The Briefing

 Australian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest have fallen out over the $30b Sun Cable project, which is the giant NT solar farm that’s supposed to supply Darwin, Indonesia and Singapore with power. Last week, news broke that Sun Cable has entered voluntary administration. Sun Cable was burning through cash and missing agreed targets. Both billionaires say they still support the p...

The former leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell died suddenly in Rome this week.  His reign was dogged by scandal. Imprisoned - and later acquitted - of child sex charges, he was also appointed by Pope Benedict to clean up the Vatican’s finances. How will George Pell be remembered? In this episode we speak to Miles Pattenden, a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian C...

Prince William has been thrown back into the spotlight, after Prince Harry claimed he physically attacked him in his new book ‘Spare.’ The relationship between the two brothers has deteriorated in the public eye as Harry continues to make damaging allegations. Prince William has kept quiet as the headlines continue to roll. So, what part does William play in all of this and how will his choices im...

Brazil is undergoing riots that have been likened to when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. Far-right Bolsonaro supporters have stormed the Brazilian Congress and Supreme Court. In this episode we speak to Kathryn Baragwanath, political economy expert at the Australian Catholic University, about what prompted the protests in Brazil. We find out why this is happening, and what the implicatio...

New data from the ACT Government shows just 20% of people who reported a Covid infection in December were known to have previously had the illness. Australia’s high rate of hybrid immunity continues to trend making us more equipped to cope with new outbreaks than most other countries. Infectious disease specialists say the trend refers to the double shield of previous infection and vaccination, bu...

Aussies are starting the new year with higher rates, rent and fuel along with rocketing food prices. Food shortages are hitting supermarkets across the country due to labour shortages and flooding and we could even see prices rise another 8 percent by November.   In this episode we speak with Richard Forbes, CEO of Independent Food Distributors Australia about just what will happen with our food i...

Australia is facing a housing crisis, and we're not the only ones. Canada is also dealing with a shortage of homes, and has just introduced a ban on foreigners buying property. The policy has attracted approval from Aussies online, with some calling for a similar strategy to be implemented here. In this episode we speak with Michael Bourque is the CEO of the Canadian Real Estate Association about...

Australia is known for its harsh sun and hot summers, but Vitamin D deficiency is growing. Vitamin D is crucial to our physical and mental health, yet most of us don't know just how much we need, and how to get it. In this episode we speak with Roger Sutherland, a nutritionist, shift worker and host of the Healthy Shift podcast about why getting our daily dose might not be as easy as we think Head...

We know gym memberships go up at the start of the year with people keen to get their bodies in shape, but what about our minds? In this episode of the Briefing we find out why we feel like our attention spans are getting shorter and strategies we can use to stay on task and be happier.  We speak with Susan Pearse who is part of the Mind Gardener, an organisation that focuses on building attention...

The bushranger holds a special place in the Australian psyche. Celebrated for their bravery and their ability to go against the grain, against authority and deified through time as heroes. But not all were seen at the time in such a positive way, and not all were white men.   We speak with Boundary Crossers author Meg Foster, who reveals the stories of bushrangers that didn’t fit the mold, like Af...

This year, the Sydney New Year’s fireworks were watched by millions of people around the world, but have you ever wondered how it’s put together? We speak to the man behind the fireworks, Fortunato Forti, a seventh generation pyrotechnician who has put on displays all over the world including in Hong Kong, Turkey, Canada, the US and the UK. Follow The Briefing: Instagram: @thebriefingpodcast  Face...

A look back on The Year That Was with Tom Tilley, Katrina Blowers, Antoinette Lattouf and Rhianna Patrick. We talk about the biggest stories of the year, including the Queen’s death, the federal election and the chaos of Elon Musk.   Follow The Briefing: Instagram: @thebriefingpodcast  Facebook: TheBriefingNewsAU Twitter: @TheBriefingAU   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is the BookTok phenomenon? Is it making reading cool? And how is it affecting book sales? There’s been a big surge in book sales, and publishers are putting it down to a new phenomenon called BookTok. BookTok is where young people on TikTok, typically in their teens or early twenties post about their favourite books in emotional videos racking up millions of views. BookTok has been responsibl...

