The Briefing

A new drug has been detected in Australia that can be up to 25 times stronger than fentanyl – which is already stronger than heroin. Introducing nitazene, an incredibly dangerous synthetic opioid that was linked to over 20 overdoses in western Sydney and was found in Canberra’s pill testing service for the first time over the weekend. Professor Suzanne Nielsen, the Deputy Director of the Monash Ad...

The search for a missing person can capture the attention of the entire nation.  Currently, we’re waiting to hear the outcome of an appeal of Chris Dawson, who was convicted of killing his wife Lynette Joy Simms in December of 1982, despite her body never being found. So what happens behind the scenes of one of these investigations? And how is someone charged with murder when a body is never locat...

Scott Morrison is the 30th Prime Minister of Australia, lover of chicken curries and author of his new book - Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness Morrison has had his fair share of controversies over the years - Hawaii, his response to COVID and his many ministries. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Morrison opens up about his time as PM, repenting his sins...

Social media has gone into meltdown after a video from a US college commencement speech went viral. The footage shows NFL player and Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker addressing the female graduates in the crowd, telling them that ultimately, their main and most valuable vocation in life is being a wife and mother. Butker has sparked a storm of criticism, the NFL even coming out to distanc...

This week Chat GPT revealed the next steps in the way their AI interacts with humans. Now the interface can recognise emotions and have more nuanced conversations with the user. Meanwhile Google has revealed its new AI assistant “Astra” and their plans to scrabble back searches previously lost to Chat GPT by integrating more AI into Google search. But what is the cost of greater humanising of AI?...

Australia is in the grip of a teacher shortage that is a decade in the making.   New research by McCrindle has revealed more than half of educators are considering leaving the profession. On top of that, teaching is increasingly becoming an aging profession, with 20% of the workforce to reach retirement age over the next decade. On today’s briefing, we speak with social researcher and demographer,...

For over half a century, the US and Australia have operated Pine Gap - a joint top-secret spy base at Alice Springs in the heart of outback Australia Today, concern is mounting that spies at Pine Gap may be eavesdropping on the Middle East and passing critical information on to the Israeli Defence Force. This would mean Australia is playing a role in the conflict, raising serious questions about t...

When you take a gulp of bottled Mt Franklin spring water, you might imagine it comes from a pristine and abundant water source in an exotic wilderness location.  But In reality, Coca-Cola has been legally pumping groundwater for free out of a bore on the outskirts of Perth in WA to sell as bottled water for 32 years.  And now residents have had enough. They’re worried about the amount of water bei...

Last night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the Budget, aka the economic plan for the next four years and beyond.  On the positive side, he delivered his second consecutive surplus and a bunch of cost of living sweeteners – including a new $300 payment in energy bill relief for every Australian household, which he reckons will help put downward pressure on inflation.  We saw more detail on Trea...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is threatening nuclear war as his invasion of the Ukraine continues. Putin last week ordered Russian troops to perform military exercises to prepare for the use of tactical nuclear weapons.  Tactical nukes are generally smaller and less powerful than traditional nuclear weapons, but use of such weapons would be catastrophic.  It’s now been more than 800 days since...

It’s been a month since the horrific attack at Bondi Junction Westfield, during which a man stabbed 18 people, killing six. Most of his victims were women. The event was heavily reported on by the media, and in the wake of the tragedy we’ve seen dozens more instances of violent knife crime right around Australia. It may feel like we’re seeing an increase in these sort of attacks, but is that true?...

Childhood and dementia aren’t two words you’d expect to hear together, but children are dying from this disease at the same rate as they are dying from cancer.  One in every 2,900 children are born with childhood dementia, a progressive disease that is caused by rare neurodegenerative genetic disorders   It’s a heart-breaking condition that has historically received little attention and research h...

There’s a critical current in the Atlantic that moves heat, carbon, and nutrients from the tropics, which is cooled and sinks once it reaches the Arctic. The current is important because it helps regulate climate on Earth. Now this current is slowing, and it’s impact on global climate could be disastrous. At the same time we’ve seen the end of a hot, dry, El Nino weather pattern, which came after...

