Acknowledgement of Country//

Headlines//

Last Friday 21st June, Disrupt Land Forces had its first public meeting (at Black Spark, Northcote) to plan actions in protest of 'Land Forces', a massive weapons expo and conference which will be running this year from September 11-13 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Ongoing actions in the previous host-city Magandjin (Brisbane) forced the conference to relocate to Naarm, and Disrupt Land Forces hope this year for the same - if not greater - level of disruption of harms dealers and their investors, both at the event and in the week leading up to it. Before the planning meeting various frontline community members and activists spoke of their experiences at the hands of the global military industrial complex, and the importance of international solidarity against imperialist structures. On today’s show, we played a speech from the event by Adolf Mora, West Papuan community member and activist. 

Content warning: this speech includes mention of suicide in detention. If you are feeling distressed, you can always call lifeline on 13 11 14 or the suicide callback service on 1300 659 467. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners can also contact 13 YARN (13 92 76), or Yarning Safe'n'Strong on 1800 959 563.//

Since the early days of Israel's genocidal onslaught in Gaza, community activists have been staging pickets outside companies involved in the weapons manufacturing supply chain across so-called Australia, including AW Bell in Dandenong. Amanda Villalobos, local activist and participant in community pickets of AW Bell, joins us this morning to speak about the upcoming picket at AW Bell this Monday the 1st of July, aiming to close operations for the day to disrupt the company's role in the global supply chain of Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Lightning II aircraft or Joint Strike Fighter. Find out more about the action and keep up to date by heading to Weapons Out Of Naarm on Instagram.//

Researcher and organiser Matilda Byrne joins us to speak about Australia's place in the artificial intelligence and autonomous capabilities arms race, which she recently authored an article about for Declassified Australia. By marketing itself as a site for AI innovation and framing this issue as a key area of defence policy, Australia is deeply embedded in global networks of weapons development further integrating autonomous functions into technologies of war and genocide. Matilda is currently undertaking a PhD at RMIT’s Social and Global Studies Centre where she is a sessional lecturer in international relations, security, global governance and disarmament. She is the National Coordinator of the Australia Stop Killer Robots campaign, based at SafeGround, an Australian non-for-profit that seeks to reduce impacts of legacy and emerging weapons.//

Martin Hodgson, senior advocate at the Foreign Prisoners Support Service and co-host of Curtain the Podcast, speaks with us about the colonial crisis of domestic and family violence in so-called Australia. This conversation occurs in the context of Martin's recent appearance at a Parliamentary hearing held as part of the ongoing inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children. While the Senate referred an inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee on 4th August 2022, the inquiry process continues, with the reporting date extended to 15th August 2024. 

Content warning: this interview includes discussion of domestic and family violence, femicide and racism. If you are feeling distressed, you can always call lifeline on 13 11 14 or the suicide callback service on 1300 659 467. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners can also contact 13 YARN (13 92 76), or Yarning Safe'n'Strong on 1800 959 563. If you need support or advice, please call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.//

We didn’t end up having time to play the opening statement made by Karla McGrady, portfolio manager of Innovation at Our Watch, during last Monday's hearing as part of the Parliamentary inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children, but you can listen to it here. Our Watch is a national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia, and Karla appeared alongside CEO Patty Kinnersly to provide evidence on the significance of primary prevention and the importance of attending to colonialism and racism in the context of the inquiry.//