Just as we begin to enjoy our renewed freedoms, a potentially more infectious coronavirus mutation is emerging. Across the globe, countries have experienced a surge in cases credited to BA.2, including Denmark, the UK, Norway and Sweden. Should we be worried? Dr Norman Swan from the ABC's The Health Report and Coronacast joins us to discuss. Todays Headlines "Gutted” Ash Barty’s retirement shocks the world Putin’s senior advisor flees due to the war Election job creation campaign ramps up Hillso...
Mar 23, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 64
Could magic mushrooms hold the key to treating mental health problems? A group of Australians made up of psychiatrists, a former Federal Minister and the former head of the Armed Forces says yes. In Australia in December, the TGA rejected a bid to approve it for broad use for mental health treatment. Now, a group of Australians who call themselves Mind Medicine Australia, are applying again to the TGA to get this across the line- with even tighter controls. Dr Eli Kotler is a psychiatrist who’s ...
Mar 22, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 63
Nearly three decades of close collaboration in space between Russia and the western world seems to be coming to an end. Dr Mark Hilborne- Lecturer of Defence Studies, King's College London specialises in strategic stability in arms control with an emphasis on outer space. With increasing tensions over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia has arguably threatened to crash the International Space Station and refuse to launch satellites for western countries. It seems at the moment that lack...
Mar 21, 2022•17 min•Season 3Ep. 62
Support for independent candidates is growing steadily. We also know that Australians care about climate change. Now all of this is a perfect storm for a group of two dozen Independents who will be running in coalition held seats at the upcoming federal election on a strong climate agenda platform. Independence have always run for parliament, but this time around it's different. At least that's what Georgia Steele thinks. She's the independent candidate for Hughes in Sydney’s south. Todays Headl...
Mar 20, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 61
Sean Szeps is a podcaster, content creator and presenter. Through kindness and humour, he is making life better for queer kids everywhere. Sean is the host of the LiSTNR Podcast ‘Come Out Wherever You Are’, where Sean talks to famous queer Australians about their coming out stories. Through his podcast you also get the chance to get to know Sean on a deeper level. A loving husband to Josh, and a passionate dad to twins Stella and Cooper. In this conversation Jamila and Sean discuss raising twins...
Mar 18, 2022•40 min•Season 3Ep. 60
Is Kanye West wanting his divorce to entertain you? We speak to Atlantic Journalist, Spenser Kornhaber who has been following Kanye’s career and rise to fame for over 20 years. Kanye separated from Kim Kardashian in early 2021. Kardashian began dating SNL star Pete Davidson, 28, in the final months of 2021, prompting Kanye to share posts encouraging his followers to publicly harass Pete. Is it the spillover from Kardashian’s own brand of fame, which turns living rooms into TV-show sets? The diff...
Mar 17, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 59
The first Aussie reality show commissioned by Netflix- Byron Baes. The outrage from the Byron community was huge and they protected, trying to stop it. The basic concern was bringing more people to Byron buying houses and increasing the prices pushing real locals out of the market. Mayor Michael Lyon’s main concern was the housing issues and the increase in homeless people. Julian Morgan, Executive Producer of Byron Baes gives us the low down on the show. Todays Headlines Zelensky calls on US Co...
Mar 16, 2022•23 min•Season 3Ep. 58
Roberto Aguilera- Energy Economist Curtin University Oil and Gas Innovation Centre gives us a deep dive on fuel prices… The Prime Minister has left open the possibility of slashing petrol excise in the budget–.as rising prices hit household budgets. The fuel excise is a flat tax levied on petrol and diesel set at 44 cents per litre. It raises around 11 billion dollars in net terms for the commonwealth each year. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sent fuel costs soaring around the country! How ...
Mar 15, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 57
Samantha Jonscher has been reporting on the 5 week trial. The big news is the not guilty verdict on Friday... and as you’ll hear... the upcoming coronial inquest... which is why this story is far from over. Constable Rolfe, 30, pleaded not guilty to murder, as well as two alternative charges, over the fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker in the central Australian community of Yuendumu in 2019. The officer fired his Glock pistol three times after Mr Walker, 19, stabbed him in the shoulder with a pa...
Mar 14, 2022•18 min•Season 3Ep. 56
Daria Sukharchuk is a freelance Russian journalist living in Berlin. She’s been following the unfolding situation in Ukraine closely. Russians are hearing a very different story to the one we’re getting about the war in Ukraine. As Russia bombed a maternity hospital in the southern city of Mariupol last week Russians were being told the building was abandoned and had been taken over by neo-Nazis. So if the story is so different, how do Russians know what they’re actually supporting, or opposing?...
