The Briefing

The importation of all non-therapeutic vapes is now illegal in Australia. This means anyone wanting to import a vape into the country needs a licence to do so, and anyone wanting to buy a vape will need a prescription from their doctor. With vaping rates continuing to soar across the country, will this next step in the government's crackdown on vaping make a noticeable difference? And will the lat...

PFAS are known as forever chemicals, and they're really bad for the environment - they never break down, and can spread into waterways, land, animals...and us. Research has also shown that they can be really bad for us, with high exposure also been linked to a various range of health conditions, and a higher risk of some cancers. Larry Acton has been farming cattle for over 50 years, but when he b...

It's Super Tuesday in the US presidential election, but the biggest day in America's primary season won't be like any other we've seen in recent history. In today's episode, Bension Siebert sits down with Planet America's Chas Licciardello to explain what Super Tuesday is, why Donald Trump looks set to wipe the floor with his closest rival, and why Americans are stuck with two unpopular old men ru...

Did you know there is a World Cup of Gay Rugby? Technically called The Bingham Cup, it's an international tournament for gay and inclusive rugby teams from around the world - and the next one will be in Rome this coming May. The Cup has been around for 20 years, and Australian teams are some of the most successful. The Sydney Convicts have won the competition five times! In this episode of The Bri...

Are you concerned by seeing young children glued to iPads or screens out in public? Or are you a parent of one of those children, wondering how much screen time is actually okay for your child's brain? A new study of Australian families has found that the average toddler is missing out on more than 1000 words spoken by an adult each day because they or their parents are watching screens. Senior re...

For many, going to the doctor can be a financially painful experience. It can be difficult to find out how the prices of GPs compare in your area, never mind trying to find a bulk billing practice. Thankfully, James Gillespie is trying to solve these problems, by creating a publicly searchable database, called Cleanbill , that lists medical centres by location, fees, bulk-billing and whether they’...

You’ve probably heard of 'nangs', the canisters full of nitrous oxide. The laughing gas can help whip your cream - but used incorrectly, it can also make you high. The substance can be more dangerous than it seems - nangs have contributed to the deaths of 20 people in the last 20 years in Australia, with more potentially not recorded as coronial lab equipment isn’t always up to the task. In this e...

The Australian casino industry has been in strife for years, and the latest iteration is another enquiry into Sydney’s Star. The second Bell review is currently underway and set to finish up in May looking at whether the Star’s license should be revoked. This comes after the Star was fined $100m 18 months ago; was found unsuitable to run a casino; and an external manager was appointed. In this epi...

Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic make up the Aussie pop-guitar duo Royel Otis. The pair are living the rock star life on tour, currently being in the middle of a sold-out national tour before they head to North America for a month of shows. In this chat with Tom Tilley, Royel and Otis talk about the process behind their debut album Pratts and Pain, why they initially didn’t want to do live performa...

Rowi Singh is a Sydney-based artist and beauty influencer. She’s a proud Indian-Australian woman, and melds Indian and Western culture in many of the mesmerizing makeup looks she showcases on TikTok and Instagram. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Rowi admits she always wanted to be “some sort of famous”, explains the choice to ditch her nine-to-five job for influencing - and tells us why repr...

Do you remember the early days of Facebook and Instagram? When your feed was filled with content you actually wanted like your friends’ updates and family dog pictures? Have you noticed that now every second post feels like it’s sponsored or an ad? If yes, it's not your imagination - it’s because you’re noticing the cycle social media platforms go through, where they seem to get worse and worse ov...

The crackdown on vaping goes into its next stage today, with the government making it illegal to import any non-therapeutic vapes, that includes rechargable vapes and anything you would buy without a prescription. It’s after disposable vapes were banned from being imported at the beginning of this year. In this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert speaks with Jamie Hartmann-Boyce from the Depa...

An elite foreign spy group called 'A-Team' has been targeting Australian students, academics, law enforcement officials, a former politician and even a prime minister’s family members.   That's the assessment of Australia's top intelligence agency, ASIO, which released its annual assessment of the biggest threats to our national security overnight.  On this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert...

