We’ve got a story about the expanding surveillance state and where our government is spending its money. A series of anti-transgender Women’s Rights Rallies will reach Sydney this Sunday at Martin Place, calling for the removal of transgender protections from the Sex Discrimination Act. In response to this, Pride In Protest are organising a counter-protest set to take place at Town Hall. We’re joined by Pride In Protest convenor Evan van Zijl.

Wollongong’s local council is pitting the skating community against people who want to preserve more green space. Why does it always seem like someone has to lose out in order for someone else to win?  This week, the council confirmed that MacCabe Park is the location for the region’s long-awaited Olympic-standard, fifteen-hundred-square-metre skate park. Council claims that it will only take up three per cent of the park’s total footprint… but locals are still concerned about any loss of precious green space. We’re joined by activist and Wollongong local Bella Todd. 

After the tragic mass shooting in Bondi last December, the government announced a policy reform package to tighten Australia’s gun laws. But the only part of this package that politicians and the media are really latching onto is the national gun buyback scheme. The NSW government announced that they’d be starting the buyback in December, in an effort to take more firearms out of the community and compensate gun owners.  This week, producer Eva Sikes-Gerogiannis investigated what gun buybacks involve, and why certain politicians are campaigning against it in the media. 

Later in the show… we’re chatting about AI trends, data mining and… shaving your bush (disappointed). Creators on Instagram have been speculating that Meta has been manufacturing trends to harvest data for their AI. Particularly, the you shaved your bush trend, in which friends take turns saying the phrase in different tones. Birdie Rinaldi spoke to Ahmed Khanji from GridWare to gain further insight on how to keep ourselves safe. 

Following the anti-Isaac Herzog protests in February, sweeping arrests have been made across activist communities. There are civil liberties concerns over the technology used to get inside activists’ phones and extract information. Relatively unspoken about in mainstream news, we take a deep dive into the company that our government has contracted. Emil Kwasner Catsivelakis talked to Tim Roberts about what protections you have against emerging police technology. 

This episode of Backchat was hosted by Bec Cushway and Nyaboth Chuol.

Produced by James de Fraine-Murphy, Holly Payne, Birdie Rinaldi, Eva Sikes-Gerogiannis and Emil Kwasner Catsivelakis

Aired 22 August 2026 on Gadigal land.