Interviews

Something in politics is broken. We all know it. Politicians have become masters of getting elected whilst getting nothing done in the real world. Is there a way to get them to focus on solving actual problems rather than chasing polls and keeping their jobs?

Iain Walker is the Executive Director of the New Democracy Foundation, an independent research organisation that designs and implements ‘citizen juries’ to various levels of government around the world.

In this interview we explored how citizen assemblies are making an impact globally, gradually becoming a viable and accepted method of decision making.

Tune in to this interview to hear about how politicians are being incentivised to ‘stop playing politics’ by this new form of public governance.

https://www.newdemocracy.com.au
https://www.changepolitics.org.au

With so much of our world in seeming flux, decay and upheaval, it is becoming popular to ask if we are witnessing the death of the world we always knew.

Why do our cultures and institutions pursue relentless ‘change’ with such zeal? Why are we redefining language and logic to support subjective views?

Are we destined for a societal train wreck?

Senior Pastor of Berwick Church of Christ, Braam Botha, discusses ethics, homosexuality, egoism, utilitarianism, government, conflict and morality in this 90 min interview.

This episode is for you if you’re interested in a perspective that takes aim at the aggrandisement of ‘SELF’ and calls for a radical departure from the momentum of popular culture.

Topics discussed:

• The plague of ‘Ethical Egoism’
• The cult of Self-Actualisation
• Redefining culture on the search for purpose
• The perverse elite who want to control the narrative
• Ethics are often limited to the temporal, not the eternal
• What is morality?
• What about ‘Love is Love’?
• The Woke definition of Love
• Homosexual marriage
• Generational love and transcending lifetimes
• When standing against culture paint a target on your back
• True ethics found in transformational experiences
• Laws that conflict with morality
• Utilitarianism is not ethical
• Affirming gay marriage and non-traditional lifestyles
• Disobeying the government
• Covid oppression of the church
• Political activism by Christians
• Experimental vaccines that divided the church
• Fighting for your own rights
• Why are Christians so docile?
• Die by the sword or die by the cross?
• The war That ends humanity will not be physical
• Elites will only keep alive the ‘useful’ who share their beliefs
• Christianity is a ‘Weak’ religion

https://berwickchurch.org.au

Dr James Stewart is an Australian doctor at the forefront of plant-based medicine and medical cannabis.

As a General Practitioner he found pharmaceutical solutions frustrating in their narrow focus and lengthy side effect profiles and began to incorporate plant-based treatments in his practice. He is now sought out by celebrities and business leaders who are looking for expert advice and care when it comes to medical cannabis and other plant-based treatments.

He joined Discernable to educate us on how cannabis works from a chemical, legal, and practical point of view.

SHOW NOTES

• Why cannabis was demonised
• How Big Pharma cashed in on the fear
• Legalising cannabis properly
• USA case study (California and Colorado)
• How THC and CBD works
• Practical use cases of cannabis
• What does it mean to be ‘high’?
• The body’s natural endocannabinoid system
• ADHD, migraines, allergies, autism, fibromyalgia associated with a decline in endocannabinoid systems
• The threat to pharmaceutical companies
• Addictions to cannabis
• Comparisons with endone and opioids
• Matt’s story of addiction
• GPs keeping patients
• Why alcohol is more dangerous than cannabis
• When you can’t drink alcohol
• Getting legal cannabis in Australia
• The attitude of Australian regulators
• Kickbacks from Big Pharma
• Busy but ignorant doctors captured by industry reps
• Mistaking acute medicine for chronic and lifestyle care
• How to take cannabis – oils, wafers, capsules, vapes, bongs
• How vapes work
• Vaporising vs burning
• The pandemic of nicotine vaping
• CBD isolates vs broad spectrum
• Driving while using cannabis

https://www.instagram.com/dr.james.stewart
https://www.facebook.com/DoctorJStewart
https://herbalhealthclinics.com
https://drjamesstewart.com.au

Nick Karamouzis is a retired lawyer who regained his practising certificate to start defending Australians he feels are being marginalised by their governments.

He is also the Chair of Self Employed Australia, and has a successful post-law career in business.

In this interview he shares his hatred of woke culture, the obsession with racism and transgenderism, why he believes Australian governments are acting like ‘fascists’, and why he believes ‘humanity’ will ultimately win.

THE 5 BUROUGHS CASE AGAINST VICTORIA
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/wig-chamber/36590-hotel-quarantine-class-action-to-proceed-despite-stay-application

THE SMOKING FIGS
https://www.facebook.com/SmokingFigs

Daniel Lopez is the contributor editor overseeing Australia for U.S. based Jacobin magazine which offers a socialist perspective on politics, economics and culture. He is an active member of the ‘Victorian Socialists’ party which achieved a remarkable result in the 2022 state election.

Daniel visited the Discernable studio to explore the evils that neo-liberalism has wrought on the world, where it came from, and what points of agreement a socialist perspective might have with a free-market libertarian perspective. Of particular concern was generational inequality, with a growing resentment among younger Millennial and GenZ cohorts who feel they are being left behind in a declining world.

