Today, July 19, is Freedom Day in the UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson sold it as the day Great Britain “goes back to life as it was before Covid”. Our team reached out to a handful of Brits who disagree with Mr Johnson. We’re also joined by Bevan Shields, UK correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald who says life is definitely returning to normal; and Martin McKee, Professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who says it’s a disastrous idea...
Jul 18, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 160
Kate Ellis was elected to the seat of Adelaide at the age of 27, and held the title of the youngest person to become a federal minister at 30. After working in Parliament House for 12 years before leaving the profession to prioritise her family life and to write her book Sex, Lies and Question Time: Why the Successes and Struggles of Women in Australia's Parliament Matter to Us All. Jamila Rizvi talks to Kate about her career in politics and quickly moving up the ranks, the experiences she uncov...
Jul 16, 2021•24 min•Season 2Ep. 159
Ash Barty and Dylan Alcott kept Australia mesmerised last weekend when they won their respective Wimbledon titles. Both are bona fide champions….but how do they get themselves in shape mentally? Ben Crowe works with both Ash and Dylan. He’s their mindset coach. He gets them in the right frame of mind to face their opposition….and their fears. So what can YOU learn from someone like Ben? Will you make a ‘to be’ list? Or a ‘to do’ list? The episode of the Briefing is all about self belief. Part of...
Jul 15, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 158
No one likes having difficult conversations. It’s easier NOT to talk about things like death, sex and money. But we DO need to have those conversations Anna Sale is an author and host of WNYC’s podcast, Death, Sex & Money. Her new book is Let’s Talk About Hard Things: Death, Sex & Money. Anna tells us how and why we need to have conversations that make us uncomfortable. You’ll learn a lesson or two via this podcast as Tom and Katrina take a deep dive on the conversations you need to have...
Jul 14, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 157
The nation is watching Sydney right now as it struggles to get this Covid-19 outbreak under control. For people in Melbourne, it's looking eerily similar to the second wave that sent the Victorian capital into 112 days of lockdown last winter... There is speculation Sydney’s so-called ‘lockdown lite’ is to blame. We’re joined by Juliette O’Brien – a digital and data journalist who established covid19data.com.au, the definitive Covid-19 tracking website, who takes us through the chronology of the...
Jul 13, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 156
One of our listeners sent us a message asking us to do an episode on whether Botox is dangerous. We know it’s become incredibly popular since it was approved for cosmetic use 20 years ago We’re joined by Dr Cara McDonald, a dermatologist from Sunbury in Victoria. Dr Cara tells us what Botox is, why it’s so popular….and the best way to make the most of what it has to offer. The college of cosmetic surgery in Australia puts the spending on cosmetic procedures at more than one billion dollars... wi...
Jul 12, 2021•20 min•Season 2Ep. 155
Mariam Dabboussy was married in 2011 and she and her husband went on a holiday in 2015. Her husband took her into Syria and joined the ISIS fight to establish a caliphate. He was killed just before their second child was born. Mariam was subsequently married off twice more. Her father, Kamalle Dabboussy joins us to tell his daughter’s story – and to talk about trying to bring his daughter and now three grandchildren home. It’s a heartbreaking story of the plight of a young Australian family – an...
Jul 11, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 154
A big episode for a big name! Dannii Minogue is one of the country's golden girls, with Australians growing up with her on Young Talent Time before she cracked the international market as a pop success; and now as a mum, podcaster and fashion designer, while gracing our screens as a television show judge. Amidst her astronomical fame has been turmoil, from relentless paparazzi snapping her every move to being caught in the 2011 UK phone hacking scandal and being robbed of important personal mome...
Jul 09, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 153
Covid 19 has made avoiding plastics a lot harder; cafes stopped taking keep cups, there was an increase in food and grocery deliveries - all wrapped in plastic and use of disposal PPE gear spiked … for obvious reasons. On today’s Briefing - are we losing the fight on plastics? We’re joined by Kate Noble, World Wildlife Fund Australia’s No Plastics in Nature Policy Manager to discuss if we’re doing enough in the fight to reduce plastics and their impact on the environment. In the last few years e...
Jul 08, 2021•24 min•Season 2Ep. 152
In today’s briefing - the vaping problem in schools. Teachers and parents are extremely worried that school students are illegally dealing vapes... and that more and more students are taking it up. There are reports that increasingly younger students, even primary students, are taking it up. Rudy and Maya, year 12 students give us their first-hand experience. We’re also joined by Craig Petersen, President of NSW Secondary Principals' Council; and drug and alcohol educator Paul Dillon. Students a...
