The label ‘Karen’ has become a new archetype of middle-class white privilege. ‘Karen’ has mostly been used in the U.S as a way of calling out entitled white women who are used to getting their way and who police the behaviour of others. So today we find out what this label really means... by going back to where it started. In today's news headlines: Three Queensland women charged with fraud over Coronavirus Victorian restrictions extended after record 723 new cases, 13 deaths Zuckerberg told he ...
Jul 30, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 80
The mental health consequences of COVID-19 are being described as the next wave of the pandemic. The pain of this pandemic could last for years, even if the medical emergency ends soon. Calls to Lifeline have increased and new research from Sydney University’s Brain and Mind Centre predicts that under a best case scenario rates of suicide will rise by 14 per cent over the next five years. So how do we try and stop that from happening? On today's episode we speak to Professor Ian Hickie the direc...
Jul 29, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 79
One of the biggest threats of the pandemic is unfolding right now. The number of old people getting covid-19 in Victoria’s aged care facilities is frightening. On today’s episode we look at the Covid crisis engulfing the aged care centres in Melbourne, and how this could be happening given the loss and devastation at Newmarch house in Sydney? Nicholas Barboussas shares his heartbreaking story about his fathers covid death in St Basil’s nursing home in Melbourne, and Thomas Patsakos descrbes what...
Jul 28, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 78
The Tokyo Olympics were scheduled to open last week before the pandemic pushed them back to next year. Australian Olympic Swimming champion Mack Horton would’ve been racing this week, defending his 400m Gold medal from Rio. It would also have been the first Olympics without a Sun Yang drug cloud hanging over it after the Chinese swimmer was banned for eight years after tampering with a drug test. He joins us on today's show as our very special guest. In today's news headlines: Three-week-old bab...
Jul 27, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Across Australia children as young as 10 can be arrested by police, charged with an offence, hauled before a court and locked away in youth prisons. We’re one of the only western countries that do that. Today Australian lawmakers will have a historic chance to change that. The Council of Attorneys-General will be looking at raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years in line with UN standards. On today’s episode we hear the deeply moving story of Keenan Mundine who was first l...
Jul 26, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Welcome to a special weekend edition of The Briefing with guest Julia Gillard. In today’s episode, we catch up with Australia’s first and only female Prime Minister about her famous misogyny speech of 2012, how ultra macho leadership styles are letting us down during the pandemic, and her new book Women in Leadership. In today's episode Julia Gillard speaks to us about: The speech that turned her into a feminist hero The fact she never expected her gender to be such a key point in her leadership...
Jul 24, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Today we take a deep dive on JobKeeper rorts and the bosses taking advantage during the pandemic. Common issues include workers being forced to change hours and duties to receive JobKeeper, and workers being pressured into accepting JobKeeper on the employer’s terms. Since the scheme began in March the Australian Tax office has received more than 6168 tip offs about JobKeeper payment issues, and the Fair Work Ombudsman has received 726 requests for assistance. In today's episode we speak to some...
Jul 23, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Shark attacks are at a ten year high in Australia. We’re only halfway through the year and we’ve already seen 18 attacks, 4 of those in the past 5 weeks. 5 of these attacks have been fatal, when the average is usually 1.8 deaths per year. On today's episode we're joined by Dr Vanessa Pirotta: wildlife scientist, marine biologist and last week’s shark attack victim who loves sharks. Our other guest is Dr Vincent Raoult, a marine ecologist at the University of Newcastle. Today's news headlines: Co...
Jul 22, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 73
When Prime Minister Julia Gillard stood up in parliament and gave her misogyny speech in 2012 she had no idea it would become the defining moment of her career. It went viral with 6 million people watching it on YouTube alone, and it made Julia a feminist hero. She was the Australia’s first and only female Prime Minister, coming to power controversially after the axing of Kevin Rudd in 2010. She is our special guest on the show today. In today's news headlines: All the new JobKeeper and JobSeeke...
Jul 21, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Last month our Prime Minister, side by side with the Defence Minister gave us a very strong warning about cyberattacks. Along with that warning here in Australia, there’s been a concerning development in the UK after they accused a Russian hacking group of trying to steal COVID-19 research. On todays episode we find out what harm these attacks could actually do., and what we really need to worry about. Our guest today is Alastair MacGibbon: Chief Strategy Officer, CyberCX and former National Cyb...
