I am a lecturer in sociology and live in Mackay Queensland (Australia) which is at the centre of Australian - and thus the world's coal mining.

I have interests in race and gender as well - I wrote my PhD on Frantz Fanon.

I am also a grandfather at 44 - with 2 daughters of my own (ages 20 and 18) who live away and 2 step children (a boy 11 and a girl 13).

My partner is an activist in the Labour Party and I am a member of the local Green Party. I have a background in the far-left but would describe myself as a green anti-capitalist, with a Marxist bias.

I have interests in political economy, community economics, Australian labour history (I am writing a biography of a former rank and file Communist Party of Australia activist) and permaculture.