Uncommon Sense RRR, 221 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East (2026)

08/06/2026

Tune in on Tuesday 9th June on Triple R - 3RRR for in-depth conversations and new music from around the world. https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/38422-uncommon-sense-9-june-2026

Author and translator Linda Jaivin delves into her latest book, ‘Bombard The Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China,’ (Black Inc.) and what the cultural revolution tells us about 21st century China today. Linda Jaivin has been studying Chinese politics, language and culture for more than forty years. She has been a foreign correspondent in China, and is co-editor of the China Story Yearbook, an associate of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University and the author of twelve books including ‘The Shortest History of China.’

Disabled writers Laura Pettenuzzo, Ari Spanos, and Akii Ngo on their contributions to the new multi-authored book, ‘Crip Stories: An Anthology of Disabled Writers,’ described as “the perfect kaleidoscope of human experience.” (NewSouth Publishing)

Laura Pettenuzzo (she/her) is a disabled bibliophile, writer and speaker. She has a Master of Professional Psychology from Monash University and runs an accessible communications business called All for Access.

Ari Spanos (they/them) is a young creative. They are neurodivergent (Autistic, ADHD, bipolar) q***r and genderq***r, and come from a Greek family. They work in allied health from a neuro-affirming, LGBTQIA+ informed and fat-positive approach, as well as developing LGBTQIA+ inclusive practice training.

Akii Ngo (they/them) is an international multi-award-winning and multidisciplinary professional, consultant, trainer, internationally published model, educator, and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging practitioner. Akii is a proudly multiply disabled, multiply neurodivergent (Autistic, ADHD and C-PTSD), Queer/LGBTIQA+ trans and gender-diverse person of colour from a non-English-speaking refugee background. Akii lives with very complex chronic illnesses and debilitating chronic pain, and has several degenerative physical disabilities. Akii is also a fierce survivor-advocate and activist for violence prevention – one of their main disabilities (spinal injury) is a direct result of intimate partner violence.

19/05/2026

📻 🎧 Tune in to this week’s show on Tuesday from 9am til noon or catch up via Triple R - 3RRR OnDemand or on the podcast: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/38172-uncommon-sense-19-may-2026

Budgets are all about choices. Amy does a federal budget and budget reply deep dive with freelance journalist and Spin Cycle co-host Rachel Withers () and Chief Economist of The Australia Institute and Guardian Australia columnist Greg Jericho (). They discuss the choices Labor has made to taxation that were once unthinkable, as well as how the budget has been received, what Jim Chalmer’s aims are in his fifth federal budget and in what ways Labor has been countered and challenged by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, especially in the areas of income tax and migration. They also question whether such drastic cuts to the really were inevitable, or if they could have been funded by other revenue raising measures.

Professor David Lindenmayer AO from the ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society is recognised globally as one of the foremost conservation biologists and landscape ecologists and has spent a significant amount of his career working in the Mountain Ash forests of the Central Highlands (Toolangi State Forest). He has advocated for the creation of the Great Forest National Park, which the Victorian Government expressed support for in 2015 and finally rejected in 2025. David spoke with Amy about how native forest logging has continued in Victoria under the guise of managing fire risks through the construction of “firebreaks” in National Parks and forests, utilising prescribed burning, as well as mechanically thinning vegetation with large damaging machinery. Trees that are logged to create firebreaks are then sold to sawmills and firewood merchants, essentially perpetuating the native forest logging industry. He also reveals what he has learned from First Nations elders about managing forests on Country and how the state government has established a charitable organisation, “which aims to support First Nations people to log Country” in order for it to be “healthy.”

11/05/2026

Tune in on Tuesday from 9am til noon on Triple R - 3RRR or stream live at rrr.org.au! https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/38089-uncommon-sense-12-may-2026

