If you are in Australia you probably know of Andrew Denton the comedian, but did you know he is also a highly successful changemaker?  In this chat Andrew shares his journey of a life that began in comedy, then ventured into long form interviews with the popular television show “Enough Rope”, then a decade ago took him to a decision to try and change the laws on Voluntary Assisted Dying. Andrew shares what it was like to come to social change as a novice - and to learn the many steps of how...

Mona grew up as a child of refugees fleeing political persecution. Now as an adult in the UK, she has created a new kind of organisation - Revoke - to support people seeking refuge and asylum that builds on her own experience. In this episode of ChangeMakers she tells us about her journey, about the political activism of her parents in Iran, and their work in Denmark as part of a broader refugee community. Mona shares how the connections and networks that nurtured them, alongside other...

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...

What would it mean if we had local authorities and councils that saw their mission as building relationships with the communities they serve? This week we talk with Nick Kimber, the Director of Strategy and Design at the London Borough of Camden. He has helped create a council that builds relationships with the community it serves in everything that it does, from child protection to garbage collection. He shares with us how he came to believe in the power of relationships in local...

Today we talk with one of the world's leading communication specialists for progressive change. Anat Shenker-Osorio has spend decades working with communities, movements and progressive political candidates across the world helping them to sharpen and improve how they communicate their ideas. Anat brings a deep understanding of change making principles in her work - and today she unpacks where her communications methodology came from and some of its key principles. This Chat is full of change...

If climate change affects everything - then what do we do to reimagine how we work, live and care for each other? This episode is with Dr Kim Loo - a leading Australian community climate activist and local Sydney-based General Practitioner, who has connected her role as a community doctor and her passion for the natural world to make sure she is building a healthy community for us all.   Here she talks about how growing up in multicultural South Western Sydney taught her about the power of...

If climate change affects everything - then what do we do to reimagine how we work, live and care for each other? This episode is with Dr Kim Loo - a leading Australian community climate activist and local Sydney-based General Practitioner, who has connected her role as a community doctor and her passion for the natural world to make sure she is building a healthy community for us all. Here she talks about how growing up in multicultural South Western Sydney taught her about the power of...

As a tribute to the magnificent Andre Braugher and his alter ego Captain Holt - we are re-releasing this episode with Brooklyn 99 writers and cast recorded back in 2018. What can we learn when a Hollywood TV show gets into ChangeMaking? Comedy show Brooklyn 99 took on police racism. How did they do it in a way that people didn’t turn off? We interviewed Terry Crews, Dan Good (Series Creator) and the writer of their #BlackLivesMatter episode Moo Moo Phil Jackson to find out about the politics...

In our last episode for 2023 we bring you an episode from 2021 - recorded in the weeks after the Presidential Election - that explores Deep Canvassing. Deep Canvassing uses the story telling and listening techniques of community organising to talk to voters about how they might vote in an election. It has been shown to be radically effective at engaging and persuading people. It is a very different form of electoral engagement to the typical transactional or rapid pace sales pitch usually...

Today we talk with Anhaar Kareem - a 16 year old Australian woman who is part of the Make it 16 campaign seeking to give young people the vote. She shares her journey into making change - and the influences of he family and the place where she lives. She shares where the campaign came from, why young people feel like they need the vote more than ever, and some of the battles she and others have faced in talking with political leaders about why 16 and 17 year olds should have a political...

Broad based organising in the United Kingdom has a long history - starting with the pioneering work of "TELCO" (The East London Citizens Organisation). In this chat, Emmanuel Gotora - Lead Organiser at TELCO and Assistant Director at Citizens UK shares that story while also sharing his story of his journey into organising. This is an episode about the slow but powerful journey of leadership development, and the power that can come when communities join together to fight for their needs. We...

They say "don't meet your heroes" but thankfully that isn't always true. Jane McAlevey is one of those people who would call "b******t" on people calling her a hero - but I'm an Australian - so I say b******t back. Jane is a fighter - and this conversation with her recorded in 2021 demonstrates that. Jane has taught us many of the rules about how to fight and how to win. Jane is not well (see this piece in the New Yorker) - but she is still fighting. Not just for her health but for the...