Jul 07, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 151
In 2019, Bridie Jabour wrote a piece for the Guardian about the malaise of millennials. She found herself and her friends talking about the painful, protracted end of their adolescence. They're looking at their lives and thinking: 'Is this it? Have I chosen the right place to live, the right job, the right partner? Am I, perhaps, not as special as I thought?' The article went viral and Bridie decided the time had come to write a book about her generation - those much-maligned millennials. After ...
Jul 06, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 150
Joanna, a Briefing listener, wrote to us via Instagram to ask us to do a story on the discovery of First Nation’s children in Canada. Hundreds of bodies have been found in unmarked graves. We’re joined by Kerry Benjoe - a journalist from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a former residential school student; and Fiona Cornforth, CEO of The Healing Foundation. Kerry tells us first-hand what it was like in the schools, and Fiona tells us if there are parallels with Australia and our Stolen ...
Jul 05, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 149
In the last two weeks dozens of people from Afghanistan have been evacuated to Australia because the war is ending - many had worked as interpreters for Australian troops. Harry Moffitt worked alongside these local interpreters in the theatre of war. He says we’re not getting enough of them out... and we’re not getting them out fast enough. Glenn Kolomeitz works with the government to help the interpreters and their families with the paperwork and admin. Today’s briefing... the race to save thes...
Jul 04, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 148
Michael Clarke has been called Australia’s controversial cricket captain. This kid from the western suburbs, with his blonde tipped hair, famous girlfriends and love of fast cars, took the conservative cricketing world by surprise. But it was what he achieved on the field that captured the country’s attention and inspired another generation of wannabe cricket stars. Jamila Rizvi talks to the cricket-captain-turned-commentator-and-radio-host about life as a professional athlete, retiring from the...
Jul 02, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 147
In this Briefing we’re going to take you into the world of Britney Spears - from where it all began to now - where she’s fighting to free herself from a 13-year conservatorship that she says is abusive. Last week in a 23-minute statement she told a US judge that under the conservatorship she had been drugged, forced to perform against her will and made to continue using birth control despite wanting to have children. Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic joins us to talk through exactly what conse...
Jul 01, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 146
Many Australians are addicted to their phones. We spend countless hours staring at our devices. A recent Monash University study found 43.3 per cent of respondents spent over three hours a day on their phone! The same study measured nomophobia (no mobile phone phobia) finding 99.2% of users have some fear of being without their phone. Jenni Gritters is a US-based journalist who ditched her smartphone for a dumb phone. EFTM.com's Trevor Long is also the Today Show’s tech expert who takes us throu...
Jun 30, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 145
Three of Singapore’s most senior government officials wrote an article in the national newspaper, the Straits Times, to say the island nation was considering major changes to how it deals with Covid-19. They suggested it was time to start “living with Covid”, and it was time to stop reporting daily cases, to get back to going to major events – and basically to treat Covid-19 like any other flu. Chris Barrett is the South-East Asia correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He’s wat...
Jun 29, 2021•20 min•Season 2Ep. 144
Ever heard the term helicopter parenting? Well, it’s about parents hovering over their children making sure they are never put at risk. Daisy Turnbull says not letting children take risks leaves them exposed to challenges later in life. Her book 50 Risks You Should Take with Your Kids not only provides inspiration, it also gives parenting tips on getting bogged down in guilt and doubt over whether you're doing a good enough job. Tom and Annika shed light on their own childhoods and how their exp...
Jun 28, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 143
The Tokyo Olympic Games begin on July 23rd. It’s the world’s biggest event, but with Covid-19 still running amok in Japan, locals are concerned the games will see cases skyrocket. We thought we’d ask locals if they want the event to go ahead. We’re joined by Japanese lawyer Yoshihisa Hayakawa; Tokyo locals Moeca Takeshima and Hiroki Kawai and Tom’s party animal mate, Yu. Locals say the problem is, if Tokyo cancels the games, it’s liable for billions of dollars in compensation to the Internationa...
Jun 27, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 142
Waleed Aly is one of the smartest people on Australian television. As well as sitting at The Project desk, writing columns for the Nine newspapers or hosting one of his many podcasts, Waleed is very busy out of the media limelight. He is an obsessive Richmond Tigers supporter, the lead guitarist for rock band Robot Child, husband to wife Susan Carland, and dad to Aisha and Zayd. Jamila Rizvi and Waleed discuss his career of law turned media, his love of AFL, the government’s response to the pand...