Award-winning memoirist Kate Holden talks about her new book, 'The Ruin of Magic: Longing and Belonging in Strange Times' Black Inc. – a collection of essays described as "a poetic, roaming work of creativity and intellect." Kate Holden writes beautifully about her instinctive yearning for a long-ago Europe versus the natural belonging she feels to the Australian landscape, and asks herself, What is a home? The strongest shelter or the most lethal trap, a museum of ourselves or a showcase of fashions? Is nostalgia a reasonable mourning of timeless lore lost or a dangerous fantasy? And what has happened to magic and beauty in the glare of modern life? Holden draws on a diverse range of literary and cultural ideas and references to weave together a deeply thoughtful book that calls on the reader to join Kate Holden in personal reflection. Kate Holden is the author of two highly praised memoirs, 'In My Skin' and 'The Romantic,' and the Walkley Award–winning 'The Winter Road.'
Professor Andrew Walter from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne discusses the many dramas unfolding in UK politics at the moment with British local elections seeing Labour suffer substantial electoral losses, further entrenching the widespread feeling that Sir Keir Starmer is no longer up to the job of being Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. After giving a speech to save his job on Monday morning, is Starmer's leadership really under threat? What are some of Starmer's key policy platforms that he believes will create enough change to dig him out of this popularity crisis? Similarly, Labour continued to perform poorly in Holyrood (Scotland's parliament), coming in equal second with Nigel Farage’s Reform Party (17 seats each), and the SNP winning a resounding 58 seats and its fifth consecutive term in government. Does Scottish independence still have a chance? The final results in Scotland saw the Greens win 15 seats, with the Conservatives on 12 and the Liberal Democrats on 10. With Farage’s Reform UK Party making significant electoral gains, is this a sign of future electoral success for right-wing populism to come?

04/05/2026

📻 Tune in on Tuesday from 9am til noon on Triple R - 3RRR 102.7FM or stream live at rrr.org.au: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/38006-uncommon-sense-5-may-2026

Acclaimed historian Professor Frank Bongiorno joins Amy to discuss whether Bob Hawke’s Labor governments were the “gold standard” for federal government in Australia. This is examined deeply in a book Frank has co-edited with Carolyn Holbrook and Joshua Black, called ‘Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke Government.’ (NewSouth Publishing) In the book, a range of authors contribute chapters analysing and observing what made the Hawke government, especially its cabinet ministers and processes so effective and politically successful and how the Hawke government met a particular moment in time and history. The book is a collection of essays “written by politicians, advisers, journalists and public servants with direct experience of the Hawke government and by some of Australia’s most esteemed historians and political scientists.” Frank’s own contribution explains how the Hawke government won elections; “a basic sense of shared values, purpose and mission, and a broad agreement about how to translate them into policy and action, were fundamental to the success [of the Hawke government].” Professor Frank Bongiorno AM is an author, historian, and the inaugural director of the Vice-Chancellor’s Centre of Public Ideas and Donald Horne Professor of History and Public Ideas at the University of Canberra.

Did you know that; Australia has one of the most class segregated education systems in OECD, and that concentrations of disadvantage in underfunded public schools is increasing at the second fastest rate in the OECD. In her new Vantage Point essay for The Australia Institute, “Rich Kid, Poor Kid: The battle for public education,” Jane Caro AM examines education inequity, the widening funding gap between public and private schools, and the pressure on parents to pick the “right” school for their children. Jane Caro asks, can we fix Australia’s broken school system and outlines what it would take to build an education system worthy of our children and our society. Caro is a Walkley-winning columnist, author, novelist and social commentator.

28/04/2026

Listen to this week’s show on demand: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/37923-uncommon-sense-28-april-2026

Australian politics regulars Prof Chris Wallace and Rachel Withers talk about the upcoming federal budget, the "gas tax" inquiry, and the wide-ranging proposed cuts and changes to the , which according to the government has become unsustainable in its growth and requires greater monitoring of service providers. They also discuss the ongoing political rise and evolution of One Nation and its potential for electoral success in the Farrer by-election. Turning to the global stage, Chris and Rachel discuss how Australia has responded to the unpredictable unilateral actions of our closest ally, the United Stares of America. They also discuss the Albanese government's recent bilateral deals with south-east Asian nations, its efficacy as a "Middle Power," and its diplomatic handling of the domestic and geopolitical repercussions arising from the conflict in the Middle East.
A/Professor Matthew Sussex, a specialist in Russian security and foreign policy discusses Russia's war against Ukraine, which is now in its fourth year, but as Matthew says, historically, Russia's conflict over territory and cultural identity with Ukraine spans a much longer timeframe. He delves into the ways the war has led to become an even more independent nation by necessity, creating new materiel industries and war technologies, such as interceptor drones, as well as developing strategic war expertise they are leveraging with Gulf States. Matthew talks about Russia's war strategy, in controlling domestic access to the Internet, its major personnel losses through serious injury and death, its evolving recruitment strategies which are struggling to replace their losses and are edging closer to conscription, as well as the status of Russia's oil export industry after Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil terminals and refineries. Matthew also talks of 's recent loss of crucial support from Hungary since the political defeat of President Viktor Orbán, and its implications for Ukraine's access to monetary loans from the EU. Finally, who is "winning" the war, and what does winning actually look like?