The NRL will create history this month and launch season 2024 in Las Vegas, USA. Two games will be played in prime time: Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs & Roosters v Broncos, with the league hoping to bring their game to America’s 330 million strong market. In this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert sits down with former NRL great, host of the Bye Round & NRL commentator for Fox Sports and Tr...

"Ovarian cancer wasn't even on my radar."  February is ovarian cancer awareness month in Australia. It's a cruel disease, with 70% of patients discovering the cancer in advanced stages, and a shocking 49% five-year survival rate.  In this episode of The Briefing, our producer Simon Beaton sits down to speak with his mum, who was diagnosed less than six months ago, as well as Lisa Finuncane, who ha...

Ovarian cancer is a silent scourge in Australia. Most people know little about it, there aren’t any tests you can do to detect it early, and that means 70% of women and gender diverse people diagnosed with it catch it late. Ovarian cancer has a 49% five year survival rate, whereas breast cancer by contrast has a 92% survival rate. In this episode of The Briefing, producer Simon Beaton speaks with...

Taylor Swift has finished her run of sold-out concerts here in Australia, playing in front of over 600,000 fans throughout the tour. Yet with events of this size comes a price to our environment. Many fans fly interstate or internationally, purely to be at those shows, which also use large amounts of power to amplify sound and for light displays. They also produce copious amounts of waste, includi...

American firm Intuitive Machines made history last Friday when its lunar lander touched down on the Moon. It’s the first private company to land on the Moon, and the first US mission to land on the lunar surface in more than 50 years. It’s up there for a week conducting experiments and preparing for humans to return to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program. In this episode of the Briefing, we...

Police have charged a New South Wales police officer, Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon, with the murder of former Network Ten presenter, Jesse Baird, and his partner, QANTAS flight attendant Luke Davies.  At the time of recording, police divers have been searching dams in Goulburn, southwest of Sydney, looking for Baird and Davies’ bodies. Often, when we tell these stories, we focus on the criminal a...

It’s been two years since the start of the war in Ukraine, and both Russia and Ukraine appear to be at a stalemate. Russia has been making tiny territorial gains on the ground at an enormous cost both in troops and equipment; while Ukraine is on the backfoot after failing to achieve the objectives of their 2023 counteroffensive, while also sustaining huge casualties. In this episode of The Briefin...

Kumi Taguchi is an Australian journalist, broadcaster and presenter living in Sydney. She’s currently the host of Insight on SBS, which many would consider to be one of the most challenging and stressful hosting gigs in the country. Joining Tom Tilley for the Weekend Briefing, Kumi explains what goes on behind the scenes of the show, growing up “feeling on the outer”, reconnecting with her father...

Josh Szeps wants us all think about having more uncomfortable conversations. The Australian media personality and podcast host, who recently departed the ABC because he was “too spicy” for the public broadcaster, is a big fan of asking the 'why' behind the status quo.  Joining Antoinette Lattouf, Josh speaks on what life is like after the ABC, the non-mystery of the spelling of his name, and expla...

This year, the Australian government have rolled out a national framework guiding the use of AI, including Chat GPT, to be used within school classrooms across the country.  Use of Chat GPT had previously been banned in all public schools (aside from South Australia) amidst plagiarism and privacy concerns. So what changed? And will the use of artificial intelligence in our classrooms aid or limit...

Are we raising a generation of soft kids? Millennial parents are getting blamed for everything that seems to be wrong with Generation Alpha: that they’re lazy, entitled, addicted to their screens, and averse to boredom. Another big criticism is they lack resilience, social skills, and even the ability to read. In this episode of The Briefing we sit down with social researcher Ashley Fell to find o...

March 10th is the deadline Israel has given Hamas to release the remaining hostages before Israel launches a massive, troops-on-the-ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. In this special afternoon episode of The Briefing, we speak to a 26-year-old woman sheltering in Rafah with her remaining family. Palestinian journalist and translator Aseel Mousa shares her story of survival, and...