Mar 13, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 55
George Ezra is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter and also one of the nicest guys in the biz. His smash hit ‘Shotgun’ is, incidentally, about time he spent in Australia - he sings about being south of the equator, being at the beach, drinking larger and life in ‘the yellow and green’. But it’s not his only song about another country. His travels make up a huge part of his music. So what happens when your art is inspired by the world around you and that world suddenly becomes very small. So...
Mar 11, 2022•28 min•Season 3Ep. 54
We go back to our amazing story of Australians rallying together …when the authorities don’t offer the support they should….and the struggle for residents of the north east of NSW devastated by floods. Jack Bailey, a northern rivers local has been hiking in to some of the communities that have been cut off since last Monday; Sophie Marsh has also been volunteering in the clean-up and says it’s heartening to see so many locals pitching in to help; and Harry Dudley who’s been helping his neighbour...
Mar 09, 2022•19 min•Season 3Ep. 52
This is an amazing story of Australians rallying together …when the authorities don’t offer the support they should. Michael Barnes is a helicopter pilot and co-owner of Rotorwing, a chopper business based in Lismore. Despite the fact his house was almost completely submerged in floodwater, he jumped in his chopper and began flying vital supplies to communities cut off by last week’s floods. Kate Caddle is a Gold Coast-based pregnancy and maternity coach AND the organiser of an amazing relief ef...
Mar 08, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 51
It’s International Women’s Day – so why not celebrate by unearthing some of the most badass women in Australian history. Nancy Wake karate chopped Nazis; Annette Kellerman was the first woman to appear nude in a Hollywood movie; and Mary Ann Bugg was an indigenous bushranger who used a machete to hamstring people. Eliza Reilly is a comedian and author of Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History….a celebration of women you’ve never heard of, but should certainly know about. On this Internation...
Mar 07, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 50
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on "all citizens of the world" to join Ukraine’s defence. He said Ukraine would welcome overseas fighters and would consider establishing a foreign legion to combat the Russian invasion. Australian law makes it an offence to become a foreign fighter without being a member of a foreign country's armed forces. Dr Sara Megar, a lecturer in International Relations at the University of Melbourne explains how and why fighters take up arms for other co...
Mar 06, 2022•25 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Alice Zaslavsky writes the cookery column for The Weekend Australian Magazine and is the ABIA award winning author of the internationally acclaimed In Praise of Veg. She is the culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio nationally, and hosts Saturday Breakfast on ABC Radio Melbourne. Whenever Jamila Rizvi needs to book a restaurant, Alice Zaslavsky is the number she calls. The former Masterchef contestant and fan favourite, knows more about food and foodie culture than just abou...
Mar 04, 2022•38 min•Season 3Ep. 48
The Winter Paralympics begin in Beijing tonight and snowboarder Ben Tudehope is co-captain of the Australian team. Ben became Australia’s youngest ever Winter Paralympian when he was selected for the 2014 games in Sochi 2014 at the age of just 14 - he was the youngest competitor from any nation at those Games. Eight years later, Ben will become a three-time Paralympian at Beijing 2022. He's competing in two events in Beijing and is highly favoured to win a medal. Ben arrived in Beijing this week...
Mar 03, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 47
15,000 homes in Brisbane and surrounding areas were inundated with floodwater this week, after a “rain bomb” hit the region. The clean-up has begun and locals are starting to ask themselves, ‘how did this happen?’. The region was smashed by floods in 2011, and authorities pledged to learn lessons from the mistakes made just over a decade ago. But, as Beck Haining, a Brisbane resident whose home was flooded tells us, many didn’t get a warning until their house was already underwater. And News Ltd...
Mar 02, 2022•23 min•Season 3Ep. 46
The world is watching the Ukrainian people fighting back against Vladimir Putin’s massive military might. How long will they hold on? And will the West’s sanctions kick in to force Putin’s hand. Australian journalist Misha Zelinsky was in Kyiv when it came under attack. At one point he took shelter in a bunker with actor Sean Penn… before it got too dangerous and he decided to make the journey to Lviv in the back seat of a 2012 Kia hatchback. He’s there reporting for the Australian Financial Rev...
