The Religion and Ethics Report - Separate stories podcast

Who are the real leaders behind the current MAGA movement in the US? There's no doubt that Trump has amassed a significant, largely male support base. But there's a growing movement of politically-engaged conservative Christian women who are challenging long-held stereotypes and proving to be a formidable force in right-wing politics. They have modelled themselves on a prominent figure of the Old Testament and are reshaping perceptions of what it means to be on the religious right.  
GUEST
Katie Gaddini, associate professor at University College London and author of Esther's Army: The Christian Women Who Power the American Right.
This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora nation

Australia’s Law Reform Commission is due to release its review of surrogacy laws this week. 
Surrogacy advocates have lobbied hard to allow commercial or compensated surrogacy for women who bear children for couples who cannot, or choose not to, have a natural pregnancy. 
But the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women is urging the federal government not to liberalise the laws. 
Reem Alsalem says it will lead to the exploitation of poor women. She was in Australia recently and met the commission to put her case.
GUEST:
Reem Alsalim  is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women

Australia’s Law Reform Commission is due to release its review of surrogacy laws this week. Surrogacy advocates have lobbied hard to allow commercial or compensated surrogacy for women who bear children for couples who cannot, or choose not to, have a natural pregnancy. But the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women is urging the federal government not to liberalise the laws. Reem Alsalem says it will lead to the exploitation of poor women. She was in Australia recently and met the commission to put her case.
PLUS
For the first time since the 1930s, a far-right party is poised to take government in a German state. In the weekend elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the Alternative for Deutschland won 44 per cent of the vote. The party’s unmistakably, and unashamedly, anti-Islam, but its relationship with the Christian churches is also severely strained. 
AND
As the war in Sudan continues into its fourth year -- with a death toll as high as 400,000 – violence has come to the last refuge. In the Nuba mountains, Christian and Muslim Sudanese have traditionally lived in peaceful co-existence, and in roughly equal numbers. But the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement has set up a de facto government, principally to control the abundant resources of the mountains. 
GUESTS:
Reem Alsalim  is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
Jan-Werner Mueller is a Princeton University political scientist and one the world’s leading experts on the far right. His latest book is called Street, Palace, Square: The Architecture of Democratic Spaces.
Mohaned El Nour is a distinguished Sudanese human rights lawyer who works with the group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.   
STATEMENT FROM THE AUSTRALIAN LAW REFORM COMMISSION
The ALRC typically establishes an advisory committee for each inquiry. Advisory committee members are selected for their expertise and experience relevant to the area of law under consideration, including expertise in regulation, research, policy, or practice. An advisory committee is not intended to represent all stakeholder groups involved in an inquiry, as the ALRC consults more broadly through a range of other mechanisms.
The role of an advisory committee is solely advisory. Advisory committee members provide feedback and share their views. Their input is one of many sources that inform the ALRC's work. The ALRC always consults broadly and hears from a range of views. We do so through public submissions (open to anyone with an interest in an inquiry), consultations, surveys, webinars, round-tables, and other stakeholder engagement activities. Advisory committee members, like all consultees, have no decision-making role. The views of any consultee or advisory committee are informative but are not determinative.
All inquiry decisions are made by the ALRC's President and Commissioners. In developing recommendations, the President and Commissioners consider the totality of the evidence before them, including submissions, consultations, research, and the ALRC's independent analysis.
This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora nation

For the first time since the 1930s, a far-right party is poised to take government in a German state. 
In the weekend elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the Alternative for Deutschland won 44 per cent of the vote. 
The party’s unmistakably, and unashamedly, anti-Islam but its relationship with the Christian churches is severely strained.
GUEST:
Jan-Werner Mueller is a Princeton University political scientist and one the world’s leading experts on the far right. His latest book is called Street, Palace, Square: The Architecture of Democratic Spaces.

As the war in Sudan continues into its fourth year, with a death toll as high as 400,000, violence has come to the last refuge. 
In the Nuba mountains, Christian and Muslim Sudanese have traditionally lived in peaceful co-existence, and in roughly equal numbers. 
But the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement has set up a de facto government, principally to control the abundant resources of the mountains. 
GUEST:
Mohaned El Nour is a distinguished Sudanese human rights lawyer who works with the group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.