Jul 20, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 71
On todays episode we interview a disease detective hunting for patient zero and trying to stop the spread of COVID-19. Christian Peut is a Contact Tracer in the Communicable Disease and Control Branch at SA Health. Coronavirus contact tracers or "disease detectives" are the health experts who interview people with COVID-19 to try and work out who they might have got the disease from and who they might have given it to. In today's news headlines: Masks mandatory in Melbourne from Thursday More sm...
Jul 19, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Welcome to a special weekend edition of The Briefing with guest Dr Pimple Popper. In today’s episode, we catch up with global YouTube sensation, dermatologist Dr Pimple Popper AKA Dr Sandra Lee. She has more than 6.5 million YouTube subscribers and 3.9 million on Instagram… with some individual videos clocking up 60 million views. Did she ever expect to clock up 4 million Instagram followers? Her reaction to the success of her videos. Generating an income from what some people squirm over. How p...
Jul 17, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Is the pandemic making us watch strange internet videos? Jan Fran has felt the need to watch ASMR and Pimple Popping videos during lockdown and on today's episode we explore why? Pimple popping videos are a type of ASMR which is an Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. We’re joined by the biggest pimple popper in the world: Dr Pimple Popper who has 6.5million subscribers on youtube and 3.9m on Instagram. To learn more our other guest is Dr Craig Richard, an international ASMR expert who created ...
Jul 16, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 68
For 45 years letters between the Queen and Australia’s Governor General have been kept secret. This week, against the Queen's wishes this series of private letters were released. On todays episode our guest is the Gough Whitlam biographer who fought for the palace papers to be released in court - Australian Historian Emeritus Professor Jenny Hocking from Monash University. We're also joined by Niki Savva - was in Canberra at the time of the dismissal. In today's news headlines: $2.5b rescue pack...
Jul 15, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 67
When most of us could travel overseas we knew that that if it all goes pear shaped you still call Australia home and it will be waiting for you with open arms. But for many Australians overseas that changed this week. Today we're joined by Lachlan Kitchen, who has been trying to build a life in Dubai... but had a redundancy last week. Our other guest is James Mort who is still in London he’s also trying to get home. In today's news headlines: Victoria’s public housing tower cluster linked to pro...
Jul 14, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Should we be wearing face masks in public? To mask or not to mask? It’s a simple question: so why has there been so much mixed messaging about wearing a face mask here in Australia and Overseas? The advice from the World Health Organisation has now become clearer and stronger. Same with the Victorian Authorities and the American Centre for Disease control. To answer this timely question we speak to Professor Kerryn Phelps AM (Doctor and Former President of the Australian Medical Association) and...
Jul 13, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 65
We know that Covid-19 testing, especially in hotspots, will be key to stopping it’s spread. However, since the second wave hit Melbourne we’ve heard of thousands of people who have refused the swab test. Should we throw the book at these people who say no? Or are there perfectly valid reasons to refuse the nasal swab? Our guests to discuss this topic are Marylouise McLaws (UNSW Professor in infection prevention and is working on the World Health Organisation’s COVID Advisory Panel) and Lawyer Bi...
Jul 12, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 64
The US is considering banning Tiktok because of concerns about privacy and Chinese government interference. India banned it last week and now our pollies are taking a long hard look at it. So should TikTok be banned in Australia? Serious concerns have been raised about privacy, censorship and Chinese government interference as Tiktok is the first Chinese-owned social media platform to become so popular in the west. In today’s episode we speak with Jackson Aces, one of Australia’s top ten TikTok'...
Jul 09, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 63
In today’s episode we look at the Melbourne public housing tower crisis. While the city of Melbourne is back in lockdown and panic buying has returned, what will happen to the 3000 people trapped in public housing towers that can’t even go to the supermarket? We speak to Abdi Ish who lives in a North Melbourne housing tower and Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. In today's news headlines: Fears Melbourne outbreak has already spread interstate World champion snowboarder dies...
Jul 08, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Experts at the Australian National University have been testing Canberra's sewage water for traces of COVID-19. Testing wastewater is a quick and inexpensive way of tracking the coronavirus and potentially alerting communities of an outbreak before it occurs, so should it be rolled out across the country? We speak to Dr Aparna Lal from the ANU Research School of Population Health who is leading the team of researchers that took daily samples of wastewater covering the whole of the ACT, and found...
