The Briefing

They’re the non-surgical cosmetic procedures that get spruiked and glamorised with hashtags like #BarbieBotox, #FoxEyes and #LipFlip by influencers on social media.  These procedures can be performed by non-medical practitioners like nurses, dental practitioners and pharmacists, and include injectables and fillers, cosmetic dentistry, hair transplants, fat freezing, and thread lifts (to only name...

Many young people are struggling with the rising cost of living: rent, bills, groceries and transport. But imagine you’re doing it all alone, without the support of your parents or family. That’s the reality for young people who have grown up in care. And it’s a key reason so few make it into higher education. If you’re working all the hours you can just to get by, you don’t get the opportunity to...

Kath Ebbs is an accidental influencer, they was scouted on Instagram when they were just 17 and since then has dominated the social media scene.  Kath is a queer artist and actor and they grew up on the internet and their relationship with social media like many of us has changed throughout the years.  In this chat with Helen Smith, Kath explains the importance of pronouns, how we can make the fil...

For those who celebrate Christmas, this time of year is sold to us as being all about togetherness, joy, gift giving and family – it's the most wonderful time of the year after all.  While we all love opening pressies and sitting down to a Christmas feast, there aren’t magical elves running around organising everything – it usually falls on the shoulders of women. Ask any woman in your life how lo...

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is cracking down on our online space. Two new reports flag major concerns when it comes to social media influencers disclosing advertising; and businesses commissioning and collating their own reviews. In this episode of The Briefing ACCC Acting Chair Catriona Lowe takes us through what we should be looking out for online. Headlines: New industr...

A man has been arrested in the US over links to the deadly Wieambilla massacre almost a year ago, which saw two Queensland police constables and a civilian shot dead on a remote property.  Their murderers; Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train were killed in the resulting standoff with officers.  Detectives will allege the Trains had been radicalised after discovering the idea of “premillennialism” -...

If you’ve been thinking there are have been a lot of female leaders under fire lately, you might have noticed the glass cliff phenomenon; it’s when a woman is put into a position of leadership during a company crisis. Fortescue Metals chief executive Fiona Hick and the Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate have both had to resign after relatively short tenures and major issues at their companies. N...

Last month, a 600-kilogram seal made himself at home in front of a woman’s car in Tasmania’s south, giving her the best excuse not to go to work. Affectionately known as Neil, the elephant seal routinely causes havoc when he comes back to the coast. And this isn't the only example of how urbanisation has necessitated changes in the behaviour of the animals around us - just think of the rebranding...

With the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference underway in Dubai, the world’s focus is once again turning to whether we’re doing enough to tackle global warming. China is the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, but the country is also making strides towards hitting 2030 climate targets. In this episode of The Briefing Katrina Blowers speaks with Dr Michal Meidan, head of China energy r...

How much do you spend on clothes, and how much of your wardrobe do you throw out each year?  The average Aussie bins ten kilograms of used clothing every year, with the expectation that the fast fashion industry and a status quo of ‘quantity over quality’ will continue to push this number even higher in the future. But is there any hope that this trend could change in favour of more sustainable an...

We’re set to be spending a lot of 2024 talking about US elections, with President Biden and likely Donald Trump going head to head again. Polls are hinting at a Trump victory, but with legal battles, bureaucratic clashes, and a dash of political intrigue, the path to the White House is anything but predictable. In this episode of The Briefing, Planet America’s Chas Licciardello explains to Katrina...

How do you think more accessible drug testing would change illicit drug use in Australia?  A handheld device called the MicroNIR is currently being used overseas to identify drugs and assess their purity. It’s efficient, accurate, and cost-effective, and it could be a game-changer at festivals, clubs, and supervised injecting facilities here in Australia. But will it be used here?  In this extra e...

Australia is the first country to offer climate refuge, after signing a new treaty with Tuvalu. The agreement could set an example for the rest of the world ahead of 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference. In this episode of The Briefing Katrina Blowers speaks with Tamara Wood from the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law about exactly what this deal means. Headlines: 1.8 million peo...

