The Briefing

Welcome to Sex: Your no-silly-questions guide to sexuality, pleasure and figuring it out, a book written by Melissa Kang of "Dolly Doctor" and TV personality Yumi Stynes, has been removed from department store shelves. The authors have been subjected to a social media pile-on and Big W has pulled the book from its stores because its staff were being abused. In this episode of The Briefing, we’re j...

The Barbie Movie seems to be absolutely everywhere! With a marketing budget that dwarfs how much it was to actually film it, we’ve seen burger buns turn pink, swimming pools with ‘Barbie’ splashed on the bottom and of course millions of videos on social media. Now it’s finally out, Katrina Blowers and Justin Hill, host of Listnr’s The Streaming Service, checked it out to find out if it’s worth the...

The 2026 Commonwealth Games will not be hosted by Victoria. Premier Daniel Andrews has said the reason is due to its cost. The original price tag was $2.6 billion, but it’s now looking more like between $6-7 billion.  We get all the detail with Annika Smethurst.     Headlines: Christchurch mayor offers to host Commonwealth Games Trump expects to be arrested over Capitol riots Stranded Aussie back...

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is kicking off in Sydney this Thursday night; with the next month set to see the world’s best soccer played in Australia and New Zealand. With the Aussies serious contenders to be tournament champions, we speak with Teagan Micah and Charli Grant who are both in the squad about what it means to be competing against the world's best in your home country, and what it will m...

Everyone knows someone with a rental horror story. Rents are skyrocketing across the country and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find somewhere affordable to live. We're joined by Chantelle Schmidt, who writes for a number of publications including Pedestrian. She's also been sharing her painful rental journey on TikTok. We also talk to Mark McCrindle, founder of McCrindle research who has...

Marta Dusseldorp is one of Australia’s best known and loved actors. From stage to screen, and now with production credits to boot.  Dusseldorp’s latest project, Bay of Fire, premieres tomorrow night on ABC TV and is filmed on the west coast of Tasmania, a place that Dusseldorp herself discovered in the depths of the pandemic.  In this chat with Jamila Rizvi, Marta explains the impact of the pandem...

Everyone's talking about Threads, the new social media platform launched by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta last week. Jan and Tom signed up immediately, as they did when Twitter and Instagram launched. In this episode of The Briefing, Jan Fran and Tom Tilley discuss why you'd sign up for Threads, whether it will survive and whether we even need ANOTHER social media platform.   Headlines: Hollywood set to...

A 16-week trial over the Whakaari/White Island volcano tragedy has begun in New Zealand after an eruption killed 22 people, including 17 Australians in 2019. The island’s owners, brothers Andrew, James and Peter Buttle, their company, and two tour operators are on trial for allegedly failing to adequately protect tourists and staff. Each of the companies faces a maximum fine of $1.4 million, while...

Should Japan release millions of litres of radioactive waste water into the Pacific Ocean?   Everyone remembers the Fukushima nuclear plant being swamped by a tsunami in March 2011. All four of the plant's reactors were written off – and ever since, the reactors have been cooled with recycled water from a new treatment plant. The plant now plans to release the cooling wastewater into the ocean. In...

It’s a pretty sci fi concept – being stored upside down in a giant thermos full of liquid nitrogen in the hope that some day, maybe hundreds of years away, technology will bring you back to life. Now cryonics is here in Australia. Peter Tsolakides is the director of Southern Cryonics in Holbrook, and dozens of people have forked over tens of thousands of dollars to put themselves into deep freeze...

A decision on who will be the next RBA Governor is expected mid-July. So will Philip Lowe remain in the job? Who are the candidates? Will it change how the RBA operates, or are we just looking for a scapegoat following the huge number of cash rate rises. Jonathan Kearns, former RBA department head joins Tom Tilley to explain.     Headlines: Pressure mounts on Scott Morrison to resign BetStop: we c...

30-year-old MP Georgie Purcell was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in November last year - and she’s already shaking up the House. Georgie, from the Animal Justice Party, stands out from other politicians as she made history with her maiden speech when she decided to own her narrative and share that she was previously a stripper.   In this chat with Katrina Blowers, Georgie explains w...

