The Briefing

We’re all being urged to get a Covid vaccine so the nation can reach the critical milestones of 70 and 80 percent vaccination.  They’re the targets state and territory governments have to hit before we can transition out of lockdowns and back to life pre-Covid 19.   Prime Minister Scot Morrison appointed Lieutenant General John Frewen as coordinator of the National COVID Vacc...

Australia has the largest wild horse population in the world with numbers estimated in the range of half a million. In the Outback they’re regularly culled by helicopter and nobody bats an eyelid - the battle between those who are opposed to the horses being culled, and those who say they’re ruining the pristine alpine environment they call home.   Walkley-award winning journ...

This is the second instalment in our interview with the Poor Economist, a young Australian who grew up below the poverty line before moving to a career in economics and policy.   Alison Pennington is a Senior Economist at The Australian Institute – a progressive thinktank and recently she has opened up about her experience growing up in poverty.   In this second of two episodes, Al...

Poor and economist, two words you don’t often hear in the same sentence. But this week we’re looking into what it’s like growing up below the poverty line and moving into a typically middle-class career.   Alison Pennington is a Senior Economist at The Australian Institute – a progressive thinktank and recently she has opened up about her experience growing up in pover...

Political reporter and author and co-host of The Briefing Annika Smethurst joins Jamila in this captivating conversation.   Annika is a double Walkley Award Winner, and has worked in the press gallery at parliament house in Canberra and now covers state politics for The Age newspaper in Melbourne. In 2019 she became the accidental poster girl for press freedom when her house was raided by the...

With Tom about to take time off to welcome his first child, we thought we’d look at how the pandemic is influencing the traditional roles in the home.   Mark Tamhane is an ABC reporter and stay- at-home father with six children. Madonna King is a journalist and author. Madonna has written 12 books; three of them focusing on what our teen girls are thinking but not telling us...and also...

Regional NSW and Victoria are currently in lockdown as the Delta variant of the Covid virus spreads across rural Australia.     We’re joined by Dr John Hall, President of the Regional Doctors Association of Australia who tells us the challenge is getting personell across borders and into remote communities; and Dubbo Mayor Stephen Lawrence, who says he’s fearful of what...

The federal government has introduced a new rule requiring Australians who live overseas to apply to return.  One of our listeners asked us to get to the bottom of the story.       We’re joined by Karen Andrews, the federal minister for Home Affairs who explains the reasons for the stricter rules.      Why are there stringent rules in place f...

Curtis McGrath, OAM is an Australian para canoeist who took up canoeing competitively after having both of his legs amputated as a result of a mine blast while serving in the Australian Army in Afghanistan.    Curtis joins us just days before heading to Tokyo to defend his gold medal he won at the Rio Paralympics.    The Games begin tonight.    T ODAY'S HEADLINES...

Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's longtime accusers, is suing Prince Andrew, saying the royal sexually assaulted her when she was 17. Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, filed a civil suit in the Manhattan federal court. She claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions at properties owned by Epstein.    Adam Klasfeld is a...

In 2011, Turia Pitt was competing in an ultramarathon through Western Australia's Kimberley region, when she was trapped in a bushfire. She suffered burns to 65 percent of her body. Turia defied doctors’ expectations to not only survive but to thrive. Today she is a best-selling author, podcaster, motivational speaker and mum. She sits down with Jamila Rizvi to talk about how her accident se...

Australian comedian Sam Simmons was feeling like the rest of Aussies in lockdown....a little bored, lonely and sad.  So, he decided to do something about it.    He’s taking calls from random strangers each day – what he calls ‘talksies’, and he’s changing peoples’ lives.  Between mid...

The Taliban has stormed back to power in Afghanistan.  The images of people falling from aircraft this week have left the world in shock.   Heston Russell is a retired major who served in four tours to Afghanistan with the 2nd Commando Regiment.  He joins us to talk about what it means to ex-servicemen and women who now watch on as their dedication and commitment amounts to nothing....

The Taliban stormed into the Afghan capital Kabul at the weekend, just days after allied troops retreated from the city.   We're joined by Sharif Safi, co-founder of the Kabul Peace Forum, an Afghan man in Kabul facing a grim reality.   He's been in Kabul this week ...and is speaking to us from his home just outside the city.   He’s in hiding and fearing for his life. &nb...

Australia had its first recession in almost 30 years last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc around the world.   We made a quick recovery, but is the Delta variant and the lockdowns it’s causing around the nation putting that at risk?   Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joins us to explain the economic impact of Delta and what the government’s doing to support livel...

The Sydney Delta outbreak paralysing Australia’s largest city started in the East, so why is it in the west and south-west that the impact’s been felt the hardest?  Is it the culture?  The landscape?  Or a combination of both?    We’re joined by Bashar Hanna, long-time Fairfield resident and President of Australian Mesopotamian Cultura...

Amani Haydar lost her mother in a brutal act of violence, perpetrated by her father, in March of 2015.   She was five months pregnant with her first baby at the time. The horror of that experience shaped Amani’s own perception of how she wanted to mother, and how she had been mothered.   Amani spent much of the two years between her mother’s death and her father’s trial...

Millions of Australians are in lockdown and wondering how they’re going to survive, mentally and financially.  We asked our social media followers to send in their questions and we asked an expert to answer them.   Dr Jo Mitchell is a clinical psychologist from Melbourne.  Dr Jo provides practical and tangible advice on how we can navigate the weeks ahead.   Join us on th...

The United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change has released its latest report on the future of the planet – and it’s not good news.   Professor Will Steffen is a climate change expert and researcher at the Australian National University, Canberra and Councillor on the Climate Council.  Professor Will takes us through what the new report means for Australia &n...

China has trumpeted their suppression of Covid-19 since the virus first emerged within their own borders and are now locking down on Delta, but are they doing as well as they seem?   Bill Birtles is the ABC’s China correspondent and up until last year he was living in Beijing.  He was in Wuhan, at the virus’ ground zero, as Covid spread around the world.   Bill’s b...

The world watched on as Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and the USA’s Katie Ledecky prepared to battle it out in the women’s 200m and 400m freestyle events at the Tokyo Olympics.  Ledecky is regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time.    Could the 20-year-old Ariarne Titmus beat the queen of the pool.  Yes!!    Ariarne joins us this morning from...

Being the son of a rugby league legend didn’t quite fit with Brandon Jack.  His new book ‘28’ delves deep into the search for his own identity while living a life that was imagined for him. He didn't really fit that life.   The book is so much more than a football memoir….it’s a snapshot of the professional sport psyche. It’s full of vivid details of...

Podcast aficionados will know Jacob Stanley as the co-host of Just The Gist with Rosie Waterland. But before his media life, he was the Head of Learning and Development at the beauty juggernaut Mecca, traveling the world for makeup.   For the past year and a half, he’s been podcasting on the road as he chasing his travel bug nomadically around Australia. He talks to Jamila Rizvi from th...

Are you concerned about media experts getting lots of media airtime to talk about Covid-19. but getting it wrong, often being way too pessimistic?  It feels like it’s impossible to filter out all the white noise to get to the facts we need to make an informed decision.   Dr Nick Coatsworth was the Deputy CMO for six months, he’s an infectious disease expert and the Director o...

News broke this week that a US company had made a $39 billion bid for Australian firm, Afterpay.  It is the biggest business deal in the history of the Australian Stock Exchange.   A company that is created and then grows massively in a short amount of time is called a ‘unicorn’.  Jonathan Shapiro and James Eyers are reporters for the Australian Financial Review and the...