The world of self care is growing and behind the products and marketing push, are actual experts, who are building big followings as people crave support and direction -- and in some cases sweary entertainment. Enter neuroscience whiz, author and host of hit podcast Do You F*cking Mind, Alexis Fernandez-Preiksa. In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Alexis shares her tips on how to live a bad ass...

Everyone’s talking about Spotify ‘wrapped’, but is Spotify – and streaming in general – killing off the music industry?  Subscribers received a message from the streaming service today telling them who their most-played artist was, alongside other facts about their listening habits over the last year. But how about as a society? With subscriptions and streaming now the norm, how have we changed th...

Voluntary assisted dying is now legal in Australia, after NSW passed laws earlier this week. There are some differences between states; NSW has a different cooling off period, and allows the patient to choose whether the life-ending drug should be delivered by a medical professional even if they have the ability to self-administer. In this episode of The Briefing Tom Tilley speaks with David Sprin...

Despite our population across the globe exceeding 8 billion, several reports say that the fertility of both men and women has been decreasing since the 1950s. So what's going on? Is this due to changes in our lifestyles, such as our diet, exercise or the later average age at which we start having children? Or could our exposure to toxins, pollutants, microplastics and nanoplastics be to blame?  On...

The stereotypes of OCD are hand washing and checking door locks, but for many people it’s the underlying thoughts that derail their life and steal their happiness. In this episode Penny Moodie, author of The Joy Thief, shares her darkest thoughts with Tom Tilley and explains how exposure therapy worked to help her.    Headlines: STC issues apology over on-stage pro-Palestinian display  Calls for t...

How can Coles and Woolworths claim to keep prices down while recording record profits? Our two supermarket giants have recorded rising profits, each netting more than $1 billion in 2023. With Australians buckling under cost of living pressure, families struggling to put food on the table, and interest rates climbing, households are at breaking point.  In other words, “Up, up, prices are...

The government is making a formal apology to the victims of thalidomide today. Thalidomide was a drug given to pregnant women in the 50s and 60s to treat morning sickness, it was then discovered to cause birth defects in unborn children. In this episode of The Briefing Katrina Blowers speaks to thalidomide survivor, Trish Jackson about what the apology means to her and her family.   Headlines: Mor...

The Albanese Government will introduce legislation to the federal parliament tomorrow officially banning Nazi salutes. It follows a decision in June this year to criminalise the public display of, and trade in, Nazi hate symbols. In this extra episode of The Briefing, we're joined by the Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, as he explains amendments to legislation to be put to the parliament tom...

Sam Altman was fired from his position as CEO of OpenAI and then four days later was reinstated. Altman is the darling of Silicon Valley, with Open AI now the hottest company in tech today, having released the ChatGPT chatbot and DALL-E image generator. In this episode of The Briefing Tom Tilley speaks with AI scientist Toby Walsh about who Altman is and what this latest saga tells us about what’s...

Today’s Newspoll figures show Anthony Albanese is on the nose with voters. If an election were held this weekend, the ALP would lose six seats and face governing with a minority government. So what’s behind Albo’s decline? Is it just the Voice, the cost of living, immigration and border issues, being out of the country and interest rates? Or is Peter Dutton managing to make the most of key Coaliti...

An Australian start-up called HEO is bringing CCTV into space. The technology HEO uses is world-first and works at phenomenal speeds; doing everything from checking on the health of a satellite to de-escalating world conflicts thanks to its use in counter-espionage. HEO even has contracts with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. In this episode of The Briefing, Tom Tilley finds out from Dr William Crowe, the Sydn...

In the near future, experts predict everyone will have a personal AI assistant that'll be able to perform all sorts of tasks for you - potentially even finding and screening people for you to date... Before you've even interacted with them. Earlier this week, The Briefing brought you an episode about how dating apps are using AI at the moment, and how that could change over the next few years. In...