We'll explain the meaning of the symbol in the neo-nazi cartoon that cause Pete Evans fall from grace two weeks ago. We’ll find out what this means for Pete Evans future, and find out where the black sun symbol comes from, what it actually means, and how it relates to the cartoon. Our guests today are Andrew Horney from the Sydney Morning Herald and Andrew Jakubowicz, a professor of sociology at University of Technology. In today's headlines: Defence moves to expel 10 SAS soldiers Freed academic...
Nov 26, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Robodebt is the automated process that wrongly calculated millions of dollars of Centrelink debt for Australians. Hundreds of thousands were impacted, and in 2019 they sued the government in a class action. Last week the case was settled in the largest class action payout in the country, with $1.2 billion given back to victims. But many of those victims are not happy with the settlement and on today’s Briefing you’ll find out why $1.2 billion is not as good as it sounds. If you need help regardi...
Nov 25, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 169
It’s three weeks since the US Presidential election and Donald Trump is continuing court challenges and still refusing to concede defeat. His fight against the result started long before the election when he began questioning the legitimacy of mail in ballots, and he continued with these allegations on election night when he appeared to be losing. On today’s episode we find out how President Trumps legal fight to overturn the election is going and whether his legal avenues are about to close. We...
Nov 24, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 168
A four-year investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by Australian special forces was made public by the Chief of Defence Angus Campbell. The key revelation from the report include the alleged unlawful killing of 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian troops between 2009 and 2013. 19 of those soldiers have been referred to the Australian Federal Police for prosecution over their war crimes charges. In this briefing, we are joined by David Kilcullen, an Australian author, str...
Nov 23, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 167
Facebook moderators are the 15,000 people around the world whose job it is to decide what content stays, what gets flagged with a warning, and what gets deleted. They are watching the worst stuff on the internet so you don’t have to, and now some of them are fighting back against the tech giant and winning. In recent years thousands of moderators have come forward saying they now suffer from depression, nightmares and PTSD because of what they were made to see on the job. We're joined today by C...
Nov 22, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 166
In this special edition of The Briefing we give you Mary Trump uncut , an extended episode of Tom Tilley’s compelling interview with Donald Trump's niece. You’ll hear Mary’s fascinating insights into her uncle, who she refers to as ‘the worlds most dangerous man’. With a PHD in psychology, Mary’s helps us understand more about the man, his mind, and what he might do next as he continues to deny the reality that he’s lost the election. In the lead up to the election Mary published a book Too Much...
Nov 20, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 165
There’s a growing awareness about the damage hard core contact sports is doing to our players, and in today's briefing we go deep on what football is doing to player’s brains and what should be done about it. In Australia five players have been diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). This is a brain disease caused by repeated knocks to the head. It doesn’t cause immediate symptoms and is degenerative so it happens over time affecting the thoughts, moods and behaviours of those who...
Nov 19, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 164
What’s is going through Donald Trump’s head right now? It's more than two weeks since the US Presidential election and Donald Trump has still not publicly conceded. To understand more about the man his mind and what he might do next, we’re joined by his niece, Mary Trump. In the lead up to the election Mary published a book ‘Too Much and Never Enough - How my family created the world’s most dangerous man’. In today’s episode Tom Tilley goes deep with Mary Trump to find out: What is going on in h...
Nov 18, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 163
Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham joins this episode of The Briefing as we look at the growing trade tensions between Australia and China, and what Australia is going to do to fix it. This year after our political leaders called for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 China announced restrictions on some of our key exports including Barley wine, timber, coal, copper ore, sugar and seafood, all of which are now on the banned list by China Customs. So how bad is our relat...
Nov 17, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Financial and economic abuse is a form of domestic or family violence. It can be really hard to identify and to escape from as money is often used as a powerful tool for control or exploitation. The Commonwealth Bank and the UNSW’s Gendered Violence Research Network have looked into this in a new report for financial institutions so they can better support people impacted by economic and financial abuse. So what exactly does this form of abuse look like and what can we do to aid those caught up ...