Chanel Contos joins us on ChangeMakers to discuss her new book Consent Laid Bare and the challenge of how to end rape culture. She shares the journey she took to helping Australia learn about the culture of rape and sexual assault that continues to exist amongst teenagers and how we might go about ending it. Today we talk about the problem and strategies to bring down the pillars that hold up a collective culture than decriminatlises rape. To get a copy of Chanel's book - Consent Laid Bare -...

Let's talk about race. In this chat Gloria Tabi shares her experiences of racism at work in Australia and how she has come to lead change in the workplace around racial exclusion and discrimination. This is a powerful conversation about the brutality of exclusion and about the challenging strategies required to understand and change racism in the workplace. Gloria's organisation - Everyday Inclusion - works on these issues - https://www.everydayinclusion.com.au/about. Her books and materials...

Let's talk about race. In this chat Gloria Tabi shares her experiences of racism at work in Australia and how she has come to lead change in the workplace around racial exclusion and discrimination. This is a powerful conversation about the brutality of exclusion and about the challenging strategies required to understand and change racism in the workplace. Gloria's organisation - EVERYDAY INCLUSION - works on these issues - https://www.everydayinclusion.com.au/about. Her books and materials...

How do anthropologists use curiosity to see and support people to make change in the world? And what is an anthropologist anyway? In this conversation we talk with Nikita Simpson about how she came to work as an anthropologist, having worked up a curiosity about the similarities and differences between communities and cultures from growing up in a bi-racial family in Australia. She takes us to the Himalayas where she has worked with communities to understand the complex dynamics of care in...

In this episode from 2021, we look at the power of public servants and how they make change with one of Australia's most senior former public servants - Peter Shergold. In what ways are public servants ChangeMakers, and how can advocacy groups build more powerful relationships with them? This chat is with one of Australia’s most senior former public servants – Peter Shergold – who was a senior official in both the Hawke Labor Government and the Howard conservative Liberal Government. He...

What would it take for communities reliant on fossil fuels to be leaders in the climate transition? In this chat Elise Ganley, the National Lead Organiser for the Real Deal for Australia project explores how communities like Gladstone and Geelong are leading the way in designing policies that create an economic transition in ways that are shaped by their interests. Elise lives in Gladstone and grew up in regional South Australia, she tells the story of how these communities have used...

We are all different - but some of these differences are hard to see. That includes differences based on our neurodiversity or our mental health. This conversation is with Jacinta Dietrich the co-host of the Differently Brained podcast. She is autistic and has lived with the challenges of mental health. She co-created a podcast to make a space for people to share how they live differently.  Jacinta shares openly about her neurodivergence and the community she has created. We also have a...

If you are in Australia you might have heard of GetUp, or if you are in the United States you probably know about MoveOn - but you might not be aware that these kinds of digital advocacy movements operate in 20 countries around the world. These groups are linked through a global network called OPEN (Online Progressive Engagement Network) and today we talk with Nina Hall who has written the book about how the network works!  We explore what makes these organisations similar and how their work...

Making change is be invaluable, but without resources it is hard to do. This episode digs into the question of how to raise money to make changemaking happen. We talk with Martha McKenzie the Executive Director of the Civic Power Fund in the United Kingdom. The Civic Power Fund is dedicated to raising resources for community organising - providing seed grants and creating understanding amongst philanthropists of the particular power that organising can create. This Chat digs into how they...

It’s been one year since the Australian Federal Election that swooped an unprecedented number of community independents into the House of Representatives, and it’s been 10 years since that “Voices for” movement started. In celebration of Voices for Indi, we are sharing this Chat with Nick Haines - in case you missed it (ICYMI). Nick worked on Cathy McGowan’s campaign and his mum Helen Haines is the current member for Indi.  In this conversation he shares the long story of how community...

In the 2022 Australian Federal Election the Greens won an unprecedented number of seats in Queensland - producing what came to be known as the “Green Wave.” Max Chandler-Mather was at the centre of that movement - and is now the current Member for Griffith. In this conversation he shares how the Queensland Greens translated community organising techniques into an electoral force.  He shares his unusal story into the Greens, as someone who was frustrated and disenchanted by traditional...

Australia is in the middle of a national conversation that could transform our relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. But how much do you know about the long story that sits behind the Voice to Parliament referendum?  Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man, born on Larrakia country in Darwin. He shares with us his journey into union activism and Indigenous struggle. This chat explores what it was like to be part of the...