Acknowledgement of Country//
Headlines:
We played a speech by veteran Gumbaynggirr activist and historian Professor Gary Foley at this Monday's Invasion Day rally in Naarm. Speaking on the steps of Parliament House on Spring Street, Professor Foley reminded the crowd about the artificial history of so-called Australia's national day, and connected present-day Invasion Day rallies to a legacy that began with the 1938 Day of Mourning. Check out Professor Foley’s website and incredible archive (access to physical materials by appointment) at Victoria University to learn more about the history of the Aboriginal land rights movement.//
We listened to a speech and segments of commentary by Torres Strait Islander woman Julie Saylor Briggs delivered at the Djilang Invasion Day rally on Monday. During the rally, Julie read out the text of the original motion moved by Aboriginal community members at the 1938 Day of Mourning gathering, and spoke about the history of colonial violence on Wadawarrung Country, the colonial child removal industry, and the relationships between genocide, dispossession and ecocide. Our thanks to Amy from 3CR’s Kill Your Lawn and Kick Your Fence for sharing this recording.//
Leila interviewed Dr James Martin, Tobacco Harm Reduction Advisor for Harm Reduction Australia and Director of the Bachelor of Criminology at Deakin University, about the social impacts of Australia’s law enforcement approach to substance use with a focus on Victoria’s tobacco licensing laws. From February first, the Victorian Labor government will be enforcing new tobacco licensing laws, which restrict the sale of tobacco products to licensed retailers only. Individuals or businesses who sell tobacco without a licence may face fines of over $100,000, and fines for the sale of illicit tobacco products are even higher. You can listen back to Dr Martin’s interview with Inez on the 20th of March 2025 about vaping regulations here.//
Lucinda Thorpe, Privacy Campaigner at Digital Rights Watch joined us to discuss the use of AI by police in Australia for report writing, suspect identification, and to guide investigations. Victoria Police use generative AI in 20% of crime reports. When a contact centre employee files an online crime report, they use generative AI on the form to generate a summary for police officers. However, these systems are trained on biased data and can reproduce racism, sexism, and other inequalities. If you have been affected by police use of generative AI, contact Digital Rights Watch at '; // --> //
We replay a conversation between Xan and Koshin of Uprise Radio from early this month about Israel's controversial recognition of Somaliland’s independence last year. The recognition of Somaliland by Israel, a state whose own recognition is contested, occurred late last year, and is a significant geopolitical development in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea region. Tune in to Uprise Radio every Wednesday at 5:30PM on 3CR.//
Invasion Day Donation Initiatives:
Emily, Inez, Leila, Priya, River, Candy
