The Briefing

Movie stars from all over the world are flocking to Australia to make their films, and our motion picture industry is booming. What’s behind the boom – and how can we cash in.   We’re joined by Kate Marks, CEO of Ausfilm, the national body trying to lure big productions down under.   We talk movie stars, blockbusters - and if it’s time to build Aussiewood to capit...

Jamila Rizvi talks to Clementine Ford, a writer, speaker and feminist thinker, ahead of Valentine’s Day.   Clementine is currently writing a book called How We Love, which features a series of personal essays on her relationship with love including how the birth of her son has changed her perspective.    Jamila and Clementine look at Valentine’s Day, dating in a pandemic...

One of the questions that will define 2021 is how the vaccine rollout goes.   And so far, one of the key countries to watch is Israel. It has more of its population vaccinated than any other country in the world. Professor Cyrille Cohen is from Israel’s Health Ministry and is one of the people advising the country’s government on the vaccine rollout.   He joins us to explain...

Today on the Briefing we look at the impeachment of Donald Trump.   Associate Professor David Smith from the United States Studies Centre breaks down the likelihood that former President Trump will be impeached.   How does the impeachment work – and what does it mean for the Republican party post-Trump…..and for the Democrats who might be guilty of ‘be careful what you...

Today on the Briefing we explain the military crisis developing in Myanmar.   We’re joined by host of the Global Truths podcast, Keith Suter who takes us through Myanmar’s chequered history.   Will Aung San Suu Kyi’s legacy be tarnished by her handling of the refugee crisis four years ago?  Will the military let democracy shine through?   We find the answ...

Today on the Briefing we discuss the missing millionaire financial advisor, Melissa Caddick.   We’re joined by Nine Newspapers’ award-winning investigative journalist Kate McClymont to discuss Caddick’s motives, the allegations she’s facing and the trail of financial destruction she’s left in her wake.   How can someone just disappear from a ritzy Sydney sub...

Russian citizens are marching in the streets. It’s being called the greatest threat to President Vladimir Putin’s reign in a generation.   We’re joined by Nadya Tolokonnikova, one of the founders of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot to discuss the groundswell campaign backing Opposition leader Alexei Navalny.   Navalny remains in prison after surviving an assassination b...

Jamila Rizvi talks to former tennis champion Jelena Dokic ahead of the Australian Open about her impressive career and the pressures of professional sport.     Jelena made headlines in 1999 at just 16 years old when she beat world number one Martina Hingis in the first round of Wimbledon. She then continued to climb the ranks to world number four, all while suffering horrific abuse at th...

What’s with the Reddit v Wall St rumble – and why is the GameStop stock soaring?   This story ticks all the boxes of being a big cultural ‘moment’ of our time? It involves the internet; it’s got the internet mob and meme culture element and even Elon Musk is tweeting about it.  We're joined by Scott Phillips from Motley Fool.   It’s got the little...

The world watched on as the QAnon conspiracy theory circled over the White House during the Trump years.   Trump has gone, what now for the QAnon believers and their claims?   We’re joined by New York Times writer and editor Stuart Thompson who spent three weeks in a QAnon chat room. What he learned will make you wonder what the QAnon conspiracists truly believed.   In today's...

Today on the Briefing we discuss the chances of the Tokyo Olympic Games going ahead as planned in July.   The Olympic Games is the biggest event in the world – and Tokyo’s Games were postponed last year due to the Covid pandemic.   Today we’re joined by the Australian Olympic Committee CEO Matt Carroll to talk about the likelihood the Games will go ahead; and we speak t...

Today on the Briefing we discuss how billionaires are getting richer – and the rest of us are picking up the crumbs.   We’re joined by Andrew Leigh, a Labor MP and former economist who explains how and why the rich are getting richer.    He calls for big corporations to give back taxpayer-funded benefits like JobKeeper.   Where do you fit in the ever-widening wealth...

