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Mell has gotten a job making podcasts for the national network FBi Radio. Which is exciting! but also sad, because it means she will no longer have time to make Under The Sun. So this is our last episode for the time being. We recap on some of our past episodes and discuss what has changed about the issues we covered back then. We will also be introducing a brand new project that we're working on for Edge Radio this summer! Tune in to hear more about it, and hear us get emotional and say...

On the 4th of August a massive explosion erupted in a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate in Beirut’s port district. Over 200 people were killed, 4,000 injured and 300,000 left homeless. Videos of the explosion went viral on social media and to much of the world it was a spectacle. But this disaster was just the latest in a series of tragedies that have befallen Lebanon in recent decades. Years of government corruption, international interference and economic mismanagement have brought the...

A few weeks ago, we did a three-part series looking at Aboriginal deaths in custody and the deeply systemic issues that disadvantage Aboriginal people on almost every level. And since we did that series, activists and Aboriginal advocacy groups have continued to call for justice for the families of those killed in custody, and for a review into police conduct and discrimination in the legal system. In recent weeks, peak bodies representing youth advocates, doctors and lawyers called on...

*Content Warning* Descriptions of self-harm and sexual assault involving children This week we wrap up a three-part series about Australia’s policies towards migrants and refugees. In this episode we focus specifically on refugee policy since 2001 and the history of the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres. Ben looks in harrowing detail at the ‘Nauru Files’ and I discuss all the times that the UN has condemned Australian refugee policy, and the reasons why offshore detention does...

Today we're bringing you a really special episode featuring an amazing interview Ben and I had with Hanif, a Hazara man who escaped persecution in Pakistan and embarked on a treacherous, months long journey to Australia. Hanif has been living in Hobart on temporary visas for seven years. He is currently doing his honours in medical research at the University of Tasmania. But he remembers the journey to Australia like it was yesterday, and he tells us the whole story. We also chat to Hanif...

We begin this week's episode by looking at the hard lockdown on the 9 public housing towers in Melbourne at the start of this month. As well as illuminating the problems with public housing in Victoria, this crisis also highlighted migrant experiences during Covid-19, the failure to communicate properly to marginalised communities and the lack of respect they were afforded compared to wealthier communities. We take a look at migrant experiences since the start of Coronavirus, and how many...

Recently the Morrison government announced a 'defence strategic update' designed to increase Australia's capacity to defend its interests in the Into-pacific region. Without saying it directly, Australia is more afraid of China, and less certain of America, than ever. So why has Australia's relationship with China gotten to this point? and what exactly is China up to in the rest of the world.

This week, leading on from our last episode about the 'history wars' in Australia, we are talking about a culture war that has led to a decline in the role of Universities. Recently it was announced that some humanities courses would more than double in price, and STEM subjects would be made cheeper in a bid by the federal government to made University graduates more 'job ready'. In reality, many of the skills provided by humanities and social sciences are highly sought after in the work...

In the past couple of weeks we have discussed Aboriginal deaths in custody and the discrimination that Aboriginal people face in Australian law and society. To get to the root of this issue, this week we look back at the telling of Australian history, the way that has informed our national narrative and created a barrier to addressing inequalities. We discuss the History Wars, the ideological battle between the revisionists who wished to tell a history of Australia that represented the...

This week's episode is entirely dedicated to a conversation I was honoured to have with Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Nala Mansell. Nala has worked at the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for 16 years and currently works at the Riawanna Centre at the University of Tasmania, supporting Aboriginal students. She speaks eloquently and passionately about being Aboriginal in a country that is still governed by white nationalism and racist institutions. She speaks personally about the deeply embedded...

As Black Lives Matter protests spread across the world and statues of historic oppressors are toppled, Australia is forced to face its own national shame. The Aboriginal population in this country are the most incarcerated people on earth and more than once a month an Aboriginal person dies in police custody or in jail. In this mini-series, we explore the flawed legal system and lethal attitudes that contribute to Aboriginal deaths in custody. We go further back to try and understand the...

*Content Warning* This episode contains explicit descriptions of racist language and acts. Since the outbreak of Coronavirus, there has been a marked increase in overt racism toward Asian people in Australia. The perception of Coronavirus as a 'Chinese virus' has led to physical attacks, verbal abuse and racial slurs graffitied onto streets and homes. Contagious disease causes us a great deal of fear and can easily arouse suspicion towards others. This is multiplied when we perceive that...

This week we're taking a little break from our regular programming. Cohost Ben is in the final week of semester at the Conservatorium of Music, so we're using the time to talk about the music Ben makes for this podcast. What makes good podcast music? what role does music play in our lives? and how does one study music from a distance during lockdown?

This week Ben is away, and Mell talks to guest host Simon about the recent anti-lockdown protests in Sydney and Melbourne. There was an array of different beliefs driving these protests, ranging from libertarian style concerns for privacy and personal freedoms, through to ‘anti-vaxxers’ and ‘5G Truthers’. We look into one relatively recent conspiracy theory which seems to be driving much of the protest movement in the US and Australia, called QAnon. There is a lot of resonance with older...

News media is suffering during the Coronavirus Pandemic, but this is nothing new. For over a decade in Australia media revenue from advertising has been falling every year. Countless journalists have lost their jobs in all sectors of news media. Analysts are forecasting the extinction of local news outlets due to the drying up of funds and an inability to modernise. During this time of reduced consumption and movement, hospitality, retail and travel companies have been withdrawing their...

This week we discuss what sort of shape global economies are in as a result of Coronavirus and what economists are saying about how things might turn out in the near future. In light of some predictions about a possible Depression in the United States, we look back at the Great Depression of the 1930s. We also touch on Degrowth, one of the ideas that has been thrown around, in light of calls to change the existing economic model.

In a couple of weeks the Australian government is set to release a new app designed to trace to spread of Covid-19. This week we discuss how the tracing app works, and try to weigh up the invasion of privacy with the potential benefit. We recall our government's dubious record with data privacy law and talk about some of the problems we might encounter with the safety and effectiveness of the app.

In a wave of fake animal news surrounding Coronavirus, today we discuss real incidents of nature flourishing in the absence of human occupation. Ben talks about the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, and all the wonderful creatures that lurk there. Mell discusses Chernobyl, and the scientific debate about wether the animals are affected by the radiation. This recording is missing a section where we talk about the fake animal news around Coronavirus and extract the true from...

This week we discuss the heated generational tensions that have flared up especially in light of the global pandemic. Generation wars are not new, turns out, but they do get particularly savage during times of social insecurity.

In our very first episode, we delve into the history of diseases on earth, how they have affected society and what we have learned from them, going back in time to the 1918 Flu Pandemic that killed more people than World War One, and further to the recurring curse of Small Pox and its effect on indigenous populations during European colonisation. We also discuss the unparalleled media saturation of our current pandemic, and the conflicts and abuses of power that can arise in the midst of...