On this episode of The Grapvine, Kulja and Dylan get on the line with Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) CEO, Emma King, to discuss the current state of Victoria’s social services as the sector struggles to meet demand. King explains VCOSS’s advocacy for a targeted wage subsidy for workers left without hours during the most recent lockdown.

Then, award-winning journalist and author, Trevor Watson, calls in for the 32-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre to discuss his coverage of the event as an ABC correspondent in 1989, and the current climate of reporting on China. Watson has co-edited The Beijing Bureau, which brings together 25 essays of Australian correspondents reporting on the rise of China.

And Peter Job talks about his new book A Narrative of Denial: Australia and the Indonesian Violation of East Timor, which describes how the Whitlam and Fraser governments “used the guise of national interest to forge a false account of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor”. Peter Job was involved in the East Timor support movement during the Indonesian occupation, including working on the radio link to Fretilin in 1978, and has a PhD in International and Political Studies from the University of New South Wales.