We’ve been captivated by the US election, horrified at wars overseas and have marvelled at the Olympics. There’s no doubt 2024 has been another massive year in news. In today’s deep dive, Sacha Barbour Gatt and Bension Siebert talk through the biggest stories of the year and what they’ve meant to us, before looking ahead to what we can expect in 2025. Follow The Briefing: TikTok: @listnrnewsroom Instagram: @listnrnewsroom @thebriefingpodcast YouTube: @LiSTNRnewsroom Facebook: @LiSTNR Newsroom Se...
Dec 19, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 577
Headlines: Man in French mass rape case that shocked the world handed 20-year conviction, Albanese government condemned for approving four coalmine expansions, first-ever estimates of LGBTI+ Aussies released and Raygun The Musical will be going ahead! Deep Dive: 'The Briefing recaps 2024' in your feeds right now as a separate episode. Follow The Briefing: TikTok: @listnrnewsroom Instagram: @listnrnewsroom @thebriefingpodcast YouTube: @LiSTNRnewsroom Facebook: @LiSTNR Newsroom See omnystudio.com/...
Dec 19, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 576
Headlines: Penny Wong announces Australian embassy will re-open in Ukraine, Australian crews en route to Vanuatu, NSW Government approves pill testing trial and NASA's stranded astronauts to remain on the ISS until March. Deep Dive: Have you cut meat out of your diet for ethical reasons, only to eventually return to that late-night cheeseburger or pub chicken parma? There are plenty of good reasons for going vegan or vegetarian: the animals, the environment, the climate crisis, health, the cost ...
Dec 18, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 575
Headlines: Australia stands ready to help Vanuatu after powerful earthquake, Qantas and Meta to pay massive fines, reactions to Victoria’s new protest laws and Bluey is heading to the big screen. Deep Dive: As 2025 looms, are we watching major Western governments across the world collapse? A possible resignation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A vote of no confidence for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. French government almost-shutdown narrowly avoided. What the hell is going on, what ...
Dec 17, 2024•21 min•Season 5Ep. 574
Headlines: Bashar al-Assad releases first statement since fleeing Syria, new poll shows Albanese’s disapproval at 50%, Australian teenager and mother hospitalised in Fiji return home and Prince Andrew disinvited from royal Christmas as spy saga deepens Deep Dive: NRL club Melbourne Storm are scaling back Welcome to Country ceremonies and focusing on “action” rather than “words” to improve the lives of First Nations people. Is it the right call for the club to make? Why do we bother to acknowledg...
Dec 16, 2024•24 min•Season 5Ep. 573
Headlines: Remaining Bali Nine return home, four Australians hospitalised after suspected alcohol poisoning in Fiji, heat wave warnings issued across Australia and Adelaide Zoo welcomes its newest giant pandas. Panda diplomacy deep dive: https://play.listnr.com/podcast/the-briefing/episode/panda-propaganda-why-china-is-sending-us-diplomacy ? Today's Deep Dive: For the first time in a long time, Saturday Night Live is having a bit of a cultural moment. Currently in its 50th season the live sketch...
Dec 15, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 572
Narelda Jacobs is a trailblazer. She’s a Whadjuk Noongar woman, journalist and presenter who’s changing the face of Australian media. Over the past two decades Narelda has worked as a trusted news presenter and is a powerful advocate for First Nations rights, LGBTQIA+ inclusion and social justice. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Narelda opens up about some recent experiences that are both personal and painful tied to the colour of her skin and reveals a surprise of her own. Weekend List TO...
Dec 13, 2024•43 min•Season 5Ep. 571
Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) is blowing up in Australia. The fantasy table-top roleplay game is nothing new – it was first published in in 1974 – but Google Search trends in Australia show searches for DnD have been steadily climbing since about 2016. What’s behind the hype? Should you be picking up DnD in 2025? And if you aren’t keen on the kind of effort involved in playing it, what board games should we instead try playing over the holidays? Justin Halliday is Game Designer for Hero Forge Games...
Dec 13, 2024•11 min•Season 5Ep. 570
Headlines: Coalition to unveil cost of bold nuclear plan, ‘Adult time’ youth justice laws pass Queensland parliament and Donald Trump named Time’s Person of the Year ... again Deep Dive: It has been ten years since the Lindt Cafe siege, which took place on December 15, 2014. Man Haron Monis took 18 hostages and held them for 16 hours in Sydney’s Martin Place. The 16-hour siege ended in the deaths of two hostages – Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson – as well as the gunman himself. Multiple others i...
Dec 12, 2024•28 min•Season 5Ep. 569
Apple Intelligence has officially come to Australia. Apple’s AI was first announced back in June, and as of today can be used by hundreds of thousands of iPhone-owning Aussies. But what can it do, and how will it change us? Will it encourage Android loyalists to make the jump, and is it really a gamechanger? In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by tech expert and editor of EFTM magazine, Trevor Long to unpack if it's worth the hype. Follow The Briefing: TikTok: @listnrnewsroom...
