Late Night Live — Full program podcast

Crikey's Bernard Keane on Barnaby Joyce's decision to quit the Nationals. There's speculation the New England MP may join the One Nation party. Pulitzer prize winning journalist Chris Hedges slams the Western media's reporting of Gaza and the power of the Israel lobby. And why epidemiologist Professor Fiona Stanley, considered asking the Perth hospital named after her, to remove her name. 

Tim Minchin turned fifty this year and just ran a marathon for the first time. He's returned home to Australia, with his new album Time Machine, and his tour 'Songs the World Will Never Hear' . In this special one hour conversation, David speaks to Tim about the joys of running, quitting social media and worrying less. GUEST: Tim Minchin PRODUCER: Ali Benton

Historian and former intelligence officer Clinton Fernandes says there's method to the apparent madness of the second Trump administration's approach to foreign policy. Plus as hostages are returned and a ceasefire holds, historian Ilan Pappe considers the uncertain future of Israel. 

Ian Dunt examines the role that the UK played in the Gaza ceasefire, and Keir Starmer crosses a personal Rubicon: he's criticising Brexit in public. In Madagascar, youth protesters have taken cues from the Gen Z uprising in Nepal and chased their president from the country. Then: the gender revolution in the sky, with the rise of the air hostess.

Political editor at Guardian Australia, Tom Mcllroy, on why the government has watered down its superannuation tax plan, the wonders of cloud-watching, and why aren't more people speaking Esperanto?

One of the 51 men convicted men of raping French woman Gisele Pelicot is appealing his conviction, arguing he didn’t know that she hadn’t given her consent. While French feminists argue consent should be explicitly included in French law, philosopher and author Manon Garcia says cultural understandings of consent, addressing patterns of violence and shoring up support in our criminal and civil cou...

After attacks from Israel and the United States bombing of a nuclear facility, Iran is cracking down on dissent, while dealing with reimposed sanctions from western powers. Could these sanctions bring Iran closer to China? Plus, a new history of the Australian physicist Mark Oliphant, who made possible Oppenheimer's atomic bomb. 

Bruce Shapiro discusses how long the U.S. government shutdown might last, and why ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents are causing turmoil on American streets. Veteran journalist Irris Makler, reports on the two years since the October 7 Hamas attacks and examines Donald Trump’s proposed plan to end the war in Gaza. Plus, a look at New Zealand’s bold mission to eliminate all invas...

The Dutch historian Rutger Bregman is calling on the world's best and brightest to quit their corporate jobs and show some more 'moral ambition', to build a better world. And botanical hysteria in Victorian England. How wealthy orchid fanatics sent hunters around the world in search of the ultimate bloom. *This show originally aired on 08 May 2025.

Doc Evatt, an influential Australian politician and jurist, played a notable role in shaping Israel’s early international standing. As President of the UN General Assembly in 1948, he was a strong advocate for the UN partition plan that led to the creation of the State of Israel. Plus sailor and author Tim Queeney examines the fundamental role that rope has played in shaping human civilisation, fr...

A new documentary recounts the 15-year struggle of three sisters from Melbourne's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community to bring their abuser and former-headmistress Malka Leifer to justice. Plus, science writer David Baron transports us to 1890s America, when many were convinced there was intelligent life on the planet Mars. 

UK columnist Ian Dunt surveys the strange world of political party conferences in the UK, plus the emerging role of former PM Tony Blair in plans for Gaza. The young Hazara activist Nila Ibrahimi shares her story of fleeing the Taliban, and her fight for the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan. Plus, the mad colonial experiment to bring Atlantic salmon from the northern hemisphere, to Tasmani...

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has wrapped up his three-day visit to the UK, including an appearance at the UK Labour Party conference. He's told the British party faithful that he has an "absolute resolve to stand together and defend democracy itself". The ANU's Mark Kenny wraps up the visit. And what is Stablecoin, the cryptocurrency that financial regulator ASIC has licensed? Plus author Dorot...

It's been 70 years since 29 nations of Africa and Asia gathered in Bandung Indonesia in 1955 to forge a path beyond Empire, and lay the foundations for the non-aligned movement during the Cold War. Plus, the life of the pioneering South Australian policewoman Kate Cocks - a formidable figure, with a complex legacy. 

Many assumptions are made about the politics and voting habits of young Australians, but what does the data actually say about generational political shifts? Plus, why have NGOs (non-government organisations) lost so much power and influence since their heyday in the 1990s? 

The fallout of the Charlie Kirk assassination continues, with dozens of academics fired for their comments and Jimmy Kimmel returning to the air. Kirk was memorialised in a huge public event, in which Trump declared "hate" for his political opponents. In Nepal, the country is rebuilding its politics after a flash "Gen Z revolution" toppled the government and caused its aged leader to flee. Will Ne...

The ANU's Mark Kenny on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's performance at the UN General Assembly, how US President Donald Trump is going easy on white collar criminals, and the world's first collection of Muslim-Australian poetry. 

The Australian War Memorial has overruled a decision to award a military history literary prize to Chris Masters’ book, Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes about the alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith. According to the memorial chair, the rules prevent established authors from being considered. And the troubled history of the CIA since 9/11.

Australian anthropologist Hassan Gage makes the case that humiliation and its counterpart, dignity, are overlooked motivators of politics, both locally and globally. Plus why billionaire founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, gave his fortune away to save the planet.

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a report by a United Nations Commision of Inquiry. One of the key authors of that report, Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti, joins Late Night Live just hours after its release. Meanwhile, the United Kindgom is preparing for a visit from Donald Trump. But America has already affected UK politics, with the sacking of Peter Mandelson as am...

 Anna Henderson on why both Labor and the Coalition are still grappling with climate targets when our first risk assessment shows urgent action is needed. Bruce Shapiro looks at the fall-out from the Charlie Kirk killing and why we keep the QWERTY keyboard, when other layouts are so much more efficient. 

A new film investigates how Germany's desire to never to repeat the horrendous anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust has resulted in the suppression of any criticism of Israel and its actions in Gaza. Plus how an ornithologist helped solve murders and hate crimes, with her expert knowledge of feathers.

The growing appeal of Donald Trump to the right wing Chinese community in the US, and the hidden war for collective memory - how narratives about nationhood shape politics.

Trump's soon-to-be-renamed "Department of War" killed 11 people on a boat, saying they were Venezuelan drug smugglers. As Bruce Shapiro says, the killings were a brazenly extrajudicial act. Closer to home, Papua New Guinea will celebrate 50 years as an independent nation next week, a status it achieved when it separated from the ruling colonial power — Australia. We revisit the history of Papua Ne...

Anna Henderson discusses the fall-out from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's comments on Indian migration, India's PM Narendra Modi wants a closer relationship, with China, but what does China want from India? And how the Gaelic language lived and died in Australia.