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Samantha Crompvoets
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Australian Red Cross book Group: Samantha Crompvoets

Please note: This is an online event.

In 2021, Readings is partnering with the Victorian International Humanitarian Law Advisory Committee of the Australian Red Cross to host a book club on the laws and impact of war. The book club meets online on the last Wednesday of every second month throughout 2021.

This is the fifth session of the Readings/Australian Red Cross book club on the laws and impact of war. In this session we are joined by one of Australia’s most acclaimed international human rights lawyers, Geoffrey Robertson, to discuss his book Bad People and How to be Rid of Them.

As Australia comes to grips with accusations that some of its elite soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan, a catchcry for certain commentators is that the ‘fog of war’ explains, justifies and possibly excuses the alleged atrocities that have come to light. Abuses of power and the normalisation of deviance are at the heart of the ‘cultural issues’ that have long plagued the Australian Defence Force. It is always easiest to point a finger at a ‘what’ rather than a ‘who’, so ‘culture’ features prominently in analyses of what went wrong regarding the alleged war crimes committed by Australia’s Special Operations Command. In Blood Lust, Trust & Blame, sociologist Samantha Crompvoets tells the story of what went wrong in the ADF. It is a chronicle of the consequences of pursuing the truth, the politics of accountability, and the cost of action.

You do not need to have read the book to enjoy this event! This event is for anyone interested in how countries like Australia can promote better accountability for human rights abuses.

International humanitarian law (IHL), also known as the laws of war, is the body of law that applies during war to protect those who are not, or who are no longer participating in hostilities, and that seeks to limit the means and methods of warfare. Find out more by visiting the website of Australian Red Cross.

This event is free to attend but bookings are essential.

Please book here.

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    Blood Lust, Trust & Blame

    Samantha Crompvoets

 

October 11, 2021
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Newman Bradley Haydar
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Louise Newman and Michael Bradley in conversation with Nour Haydar

Rape Culture
The revelations and allegations of sexual harassment and assault in the Australian Parliament have prompted furious responses. Political leaders have attempted to limit the damage by referring to the lack of criminal charges, resisting a discussion of entrenched misogyny. Advocates for survivors of abuse see this as a continuation of the long history of normalising the abuse of woman, perpetuating it through legal mechanisms and the exercise of power. This impasse represents the workings of a ‘rape culture’ where the abuse of women is accepted as commonplace. Psychological theories of repression have been misused, contributing to the recycling of the so-called theory of ‘false memories’ whereby the recall of trauma is seen as invented, perhaps implanted by therapists. It is concerning that this complex issue is being ventilated by journalists, politicians and lawyers without any clinical understanding of trauma, memory and the implications for support. Women must not be represented as mentally unstable, untrustworthy or ruled by their hormones while their abusers take refuge in legalisms, obfuscations and the dark art of political calculus.

System Failure: The Silencing of Rape Survivors
One in five Australian women has been the victim of a sexual assault. For these women, there is less than a 1 per cent chance that their rapist has been arrested, prosecuted and convicted of the crime. These are the bare numerical facts of system failure. We offer rape survivors a stark choice: go to the police, or remain silent. In recent times, the public pressure on survivors to report has increased, alongside a growing focus on two other options: civil action against the perpetrator, or going public. These evolving social responses are intended to offer an alternative to the tradition of silencing. However, each of these choices, for survivors, involves a further sacrifice of what they have already lost. The legal system’s responses to rape were designed without survivors in mind, and they do not address, in any way, the questions that survivors ask or the needs they express. Simply put, on the systemic response to rape, we are having the wrong conversation.

Free
RSVP Essential. Zoom links will be sent 24 hours ahead of time.

October 11, 2021
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Love Your Bookshop Day 2021
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Love Your Bookshop Day 2021

Where’s your favourite bookshop? Is it a modern two-storey building in the heart of the city, a converted church in a country town or a tiny but carefully curated cottage in a coastal hideaway?

Let’s celebrate Australia’s unique community of bookshops. Their shelves are filled with exciting stories, new friends, important history lessons and adventures into other worlds. Their calendars are filled with book clubs, storytimes and must-see literary events. They provide places to gather and connect both in person and online all across our big wide land.

This Saturday 9 October 2021 support your favourite bookshop and join in the celebrations.

September 21, 2021
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Labor People review
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IA BOOK CLUB REVIEW: Chris Bowen’s ‘Labor People’

Craig Minns unpacks Chris Bowen’s Labor People: The Stories of Six True Believers, which keenly reflects the lives of six influential Labor Party members.

THE AUSTRALIAN Labor Party is Australia’s oldest political party, with a proud history of grassroots activism that continues to this day. Author Chris Bowen does a wonderful job of exploring the lives of six ordinary members of the party who made extraordinary contributions to that history.