DANIEL LOPEZ
https://overland.org.au/author/daniel-lopez
https://jacobin.com/author/daniel-lopez
https://victoriansocialists.org.au

Graeme Cann has been at the forefront of combatting domestic violence and child sexual abuse in Australia for 60 years. He is the founder of The Christian Counselling Association of Australia, and has counselled hundreds of victims and perpetrators of child sexual abuse since 1960.

Graeme has come to the conclusion that ‘power asymmetry’ is insufficient to explain domestic violence and child abuse, where guilt and shame often underpin pathological behaviours.

In this discussion we explore Graeme’s personal experience as a victim of child sexual abuse, the indicators of pedophilia, and why so much child abuse occurs in religious institutions.

GRAEME CANN
https://www.graemecann.com

Dr Aseem Malhotra is a British Consultant Cardiologist and a world-renowned expert in the prevention, diagnosis and management of heart disease.

He is regularly published in the British Medical Journal, British Journal of Sports Medicine, BMJ Open Heart, JAMA Internal Medicine, Prescriber, The Pharmaceutical Journal, European Scientist, The Guardian and Observer, BBC online, Huffington Post, The Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and the Washington Post.

He joined Discernable to discuss the evidence of the net harm of the pharmaceutical industry, the over-prescribing of statins, and the harms of Covid-19 vaccines.

Dr Malhotra placed no limits on the interview topics, so we pressed him on his motivations, his financial incentives, and his apparent contradiction on mRNA vaccines.

DR ASEEM MALHOTRA
https://www.nopharmfilm.com
https://doctoraseem.com/biography
https://twitter.com/DrAseemMalhotra

These are the stories of ten Victoria Police officers who served in the Vietnam War between 1964 and1972. Plucked from policing the streets of Melbourne, they were expected to serve their mandatory period of national service before returning to Victoria Police with no support, psychological evaluation, or job retraining, often policing protests against the very war they never wanted to serve in, and had just returned from.

Many of them rose to the highest ranks within Victoria Police, with some experiencing debilitating and life-long complications from their time in the military.

In 2023, Victoria Police formally apologised to them and recognised their service in a series of events called ‘Saluting Their Service’.

Guests:

1. James Stuart ARCHBOLD MM
Retired Senior Constable VicPol 14923
Corporal 3790920
Military Police

2. Iain Mcculloch FINDLAY
Retired Sergeant VicPol 15929
Corporal 3796498
Military Police

3. Gordon Kenneth BEACH
Retired Superintendent VicPol 15138
Corporal 3790002
Military Police

4. Dr Raymond Neil SHUEY AM, APM
Retired Assistant Commissioner VicPol 14696
Lance Corporal 3790218
110 Signals Squadron

5. Ivan William RAY
Retired Inspector VicPol 14897
Corporal 3791124
Military Police

6. Brian Eric FOX
Retired Senior Sergeant VicPol 17250
Private 3794305
5 Royal Australian Regiment

7. Trevor Charles THOMPSON
Retired Assistant Commissioner VicPol 15045
Private 3790257
Royal Australian Army Service Corps

8. Eric James HORNE
Retired Chief Inspector VicPol 11324
Captain 3106899
Command and Staff Training Unit
Citizen Military Forces

9. Maureen Joy SMITH- widow of Ronald Wayne SMITH
Retired Senior Constable VicPol 14881
Lance Corporal 3788016
532 Signal Troop

10. Ian Graham PAYNE
Retired Inspector VicPol 15150
Corporal 3791889
Military Police

This project was produced with the assistance and support of:

Community Advocacy Alliance
https://caainc.org.au

Australian War Memorial
https://www.awm.gov.au

Victoria Police
https://www.police.vic.gov.au

Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia
https://www.vvaa.org.au

Retired Police Association of Victoria Inc
https://rpavictoria.org

Adam Creighton is an award-winning journalist and now Washington Correspondent for The Australian. He has been a vocal critic of lockdown policy by governments around the world back when it was dangerous to stand out from the journalist crowd

He joined Discernable to discuss:

• Insane Covid-19 policies that wrecked the world
• Is there pressure in mainstream media to take a particular stance?
• Did the Australian ‘larrikin’ ever really exist?
• TRUMP the frontrunner for the Presidential race
• Democrats can’t stop Biden
• Biden’s cognitive decline
• Why is DeSantis’ popularity waning?
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr would beat Biden
• Did Bernie Sanders sell his soul?
• Massive salaries for Inclusion and Diversity Officers
• Keynesian economics may just work after all
• Forecasts and models are ‘fake’ and pointless
• Living standards are declining
• You can’t appeal to ‘the ordinary man’ anymore
• The threat of New Media

ADAM CREIGHTON
https://twitter.com/Adam_Creighton

Rob McMullan returns to Discernable to discuss the ongoing drift in society toward ’empathising’ and ‘caretaking’ which ultimately leads to mass dependence. Is Australia destined to become a nation of compliant serfs who are comfortably satiated but totally without agency?

Rob foresees a two-tiered society of Elites and Serfs…a ‘dependent mass’ and an ‘inner city elite’ as opposed to a mixed and dominant middle class.

Unless and until an inevitable retaliation takes place.

ROB MCMULLAN
https://twitter.com/TheMcMullan