20/04/2026

Tune in on Triple R - 3RRR Tuesday 9am til noon! Amy is joined live by U.S. politics expert Dr Emma Shortis, Director of the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program. Emma will delve into the U.S.-led geopolitical chaos initiated by President Trump including, the ever-evolving economic tariffs – a minimum 10% tariff is now on most goods imported into the United States, the sudden war on Iran and ensuing wider conflict in the Middle East, as well as the consequences of his unpredictable unilateral actions and threats of violence and hostile takeovers, which reverberate around the world. What does all of this mean for Australia and the rest of the world? What is President Trump's domestic and global – seemingly imperialist – agenda, and how are his actions being received? What is the best strategy to deal with Trump – with a spectrum ranging from Spain's outright rejection of Trump's demands, to Germany's stern but measured rhetoric, to Australia's largely acquiescent responses.

Ahead of ANZAC Day this Saturday, historical detective, author, and distinguished military historian Lynette R. Silver AM MBE pieces together the untold, uncensored story of nurse Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, through meticulous research. Sister Bulwinkell was the sole survivor of a massacre of 21 Australian nursing sisters at the hands of Japanese soldiers on Radji Beach on Bangka Island, east of Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago on 16 February 1942. Lynette's latest book where she details the alleged war atrocities against 21 Australian nurses is called, ‘Sister Bullwinkel: The Untold Uncensored Story.’ It is also a fullsome biography of Bullwinkel's remarkable life. Lynette Silver claims that Sister Bullwinkel put on a brave face to the world, recounting an official but sanitised version of events ever since she was released from a Japanese POW camp in Sumatra at the end of World War II.

Vivian revealed the truth of what happened on Radji Beach on Bangka Island to army investigators – that the nurses were r***d before they were violently and chaotically murdered – but, according to Lynette's research, "they censored her testimony and chose to obliterate it from the record. Despite her best efforts, Vivian was gagged from the outset by her own government and by the Australian army, who ordered her to keep quiet – an order that, as a serving member of the military, she was bound to keep. Vivian was desperate to speak out.” Lynette gives Vivian her full voice.
Episode page: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/37838-uncommon-sense-21-april-2026

13/04/2026

After a long hiatus Amy Mullins returns to the Triple R - 3RRR airwaves with some very special guests; long-time friend of the show and expert 🍄‍🟫 Dr Alison Pouliot, as well as first time guest RedBridge director, and highly regarded political pollster and analyst Kosmos Samaras! Alison Pouliot speaks about her two latest books, ‘Funga Obscura: Photo Journeys Among Fungi’ (NewSouth Publishing) – a book about fungi and the photography of fungi, and ‘Mushroom Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Fungal Lives’ (University of Chicago Press). Enchantingly illustrated by Stuart Patience, Alison’s book takes us on a global tour of some highly peculiar and fascinating fungi across a 24-hour period. Amy’s current favourite; the Hairy Nuts Disco (Lanzia echinophila) is based in Europe – take a look for yourself! 🌰 Or go on a tour with Alison in person and attend one of her workshops, fungi forays, talks, and other events (see her website for details). Alison will be a headline speaker at the fourth annual MYCOmmunity Applied Mycology Moorabool Mushroom Festival in Bacchus Marsh, which takes place on April 18–19 2026.

