Changemakers

Senator Fatima Payman was the first hijab wearing member of parliament representing the Australian Labor Party and in 2024 she was removed from the ALP caucus in response to her campaigning (and crossing the floor of parliament) calling for the ALP to recognise the genocide in Gaza and the need for a Palestinian State. As it turns out, her leadership was ahead of its time, with much of the world now finally recognising that more must be done to end Israeli aggression and support the right of Gaza to exist.In this conversation she shares the long history of her rise as young Senator from Western Australia. The guiding strength, voice and resilience she learnt from her parents, and how determined she was to bring all of herself - her faith, her gender and her voice - into the Parliament when she was elected. And yes - we talk about what happened when she crossed the floor and what she it has taught her about politics, political parties and making change.For more about Senator Fatima Payman go to https://www.fa

There is a lot of talk about co-design and community engagement in research and public policy - but in practice a lot of that talk ends up looking like window dressing rather than real community partnership.We talk to one of the world's leading co-design, community engaged researchers in nursing - Professor Brendan McCormak Head of the Nursing School at the University of Sydney - to find out strategies for how he involves patients and nurses in the creation of research. The result is not only an amazing story about a career of co-created knowledge, but a series of powerful insights and strategies for anyone interested in the art of working WITH others in building solutions and knowledge.You can find out more about Brendan here.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky

The second Trump Administration has brought with it an unprecedented attack on migrants, led by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) focused on people who are living in the United States without formal documentation. In this conversation we talk with Alexandra Pineros Shields - a long term community organiser, immigrant rights campaigner and researcher about how communities are fighting back to defend the rights of migrants and change how policing is done.This conversation explores Alexandra's history of organising and building strategy to make change, as well as the kinds of innovative tactics being used by communities to combat ICE. She runs through techniques like power analysis and shows how a practical understanding of different dimensions of power can help build effective strategy. She talks about the power of communities using prefigurative action - where they model what the state should be doing - as a way to tell a story to make change more compelling.This episode is a deep dive into what yo

Climate change has led the Northern Rivers has been inundated by flood and flood threats, but it has also shown Australia - and the world - what it looks like to lead a community response to climate change. In this episode we talk with Rebecca McNaught, a community researcher on disaster response who shares with us how the community did respond to the extreme floods in 2022, and what all communities can learn from what they did.Bec has decades of experience in community-led climate work, having worked across the Pacific and the world before focusing on researching best practice in community strategies. She was undertaking field work when the 2022 floods began, and she helped lead emergency support with others in her neighbourhood before she finished her PhD documenting best practice.In this conversation she argues that big concepts like "climate change adaptation" and creating climate infrastructure are at their heart about building strong social bonds between people who can be there for each other when diall

On the Winter Solstice in 2025 Amanda spoke at an event in Albury held to raise awareness about Mental Illness and Suicide. She shared about her story of living with bipolar and some of the lessons it has generated about how we make a difference.In this podcast we replay that speech.Thanks to Survivors of Suicide and Friends for creating this event. For more on their work and previous events, visit their website https://survivorsofsuicide.org.au/For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In light of the release of Victoria's landmark truth telling inquiry, we are re-releasing this important ChangeMaker Chat with Terri Janke, one of Australia's leading advocates for the recognition of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property. --------Terri Janke is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lawyer who uses the law to protect and advance Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property. As a Meriam and Wuthathi woman who grew up in Cairns in northern Queensland, for over 20 years she has crafted a set of legal instruments that allow for the protection of Indigenous Culture. From an Indigenous perspective, Culture is the embodiment of life, and it can be represented in anything from art to dance, from bones to research. She is well recognised across Australia for her work in protecting Indigenous Culture using a series of True Track protocols that enable Indigenous Culture to be recognised as intellectual property. Here she explains her journey and how she found the law. She explores her IC

On Saturday 21 June, ChangeMakers Host Amanda Tattersall is speaking at the Winter Solstice Event in Albury organised by the Survivors of Suicide & Friends. There she will share some of her experiences of living with bipolar and what reflecting on those experiences have brought to her work as a change maker.You can find out more and tune into the event online at survivorsofsuicide.org.au.This event is an extraordinary event to mark the longest and coldest night of the year and commemorate those who have died by suicide and those who live with mental illness. Amanda is truly honoured to be invited, and to mark this important event, we are re-releasing a podcast memoir written and recorded a couple of years about Amanda's journey with bipolar, co-founding GetUp and creating the Sydney Alliance.=====How can we hold together big ambition for social change on issues like climate alongside the small work required to build powerful connections across our diversity and difference? This piece explores the tensions

