We are joined by Reed O'Loughlin - one of the Coordinators for the Friends of the Earth Nuclear Free Collective and David Noonan - Independent Environmental Campaigner, to discuss some of the latest developments under AUKUS.On 1 November, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency handed over regulatory oversight of relevant licences related to the Australian nuclear-powered submarine program to the new Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator marking a significant shift in the way that nuclear activities and materials are regulated..  David Noonan discusses the imposition of military and nuclear risks posed by the AUKUS override of State & Territory laws that prohibit nuclear waste storage. You can read his submission to the 'AUKUS ‘Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulations – public consultation’.Upcoming events:Protest the Indo PacificKeeping WA Nuclear Free6pm Wednesday 19 NovemberThe Buffalo Club, 54 High St, Freemantle, WAOrganised by Nuclear Free WABook Launch 'Search for Security: AUKUS and the new militarism'6pm Thursday 20 NovemberMelbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church, 110 Grey St, East Melbourne, VICOrganised by No AUKUS Coalition VicLet's Talk About AUKUS6pm Tuesday 25 NovemberFood Coop, Kingsley St, Acton, ACTA night of conversation, food and music with Dr.Jim Green and friends.Organised by Beyond Uranium Canberra.   

Today we bring you more speeches from the rally against rocket testing on Googatha country, led by Googatha elder Aunty Sue Haseldine, that brought together hundred of supporters at the Australian Space Agency offices and Parliament House in Adelaide on unceded Kaurna yarta, on 10 October 2025.We'll hear excerpts from speeches by: Dylan Coleman - Googatha woman and lecturer in Indigenous health; Irene Watson a Tanganekald, Meintangk, Bunganditj and Potaruwutj woman and Professor of Law at the University of South Australia; Dr. Amanda Palmer Vice President of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War and Derek Burke from Port Adelaide Community Opposing AUKUS.Southern Launch's Koonibba rocket testing range is the largest overland suborbital rocket testing facility in the Southern Hemisphere and covers over 40,000 square kilometre of pristine mallee woodland that is home to Googatha sacred sites and endangered flora and fauna. They began operations at the Koonibba range in 2020 and started commercial launches in 2024.Write a letter in support of the campaign to get Southern Launch and rocket testing of sacred Googatha lands. 

We dive into the story and recent organising of WAWAN, Wollongong Against War and Nukes, with founding members Gem Romuld and Alexander Brown. We hear about WAWAN's formation in response to the proposal of a nuclear submarine port at Port Kembla, as well as the strong peace and anti-military history of the region.Winter of 2025 has been a hive of busyness for WAWAN, including a peace exhibition at the Wollongong library and a residency at Wollongong Gallery, alongside ongoing support and participation in the pickets at Bisalloy Steel, as organised by Wollongong Friends of Palestine. Wollongong Against War and NukesWollongong Friends of Palestine

Sam conducts an interview with former producer of the Radioactive Show: Eric Miller. Eric wrote, produced, panelled and drove the Radioactive Show for an incredible 18 year period from 1988-2006.Eric transferred his archives of the show back to the Radioactive Show team , and we discussed the collection and Eric's history with the show. 

September 27 marks the anniversary of the first British atomic test at Maralinga in South Australia in 1956. Between 1952 -1957 three tests were carried out on the Monte Bello Islands off the coast of Western Australia followed by nine nuclear weapon tests at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia.  The British nuclear testing program was carried out with the full support of the Australian government and permission was not sought for the tests from Aboriginal people whose lands were used as sacrifice zones.The use of atomic weapons contaminated great tracts of land, displaced and forced Aboriginal people into Government and mission-controlled enclaves.  Many Aboriginal people were exposed to the fallout and died.  Survivors suffered radiation sickness and long term injury or illnesses and the intergenerational impacts affect family of survivors to this day.  This history informs the work of many of Australian Nuclear Free Alliance members to this day, having direct experience with nuclear weapons. We bring you some of the conversations from the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance gathering at Pichi Richi Park in South Australia over the weekend of 29th-31st of August.  We'll hear from speakers in the session titled 'Nuclear weapons and survivors: international solidarity and protocols': Dimity Hawkins from the Nuclear Truth Project; Karina Lester - Yangkunytjatjara Anangu woman; Roslyn Peters Anangu women from Yalata Community, Sister Michelle Maddigan - long time nuclear free campaigner based in Adelaide And Sue Haseldine - Googatha elder based in Ceduna, Far West South Australia.Weapons testing is continuing to threaten Aboriginal country and Aunty Sue Haseldine is seeking support to protect Googatha country from Southern Launch's rocket testing range.There is a rally in Adelaide on October 10, go to @westmalleeprotection on Instagram to find out more.