Nov 16, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 161
Oregon has become the first US state to decriminalize the personal use of all drugs. The "Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act" will allow people arrested with small amounts of hard drugs to avoid going to trial, and possible jail time, by paying a $100 fine and attending an addiction recovery program. In today's episode we find out how Oregon got here, and how Australia’s drug reform advocates have been pushing for a similar harm minimisation approach here when it comes to drug use and cri...
Nov 15, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 160
What could you accomplish if you knew how to improve concentration and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to stay focused and become “indistractable?” In today's Briefing we're going deep on distractions. Nir Eyal is a behavioural scientist and former marketing lecturer at Stanford University and he’s written a number of books on technology and talks us through his groundbreaking new book Indestractable. In today's Briefing we discuss: What is distraction? Our internal and external...
Nov 12, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 159
After Pfizers exciting announcement this week, the reaction from experts around the world has been positive. We’ve already learnt some important things about the vaccine, and in today’s Briefing we’re going to dig deeper and find out how it might speed up our path back to normal life? How it will be rolled out? Who gets it? And how will it change travel? Dr Mary-Louise McLaws is an epidemiologist from NSW University who’s been part of World Health Organisation COVID-19 advisory panel talks us th...
Nov 11, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 158
A vaccine being produced by Pfizer may be 90 per cent effective in stopping the transmission of COVID-19 which has created a lot of excitement about getting the deadly virus under control and getting our lives back to normal. The Pfizer trial is one of four potential vaccines the Australian Government has signed an agreement to purchase if it is successful. Pfizer have announced they could produce 50 million doses by the end of this year and 1.3 billion by the end of next year. In today’s Briefi...
Nov 10, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 157
Last week, four innocent people died in a terror attack in Vienna, Austria. The 20-year-old perpetrator had already been in jail after trying to join ISIS and was made to participate in a deradicalisation program during his sentence time. There were reports he was showing signs of a turn around and was subsequently released early from his 22-month sentence. He’d served less than half of it. We’re going to find out more about how these deradicalisation programs work and whether they should be use...
Nov 09, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 156
Joe Biden is officially the US President-elect. Biden called for unity and calm in his victory speech in Delaware yesterday, but the challenges facing America will be very divisive. First and foremost, bringing COVID under control and managing the economic recovery from the pandemic. He’s also pledged to re-join the Paris agreement, and then there’s the extreme racial division… In this Briefing topic, we’re going to ask where to next for Biden’s America. Matthew Knott, is the SMH and The Age Was...
Nov 08, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 155
We bring you the latest on the US Presidential Election as it plays out. With Joe Biden insisting every ballot be counted and Donald Trump launching legal action, American voters are anxious and exhausted. Hugh Riminton joins us from Washington as the US election race continues. In today's headlines: US election count update “Stop the count”: Armed guards protect American voting centres from angry protesters NSW Premier “shocked” after QLD Premier rubs in State of Origin win Mardi Gras parade ca...
Nov 05, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 154
We cross to David Lipson in Washington during the most divisive election in decades, to find out what’s behind the results so far, and how will this super tight election play out? David has spent the last year living and reporting in the US through COVID, civil unrest and a drama-packed election campaign. How likely is it the election will be called today? Do you think its Joe Biden mostly likely to win a path to victory? What has he seen in Washington over the last 24 hours? Why are these remai...
Nov 04, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 153
In contemporary Australian politics the Coalition (Liberal and National) is considered centre-right and the Australian Labor Party is considered centre-left. So what exactly are the origins of the political terms 'left' and 'right'? and is there something intrinsic in us that means we align with either of these two lablels? Dr Zareh Ghazarian is a political scientist and leading commentator on Australian Politics and joins us on todays episode to explain: What is left, what is right and how have...
Nov 03, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 152
Despite two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Spanish Flu, the Melbourne Cup - the race that stops the nation - has never been stopped. But there was a moment back in March where it looked like Covid-19 would halt the Melbourne Cup for the first time in 160 years. Today, the race will run with no crowds, no stilettos in the mud, no celebrities shoulder to shoulder in the Birdcage. Fashions On The Field will turn online as fashions in people’s front yards. No roar from the stadium full of...