Jul 07, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Quarantining international travellers has been a huge part of Australia’s successful management of COVID-19, however Victoria faces mass lockdowns in the face of a second wave. On today’s episode we find out what went wrong with Melbourne’s disastrous hotel quarantine management. Andrew Lund is the Nine News reporter who managed to get hotel security guards to speak out and joins us to dive deeper into what went wrong. In today's news headlines: NSW to close the border on Victoria after spike, t...
Jul 06, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 60
In a time of economic hardship should we be spending less on defence rather than more? As we grapple with the decision about extending Job Keeper... the government announced $270b in weapons spending. Sam Dastyari has openly criticised the move and joins us on the podcast, along with a defence analyst who has a very different view - Professor Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University. In today's headlines: Victorians say locked down towers feel lik...
Jul 05, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 59
The #StopHateForProfit campaign is growing, but will it make a difference? Some of the biggest brands in the world have all pledged to suspend advertising on Facebook during July. It’s part of a campaign called #StopHateforProfit. In today's episode we find out why the big brands are turning on Facebook, and delve into the issue of Hate speech which is a problem that has plagued Facebook for years. Facebook makes nearly all of its money from advertising. This campaign is only for a month so will...
Jul 02, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 58
A reckoning is taking place in Australia’s legal profession. The women in the industry say it’s a boy’s club and always has been, despite more than 60 per cent of law graduates today being female. This gender based discrimination and hostile work environment is a leading reason why women step away from the legal profession. So what is going on and what can be done to fix it? Today's guests are Kate Eastman, Senior Counsel, Employment and human rights barrister and Jessie Tu, who was formerly in ...
Jul 01, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Today on the podcast we take a deep dive on what this means for the planet and what can we do to change it? We’ve known for years that the Arctic is warming at twice the global average and one side effect is that the frozen ground that melts and refreezes each year is permanently shrinking. What’s got scientists really worried is that it is no longer thawing gradually and is allowing masses of carbon that have been locked in frozen dirt to escape. Dr Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick is from the Climate...
Jun 30, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Stock market horror stories and how to avoid the same mistakes! First time investors have been pouring into the market since the coronavirus crash. Today we find out what can go wrong and how to avoid the same mistakes. The Covid crisis has created some wild scenes on the stock market and for people that couldn’t bet on sport anymore the stock market became a very enticing option. We speak to Scott Phillips CIO of Motley Fool and host of a great finance podcast called The Motley Fool Money, and ...
Jun 29, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Tensions have been particularly bad since Australia led the charge on a global inquiry into the origins of the Coronavirus. Earlier this year editor of the Global Times called us the “chewing gum stuck on the soles of China’s shoes” and a poll from last week shows Australians are worried about China. On todays episode we speak to Will Glasgow, the Australian’s China correspondent and China expert and author (Hidden Hand: Exposing How The Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping The World) Clive Hami...
Jun 28, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Welcome to a special weekend edition of The Briefing with guest Julie Bishop In today’s episode we catch up with Julie Bishop the former Foreign Minister and one of Australia’s most successful female politicians. What she’s been up to post politics? Adapting to technology to keep running a business Did Australia do the right thing by leading the call for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Coronavirus? Working with Donald Trump, and the way he’s handles the Black Lives Matter Protests...
Jun 26, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Australia has won the bid to host the biggest women’s sporting event in the world, the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. On today's episode we speak to Matildas star striker Hayley Raso straight after the announcement. It will be the first World Cup hosted across two football confederations with Australia and New Zealand hosting 32 teams. The Matildas and the Women's League have built up a huge following in the past 10 years and now they will be able to vie for the World Cup on home soil In today's n...
Jun 25, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 52
The data is in! Employing and promoting women makes a company more productive and more profitable, so why aren’t all businesses doing more of that? In this episode we brief you on a brand-new report that makes the unequivocal business case for gender equality in Australia’s top companies. While women make up half of the workforce there are far fewer women in leadership positions than men. Our guests are Libby Lyons (Director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency) and Karen Lonergan (Head of Pe...
Jun 24, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 51
