Life Matters - Full program podcast

So, now you know! You have ADHD! But, what comes next? Is there a way that you, and those who love you, can “do life” that better suits your ADHD brain? Journalist and author Matilda Boseley and psychiatrist Dr Sunil Reddy share how to make households, workplaces, relationships and day-to-day life as ADHD-friendly as possible. And what do you do when you're stuck between your best mate and your be...

Dealing with angry and abusive customers has become part of the job for many retail workers in Australia. Some retailers have introduced measures like body-worn cameras, extra CCTV and duress alarms to improve safety. But the problem has become so serious that this week a major independent supermarket chain said it's considering closing stores because of violent customer behaviour. Retail workers...

Three decades after a federal treaty was first promised - but never materialised - Victoria has introduced the first ever treaty legislation into its parliament. It has been a hard won battle for First Nations people, and this landmark Victorian process has survived where others have fallen in the wake of the failed Voice referendum. Katie Kiss, Kaanju and Birri Widi woman and Aboriginal and Torre...

Convicted triple-murderer Erin Patterson will spend at least 33 years behind bars for the deaths of three family members via an infamous death cap mushroom lunch. The sentence was the culmination of an almost two-years long criminal justice process.... heavily scrutinised by the public and the press. Dr Brianna Chesser, Associate Professor in Criminology and Justice at RMIT University, discusses w...

As our cities grow we're building new houses, new shops and new amenities from scratch. Melanie Davern, from Australian Urban Observatory and Jane Martin from Food for Health Alliance unpack why so many new developments become fast food highways. Its in light of a proposal to change local planning processes in Victoria to address the growing problem of fast food over-saturation in suburbs like tho...

Is it possible to change your personality? Many of us may have thought about it, but journalist and staff writer at The Atlantic, Olga Khazan, actually did it. After spending a year intensively researching the science of personality change, she applied that science to herself. She wrote about her experience in her new book, Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change. And Dr Carl...

Is the Australian flag a unifying emblem? A symbol of colonisation? Is it patriotic? Divisive? Exclusionary? Thousands of people attended the March for Australia rallies on the weekend... and one of the most common sights in the crowds was the Australian flag. The images have sparked a conversation about the flag's use and its meaning. Graeme Davison is an Emeritus professor of history at Monash U...

Australia’s housing crisis is a complex challenge - but what if it was also our biggest opportunity? In a new ABC Radio National series, The Home Front, Professor of Architecture Anthony Burke explores how smart, thoughtful design could transform the way we live - and help us reimagine the Great Australian Dream. For most people, calling a loved one is part of daily life. But in prison, the high c...

Women do the bulk of the laundry, the cooking, the school lunches and running the family's social calendar. And this picture hasn't really changed in 20 years, according to the most recent Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. So, what are the struggles in trying to share the domestic mental load? Matt Johnson is co-host of parenting podcast Two Doting Dads and Alistair Thomso...

The dollar figure of detaining young people has shot up dramatically in the last five years, despite the actual number of people in the system declining. So if getting to these kids too late is costing us both financially and in community safety, just how early do we need to be intervening? Report author Dr Caroline Croser-Barlow and Emeritus Professor Ross Homel who led a decades-long early inter...

Are there conversations in your life that you try to avoid? And how might that be holding you back from getting what you actually want? Clinical psychologist Elisabeth Shaw says that, with the right tools, we can learn to communicate our needs and actually feel heard. Also, what do you do when your ex-mother-in-law gets in touch with some not-so-helpful life advice?

There's a small town on the west coast of Tasmania locked in a David and Goliath battle to save their last bank. Janet Lay has lived in Queenstown on Tasmania's west coast and has started a petition to keep their local bank in town. Since 2017, 36 per cent of brick and mortar bank branches have closed around regional Australia. Simon Lyons from the Regional Banking Investment Alliance asks how can...

There's no shortage of advice for the early years of parenting, but what about the other end of the journey, when your kids leave home? For some, like senior writer at Good Weekend Tim Elliott, it brings a deep sense of loss. For others, like Kate Christie, author and empty nester, it's a time to celebrate new freedoms. Where do you stand on the empty nest spectrum? The term sovereign citizen is i...

Since online gambling became widely accessible it's never been easier to spend big - and lose even bigger. It's opened up a new frontier for gambling advertising with companies offering huge sums to creators like Konrad Benjamin of Punters Politics to promote online casinos to their social media followers. Konrad and online gambling researcher Dr Mark Johnson dive into what can be done to control...

The downsides to downsizing from the family home might include leaving your friends, your GP and the neighbourhood you love. So we asked someone who has made the move, a buyers agent and the CEO of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute whether making it easier for Australians to downsize would really move the needle on the housing crisis. What would have helped you come to terms with...

Rates of perfectionism are skyrocketing, but one of the world's leading experts says you can shift the perfectionistic mindset. And, the aunties weigh in on how to respond to an out-of-the-blue package from an ex best friend.

The struggles of those stuck trying to get their loved ones into rehab, what changes to autism patients on the NDIS scheme mean for families, the ethics of lying in a memoir, and why legal language is so hard to navigate.

Wild tales from the emergency room, the legacy of Olympic housing, and why one woman ran the City2Surf topless. 

The human side of making our nation more productive, behind the pocket money gender pay gap, why our world leaders can't agree on the best way to tackle plastic pollution, and the dark side of your wellness obsession.  

The argument for electric vehicle users paying a road use charge, the ethics behind disclosing adoptees' status, and what your nightmares reveal about your health - plus, why Virgin Australia's new pets on planes policy has sparked backlash.  

In a long-term relationship, when does someone start thinking, "This isn't working anymore?" What goes on between that initial thought and the final decision that its definitely over? Investigative journalist Nicole Madigan shares insights from her book Torn: Four Women’s Stories of Why They Left – or Why They Stayed. Psychologist and psychotherapist Stephen Andrew discusses his thoughts as an exp...

As the role of pharmacists expands, there's a push to place them inside GP clinics to provide on-the-spot medication advice. Associate Professor Jean Spinks, Centre for Business and Economics of Health, University of Queensland, GP pharmacist Brooke Shelly, and Dr Michael Wright, President, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners discuss whether it could provide more efficient and effect...

Performer Todd McKenney's decades-long career on stage has reached a full circle moment. He joins the cast of the classic musical 'Cats' once again, a role he first embodied almost forty years ago where he made a pact with a friend that made him a father. What if a random interaction with a stranger ends with covert video uploaded to a social media platform? We hear from Tahnaya Smith, who was fil...

What's next for our health star rating system? And, attractive people often benefit from special treatment. So, what's the impact of "pretty privilege"? Plus, how sex ed has changed in the 50 years since the book Where Did I Come From? hit our shelves. Also, why Australia's latest star-studded international tourism campaign may not work.

Who owns the copyright... to your face? And, a new book delves into the history of Aussie fatherhood. Also, a glimpse into the life of a spy... with the former head of Australia's top espionage agency. Plus, how much does it cost you to get to work each day?