With an advocate like Chanel Contos onboard, will learning about consent on Tinder actually work? The dating app has launched a new Consent Course , created in partnership with sexual consent activist and founder of Teach Us Consent Chanel Contos, and women's domestic violence service WESNET. The course is only available on Tinder’s School of Swipe website - not via the app - though it will be promoted to users there from next week. But what is the point? Do the people using these platforms need...
Sep 18, 2024•13 min•Season 5Ep. 427
Should we be weighing children at school? Health experts have suggested we start weighing kids in schools to help tackle the obesity epidemic, but could this do more harm than good? In this episode of the Briefing Bension Siebert is joined by obesity researcher and author of Healthy Parents, Healthy Kids Dr Nick Fuller to explain the pros and cons of weighing children at school. Headlines: At least nine killed as pagers explode across Lebanon Diddy charged with sex trafficking Instagram launches...
Sep 17, 2024•26 min•Season 5Ep. 426
Meet the woman who has helped spread claims that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets in Ohio, Springfield. Laura Loomer is a far-right activist and online personality who is feeding Republicans with extreme conspiracy theories and is seemingly influencing Donald Trump’s campaign. In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt chats with Planet America’s Chas Licciardello to find out who exactly Laura Loomer is, how close she is with Trump and whether she has any bearing on swinging ...
Sep 17, 2024•11 min•Season 5Ep. 425
Improving mental health is one of the most important aspects of rehabilitating offenders in incarceration. It’s been the focus of a recent program at Wellington Correctional Centre – which was formerly branded the toughest country jail in NSW. More than 200 inmates and 70 staff have participated in mental health first aid training led by the National Wellbeing Alliance. What impact are they hoping it will have? In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith is joined by the Centre’s Governor, Brad...
Sep 16, 2024•22 min•Season 5Ep. 424
You could call 2024 the year of the Mormon influencer. The internet has become fascinated with the lives of #tradwives, and now The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is dominating the small screen. So, what's behind our fascination? And how is this latest show contributing to a conversation about modern Mormonism and feminism? In today’s episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt chats with journalist and writer for Marie Claire, Ruby Feneley. Ruby recently published a piece recently about the show ...
Sep 16, 2024•14 min•Season 5Ep. 423
PrEP is a miracle drug that is currently in short supply. Full name pre-exposure prophylaxis, it’s a little blue pill you take once a day – or before and after having sex – that stops 99 per cent of sexual HIV transmissions. It makes having sex a lot safer, especially for men who have sex with men, and it’s helped the rate of HIV diagnoses in this country plummet by about a third, and has been widely available across Australia for almost a decade. Now a member of the South Australian parliament,...
Sep 15, 2024•20 min•Season 5Ep. 422
We all feel in love with the Matilda's during the world cup last year and now besties, Matilda players Chloe Logarzo and Emily Gielnik are ready to win The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition. After injury ruled out the duo in the most recent Olympics, the pair took their heartbreak and created a business together to inspire the next generation of Matildas. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Chloe and Emily share their new found love of reality TV and how they turned their FOMO into a p...
Sep 13, 2024•39 min•Season 5Ep. 421
This week, the Country Music Award (CMA) nominations were announced and Beyoncé was left off the list - despite her single Texas Hold 'Em spending 10 weeks at the top of the country music Billboard charts. The mega star’s rocky relationship with the CMA’s is nothing new, and dates back to 2016 when her performance with The Chicks was met with backlash and racism. So are there racist undertones to the nominations and has Queen Bey been snubbed? In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith is join...
Sep 13, 2024•15 min•Season 5Ep. 420
Concerns and conspiracy theories about seed oils have been circulating on social media over the last few months – and the political-right have taken a surprising liking to them. The most vocal of voices recently has been JFK’s nephew and former independent presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who says they are “the worst things you can eat,” linking them to chronic inflation, diabetes and cancer. In this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert is joined by Professor Lauren Ball, Chair ...
Sep 12, 2024•18 min•Season 5Ep. 419
Violence has erupted in Melbourne’s CBD. Over 1,500 anti-war protestors yesterday descended on the Land Forces expo, the largest event of its kind in the country where businesses and start-ups spruik their products to defence forces and contractors. Those rallying were there to protest not only the war in Gaza, but also the wider implications of war – from human rights violations to its impact on climate change. Footage of the clashes showed aggression on both sides, with officers and protestors...
