In our final episode of 2025, Dr Julie Macken reflects on a year marked by secrecy in government, stalled human rights reform in Australia, and the devastating normalisation of genocide, war, and systemic abuse across the globe.

Julie unpacks:

• Why Australia still has no Human Rights Act
• How secrecy and disappearing communications undercut democracy
• How the genocide in Gaza is reshaping global norms
• What happens when abuse becomes “normal” — and how communities can push back
• Why our expectations of dignity, respect, and justice must be reclaimed

This is a sobering conversation but, also a reminder that we choose what becomes normalised. And choosing human rights is still possible.

Take a breath, take a break, and take this with you into the new year.

Next year marks 25 years since the Tampa crisis, a week that changed Australia forever. In this episode, Dr Julie Macken reflects on how one political decision reshaped the nation’s moral compass, turning compassion for those seeking refuge into cruelty and complacency.

From the shocking revelation that an outlaw motorcycle gang is being paid billions to run our offshore detention centres, to the government’s ongoing refusal to hold an inquiry into immigration detention, Julie exposes the deep moral and political failures we continue to fund...in silence.

This isn’t just a history lesson; it’s a mirror.

If silence is consent, what story are we agreeing to?

In this week’s episode of Speaking of Social Justice, Julie Macken challenges Australia’s narrow view of national security. While policymakers pour billions into defence and submarines, real security, climate resilience, housing, health, equality, and community wellbeing, remains dangerously neglected.

Julie asks the questions few in power dare to:

What would national security look like if it actually kept Australians safe from the threats we know are coming—climate catastrophe, pandemics, cyber warfare, and social inequality?

Why are we investing in weapons instead of in people, ecosystems, and the planet that sustains us?

It’s time to redefine security, not as militarisation, but as protection for our communities, our environment, and our shared future.