Queensland has announced plans banning smartphones in state schools from next year bringing them into line with the rest of the country except ACT. While it seems like a no-brainer given how distracting and harmful smartphones can be to kids and teens, we get the full story with child psychologist Michael-Carr Gregg and Dr Jason Zagami, a senior lecturer at the School of Education and Professional...

Colleen Ballinger, otherwise known as Miranda Sings, has been a YouTuber for over a decade and has recently had some serious allegations made against her, including being a child groomer. In a response to the claims she came out with a 10-minute long apology video where she decided to sing rather than speak, which many have dubbed Youtube’s worst apology video. Justin Hill host of LiSNTR’s The Str...

The World Health Organization's recently announced that aspartame, used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars' Extra chewing gum, will be listed as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." It feels like we are told about a new carcinogenic item or product every week, so what should we actually be worried? Oliver Jones, Professor of Chemistry at RMIT and internationally recognised expert in analy...

Jordie van den Berg has become TikTok famous for his videos documenting shit rentals around Australia as the country’s rental crisis continues. His videos exposing shit rentals have hundreds of thousands of likes with Jordie's top video reaching over 1.4million views. Jordie joins Tom Tilley to explain what needs to change in order to give tenants a fair go.      Headlines begin 12:25: The UK PM R...

It used to just be endurance athletes who trained at altitude, but now gyms are popping up everywhere with the promise you can burn double the calories by doing the same workout. But does it work and should you do it?  Altitude training gyms are popping up around the country with some people evening installing altitude rooms in their houses. Gyms are claiming that altitude training can make you bu...

Dami Im is good at competitions. In 2013 she won X-Factor Australia and in 2016 placed second in the Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the highest scoring Aussie. Today, the university trained singer songwriter is a new mother and continues to make music that’s loved all over the world, with her new EP In Between coming out on July 7.  In this chat with Jamila Rizvi, Dami reflects on hearing a rec...

Regulations for cosmetic surgery and injectables are about to change from July one. With GP referrals, psychological assessments, cooling off periods and even how procedures are advertised all part of the new requirements. Dr David Morgan a specialist plastic surgeon from the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons to explains the changes.   Headlines: Berejiklian considers legal challenge after co...

Taylor Swift's Eras tour has taken over the globe and getting your hands on a ticket has become a hot commodity, with general sale tickets being released in Australia on Friday. The pop superstar has become the second richest self-made woman in music after Rihanna and this week the Victorian Government announced that they are giving the Taylor Swift concert major events status. Shameless podcast h...

Last month Ben Roberts-Smith lost one of the biggest defamation trials in Australian history and was found to be a war criminal to a civil standard. The judge ruled that the stories Nick McKenzie had published in Nine Newspapers in 2017 and 2018 about the Victoria Cross winning SAS soldier were substantially true. Nick McKenzie joins us to talk about it all, his new book is called Crossing the Lin...

The psychedelic drugs psilocybin and MDMA, commonly known as magic mushrooms and ecstasy, are being downgraded from prohibited to controlled drugs in Australia from July 1. This means approved psychiatrists will be able to prescribe psilocybin for depression and MDMA for PTSD. It’s a landmark moment in the regulation of psychedelic drugs for treating entrenched mental illness, Rodney Cocks, CEO of...

Over the weekend a former friend and head of a private Russian military wing pulled his troops from the Ukrainian frontline to confront the Russian government, leaving President Vladimir Putin’s power in question. Putin called it a stab in the back in a televised speech as the war in Ukraine continues. Monica Attard Co-Director, Centre For Media Transition at University of Technology, Sydney and f...

It’s been eight and a half years since Maz Compton’s last drink and yet drinking is probably what she talks about most. You’ll likely recognise Maz from her MTV days interviewing the world’s best loved music makers, or the hit NSW Breakfast Show, Maz and Matty.  In this chat with Jamila Rizvi, Maz explains why the term alcoholic isn’t helpful and how she is helping people find and embrace their so...

It turns out so-called ‘study drugs’ like Adderall (which is sold in Australia as “Vyvanse”) and Ritalin could be making you less productive if you don’t have ADHD. A new study blows apart the belief stimulant drugs can boost focus or productivity no matter if you have ADHD or not. We speak with one of the authors of the study Dr Elizabeth Bowman from the University of Melbourne about just what th...