The Briefing

What is going on at Hillsong...?  The scandals at Australia’s most famous church have escalated to the point where its founder and global leader Brian Houston resigned for good last week.    David Hardaker, Investigations Editor at Crikey, broke the story. The revelations came after Houston had already stepped down temporarily in January, to fight charges relating to his fathe...

You’ve probably heard a bit about the rising cost of living or you might have even noticed it yourself at the petrol bowser or the supermarket.     We’re in a tricky situation in Australia - we’re dealing with rising inflation, stagnant wages, high national debt, and supply problems caused by global events including the Covid 19 pandemic and now the war in Ukraine....

Dave “Hughesy” Hughes is one of Australia’s all-time favourite stand-up comedians, radio hosts and television presenters.   What is Dave Hughes like under the froth and bubble of celebrity? What do his kids think of his radio antics? What made him give up booze at age 21? Where does his passionate veganism come from and what did he learn from the Dalai lama?   In t...

How are journalists managing to cover the war in Ukraine, given how unpredictable and dangerous it is.     All the major Australian tv networks and newspapers have correspondents moving in and out of the country.... Many who are very well known to Australian audiences.    Hugh Whitfeld is there for Seven News. Hugh is speaking to us from the outskirts of Kyiv... which is t...

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&rdqu...

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 Austr...

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 Internati...

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 lea...

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 lovin...

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 hara...

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.   Jul...

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 dolla...

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 Yuen...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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:&nbs...

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 lec...

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. Th...

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...

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...

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 dang...

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...

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 shap...