For most families, Mother’s Day is about celebrating our mums and all they do for us. But for those whose Mum is no longer around, it can be a pretty tough day. New research shows this is having a big impact on women, with over 1 million losing their Mum before the age of 44. Now there are fears their grief is being ignored with women reporting higher rates of depression, anxiety, prolonged grief...

Keiynan Lonsdale grew up in Sydney’s Western suburbs, with 11 siblings and a dream to make it in Hollywood. From the small screen with shows like ABC’s dance academy to the big screen with Love Simon – he’s ticking off his bucket list. Now after being in the music industry for 16 years Keiynan is embarking on his first headline tour. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Keiynan breaks down his la...

This year marks the 68th Eurovision Song Contest. Starting out as an expression of unity and goodwill after WWII and a technical experiment to create a live televised music competition across so many borders, Eurovision now features 37 countries, including Australia.  So what happened with our entry for this year? And what else has been most controversial throughout the competition?  In this episo...

Once upon a time, women’s magazines had a place on every hairdresser’s bench top, family kitchen table and teenager’s bedside drawer. That all changed with the advent and surging dominance of online media – and magazine numbers slowly dwindled with dozens of titles axed in Australia. Now, Cosmopolitan, one of Australia’s favourite magazines for women is making a comeback. Publisher of Cosmo, Katar...

Some true crime content – like The Teacher’s Pet or Up and Vanished has helped lead detectives to suspects, even resulting in convictions on cold cases.   But armchair detectives don’t always get it right – like the TikTok star in Idaho who wrongfully accused a professor of murder.   Take the popular Netflix series Baby Reindeer , based on a wild, but true story.  Fans have started to investigate...

Popular rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar are currently embroiled in a very public spat. It’s a feud that has a long history, but things have really escalated. Hip hop journo and author Simone Amelia Jordan explains why this feud is more than petty online drama. Headlines: US pauses weapons delivery to Israel amid Rafah offensive Treasurer forecasts a growth in disposable incomes in Budget sneak pe...

A local council in Sydney has voted to ban books about same-sex parents from its libraries. Six Cumberland City Councillors voted in favour of the ban, while five, including Mayor Lisa Lake, opposed it.  The New South Wales Government has warned it could breach the Anti-Discrimination Act and even threatened to pull the council’s library funding, as a result.  Councillor Steve Christou proposed th...

Australia’s birth rate has been in a relatively steady decline since a peak in the early 1960s. It’s rebounded a small amount after hitting a record low in 2020, but it still sits well below the total fertility rate of 2.1 that’s needed for a population to sustain itself. Is that a bad thing for Australia? And how does the rest of the world compare? On today’s deep dive we speak with Professor Ama...

Israeli tanks have reportedly been spotted just 200 metres from the edge of Rafah, less than a day after an estimated 100,000 Palestinian civilians were ordered to evacuate.  Bordering on Egypt, the southernmost city of Gaza has become the last refuge for around 1.4 million Palestinians who have fled the violence and destruction elsewhere.  The impending invasion comes after Hamas agreed to a prop...

Witch hunts aren’t just the stuff of colonial America; they’re happening right now all around the world. People are still being persecuted and often murdered on suspicion of being involved in witchcraft, in a trend that’s currently being driven by fundamental Christianity, poverty and civil conflict. On today’s briefing we’re joined by Professor Miranda Forsyth to find out who is at risk, why they...

Over the weekend in Perth, a sixteen-year-old boy has been shot dead by police after allegedly wounding a man who was unknown to him with a knife. WA Premier Roger Cook has said that there were indications that the teenager had been radicalised online. The news comes just weeks after Sydney's Wakeley church attack, where another 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, in what h...

Cities in China are sinking and satellite imagery shows Beijing is among one of the fastest going under. According to a new study in the journal Science, development and groundwater pumping are causing land subsidence and heightening the risks of sea level rise. Within 100 years, a quarter of China’s urban coastal land could sit below sea level. In this episode of The Briefing, we’re joined by Rob...