Bonafide with Luke Bona

The Reserve Bank has put rates up for the fifth time this year, and Luke wants to know why it's so hard for young couples to buy a home. AMP's Shane Oliver says Canberra left the RBA to do the heavy lifting, and gives his call on whether another rise is coming before Christmas. Jonathan Kearsley reports from Dallas for News24 on the night Democrats took Congress and a Senate seat in Texas....

If you heard our full episode on 30 October, you've already heard this. This is Andrew's heart attack story on its own, for anyone who just wants that. ABC Sport caller Andrew Moore tells Luke how his heart attack crept up on him in August 2025: a game called sitting down, days with no energy, then a build-up of pressure that he says wasn't the pain he expected. He talks about the ambu...

If you heard Tuesday's full episode, you have already had this one. This is the Truckie Tuesday on its own, for anyone who just wants the truck stuff. Every bay's full and your short rest break is due. Belinda Hughes from Hughes Law explains the defence for when there's no suitable rest place: you can drive up to 45 more minutes to the next one, but only for a short rest break, and she...

It's Melbourne Cup Day, RBA day and episode 150. Entertainment reporter Shane Adam Bassett pays tribute to Sir Patrick Stewart, runs through who's in the running to be the next James Bond, and picks what to watch, from The Invite to Pressure. Kelsey thinks the next Bond should be a woman. Luke says Ian Fleming wrote Bond as a man, and that settles it. Scott Phillips from The Motley Fool un...

Fire ants have turned up at a freight terminal in Sydney, and former agriculture minister David Littleproud says if they get into your backyard, you won't be using it. He explains how containers are checked, why travellers caught smuggling food have lost their visas, and what it's like to live with threats against your family. It isn't easy. Ben Downie crosses from Tel Aviv as Israel&#...

If you heard our full episode on 27 October, you have already had this one. This is Luke's chat with Terry Barnes on its own, for anyone who just wants Terry. Victoria votes on 28 November. A Spectator contributor, and by his own account on air a former Liberal ministerial adviser, Terry tells Luke why he thinks Labor is losing rather than the Coalition winning, and why he calls it the pothole...

If you heard Tuesday's full episode, you have already had this one. This is the Truckie Tuesday on its own, for anyone who just wants the truck stuff. Rod Hannifey makes his case that automatic gearboxes took the skill out of driving a truck, and says he'll argue it with anyone. Luke and Rod also read your comments on truck stop showers, and Luke finds a pub at Merriwagga that leaves its s...

Is premium petrol worth the extra at the bowser, or is it all in your head? James Ward from Drive sorts out octane, cleaning additives and E10, and tells the story of Sexy Lexy, the pink Torana XU-1 that vanished from a driveway in 1992. Terry Barnes from The Spectator explains why Victoria's election on 28 November is a test for One Nation. David Littleproud talks about the threats MPs and th...

Greg Evans, the host of Perfect Match, tells Luke how Reg Grundy's dating show let Channel Ten charge prime-time rates at 5:30, and about the contestant who chose number three but couldn't stop thinking about number one. He went through the phone book to find her. Greg also reveals where Dexter the robot lives now, and he and Luke swap the songs from the 3XY and 2SM days they reckon you ne...

If you heard our full episode on 9 October, you have already had this one. This is the Man Cave with Dr Graham Wild on its own, for anyone who just wants the space talk. Adam McDonald from Aussie Pickers still isn't convinced we went to the Moon, and the Van Allen radiation belts are his sticking point. So Luke brings in Dr Graham Wild, a senior lecturer in aviation science and technology at U...

If you heard our full episode on 9 October, you have already had this one. This is Luke's chat with Jim Penman on its own, for anyone who just wants Jim. When nobody would back his ideas as an academic, Jim went back to mowing lawns full-time, about $35,000 in debt, he says, and by his own account terrible at managing his first subcontractors. He tells Luke how he turned it around, from sellin...

If you heard Tuesday's full episode, you have already had this one. This is the Truckie Tuesday on its own, for anyone who just wants the truck stuff. A driver tells Rod Hannifey he was refused a shower at a truck stop because he hadn't bought fuel, even after offering to buy food. Rod knows of only one truck stop with showers on his run to Adelaide, and he found a key-tag block he couldn&...