Dec 12, 2024•12 min•Season 5Ep. 568
Headlines: Women launch class action against BHP and Rio Tinto over alleged decades of sexual harassment, Anthony Albanese supports exclusion zones near houses of worship, Saudi Arabia chosen to host FIFA world cup, and HECS balances will be slashed from today. Deep Dive: A viral on the street interview turned Hailey Welch from a normal girl to an internet celebrity overnight. Becoming Hawk Tuah Girl, she has since used her sudden fame and millions of followers to pivot into a podcast, brand dea...
Dec 11, 2024•22 min•Season 5Ep. 567
Are public figures fair game when it comes to parody and satire? Personally, your answer might shift depending on who that public figure is, while legally, the answers are a little more clean cut. It’s a question being asked following reports the legal team of Rachael Gunn, Australian academic and competitive breakdancer also known as Raygun, had a parody musical on her journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics cancelled ahead of its trial show. Raygun: The Musical, a creation of Aussie comedian Steph ...
Dec 11, 2024•12 min•Season 5Ep. 566
The fire attack against a Jewish synagogue in Melbourne has intensified a battle between our politicians over the meaning of anti-Semitism, and who is responsible for encouraging it in Australia. Meanwhile, many people are struggling to know how to talk about anti-Semitism, Israel or Gaza without fear of saying the wrong thing. In part two of The Briefing’s two-part special episode on anti-Semitism in Australia, Bension Siebert speaks with writer and co-chief executive of the Executive Council o...
Dec 10, 2024•17 min•Season 5Ep. 565
Headlines: PM’s pitch to families ahead of election announcement, Syria’s new PM meets old government officials to aid transition, Telstra fined $3 million for 000 network outage, and two new sounds have been added to Australia’s sound archive. Deep Dive: The fire attack against a Jewish synagogue in Melbourne has intensified a battle between our politicians over the meaning of anti-Semitism and who is responsible for encouraging it in Australia. Meanwhile, many people are struggling to know how...
Dec 10, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 564
A group of sexy Queensland concreters have created a the "Sexy Concreters" calendar, featuring 12 Gold Coast tradies posing shirtless in wheelbarrows, pouring iced coffee over themselves and eating meat pies. The calendar was created to raise money and awareness for men’s mental health, with the first print of the calendar selling out in just two hours. In this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert is joined by Jesse Stenroos, Mr April and director of the concreting business Conseq Group, and...
Dec 10, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 563
Headlines: Antisemitism taskforce announced as travel warning issued for Jews heading to Australia, Australia fires new Tomahawk missiles for the first time, person of interest interviewed in CEO shooting case and Starbucks Australia posts $5.8 million loss. Deep Dive: A major health insurance company CEO was shot dead on the street in New York City last week, and many are celebrating. A Facebook post by UnitedHealthcare to remember its assassinated CEO, 50-year-old Brian Thompson, received tens...
Dec 09, 2024•26 min•Season 5Ep. 562
Rebel forces in Syria captured the capital over the weekend in a move that saw the nation’s president, Bashar al-Assad, flee the country. It comes after a 13-year civil war and over five decades of his family’s brutal autocratic rule. The news has been widely welcomed by those living in the country, who are celebrating liberation – a similar sentiment echoed on the streets back here in Australia. But how did we get here and who steps in now that a dictator has been toppled? In this episode of Th...
Dec 09, 2024•18 min•Season 5Ep. 561
Headlines: Syrian rebels bring down Assad regime, new poll spells more bad news for Albo and Donald Trump attends the reopening of Notre Dame. Deep dive: The price of a cup of coffee has always been debated, and now, global coffee prices have reached their highest in over 50 years. It boils down to many factors across the industry, including bad weather in Brazil and Vietnam where most of the world's coffee comes from and international trade. So how will this impact the price of our daily cup of...
Dec 08, 2024•25 min•Season 5Ep. 560
Noni Hazlehurst has been a beloved fixture in Australian homes for decades, from Play School to Better Homes and Gardens. In her new memoir Dropping the Mask Noni opens up about her journey to self-discovery and concealing her true self to fit the roles others expected of her. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Noni shares her MeToo moment for the first time when a senior entertainment executive locked her in a room, changing her perspective forever. You can grab a copy of Dropping the Mask f...
Dec 06, 2024•41 min•Season 5Ep. 559
Settling in to watch a Christmas movie is one of the hallmarks of the festive season for a lot of us, with titles like Elf, Die Hard and Love Actually usually at the top of the most-streamed list. But does it feel like it’s been a while since we’ve seen a great Christmas movie? Time Out’s list of the ten best ever doesn’t feature a single title from after 2005, which has us asking – have we seen the last of the great Christmas movies? Ash London, radio queen and passionate Chrissy movie advocate...