September 14, 2021
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Chifley Conversation
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Chifley Conversations: Enough is Enough

Chifley Conversations with guests Jenny Macklin & Kate Thwaites MP on their new book ‘Enough is Enough’.

What is it about the culture and structure of Parliament House that has allowed sexual violence and harassment to flourish? Join former Labor deputy leader Jenny Macklin and Kate Thwaites MP for a conversation and Q&A on their new book Enough is Enough.

  • Enough is Enough
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    Enough is Enough

    Kate Thwaites and Jenny Macklin
September 14, 2021
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Ian Lowe and Luke Stegemann
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Ian Lowe and Luke Stegemann in conversation (Maleny, Queensland)

Outspoken presents two fascinating authors discussing their recently published books. The wonderful Ian Lowe will be discussing Long Half-Life, his analysis of the Nuclear Industry in Australia, while Luke Stegemann, recently short-listed for two Premiers’ Literary Awards will be discussing his remarkable book Amnesia Road. Both in conversation with Steven Lang

 

September 9, 2021
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Kate Thwaites
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Podcast: Kate Thwaites on Toxic Culture in Australian Parliament

Politician and author Kate Thwaites talks to Cheryl about toxic culture and misogyny in the Australian Parliament. Her new book, Enough is Enough, is out now.

About the author

Kate Thwaites was elected the Member for Jagajaga at the 2019 federal election. Kate is a former ABC TV and Radio news reporter and has held senior roles at Oxfam and in the Victorian Public Service. She worked for Jenny Macklin to help deliver important Labor reforms, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Paid Parental Leave. Kate is also working to tackle the other serious challenges that face our country: rising social inequality, constitutional recognition of Australia’s First Peoples, and fixing the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Listen on Apple || Listen on Stitcher for Android

  • Enough is Enough
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    Enough is Enough

    Kate Thwaites and Jenny Macklin
August 12, 2021
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Chris Bowen
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Labor People: In Conversation with Chris Bowen MP

ONLINE EVENT

Join Labor MP Chris Bowen (Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy and former Treasurer), in conversation with our Executive Director Nick Dyrenfurth discussing Chris’s new book ‘Labor People: The Stories of Six True Believers’ (Monash University Publishing). Attendees will be eligible for a discounted copy of this fascinating Labor history.

Chris Bowen is one of Labor’s most experienced parliamentarians.  He entered Parliament in 2004 and has held a wide range of portfolios, including being Treasurer, Shadow Treasurer, Minister for Immigration and Minister for Tertiary Education.

He served as Interim Leader of the Labor Party in 2013 and is currently Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

He has degrees in economics, international relations and the Indonesian language.  He is the author of three previous books: Hearts and Minds (2013), The Money Men (2015) and On Charlatans (2021).

He lives in Smithfield in Western Sydney with his wife Rebecca, their children Grace and Max and two very cheeky Labradors Ollie and Toby.

August 10, 2021
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Labor People launch
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Book Launch: Labor People by Chris Bowen (Gleebooks, Sydney)

TO BE LAUNCHED BY JOHN FAULKNER

With moderator Louise Adler

In Labor People, Chris Bowen brings to life six great Australians and servants of their party and tells their story. Spanning the 1890s to the 1970s, in paying tribute to these Labor warriors, he also tells an important part of the history of Labor and Australia.

Read more about Labor People here

*Please note this is an online event. RSVP here

Chris BowenChris Bowen is one of Labor’s most experienced parliamentarians.  He entered Parliament in 2004 and has held a wide range of portfolios, including being Treasurer, Shadow Treasurer, Minister for Immigration and Minister for Tertiary Education.

He served as Interim Leader of the Labor Party in 2013 and is currently Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

He has degrees in economics, international relations and the Indonesian language.  He is the author of three previous books: Hearts and Minds (2013), The Money Men (2015) and On Charlatans (2021).

He lives in Smithfield in Western Sydney with his wife Rebecca, their children Grace and Max and two very cheeky Labradors Ollie and Toby.

John FaulknerJohn Faulkner joined the Labor Party as a teenager and worked as a teacher of children with severe disabilities.

In 1980 he became the NSW ALP Assistant General Secretary and then a Senator – from 1989 until his retirement in 2015. He was a cabinet minister in the Keating Government holding the Environment, Sport and Territories portfolio from 1994 to 1996. After the defeat of the Keating Government he was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate until 2004.

John was elected National President of the ALP in 2006 and remained in that position until the election of the Rudd Government.

He served in the Rudd & Gillard Governments – as Cabinet Secretary and Special Minister of State (2007 to 2009) and then as Minister for Defence (2009 to 2010) until his retirement from cabinet.

Louise AdlerLouise Adler is a Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow at Monash University and Publisher at Large for Hachette. She is the proud publisher of four books by Chris Bowen.

July 23, 2021
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