This is a re-release of an important conversation with the remarkable UK organisation called Love and Power, that is seeking to respond to violence against women by building the leadership and capacity of women to lead the change.****While we know that too many women live with the ever-present threat of violence our societies seem to struggle with what to do about it. While we have refuges services, and at times the issue is raised in national debate, we seem unable to address the problem at its core.In the UK, Love and Power is a new organisation that is seeking to end vioelcne aganst women by putting women who have experienced domestic violence at the centre of the debate. Love and Power combines the insight and knowledge that comes from lived experience with the strategies of community organising to bring a new approach to an old problem.In this ChangeMaker Chat we talk with Charlotte Fischer and Martha Jephcott the founders of Love and Power. Martha grew up in a violent household and brings her own experi

With all the tumult in UK and global politics, and the new Labor victory in Australia, we are re-releasing an episode with UK Labour Party Cabinet Minister and former Opposition Leader Ed Miliband. The topic - big politics! This episode was recorded in 2021.When can political parties be real change makers and produce big change? Ed Miliband, former Opposition Leader for the UK Labour Party shares some of the lesser known stories that have shaped his political identity and his ambitions for a politics that can go big. We discuss the role of labour and social democratic parties in the change making space. We reconsider the idea that ‘politics is the art of the possible’ and Ed shares some of his insight into the kind of politics that is needed for these challenging times.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakers

Too often, when we think of public servants we think of paper shufflers and number crunches. But nurses, teachers and care workers as well as officers working in government departments - aren't doing it for the money! These public servants - bureaucrats - are driven by a sense of service, commitment and care that is so vital to support all of our lives.Dan Honig, from UCL (UK) and Georgetown (US) is one of the world's leading researchers on public service practice and he talks with us about what it takes for public servants to be supported to deliver a big mission of care and community support. Building on the research published in his recent book Mission-Driven Bureaucrats he talks about the difference between managing for compliance and support for mission driven work - and how important those systems are for shaping whether public servants can thrive in their work.Dan spoke to us from Washington DC and we also talked about how the current US context is affecting public servants and public service.You can f

With a Federal Election almost upon us - this is one we recorded earlier (#ICYMI) - a long form audio essay about the refugee politics of 20 years ago, and the many lingering challenges we face when it comes to big issues that divide us - like refugee policy and climate change. This episode is a personal memoir about setting up Labor for Refugees and the challenges we faced in changing the Australian Labor Party.====Examining the tough relationships between mainstream progressive parties and movements in Australia, host Amanda Tattersall looks back at her own experience. She tells the story of the 2001-2004 refugee movement’s attempt to shift the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and examines what worked, and what was learnt. Lessons are drawn for the climate movement today. This piece was also published by Fabian Review in February 2022.You can download this episode on Apple, Spotify, LiSTNR, Stitcher, and all your other favourite podcast apps.You can find the original article online at A

Can lawyers really be change makers?We talk with Michael Bradley who has taken on Murdoch as well as defending the rights of refugees about what it takes to be a lawyer and a change maker at the same time. He shares his 20 year journey from conventional law to a different kind of lawyering that he has now practiced for 17 years at Marque Lawyers - and how he now centres his legal practice around relationships.He also shares a few war stories of how he has used the law to fight for justice, including the battle against Lachlan Murdoch's attempt to sue Crickey for defamation.Whether you are a lawyer or you are a lawyer sceptic - there is something powerful in Michael's dissection of the legal profession and his identification of a different way to practice the law.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsk

This is a re-run episode recorded in 2024 - importantly - before the 2024 Presidential Election, but its insights and lessons about ChangeMaking are still deeply relevant!What are some of the skills or insights shared by some of America’s extraordinary change makers, people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Alicia Garza or Loretta Ross? In particular, what can these people teach us about how to build larger movements for change?Anand Giridhardhas, author of Persuaders, talks us through what he discovered when he interviewed these and other American change makers. In this chat Anand shares the story behind why he came to write this book – about his own story as a bridge builder between cultures and the lessons he learnt about how people navigate change.The chat then turns to his book Persuaders – identifying lessons about how persuaders communicate, how they work across difference, and how important it is for movements to be able to think about the kind of implications that change making has on com