On the 21 September you can join in the National Day of Action Against Miltarisation and AUKUS.We bring an update on AUKUS developments in the south west with Nuclear Free WA campaigner KA Garlick and recordings from an AUKUS session at the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance meeting held at Pichi Richi Park on Nukunu country in so called "South Australia" over the weekend of 29-31 August.  We'll hear from Dave Sweeney, Nuclear-free campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation, Derrick from Port Adelaide Community Opposing AUKUS and independent enviornmental campaigner David Noonan.   

We return to the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance meeting held over the weekend of 29-31 August at Pichi Richi Park in South Australia.  ANFA is an Aboriginal led grassroots alliance of people and organisations working for a nuclear free future.  The annual meeting is a place for multi-generational story telling. This week we turn to uranium mining and the destruction of sacred sites, water, animals, family and community relationships that occurs wherever it's imposed.  We'll hear from Mia Pepper and Vicky Abdullah in Western Australia, Kirsten Blair and Cat Beaton with updates from the Northern Territory, followed by Regina McKenzie and David Noonan on South Australia - the only state still mining uranium and as David Noonan puts it - the scene of the crime!

From 29th - 31 August the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance meeting was held on Nukunu country, at Pitchi Richi Park in so called "South Australia".  Since 1997 this Aboriginal led alliance has brought people together from across the continent to share information, strategies for defeating corporate and government plans for nuclear developments and to build solidarity for a nuclear free future.  First up we'll hear from Dianne Stokes on the Muckaty waste dump campaign in Tennant Creek, NT that ran from 2007 when the site was nominated by the Northern Lands Council to late 2014 when their case in the Federal Court saw the Federal Government and the Lands Council forced to walk away from it.  We then hear from Regina McKenzie who took up the fight in 2015 when the nuclear waste dump proposal moved to Barndioota on Adnymathanha country near Hawker, SA until 2020.  Followed by some words from ANFA President Aunty Sue Haseldine who stood alongside the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta in the first success against the Federal Government's national radioactive waste dump plan.The next session was dedicated to celebrating the win against the Liberal Coalition's seven proposed nuclear reactors and we hear South Australia's NAIDOC Person of the Year 2025  'Stano' speak about taking a central role in the local campaign against nuclear power for Port Augusta.Please join the National Day of Action on AUKUS on the International Day For Peace Sunday 21 September. Details at antiaukuscoalition.org.

Initially announced in September 2021, the AUKUS trilateral "security" partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, involves two lines of effort referred to as pillars. Pillar 1 focuses on Australia acquiring nuclear-powered attack submarines and the rotational basing of US and UK nuclear-powered attack submarines in Australia.This week we spoke with Tim Deere-Jones the author of a detailed new report released this month on the British nuclear submarine experience that has been written for Friends of the Earth Australia. Tim Deere-Jones has a B.Sc. degree in Maritime Studies and has operated a Marine Pollution Research Consultancy since the 1980s focusing on Nuclear and Radioactive Marine Pollution, causes/outcomes of hazardous cargos and shipping accidents, marine hydrocarbon, and chemical spills.Dr. Jim Green, National Nuclear Campaigner with Friends of the Earth Australia, said that “The report reveals disturbing patterns of unacceptable safety risks, an appalling lack of transparency, cost-blowouts and delays". Green calls for the Australian Government to "immediately initiate a thorough, independent review of the AUKUS submarine project and this report should be an important input into that inquiry.”The report also details deadly collisions between civilian vessels and nuclear submarines; radioactive discharges to the environment from Nuclear Sub bases; and highlights the eye-watering amounts of money involved in the building,  maintaining and then disposing of these vessels which have a fairly short shelf life. The estimated cost to the UK's ministry of defense to fully disposing of one submarine is £96 million or $200 million AUD.The full report, ‘The British experience with nuclear-powered submarines: lessons for Australia’, is available online at nuclear.foe.org.au/nuclear-subs.If what you have heard has concerned you, and you want to get involved, there are a number of ways to take action:IPAN has a petition on their website: Public Call to the Australian Government to cancel the AUKUS - find this at ipan.org.au.There is a National Anti-AUKUS Day of Action coming up on the September 21 on the International Day of Peace.  Find or promote a local event at antiaukuscoalition.org. 