Jun 25, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 141
Australia’s vaccine rollout has been a disaster. So far only 2.8 percent of Australians have been fully vaccinated... In Israel 57% are fully vaccinated. In Israel they prioritised the Pfizer vaccine, in Australia we bet harder on the AstraZeneca vaccine... and backed the wrong horse. Professor Bill Bowtell is Adjunct Professor at UNSW’s Kirby Institute. He says Australia was offered a deal with Pfizer and knocked it back This week we learned that the AstraZeneca vaccine, thanks to its blood clo...
Jun 24, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 140
The US-Korean writer and musician Michelle Zauner’s new book is called Crying in H Mart. It’s about how she found herself crying in her local Korean grocery store in the wake of her mother’s death. Michelle tells the story of her relationship with her mother and how she didn’t realise when she was growing up, food was her mother’s way of expressing her love. Once her mother passed away, food became an emotional connection between them. On today’s Briefing, what does grief taste like? T ODAY'S HE...
Jun 23, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 139
The US rapper Mac Miller died in his LA home in 2018. It was accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol. He was just 26 years old. LA prosecutors say Miller thought he'd been sold the painkiller oxycodone but it had actually been laced with fentanyl, a powerful drug that is 50 times more potent than heroin. Rhian Daly from Britain’s NME joins us to talk about the three men charged over his death. Fentanyl was the substance that’s killed a number of famous musos including Prince and Tom...
Jun 22, 2021•18 min•Season 2Ep. 138
China has made no secret of its plans to dominate the space race. So how does this latest space race reflect tensions here on earth? Beijing has launched the Tiangong Space station...a rival site to the aging international space station. Last month they landed a remote-controlled rover on Mars making it only the second country after the US to operate a rover there. Dr. Rebecca Allen, an Astronomer and researcher at Swinburne University’s Space Technology and Industry Institute joins us to talk a...
Jun 21, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 137
In this briefing we’re bringing you Brock ‘Chooka’ McLean’s story. He played in the AFL for ten years up until 2014... playing157 games with Carlton and Melbourne. But while he was kicking goals on the field … it was a very different story behind the scenes. Over a third of people with eating disorders are male and Brock was one of them - he was suffering from Bulimia. Brock McLean’s inspirational story….. T ODAY'S HEADLINES Covid rules tightened in Sydney McCormack denies leadership threat West...
Jun 20, 2021•17 min•Season 2Ep. 136
Nyadol Nyuon was dealt a hand of cards against her from birth. At just four-years-old, the conflict in Ethiopia forced her family to trek 40 days to South Sudan where they settled in a refugee camp. It was there that she was split up from her mother, caring for her siblings while her father led the liberation army. It was only after her father was killed when she was a teenager that she was able to reunite with her mum. The family was finally granted resettlement in Australia when Nyadol was 18....
Jun 18, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 135
Scientists have come up with a plan to send egg, sperm and seed samples from 6.7 million Earth species to a vault inside the moon. Jekan Thanga, Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arizona is part of the team planning to store eggs, sperm, seeds and other DNA matter inside lunar lava tubes - massive caverns under the moon’s surface. The point is to preserve the human race - as well as animals, plants and fungi - in the event of a global catastrophe. T...
Jun 17, 2021•20 min•Season 2Ep. 134
Brisbane is one step away from hosting the 2032 Olympic Games. What will it mean for the city - and the country? Five-time Olympian and Sydney gold medallist Natalie Cook has been involved in the Brisbane bid since day one. The Games will also feature events on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, spread across almost 40 venues. So what will it mean for south-east Queensland …? Is the region ready to stage one of the biggest events on the global calendar? Australians learned from the Sydney Games ...
Jun 16, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 133
There’s a theory… called ‘Birth Order Theory’... originally developed by psychologist Alfred Adler last century… that says whether you’re a first born, a middle child or the youngest… has a huge influence on how successful you’ll be, your personality and your view of the world. ABS figures out last year show our fertility rate at its lowest level in recorded history… in 2003, the average family in Australia had three children. That number is now down to two. We’re joined by parenting expert Mich...
Jun 15, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 132
Lately it feels like meditation is being mentioned everywhere. Celebrities like Chris Hemsworth and Diddy have recently released guided meditations you can download… there are meditation apps for kids…. and even cats! And it’s popping up on movies and TV shows like Billions, where the main character, who’s a hedge fund trader, meditates before negotiating big deals. Sporting stars have recently spoken publicly about how much mediation has helped them, too… AFL Brownlow winner Dusty Martin attrib...
Jun 14, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 131