In today's Briefing, we explain what the dark web is... and what’s happened in the ten years since Silk Road first launched.    Silk Road was the first big dark web marketplace to gain notoriety... but it only lasted two years until it was shut down and its owner arrested and jailed.   Earlier this month a very similar shutdown happened... and this time an Australian guy was i...

Jamila Rizvi chats to Thomas Mayo, a campaigner for the Uluru Statement from the Heart and celebrated indigenous author.   Thomas has travelled around Australia to promote the statement’s vision for a better future for First Nations people turning his experiences into books to educate adults and children: Finding The Heart Of The Nation and Finding Our Heart.   Follow The Briefing Instagram:  @the...

Jamila Rizvi skips the small talk and goes deep during her conversations with celebrities, opinion shapers and newsmakers.   Join The Weekend Briefing on Saturday mornings to slow down, lean back and immerse yourself in the lives and views of the people at the centre of our news. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does the federal government’s new Covid-19 ad campaign make you more likely to get the vaccine shot when it becomes available later this year?   The grim reaper AIDS campaign in the 80s scared Australians into a generation of safe sex. Will the Covid-19 campaign convince the nation to roll up our sleeves to get the coronavirus vaccine.   We're joined by Dan Gregory, the advertising...

Today we discuss the arrest of the man they call Asia’s el Chapo.   It’s estimated, Tse Chi Lop oversees a drug empire worth $90 billion a year. Considering Mexico and South American drug lords trade in amounts in the vicinity of $2-5 billion, Tse’s arrest, at the request of Australian authorities, is a massive coup for the federal police.   We're joined by Nine's featu...

What do proposed buts to JobKeeper and JobSeeker mean for those who have come to rely on the increased payments in the wake of the Covid pandemic?   We're joined by Charmaine Crowe from the Australian Council of Social Services; and two payment recipients, Bane Williams and Freya Pollard, who say they're headed back to poverty. We look at the impact of the proposals and what it means to peopl...

Today we learn how to form good habits and why willpower isn’t the answer. And that there is a way to form good habits... even when your willpower is waning.    This is the time of year where the New Year’s resolutions start to get tested or for some people they may have fallen apart already. So let’s say someone four weeks ago made some resolutions about doing more exe...

Australian farmers are plowing crops into the ground.   Covid has meant the overseas workers aren’t getting in and the government’s trying to get young Aussies - any  Aussies - to step in, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Only 500 have taken up a new incentive to get picking.      A register set up by growers found they've lost more than $38 million wor...

Covid turned a Melbourne golf course into a public park and now no one wants to leave. There’s a push to turn the course into a public park permanently.   In Sydney for example - there are 91 golf courses and they take up 38 kilometres of open space - space that can only be accessed by members or paying guests.   In this Briefing... how Covid has ignited the debate about turning go...

Today, we take a look at the international roll-out of the various Covid-19 vaccines.   So far over 40m people have been vaccinated in more than 50 countries... including the Queen and Joe Biden! America and China are going fastest... with over 12 and 10 million people vaccinated respectively.   This a critical point to bring you a briefing on the vaccine rollout because we’re gett...

Today on the Briefing we discuss the crisis engulfing the Australia Open.   One of the main reasons being put forward for taking the risk of going ahead with this tournament is a threat that we’d lose the Australian Open if we didn’t. How real was that risk? Because Wimbledon was cancelled last year and its future’s not in doubt?   A lot of Australians don’t have...

Today on The Briefing we explain Bitcoin.   Have you missed the chance to buy Bitcoin? The value has tripled over the last few months and there's been greater institutional acceptance, so should you put your savings in this new currency? Could it make you rich? or is it like playing the pokies?   Finance/crypto expert Scott Philips Chief Investment officer from Motley Fool joins us to ex...

When Joe Biden is sworn in this week it will be one of the most unusual Inauguration ceremonies in history.    The FBI has warned that armed protests by violent Trump supporters were being planned in all 50 state capitals as well as in Washington for the days leading up to the inauguration.    To find out how tight security will be and what the risk of more violence is we&rsquo...