Sep 12, 2024•15 min•Season 5Ep. 418
House prices are surging across the country. It’s been particularly extreme in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, where prices have risen by closer to 60 per cent over the same period. It’s making it nearly impossible for many young people to get into the property market and part of the reason comes down to how many homes we’re building in Australia compared to the number of people who need to live in them. On this episode of the Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt and Bension Siebert explain why Australia ...
Sep 11, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 417
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have faced off in what could be the final debate before the election in November. The polls are neck and neck, both at the national level and in key swing states – and almost everyone likely to cast a vote in the US already has a strong opinion about Donald Trump. But plenty of people were still making up their mind on Kamala Harris, so the pressure was on her to define herself and convince undecided voters. The stakes were incredibly high - and meanwhile, outside ...
Sep 11, 2024•18 min•Season 5Ep. 416
A two-week blockbuster trial with Rupert Murdoch is getting underway in Nevada today. It’s set to decide the fate of some of the world’s most famous news brands, and who gets to control them. The 93-year-old media mogul, wants to give his voting power in News Corporation and Fox Corp to his oldest son Lachlan, stripping that power from his three other children. In scenes reminiscent of the hit tv drama Succession , Elisabeth, Prudence and James are fighting this move in court. In this episode of...
Sep 10, 2024•20 min•Season 5Ep. 415
Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming intertwined within our day-to-day lives. But it’s not just simply helping us set our nightly alarms or adjust the tone of our emails anymore. For some, it’s offering intimacy and companionship in a way that’s challenging the conventional ways we understand love, relationship and sex. In the (not too distant) future will we be cheating on partners with AI? Will non-monogamy be the new normal, and where will sex-bots fall into the mix? In this episo...
Sep 10, 2024•11 min•Season 5Ep. 414
Pianist Jayson Gillham made international headlines last month after dedicating a performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) to journalists who have been killed in Gaza. The backlash from MSO was swift, resulting in Jayson’s performance being pulled. The MSO later admitted it "made an error”, but maintains the concert was not an appropriate place to express personal views, and an external review into the MSO is now underway. In this episode of The Briefing, Antoinette Lattouf sits d...
Sep 09, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 413
After receiving thousands of submissions and holding hearings across the country over three years, the Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide is releasing its final report today. It’s expected to outline shameful failures within Australia’s Defence Forces to support veterans’ mental and physical health, especially as they transition into civilian life after serving. Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie knows this first-hand. She first called for this Royal Commission as she entered parliament more tha...
Sep 09, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 412
In 2020 and amid a global pandemic, over 4 million students across Australia were forced to transition to online learning. Almost every school became a “virtual school” and it came with unintended consequences, including school refusal - which became the subject of a Federal Senate Inquiry last year. School refusal is an emotional-based avoidance of the traditional classroom. Among the solutions the government is investing in, and health practitioners are recommending, is enrolling affected stud...
Sep 08, 2024•24 min•Season 5Ep. 411
Stand up comedian Monty Franklin tries to make the content audiences need- instead of what they think they want. Whether that’s explaining Aussie culture and slang to American audiences- or working on a film about the Great Emu War of 1932 with John Cleese, Jim Jefferies and Rob Schneider. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Monty talks about why the best comedy is authentic- and why he’s not worried his friendship with controversial podcaster Joe Rogan could lose him fans. Weekend List TO BUY...
Sep 06, 2024•38 min•Season 5Ep. 410
Technology enables many athletes to compete in the Paralympics – whether it’s modified wheelchairs or carbon fibre running blades. But is some of this tech giving competitors an unfair advantage over their rivals? If one athlete can spend the cash for the latest running blades, putting them a few seconds ahead of their competition, is fairness lost? Professor John Cairney is the Head of School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Queensland. He joins Antoinette Lattouf o...
Sep 06, 2024•14 min•Season 5Ep. 409
This week the Parliamentary Budget Office released costings for a Greens plan to add dental to Medicare. On the face of it, the fact that a major branch of healthcare is just not a part of the public health system might be surprising to many. But adding it now, according to the costings, would mean billions of dollars in new government spending – and the Australian Dental Association says we just don’t have the number of dentists required to do it. So how would it cope if we added a whole new ca...
