After 6+ years in the making, my film, Disaster Capitalism, is finished. Working with director Thor Neureiter, co-producers Media Stockade and co-editor Leah Donovan, it’s been the most challenging creative project of my life. But here we are with a fine film. Disaster Capitalism is a compelling documentary that goes inside Afghanistan, Haiti and Papua…
Bitcoin Uncensored about the global "war on drugs"
I’m currently working on a new, investigative book on the global “war on drugs” covering vast parts of the world consumed by the drug war (from Honduras to West Africa). It’ll be published by Scribe in Australia, the UK and beyond in 2019. This week I was interviewed by the US podcast, Bitcoin Uncensored, on…
Introducing John Pilger into the Melbourne Press Club Hall of Fame
The Melbourne Press Club periodically inducts journalists into its Hall of Fame. I was asked to write the profile and be interviewed about John Pilger, one of Australia’s most famous journalistic exports: During his acceptance speech for the Sydney Peace Prize in 2009, Australian journalist, author and film-maker John Pilger articulated a worldview that he…
Imagining a sporting/tourist boycott of Australia
After 25 years of increasingly extreme Australian policies against asylum seekers both onshore and offshore, perhaps it’s time to think about more active measures to change course. I was interviewed by the Guardian about my suggestions: The author and journalist Antony Loewenstein is attempting to open up another front in the campaign against offshore detention.…
Is it time to boycott Australia over its refugee policies?
My following article appears in Australian news outlet, Crikey: Let’s talk about boycotting Australia. Australia’s war on asylum seekers at Manus Island, Nauru and other privatised detention facilities on the Australian mainland is seemingly unstoppable by traditional means. While condemned by every human rights organisation in the world, Canberra is unmoved. The demonisation of (mostly)…
Defending the right to protest Pine Gap
I signed the following public statement to support peaceful protest of the secretive US spy base at Pine Gap in Australia. It’s directed at Attorney General George Brandis: We seek your urgent intervention to protect the right to freedom of speech, expression, political communication and of religion for six Australian citizens who face up to…
Australia's ambition to become global arms dealer
My major investigation in the Melbourne Age/Sydney Morning Herald on Australia’s surging defence industry: This year’s Avalon Air Show in Geelong was the first chance for the public to see the long-delayed Joint Strike Fighter in action. At a cost of at least $100 million per aircraft, Canberra is slated to spend $17 billion on…
ABCTV Lateline interview on Israel/Palestine
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten travelled to Israel this week to “celebrate” the 100-year anniversary of Beersheba and the Balfour Declaration. Palestine was barely on the agenda. After living in East Jerusalem for the last 1.5 years, I was interviewed for Lateline by ABC TV reporter Michael Vincent on the…
Sydney Ideas talk on Israel/Palestine and realities in the West Bank and Gaza
In September, I spoke at Sydney University alongside US academic Mark LeVine and Palestinian academic Lana Tatour on the realities in today’s Palestine/Israel. Many interesting comments and my thoughts (after living in East Jerusalem for the last 1.5 years) start at 1:00:26:
The last remaining Jew in Afghanistan
During my 2012 visit to Afghanistan, researching the book and film, Disaster Capitalism, I spent time with the country’s reportedly last remaining Jew, Zablon Simintov, and filmed an interview with him. Living in the centre of Kabul, his house was a tiny apartment with a Christmas tree in the corner. Remarkably, he had remained safe…