Mar 01, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 45
Russian President Vladimir Putin has put Russia's nuclear forces in a "special regime of combat duty". The order means Putin wants Russia's nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch. Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, says the Kremlin and Washington, usually have land and submarine-based capabilities on a hair trigger, but nuclear-capable bombers and other aircraft are not. So what’s behind this latest escalation, and how likely is i...
Feb 28, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 44
Education ministers have agreed to mandate holistic and age-appropriate consent education in every school in Australia from next year, following a year-long campaign spearheaded by consent activist Chanel Contos. The curriculum will incorporate many facets of sexual education, ranging from power imbalances and coercion to gendered stereotypes, examining how each of these play a role in shaping sexual experiences. As it currently stands, the new curriculum is expected to roll out in 2023 across e...
Feb 27, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 43
Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent whose work includes fiction, non-fiction, children’s books and poetry. She has won a plethora prizes. From the NSW Premier’s Award to the Australian Book Industry Literary Fiction Book of the Year. Maxine is so much more than a mantelpiece heavy with trophies. Her books, her poetry and her musings on Twitter are a stand-out contribution to this country’s discussion of race, inclusion and politics. She is a voice worthy of you...
Feb 25, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 42
Australian Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has teamed with Canadian asset manager Brookfield in a bid to buy the Australian energy giant AGL and then accelerate the company’s green energy transition - planning to get the company out of coal by 2030. Mike joins the Briefing to explain his plan for the future of Australia’s energy market, and how he sees his vision playing out. His initial proposal was $7.50 a share - which would see them pay $A8billion for AGL, but it was knocked back by the ener...
Feb 24, 2022•24 min•Season 3Ep. 41
How would you feel about going shares with the government to buy your first home? Brendan Coates, the Economic Policy Program Director at the Grattan Institute, says it’s time for a national shared equity housing scheme. He says several states already have shared equity schemes, but it’s time for a national approach to address housing affordability. 2021 saw house prices skyrocket across Australia. Melbourne and Canberra joined Sydney to have a median house price above $1 million. Home ownership...
Feb 23, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 40
The families of some of the adults and children killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School reached a settlement with gun manufacturer Remington. They won a $A100m lawsuit in a court in Connecticut, with the court ruling Remington had marketed the firearm used in the shootings to young men. Veronique de la Rosa, a mother of one of the schoolchildren killed, joins us to explain how and why they took the legal action. It’s an inspiring story of families who refused to give up,...
Feb 22, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 39
Australia’s energy market is changing rapidly. Coal fired power plants are closing earlier than planned... and their owners are building batteries in their place! Last year Energy Australia announced the Yallourn plant in Victoria will close and Origin Energy last week announced its Eraring plant in NSW will close seven years earlier than planned. Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brooks says he wants to take over AGL with a similar plan, shutting down powerplants early and building renewable infrast...
Feb 21, 2022•19 min•Season 3Ep. 38
Economists say interest rates will rise this year – some are predicting a 15-basis point rise as early as June. So, what does that mean for the average mortgagee? We talk to AMP chief economist Shane Oliver, to find out how many Australians will go into mortgage stress if rates rise, as predicted, by one percent in the next twelve months. With a federal election due in May, both Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison will be trying to convince Australians their side of politics is the better econom...
Feb 20, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 37
CONTENT WARNING: Sexual Assault. Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence Help Line: 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) This is a 24-hour national sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault. Individuals can also access local support services and search the internet using Daisy , a free app developed by 1800RESPECT that protects user privacy. Tarang Chawla found celebrity for a reas...
Feb 18, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 36
US President Joe Biden this week put the world on notice that a Russian attack could happen very soon... and western countries have been evacuating their embassy staff and warning citizens to get out... But the Ukraine president President Volodymyr Zelensky has been giving a very different message - he’s been urging people to stay calm. So what is happening in Ukraine... Channel Seven reporter Sarah Greenhalgh is in the city of Lviv in far western Ukraine. How likely is war between Russia and Uk...
Feb 17, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 35
Jakara Anthony is an Australian freestyle skier, and Olympic gold medalist. Jakara won the Women's Moguls event at the 2022 Winter Olympics – one of the most gruelling and challenging events at the Olympics. Having been a competitive skier since her childhood, the gold medal at Beijing was a lifelong dream. She said after winning gold: “It's really incredible to know that all the hard work I've been putting into my whole skiing career is really paying off. And it's just, yeah, I'm just lost for ...
Feb 16, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 34