Sep 05, 2024•22 min•Season 5Ep. 408
Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson has this week credited natural therapies with curing her cancer. Every day, 58 people in Australia are diagnosed with breast cancer – one in seven Australian women will experience it in their lifetime. Diagnoses have increased by almost a quarter in the last 10 years – but the relative five-year survival rate is 92%. Despite most patients getting a positive prognosis, it is a disease that will impact every facet of a person’s life. When the 60-year-old forme...
Sep 05, 2024•13 min•Season 5Ep. 407
Yesterday Australia’s economy got its quarterly checkup, and the results are in. Gross Domestic Product performance, or GDP, grew by 1.5% over a year. But what does that actually mean, and how does GDP growth affect our lives? Is this an economy at panic stations, or is there no real cause for concern? Motley Fool’s chief investment officer Scott Phillips joins Bension Siebert on this episode of The Briefing to unpack the jargon and clear the mist on what these latest figures reveal about the st...
Sep 04, 2024•20 min•Season 5Ep. 406
Good news! Your mobile phone isn’t giving you brain cancer! Decades of worry about radio waves travelling out of our phones and into our skulls have apparently been put to rest with a massive World Health Organisation review published today, finding zero link between mobile phone use and brain, head or neck cancer. However, different groups of scientists conducting different kinds of studies on mobile phone radiation and possible health effects have suggested the opposite previously – so how are...
Sep 04, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 405
The situation for women in Afghanistan right now is bleak. After retaking control of the country in August of 2021, the Taliban has wasted no time reinstating a raft of rules stripping away the rights of females. A week ago, a decree made it illegal for women to speak outside their homes. Alongside having to completely cover their bodies head-to-toe in thick fabric, they’re also banned from working and can’t look directly at men they aren’t related to by blood. Afghanistan is the only country in...
Sep 03, 2024•20 min•Season 5Ep. 404
Have you ever found yourself endlessly scrolling through TikTok being bombarded with food reviews? Sometimes they appear organic, with creators hopping on a trend or trying a viral product for their followers. Other times, these creators are being paid by restaurants and cafes to plug their businesses or products. There are legal and ethical guidelines in place to stop this content from appearing organically in your feed – but why are they being so rarely followed, and even more rarely enforced?...
Sep 03, 2024•12 min•Season 5Ep. 403
Much of Israel’s economy ground to a halt overnight, during the country’s first major workers’ strike since the start of the war. The strike shut down Israel’s international airport and disrupted banks, manufacturing facilities, healthcare facilities and businesses, as Israelis expressed their anger over six Israeli captives of Hamas found dead in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career has survived major demonstrations before, but could this strike finally force him t...
Sep 02, 2024•20 min•Season 5Ep. 402
Renting in Australia can really suck. With winter over and the end of 2024 approaching, we’re heading towards peak moving season. Moving house can be one of life’s most stressful events – made even more stressful by the process of trying to get your bond back. In this two-part feature, The Briefing investigates the messy world of rental bonds. In Part Two, Bension Siebert speaks to Leanne Pilkington, President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, on what the experience is like on the landl...
Sep 02, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 401
Renting in Australia can really suck. With winter over and the end of 2024 approaching, we’re heading towards peak moving season. Moving house can be one of life’s most stressful events – made even more stressful by the process of trying to get your bond back. In this two-part feature, The Briefing looks into the messy world of rental bonds. In Part One, Bension Siebert speaks to CEO of the New South Wales Tenants’ Union Leo Patterson Ross on how to stop your landlord stealing your bond, and whe...
Sep 01, 2024•21 min•Season 5Ep. 400
Senator Fatima Payman first won office in 2022 and dominated headlines this year when she crossed the floor over Labor’s refusal to recognise a Palestinian state. Her life since then has been a self-described “whirlwind.” Fatima now sits as an independent, and in this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, she reveals the inner workings of the Albanese government that led to her resignation and whether she was prepared for the wave of bigotry and intense scrutiny she and her family experienced. Her story...
Aug 30, 2024•39 min•Season 5Ep. 399
It's been a big week of debate over the 2026 census and a handful of questions that might – or might not – be added to it. This episode, we speak to one of the Labor MPs who rebelled against the Government’s decision to exclude questions about LGBTIQA+ Australians from the Census – and get his take on a partial backflip from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this morning. Labor's Federal Member for the Melbourne seat of Macnamara, Josh Burns, joins Bension Siebert for this episode of The Briefing....
Aug 30, 2024•16 min•Season 5Ep. 398