Incisive and unafraid to speak his mind, Kos Samaras shares his views on the issues that matter to Australians right now, what that means for recent and upcoming state and federal elections, and how the voting landscape has changed - all informed by RedBridge’s latest research and polling data. With parties like Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party back on the rise, and the two-party system in disarray, are Australian politicians meeting this pivotal moment? Does left and right mean anything in Australian politics anymore, and is there a populist movement on both sides of the political spectrum? Are politicians in touch with the voting public? Or are they adrift in an ocean of geopolitical challenges, the latest involving our closest ally, the USA, and a conflict with Iran, Israel, and a small but very important shipping channel – the Strait of Hormuz. Check out Kos’ writing on Substack and his illuminating analyses on X/Twitter. See the Uncommon Sense episode page for links to Alison and Kos’ work and events. (Link below)
https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/37756-uncommon-sense-14-april-2026

25/08/2025

And why not catch up on this year’s Radiothon show after? With Mel Fulton, Clem Bastow, Linda Jaivin, Nick Feik, Gregory Day, and Yeo! Deep and meaningful’s, plus banter guaranteed: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/34922-uncommon-sense-19-august-2025

18/08/2025

It’s my annual 9th Radiothon show on Tuesday from 9am til noon and I can’t wait to be joined by six brilliant people who I admire and appreciate. They’ve been part of the show or station and its history in some way and they’ll be asking you, just like I will, to subscribe and support Triple R - 3RRR 102.7FM for another year. Why? Because live independent community radio that is produced by a diverse bunch of passionate volunteer broadcasters is a rare and beautiful thing that must be treasured, watered, and tended to in order for it to not only survive, but thrive. Triple R is that beautiful 🌻 sunflower in my life. It’s the oxygen I breathe, it’s the mycelium connecting the ideas in my brain, and I have no doubt it means a lot to so many of you too, for a range of reasons. I want to know why, so please let us know and leave a message when you subscribe and/or donate during the show between 9am and noon. We will read out your name and message if you choose to share your thoughts and dosh with us 💵.

Joining me will be talented Triple R broadcasters Mel Fulton of Literati Glitterati and Clem Bastow of Superfluity. Former and regular guests who I’ve had the pleasure and joy of speaking with more than once will also return to the show; author Linda Jaivin, editor and writer Nick Feik, poet, musician, and writer Gregory Day, and local musician Yeo – whose music I’ve played on the show since it began in January 2017!

Thank you for supporting my show by listening & thinking critically, always. The best part about presenting my show is knowing that every one of my listeners is an astute, switched on person who, when presented with something new, interesting, deep, or thought-provoking, from one of my guests, will ponder it, stretch their minds and souls, and think for themselves. It might catalyse something new for them, just like it did for me too. That’s all I can hope for when I spend time digging deeper into these issues & subjects with long-form interviews. Thank you again for supporting a slower-paced, mindful, kind of radio that 3RRR fosters 👩‍🌾

I am privileged to have 3 hours that can be utilised in the way that I am able to on this stellar medium of radio, at the greatest station on the planet, with the loveliest and most talented people I know and have ever met, and more importantly, the ones I probably haven’t met – the people listening.

12/08/2025

Listen back to today’s show on Triple R - 3RRR 102.7FM! https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/uncommon-sense/episodes/34827-uncommon-sense-12-august-2025

A special panel chat first up about the humanities in crisis at Australia’s universities and the Australian Historical Association’s open letter, campaign and petition to reverse the Morrison-era Job-Ready Graduates scheme, which doubled the cost of Arts degrees to $50,000. Professor of Public Humanities and Director of the ANU’s Humanities Research Centre Dr Kylie Message-Jones and Professor of History at the ACU Dr Kate Fullagar delve into the issues. Petition: https://www.openpetition.org/au/petition/online/repeal-job-ready-graduates-policy-now-restoring-equity-in-higher-education

Then, hear about the Heide Museum of Modern Art’s new winter exhibition, Man Ray and Max Dupain, now open, with Co-curator and Heide’s Artistic Director, Lesley Harding joining us.

This landmark exhibition places the contemporaneous photographs of American-born, Paris-based Man Ray (1890-1975) and Australian Max Dupain (1911-1992) side-by-side for the first time, offering insights into their unique yet aligned visual languages and their contributions to international modernist photography.

Man Ray and Max Dupain examines these artists’ works across the figure, still life and portraits, fashion and advertising, and offers insight into these artists’ unique yet aligned visual languages and their mutual impact on international modernist photography and surrealism.

Image Credit: Max Dupain, Homage to Man Ray, 1937, gelatin silver photograph, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund of Visual Arts Board 1980.

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