Recordings from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Australia online event that brought together survivors, artists, campaigners and parliamentarians to reflect on Hiroshima’s legacy - and the urgent task of disarmament on the 80 th Anniversary of the US bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday 6 August,  2025.Featuring MC Scott Ludlam - Writer, former Greens Senator and lifelong national and international campaigner for peace and climate justice; Isao Morimoto – Second-generation Hibakusha and son of the late author/illustrator Junko Morimoto, sharing personal reflections on his mother’s life and survival; and Gem Romuld – Director, ICAN Australia, leading national efforts to promote the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and challenge Australia’s support for nuclear militarism.

Today we continue to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons in war. On August 6 1945 the US army dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima Japan with devastating effect. The intergenerational effects of the atomic bomb are ongoing and first up we'll hear from Kazuyo Yamane daughter of a Hibakusha speaking at speaking at a forum called Remembering Hiroshoma held by the Nuclear Truth Project last year.Next we delve into the Radioactive Show archives and bring you an interview with Jack Sennet who was based in Hiroshima with the Australian airforce just after the bombing. In March 1946, Australia was assigned to Hiroshima and the surrounding area as part the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). The program was first broadcast on the Radioactive Show on August 6 1994.  Thanks to Eric Miller for the archives and Sam Gibbard for making those available to us.In Naarm Melbourne there is a 80 years since Hiroshima - day of commemoration: Morning vigil as part of a global week of action to commemorate the terrible atomic bombings in Japan and to collectively remember that something like this should never happen again.  8-9 am: In the morning of Wednesday August 6 there will be a silent vigil from 8-9am (8.15 am was the time of the actual bombing on the day) at St Paul's Catherdral for a time of commemoration.12-1 pm: The Peace Choir will be singing in front of the State Library Victoria.1-1.15  pm: procession to Trades hall1.15-1.30pm: Group photo in front of the huge ICAN banner at Trades Hall1.30-2 pm: Tea and snacks at Trades Hall with a speaker from the Japanese community.All the details can be found at melbournefoe.org.au/events.The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has webinar on Sunday 3rd of from 4-7pm 'Victims of Nuclear Weapons and Testing'.And from 7-8pm on Wednesday 6 August a webinar 'The Fire Still Burns, Hiroshima Disarmamanet and Resistance'.  You can find all the details and links to registar for these events at icanw.org.au/action.   

On the 16th of July, 1945 at 5.30am the US detonated the first atomic weapon in the Jornada del Muerto desert over the lands of the Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache peoples of what's now know as New Mexico.  No one was evacuated from the area and the people living downwind are still suffering to this day due to the intergenerational impacts of exposure to radiation. And whilst their campaigning has seen some compensation delivered it is still not sufficient.The atomic bomb had been developed by the US military at the secret scientific Los Alamos laboratory under the name the Manhattan Project.  Scientists had identified two fissile isotopes for potential use in bombs: uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Uranium-235 became the basis of the 'Little Boy' bomb, first used (without prior testing) in the bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945; and the design used in the Trinity test, and eventually used in the 'Fat Man' bomb dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, was based on plutonium.There are now over 12,000 nuclear weapons around the world and with the doomsday clock set to 89 seconds to midnight, the closest its ever been, they threaten all our lives.For the last 80 year people around the world have been working to eliminate this terrible invention.  Today we speak with Dr. Margie Beavis from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) about their current work and events planned to commemorate these horrific events.ICAN is holding a 'Week of Action for Abolition' from August 2-8 and you can find all the details and links to registar for events at icanw.org.au/action.We also bring you part of a speech from nuclear disarmament campaigner and Hibakusha, Testsuko Thurlow who was 13 year old school girl that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. This was recorded at the ICAN Nobel Peace Prize celebrations in December 2017.

