Japanese Australian playwright Mayu Kanamori explains why she was inspired to delve into Australian history to discover the forgotten story of a Japanese photographer for her new work.
Listen here at the 13:30 mark – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03n87rd
REUTERS/David Gray
Funding and job cuts at Australia’s climate change research body could undermine the country’s goal of dominating the Asian premium food market by placing farmers at a disadvantage to U.S. and European competitors.
Australia’s extreme weather means farmers rely heavily on climate change forecasts from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to mitigate the impact of bushfires, cyclones and droughts.
Full article – http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-australia-agriculture-climatechange-idUKKCN0VK05Q
Australia celebrated its national holiday on Tuesday, for most it was a day of relaxing with friends and family.
However the date of Australia Day, January 26th is marred by controversy as it marks the beginning of British colonial settlement in Australia.
Indigenous Australians refer to the date as ‘Invasion Day” and each year protests are held against the national celebrations. Asia Calling’s Jarni Blakkarly attended one in Sydney.
Listen here – https://soundcloud.com/audiokbr/national-day-no-cause-for-celebration-say-indigenous-australians
Malaysia’s dormant democracy movement is rising, fighting to unseat Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who is now tainited by a $700 million corruption scandal. Come onto the streets of Kuala Lumpur for one of the biggest protests the country has seen. Activists who are used to facing jail sentences for criticising the government talk about the need for democratic reform in this country that has been ruled by one party for 58 years.
Listen here – http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/democracy-rising/6953604
The holiday season is observed in a variety of ways. For some, it’s a time of reflection. For others, it means being able to take time off from work or school and spend time with family. But one element has become a constant: a barrage of advertising. Many people engage in the rampant consumerism, and others tune out the ubiquitous marketing messages. But Jarni Blakkarly reports on one Melbourne man’s mission to beat back the onslaught of advertising in public spaces.
Listen here – http://fsrn.org/2015/12/paint-it-black-anti-advertising-activist-doing-time-in-australia/
Australian child sex abuse victims on Friday began a journey half way around the world to watch the Vatican’s Australian-born finance director testify in Rome about his knowledge of child molestation within the Catholic Church.
Cardinal George Pell will give evidence on Monday to Australia’s long-running Royal Commision into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse, via a videolink from a Rome hotel, after his lawyers cited health concerns preventing his travel to Australia.
Full article – http://in.reuters.com/article/australia-abuse-pell-idINKCN0VZ0DT
Legislation to change media ownership laws in Australia will be put before parliament, the government said on Tuesday, opening the door for a potential raft of mergers and acquisitions from major media companies such as News Corp.
The bill will be introduced in parliament on Wednesday and is expected to be passed in the next several months with support of independent senators.
Full article – http://in.reuters.com/article/us-australia-media-reform-idINKCN0W33LP
THERE WERE MANY things I didn’t understand. I grew up in Melbourne with my Anglo mother and didn’t have much exposure to the Chinese–Malaysian side of my heritage. Then, when I was eight, my mother took me to visit Malaysia for the first time. My first trip overseas was at an age when all the sights and smells of a foreign place are taken in with open-eyed wonder. I developed an addiction to both egg roti and Milo ice with sweet condensed milk that was a world away from what I was allowed at home. We visited the night market at the end of my father’s family village and the lights and colours were like a cinematic carnival, though the language and the smells were foreign.
Full article – https://griffithreview.com/articles/behind-the-mask-of-an-emergency/
Photo – Jarni Blakkarly
The soundtrack to the growing Malaysian pro-democracy movement is a song by a group of young Malay musicians, whose band is called Bandsart. Named after the inner Kuala Lumpur suburb where they grew up, Bangsar, the band’s members are all friends and activists who have been playing together for about four years.
Listen here – https://fsrn.org/2015/09/massive-pro-democracy-protest-in-malaysia-pm-accused-of-misappropriating-700-million/
jarni blakkarly 