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.//