Robbie Katter, the Member for Traeger and leader of Katter's Australian Party, tells Luke why he and his dad Bob want North Queensland to become Australia's seventh state, and why he thinks city people lose out while the north's metals stay in the ground. He also covers shark and crocodile culling, and the case for nuclear power. Jonathan Kearsley, News24's Washington correspondent...

If you heard our full episode on 2 October, you have already had this one. This is Luke's chat with Nick on its own, for anyone who just wants the prison stories. Nick was a NSW prison officer for 15 years, at Lithgow and at the women's jail at Emu Plains. In B unit, he watched an inmate crack the perspex with a pool ball, and he tells Luke why he says three months of training was mostly a...

Our first live show. Nick, a former NSW prison officer, comes back for part two and takes Luke through a first-timer's day in prison, from the strip search to the cellmate you don't get to choose. He also explains how new inmates get pushed into carrying contraband for someone else, and how they can say no. Rob McKnight from McKnight Tonight reviews the calls he made in September about Nin...

Shark fisherman Joel Nancarrow says the great white that killed a swimmer at Sorrento Beach in Perth should have been hunted down. Adam McDonald's view is that it's the risk you take when you swim, and the Man Cave gets heated. Then Luke asks about dangerous dogs, and Adam comes round, as long as it's the right shark. Joel runs Hunter Shark Jaw Restoration in Newcastle. He explains how...

If you heard our full episode on 2 October, you have already had this one. This is Luke's chat with Shane Oliver on its own, for anyone who just wants the money talk. The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 4.60% on 29 September, and AMP chief economist Shane Oliver says that if he had to single out one cause, it's too much government spending. It now makes up about 28% of the economy, an...

If you heard Tuesday's full episode, you have already had this one. This is the Truckie Tuesday on its own, for anyone who just wants the truck stuff. Kylie Robinson missed the weighbridge near Willow Tree and rang the NHVR to report it herself. She was still fined $800. Belinda Hughes from Hughes Law is acting for her for free and taking it to court. Hughes Law sponsors Truckie Tuesday. The N...

David Shoebridge, in his first chat with Luke as Greens leader, makes the case for forcing the sale of 200 Coles and Woolworths stores and running about 600 public supermarkets. Scotty Phillips from The Motley Fool calls it populism, then explains why he thinks cutting temporary visas misses the point and why some cafes put up the price of a coffee after the surcharge ban. Jessica Wang from The Da...

If you heard the full episode on Tuesday 6 October, you have already had this one. This is the Truckie Tuesday on its own, for anyone who just wants the truck stuff. Rod Hannifey is home in Dubbo, so Luke has him on screen for the fuel news. China has suspended its October fuel exports and the G7 has agreed to release up to 100 million barrels from reserves. Rod says people filling a car for the s...

Jim Penman tells Luke how a rival knocked him back when he asked to join, why he charges franchisees $700 for a contract when he says $5,000 is normal, and why, he says, Jim's Group can't be sold without most franchisees' consent. His new book with Andrea Pearson, Birth-Rate Crisis, blames too much dopamine for Australia's falling birth rate. Kelsey isn't convinced. Mark Berett...

Is your car listening to you? James Ward from Drive says some cars do send voice and driving data back to the maker, and explains why no government cares about your everyday chat but you still shouldn't talk secrets in any new car. He also has the case for a pre-purchase inspection, and why V8s are holding their value. David Littleproud joins from Horsham on the rate rise, the backpacker visa...

Nick rang Luke on 2GB after a chat about second chances, and he had 15 years of stories. As a NSW prison officer at Lithgow and at the women's jail at Emu Plains, Nick saw the perspex crack in a riot and had an inmate tell him she knew where his family lived. His view is that most prisoners don't want to be rehabilitated. Some of his own stories, like the woman who left jail a qualified ch...

Truckie Tuesday on its own, for anyone who just wants the truck stuff. NHVR chief executive Nicole Rosie spent a day in Rod Hannifey's truck out of Dubbo, and Rod had a list of about 32 questions waiting. Back on Truckie Tuesday she answers the one drivers ask most: is the regulator out to get them? She says education with drivers is up, and that the hard end of enforcement is for repeat, high...

Why can lobbyists with an orange pass walk the halls of Parliament House while you can't get past security? Greens Senator David Shoebridge calls the revolving door between Defence and the weapons industry obscene, and says he'd tear down the walls that keep the public out. Also in this full episode of Bonafide with Luke Bona: Nathan Cleary's horror injury, the first ever hip-drop send...