The Disability Movement famously argues ‘nothing about us without us.’ Wenn Lawson lives this creed as a world leading autistic advocate and researcher who has helped change how we understand autism and neurodivergence. He shares his journey, including how he shook the house of academia so it would listen to the lives of autistic people. He reflects on the power of co-produced research, identity and difference in how we build knowledge together. For more about Wenn’s research and books, go to http://www.buildsomethingpositive.com/wenn/We first released this episode in 2022.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can you make a difference by being funny? In this episode news satirist and stand up comedian Sami Shah takes us through the art of political satire and the journey that got him there.Sami grew up in Pakistan, studied in the United States and became a fully fledged journalist - and comedian in his home country before traveling to Australia. He moved to Australia in 2012 living in Western Australia and almost killing a kangaroo before becoming a leading stand up comedian as well as a powerful voice for a more diverse comedy, journalistic and artistic community.In this episode we talk about political satire’s power to challenge us and help us see things differently, but also its limits in directly shifting actual events. He talks us through his method for News Satire on his podcast News Weakly, as well as what he has learnt about the power of making jokes about the taboo - including what is happening in Gaza and Israel.You can listening to Sami’s News Weakly podcast, also hosted on ACAST here:https://shows.acas

In a world where everyone is worried about cost of living – what difference would it make to lift the wages of the lowest paid workers?Lyndy McIntyre has documented a campaign that did exactly that in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her book Power to Win documents that struggle and in this chat she explores some of the key strategies that made that campaign work.Power to Win is available:In Aotearoa through Otago University PressIn Australia from John Reed BooksIn North America from Independent Publishers GroupIn the UK and Europe from Gazelle Book ServicesFor more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.TattersallLiving Wage campaign in Aotearoa New Zealand:In May 2012 a new

Welcome back to ChangeMakers Podcast for 2025! It certainly feels like this is a big year for thinking creatively and deeply about how to make the world better!Our first episode is a re-run of a chat with the brilliant and powerful Grace Tame. Grace took a powerful form of action at the Australian of the Year event a few weeks ago, wearing a provocative t-shirt that got the country (and world) talking! We wanted to celebrate her clear minded and powerful advocacy by re-sharing the chat we had with her in 2023.Enjoy!For our overseas listeners - Grace Tame is the former Australian of the year who wore this t-shirt to an event with the Australian Prime Minister for the 2025 Australian of the Year awards in January. She was an Australian of the Year award winner in 2021 - having been a prominent advocate against child sexual abuse as a survivor. Since her award she has only expanded her reach and voice and this protest was to recognise one of Australia's most unhelpful Australian’s.This podcast was recorded in 20

The whole world has just witnessed President Trump getting re-elected, but what is the long story behind what happened.In this chat, our last for 2024, we talk to Nick Bryant, US foreign correspondent and author of several books that have sought to understand what is going on with politics in the US!In this conversation Nick shares a little about why he because a journalist focused on the US, then with his eye to history, combined with his intrepid experience as a reporter in the US since the Clinton Administration, he helps explain some of the perpetual challenges that shape America, in particular the darker side to America’s Disneyland,- that help explain how President Trump has been able to be successful.For more on Nick's Books - including The Forever War (2024) and When America Stopped Being Great (2020):https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/nick-bryantRadio: Saturday ExtraYou can find links to the weekly radio program that Nick now hosts on ABC Radio National in Australia:https://www.abc.net.au/listen/prog

Dave Sweeney has spent much of his life campaigning against the use of nuclear materials. For his efforts working with a group of colleagues at ICAN - the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - he won a Nobel Peace Price in 2017.This is a story of the work he has done. For those curious about the history and risks of nuclear and to better understand some of the debate that is going on right now around nuclear energy, this is an episode worth listening to. This is a "In Case You Missed It Episode" (#ICYMI). We recorded this episode back in 2019.ChangeMakers 2024 is supported by the Civic Power Fund and work with the UCL Policy Lab. This year they are supporting ChangeMakers to bring together a collection of Chats filled with extraordinary ideas and everyday experience to understand how we can change the world, www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/ucl-policy-lab and www.civicpower.org.uk/.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our

In NSW Australia there is a Drug Summit underway. It is exploring better ways to respond to the experience and effects of substance use. This episode is a story about the Uniting Church who helped lead the establishment of the first Drug Summit two decades ago and is still leading the Fair Treatment campaign to fight for a better way for the community to respond to drug use.This episode is a ChangeMakers story - it tells the story of the people who fought for that first Drug Summit, why they did it and what they achieved. It paints a picture of a different way that our society could respond to something that too many of us don't want to talk about or would prefer to push under the carpet - substance use.This episode was recorded in 2018 and is re-released today in support of the Fair Treatment's campaign. You can find out more about that campaign here - https://www.fairtreatment.org/ChangeMakers 2024 is supported by the Civic Power Fund and work with the UCL Policy Lab. This year they are supporting ChangeMak