The Briefing

The horrifying video of George Floyd being killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May sparked massive Black Lives Matter protests in America and around the world, including here in Australia. But another death that actually happened before that of Floyd’s, the police shooting of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, continues to fuel BLM protests.   Who was Breonna Taylor? How has her death im...

We look at the children and wives of the Australian men who went to fight with ISIS. 47 of their children and 20 ISIS brides are still alive and stuck in refugee camps in Syria that hold people displaced by Islamic State. Their families have been pleading with Australian government to bring them home, and so far they’ve been refused, despite other Western countries having taken their ISIS br...

At beginning of the pandemic in March we were hearing a lot about Europe, then in the following months the continent seemed to have the virus under control. Residents appeared to be enjoying the summer, travelling freely between countries. So have these lax attitudes contributed to Europe’s second wave? Last week the EU and Britain announced 41,000 fresh cases a day on average, however medic...

Subscription-based social media site OnlyFans is booming during the pandemic with over 24 million users. So what exactly is it? and how does it work?   Being a new combination of porn and social media where subscribers pay a small monthly fee and content creators keep 80% profits, we find out whether it comes with some dangers. In this episode we’re joined by Renee Gracie, the former V8...

Loneliness and learning to be happy alone are important things to work out in your 20s. 2020 has given many of us a chance to reflect on our lives. What decisions did we make as twenty-somethings to get us here and were they right?   The hosts of the pop culture podcast Shameless, Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, join us on todays episode to discuss why learning to be happy alone is one of...

On this day 20 years ago, the world was watching Sydney for the Olympic Opening Ceremony.  Today on The Briefing, we’re reliving the Sydney Olympic glory including some of the most iconic moments across the Games.   The Sydney 2000 Olympics were our biggest ever medal haul to date, so we ask if our sporting heyday is behind us? And how do we get back to our former sporting best? To...

COVID deep cleaners are on the forefront of the fight against the virus spread. We take a deep dive into deep COVID cleaning and how it works. How does it differ to a regular clean? How long does a germ last? And what is turbo fogging? More importantly, we look at how deep we need to go to properly stop contamination.   To answer these questions we’re joined by Associate Profe...

Year 12 is looking a bit different this year. Formals have been cancelled in Victoria and severely restricted in other states and territories. The official Schoolies on the Gold Coast has been canned and travel restrictions mean overseas gap years aren't possible.     On top of the social aspects of high school, academics have been hugely disrupted affecting students’ futures after...

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews announced on Sunday harsh measures for the state’s pathway out of lockdown. Resentment to the strict approach is growing beyond protesters and is beginning to be questioned by those who accept the science, including our epidemiologists.   We talk to Federal Liberal MP and medical researcher Dr. Katie Allen about the lockdown roadmap and Victoria’s con...

Last financial quarter, Australia experienced its biggest economic drop since the Great Depression, officially plunging the country into a recession. But what exactly does a recession mean and what impact does it have on our lives?   Economist writer Jessica Irvine joins The Briefing to explain the ins-and-outs of a recession and whether we should be worried.   In today's news headlines:...

12 per cent of people in their 20s have lost their jobs in the COVID crisis, and many more are reassessing their career choices. So how do you turn a career low point or a complete job loss into a positive? What can you do to get a competitive edge in the current job market?   Businesswoman and author of You’ve Got This , Bec Brown, educates The Briefing on how to successfully navigate...

During the pandemic we’ve been more hungry for information than ever before. So how different are the questions you’re asking to the rest of the country? Are your google searches weirder than everyone else’s? Are you responding differently to this moment than most people? What is the most googled question in this pandemic?   On today's episode we take a look at the most goog...

Welcome to a special weekend edition of The Briefing with Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. In today's episode we catch up with Kevin Rudd, the 26th Prime Minister of Australia serving from 2007 to 2010 and again in 2013.     What would his approach to be managing the tension between Australia and China? Does he think Australia should have led the inquiry into the origins of Coronavius?...

In a bombshell this week Facebook threatened to block the sharing of Australian news content. It means media companies and everyday users won't be able to share news on Facebook or Instagram. This threat from Facebook is in response to a new code developed by the ACCC that would require Facebook and Google, which also owns Youtube, to share a portion of their ad revenue with Australian media organ...

Music festivals in 2021. What will they look like, if they can even go ahead at all?   COVID has decimated the festival scene around the world. So is there any way festivals can happen in cities where there’s still high community transmission? Can you have thousands of people in one place, sharing a drink, dancing and listening to the bands they love but also keep them socially distance...

As bushfire season approaches, hazard reduction burning is happening in parts of Australia, and hopefully making us safer.   But the smell of smoke is also bringing back memories of the horror Black Summer many of us faced.   Recent findings from a NSW inquiry and some interim observations from the Royal Commission have come through this week. So what did we learn from these findings? An...

On todays episode we look at twists of fate, and the survivor’s guilt of avoiding a tragedy. We hear the of real life sliding doors stories of people who’ve narrowly avoided death by chance or intuition and then lived with the survivors guilt that comes from it.   Tyla Harrison-Hunt was meant to be in the Christchurch mosque where the deadly shooting happened last year, he prayed...

What is it like being the person at the top in times of crisis? Is there a breaking point? How do you sleep? Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has lived the answers to those questions as the person that led Australia through the Global Financial Crisis, the Black Saturday Bushfires and the threat of Swine Flu.   Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, we are in unprecedented times - which me...

Are we doing enough to protect our healthcare workers from getting Covid at work? To look after those who look after us? Nurses, doctors and allied health professionals are ending up in intensive care because of what they say is inadequate infection control.     2700 workers have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic with more than 100 hospitalised and sadly one death....

In recent headlines you might have seen the Aboriginal Flag caught up in a copyright controversy. On today’s episode we get you up to speed, looking at why the flag is copyrighted, who can use the flag and for what purpose, and who should own the Aboriginal flag? For example, did you know that if you get a tattoo of the Aboriginal flag you're technically breaking copyright laws?   We sp...

To celebrate our 100th episode we’ve assembled the whole team for the very first time to thank you for being with us on this journey in this Ask Me Anything special.   To mark the occasion we’ve turned the tables, so you get to ask the hard hitting and burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask Tom, Jamila, Annika and Jan.     If you could do a long form deep 2-...

In 2019 year the single largest massacre in New Zealand was perpetrated by a 28-year-old man from Grafton NSW. His sentencing is currently underway, with Christchurch’s High Court hearing from surviving victims and their families. The man has plead guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of committing a terrorist act.    Our guest, Hisham Al...

Recessions, depressions, wars and pandemics change what we value, the way we relate to one another and how we express ourselves. They also change our day-to-day lives including what we eat, how we work and what we wear.    Will this economic downturn keep up in bleak, darker colours? What will happen when this is all over? Will there ever be corporate attire if we all work from home? To...

The disappearance of 3 year old William Tyrrell is one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in Australian history. If you’re someone who’s followed that case, you’ll probably know the name Gary Jubelin.    Earlier this year NSW detective Gary was found guilty of unlawfully recording conversations with a suspect and was fined $10,000. An appeal is underway, but it ended his...

Welcome to The Weekend Briefing. In this bonus episode, Australians experienced a horrific summer with devastating bushfires, drought and floods – all which have been intensified due to climate change.   At the peak of fires, Australia rallied for our government to acknowledge climate change and to take action.   Since COVID-19, the national discussion on climate change has taken a...