Have you been thinking about AI aka Artificial intelligence, or AGI aka Artificial General Intelligence recently? It’s moving so fast and I think it’s vital that we engage critically with it. Today I’ll bring you audio thanks to Democracy Now, an interview with Karen Hao, the author of a recent book ‘Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares and Sam Altman’s Open AI.’ I found it to be a pertinent conversation, I’m sharing some excerpts of it here, but recommend checking out the full interview at democracynow.org    

For this year's NAIDOC theme 'The Next Generation: Strength, Legacy & Vision' we hear two generations of Googatha (Kokatha) people discussing caring for country.  Aunty Sue Haseldine is a Googatha elder that has been leading 6 monthly Rockhole Recovery trips to care for sacred waterholes, part of the Seven Sisters songline.  She outlines the importance of the country and current threats from Southern Launch's rocket testing range.  We hear from two grandchildren Wayne and Wana about what these trips means to them and their vision for the future as young Kokatha people.Support the Googatha Mula country by donating toward the Rockhole Recovery trips.Support the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance.Learn more about Southern Launch's rocket testing range and the documentary coming soon Native Title Rockets.

This weeks episode we gratefully share Travis Lovett's speech from the Yoorrook Walk for Truth. Songs by Barkaa and Kee'ahn. Ngā mihi nui. 

This week we look at the Future Funds investment in weapons companies involved in the genocide in Palestine and producing illegal nuclear weapons.  Among many unethical investments, the Australian state’s ‘sovereign’ (stolen) wealth fund invests in weaponscompanies arming Israel to murder tens of thousands of people in Gaza and the West Bank.Elbit Systems - Israel’s largest privately-owned arms company - is the fastest-growing company on the list of companies Future Fund invests in.  A research report produced by the Elbit Out of Victoria campaign reveals an increase of 449.9 % within the last 15 months. The report was launched at the Future Fund Head Office, 447 Collins St, Naarm-Melbourne at an after work rally demanding Future Fund divests from Elbit Systems on Thursday 26 June.We bring you some excerpts of speeches from the rally by Krauatatungallung elder Djuran Bunjileenee Robbie Thorpe (Crime Scene Australia),  Nat Celleja (Elbit out of Victoria), Dr Max Kaiser (Jewish Council of Australia) and Romina Beitseen (Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament).Then we speak with Dr.Margie Beavis from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons about investment in nuclear weapons producing companies and what you can do about it.More information about divesting from nuclear weapons can be found at quitnukes.org and dontbankonthebomb.com. 

In today’s show we learn about the staunch organising, support and action for Palestine that continues to take place on Dharawhal Country, in the area around Wollongong, NSW. There have also been direct actions and 6 community pickets against the nearby company Bisalloy, which organisers found out producers armoured steel for the IDF. Now in June 2025, the devastating genocide continues, but so does the resistance, and I’ve spoken to organisers wit the local group, Wollongong Friends of Palestine, about how they have built a hive of resistance in the area.  

On this weeks show we reflect on the recent election result with Kirsten Blair speaking at a Don't Nuke The Climate webinar 'Is nuclear power still a threat after the election?' about the big impact that anti nuclear power sentiment in the community had in the last election that may have cost the Liberal National Coalition as many as 11 seats. We hear from Poppy about the upcoming exhibition called 'Resisting Nuclear' that runs from 12-17 June at 6 Prowse St, Brunswick.  For updates follow Old Country Calling on Facebook or Instagram.And we bring you a speech by Scheherazade Bloul from the Elbit Out of Victoria Campaign out the front of Hanwha Korean Weapons company headquarters 550 Bourke St Melbourne on Sunday 25 May.  The current focus is on defunding Israels biggest weapons manafacturer Elbit with a rally to be held on Thursday 26 June 5.30pm at the Future Fund offices 447 Collins St, Melbourne CBD.Links: 'Nuclear power may have cost the Coalition 11 seats in the federal election' by Dr Jim Green published in Renew magazine.Flyers to promote the 'No to a future soaked in blood' rally on Thursday 26 June.

This week we play a recording from a conversation between earth-waking artist and musician Anohni and climate justice journalist and activist scholar, Naomi Klein. The conversation was organised and recorded by the Chan Centre for Preforming Arts on Musqueam Land.