damon by occupation forces.Now released, she volunteers with a women's centre supporting formerly incarcerated women and works with displaced women from Gaza, facilitating workshops to upskill women in the traditional style of embroidery.We are honoured to share Mais' testimony and thank her for taking the risk in sharing her story. Thanks to Malak for the translation and to Tutu for conducting the interview.** If you would like to support the work of the women's centre in Nablus, or access translation work from Malak please email [email protected] **

This week on the program we hear from four women from Kanaky, so-called New Caledonia, who were recently in so-called Australia for a speaking tour, organised by Free Kanaky Solidarity Naarm. Fara Caillard, Sonia Togna, Doriane Nonmoira, and Marie-Claire Kaïchou reflect on the Indigenous feminist movement in Kanaky, the simultaneous fight for independence and women’s rights, the ongoing impacts of French colonisation, as well as Indigenous people’s relationship to the land.--Click here to listen to the full original interview in French (Cliquez le lien pour écouter la version française)