Dec 06, 2024•13 min•Season 5Ep. 558
Headlines: The Chaos in France, new poll shows Peter Dutton on track for major election win, former defence secretary to lead urgent AUKUS review, Melbourne billionaire Adrian Portelli charged over unlawful lottery and you tell us your favourite Christmas movies! Deep dive: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has become a record-breaking phenomenon – taking on 54 cities across 21 countries over a gruelling 21 months. Swift, considered one of the greatest artists of all time, has been on tour since March 20...
Dec 05, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 557
Who should decide what’s acceptable to wear to the office? In the last couple of years, we’ve seen a huge shift in office workwear with experts saying it’s partly because of the pandemic, working from home, social media trends and because of younger generations entering the workplace. In this episode of The Briefing Helen Smith is joined by Lauren Sams, fashion editor at the Australian Finical Review, and Employment Lawyer Roxanne Hart to find out who makes the rules around what’s corporate chic...
Dec 05, 2024•16 min•Season 5Ep. 556
Headlines: Charges laid over Easey Street murders, Aussie primary school students score best ever result in global test, NSW Premier to be referred to corruption watchdog, South Korean lawmakers move to impeach President and the Matildas win 3-1 against Taiwan. Deep Dive: You might have heard the phrase “deep state” in the news about US President-elect Donald Trump recently. He’s promised to dismantle it. But what is the “deep state” and do we have one in Australia? The Briefing’s Bension Sieber...
Dec 04, 2024•18 min•Season 5Ep. 555
A man charged over one of Victoria’s longest cold cases, the 1977 Easey Street murders, touched down in Melbourne overnight, after a marathon extradition from Rome. He was arrested in Italy back in September in connection to the alleged murder of 28-year-old Suzzane Armstrong and 27-year-old Susan Bartlett in their Collingwood share house almost 50 years ago. In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by host of the Life and Crimes podcast and author of Rule on Crime, Andrew Rule. A...
Dec 04, 2024•9 min•Season 5Ep. 554
Headlines: Easey Street murder suspect lands in Melbourne after extradition, South Korean Parliament rejects president’s martial law declaration, concerns over ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Commonwealth Bank urged to rethink $3 cash withdrawal fee, and the most visited Wikipedia pages for 2024 have been revealed. Deep dive: A five-year legal battle is playing out between the NT government and residents of Laramba, an Aboriginal community 205km north-west of Alice Springs, over clean dr...
Dec 03, 2024•20 min•Season 5Ep. 553
When you think of hard jobs, does influencing or content creation top the list? After a video from the 2024 TikTok Awards went viral, that’s exactly the conversation happening online right now. Content creators were asked if their work is “hard,” with some answers sparking debate and backlash. One of those influencers seemingly in hot water is Veronica B. The TikTokker, who has over half a million followers on the app, joins Chris Spyrou in this episode of The Briefing to unpack whether she beli...
Dec 03, 2024•15 min•Season 5Ep. 552
Headlines: The fallout from Hunter Biden’s pardon, biggest cocaine bust in Australian history sees 13 charged and Australia just sweltered through its hottest spring ever. Deep dive: 2024 has become the deadliest year for aid workers with harrowing risks of humanitarian work laid bare over the weekend. Aid workers from Save the Children and World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli Defence Forces airstrike in Gaza, prompting World Central Kitchen to halt operations after it destroyed one o...
Dec 02, 2024•24 min•Season 5Ep. 551
It’s been eight years since Pokémon Go took the world by storm. But was the global phenomenon just a big data mining scam? By the end of its launch year in 2016, over 200 million people had downloaded the game and today 90 million users are still trying to catch em’ all. But it's come to light that the game’s developers, Niantic, have been using its player’s data to train “the next frontier of AI”. In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou chats with freelance games journalist Harry Kalogiro...
Dec 02, 2024•11 min•Season 5Ep. 550
Headlines: What’s going on Syria right now, Trump threatens 100% tariffs on China and Russia, house prices in Sydney and Melbourne tumble and a Melbourne woman has had a deadly tiger snake slither up her leg while driving. Deep dive: Young Australians pay more tax than older Australians on the same income. On this episode of The Briefing, we explain how the tax burden came to fall so heavily on younger people and why, for the first time, we might be in a position to do something about it. Bensio...
Dec 01, 2024•21 min•Season 5Ep. 549
Georgia Grace AKA Gspot knows a lot about sex. She’s a pleasure activist, the co-founder of sexual wellness company Normal and an expert in somatic sexology, embodied counselling and trauma informed approaches. The Modern Guide to Sex is Georgia’s latest book where she breaks down taboos, myths and the sexual shame society holds. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Georgia explains the importance of pleasure and gives her take on Bonnie Blue. Weekend List TO EAT: Avo on toast roast with labneh...
Nov 29, 2024•38 min•Season 5Ep. 548