Nov 02, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 151
We’re joined by Australia’s most famous lawyer Geoffrey Robertson who shares his thoughts on the future of the Royal Family. Geoffrey Robertson AO QC is a Barrister, author and one-time host of Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals on the ABC. Geoffrey worked on a case against Princess Diana in the mid 90s, he socialises with members of the Royal Family including Prince Charles and Meghan Markle. He is also the founder of the London legal chambers where Amal Clooney works. Geoffrey will be on stage...
Nov 01, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 150
In this special weekend edition of The Briefing we give you an extended version of our interview with Magda. She’s one of Australia’s most loved comedians however Magda Szubanski was recently targeted by a coordinated “avalanche of hate” from rightwing extremists and COVID deniers after appearing in a Victorian government ad encouraging mask use. As you’ll hear this is a subject Magda knows a lot about, and is really passionate about. We find out: Why Magda thinks she was a victim of “brigading”...
Oct 30, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 149
Australia’s much-loved comedian Magda Szubanski was recently targeted by a coordinated “avalanche of hate” from rightwing extremists and COVID deniers after appearing in a Victorian government ad encouraging mask use. Australia’s e-safety commissioner Julie Inman-Grant reported Magda was subjected to ‘volumetric cross-platform online abuse’ which is commonly organised in closed groups on Facebook or other platforms. Magda’s joins The Briefing to share her story: Did she ever expect the campaign ...
Oct 29, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 148
Today's episode is about the rebellious act of an Aussie Professor. Professor Edward Holmes is the Aussie scientist who defied China and shared the genome sequence for COVID-19 with the world. When the first signs of the pandemic emerged in January Chinese scientist Professor Yong-Zhen Zhang sequenced the gnome of this coronavirus and shared that information with Eddie. The Chinese government had told them not to publish the information. However Eddie Holmes was adamant the world needed the info...
Oct 28, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 147
What makes a passport powerful? and has the pandemic had any long-term impacts on where a passport might rank compared to others? The current global health crisis might have crippled global travel, but what makes a passport truly powerful is showing consistency amid volatile times. On today’s episode we find out which passports have gone up and which have gone down during the pandemic. We’re going to find out the power of the Aussie passport, and where that little blue book comes in compared to ...
Oct 27, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 146
It was the weekend we didn’t think would happen: grand final weekend. Earlier in the year, coronavirus threatened to cancel the 2020 seasons of AFL and NRL, but luckily for sports fans, the games went ahead – a remarkable feat for the footy codes. This weekend saw historic grand final matches being played in Brisbane following a season of fake crowd noises, travel bubbles, completely revised fixtures and a lot of challenging COVID-19 protocols. So let’s find out how the codes got there and wheth...
Oct 26, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 145
The appointment of US Supreme Court judges is one of the most intense election issues, and as early as tomorrow US congress will vote to approve a new supreme court judge Amy Coney Barrett. If she’s sworn in she’ll take the place of the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg who died in September 2020. Michael Macagnone is a US Politics reporter and joins us to explain why supreme court judge appointments are so controversial in the US. In today's news headlines: Grand Final glory for Melbourne with Storm and...
Oct 25, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 144
The Gladys Berejiklian secret relationship scandal has made national headlines, and on todays episode we explain what happened. There’s been a huge debate about whether or not the NSW Premier should resign. So far she’s toughed it out but as you’re about to hear, it’s not over yet. Telegraph reporter Linda Silmalis who’s been covering the story joins us to explain. In today's news headlines: Drones to monitor Melbourne footy fans as nation gears up for AFL, NRL grand finals Australia Post CEO st...
Oct 22, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 143
We take you on a road trip through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois, and find out the one thing that locals say when asked why they vote for Trump. When we watch America through our own media we get a perspective on the US through New York, Washington and California, but these others states up in the Mid North East offer a different view all together. Almost all of them voted for Trump in 2016 with some of them being crucial to his victory because they were expected to ...
Oct 21, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Almost 1 in 9 Australians smoke, and the government have set a goal to bring down our smoking rate to 1 in 10 by 2025. In a new plan to wipe out smoking in Australia, smokers could be made to buy cigarettes with a prescription or at a pharmacy. But is this fair? Cigarettes already cost $40 a packet, so if people really want to spend that amount of their own money should they be free to do that? This idea has come from a University of Queensland lead group Centre for Research Excellence on Achiev...
Oct 20, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 141