In today’s Briefing we look at a perverse twist of 'Me Too'. The wave of abuse stories has come with a wave of defamation lawsuits. London-based barristers Jen Robinson and Keina Yoshida have written a book called How Many More Women detailing the way the law and the media has held back justice for sexual assault victims. The book is about how and why laws must change to protect women who are brav...

This year the USA has been rocked by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade - the case that has protected the right to abortion in the US for almost 50 years.  Already, states are banning the procedure and it may be just weeks before half of the states across the US ban abortion. In today’s episode of The Briefing, Nick Sweeney, an Australian born director of a documentary called AKA...

With rising interest rates, escalating inflation, a war underway in Ukraine and coming out of the pandemic, it’s understandable we’re all a bit more worried. In today’s episode of the Briefing, we talk with Brigid Delaney about her book: Reasons Not To Worry - How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times. Brigid explains what we can learn from stoics, philosophers who lived by a set of rules that helped them...

We all know Santa Claus as a jolly old white man with a grey beard and red suit, but is this version of Mr Claus about to change? Australian director Nick Sweeney, has produced a documentary about the Saint Nicks and Mrs Clauses who come from all walks of life at a Santa training camp in the US. In this episode of the Briefing we speak with Nick about the changing face of Santa Claus. Headlines: -...

How do you teach kids about money? That's the question The Barefoot Investor has set out to answer in his new book Barefoot Kids. He covers pocket money, saving, spending and everything else to get kids financially literate. We speak with The Barefoot Investor himself, Scott Pape about how to prepare our children, so they can become confident money-savvy adults. Headlines: - ACT announces inquiry...

ChatGPT released by OpenAI can write essays, complete maths problems and even speak in Shakespearean English. It's the latest iteration in this new technology that promises to change the way we search for information - and could even replace some of our jobs.  New York Times Technology Correspondent Cade Metz joins us to understand more about this new technology and why it's so easy to trust it, e...

Killer robots no longer belong to science fiction stories, with San Francisco recently having to make a decision about whether to allow robots to use lethal force. At first decision makers said yes, but the backlash was so severe they reversed the decision a week later. In this episode we delve into the debate surrounding whether we should allow police robots to use lethal force with Daphne Duret...

The Qatar 2022 World Cup has ended with a spectacular final that culminated in a penalty shootout and a win for Argentina. It's been an eventful tournament: from the FIFA president’s questionable opening speech, to the sudden death of three journalists. This year was also the Socceroos' most successful World Cup campaign ever.   In this episode, we’re unpack the wins, the losses and the controvers...

Virginia Gay describes herself as ‘highly sexed chaos’.   Virginia is an Australian actress, writer and director. You’ll most likely recognise her voice from the characters she’s played in television dramas; Frances James on Winners and Losers or Gabrielle Jaeger on All Saints. More recently Virginia spends her time on stage, often writing and performing her own work. Two years of lockdowns made h...

It’s a story fit for a James Bond movie: last week US WNBA star Brittney Griner came home, after being swapped for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.  In this episode we find out why Bout has been called ‘a merchant of death’; how tough it was to catch him in the first place; what the domestic fallout has been in the US; how Griner is doing now; and the diplomatic effort it takes to make a...

Women in Australia are earning around $26,500 less each year than men, according to the latest Workplace Gender Equality Agency report. That number hasn’t changed over the past twelve months – with no progress being made for the first time in nine years. In this episode, we speak to Mary Wooldridge, Director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, about why the pay gap is stagnating and what more...

The federal government is facing criticism for its decision to cut the number of Medicare subsidised mental health sessions under the Better Access scheme. During the Covid pandemic, the Morrison government doubled the number of psychology sessions available from ten to twenty. From next year, the number of appointments each patient can receive under the initiative will be slashed back down to ten...