The Radio National Hour

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

A dedicated show to the debate that’s raging here and across the world over data centres, the vast digital warehouses that process, store and manage the information required to run our websites, apps, our google searches our cloud services and crucially Artificial Intelligence. The backlash to these digital factories in the US has prompted AI companies to look elsewhere, like Australia where there...

Hamas has announced the dissolution of its governing body in Gaza, in an effort, it says, to advance Donald Trump's peace plan. But Israel insists it's all a ruse to avoid giving us its weapons. The billionaire class is booming and most of them are paying less tax than you or I, sometimes close to zero. In his new book We Need To Tax Billionaires acclaimed French economist Gabriel Zucman argues th...

When the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in 2021 Hamida Samar thought her life was over. But now with the support of Rural Australians for Refugees and volunteer Marie Sellstrom she’s not only been given protection here, she's dedicated herself to helping other Afghan women. In 2021 Islamic Jihadists went on a rampage at a French gas project in Northern Mozambique, slaughtering more than...

A Thai family is grieving the loss of a teenage daughter, allegedly murdered by an Australian man in the tourist city of Pattaya - one of Southeast Asia’s most notorious sex tourism hubs. Should this trade, which supports millions of impoverished families, be decriminalised in Thailand? Sociologist and author of Sex Tourism in Thailand: Inside Asia’s Premier Erotic Playground, professor Ronald Wei...

We're now half-way through the men's football World Cup, David Basheer, SBS Sports' lead commentator discusses the winners, the surprise losers and how far the Socceroos can go. Is Kim Ju Ae being groomed to become North Korea's first female Supreme Leader with Rachel Minyoung Lee, a senior fellow with the Korea Program and 38 North at the Stimson Centre And musician Xavier Rudd on his latest rele...

The Parliament has risen for its winter recess, leaving much unfinished business and a trail of broken promises. Press gallery journalists Clare Armstrong and Ashleigh Raper wrap up a long 6 months in federal politics.  Former Attorney General Mark Dreyfus is among those who’ve made deeply personal submissions to the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. He says he's been shocked...

Healthcare workers are embarking on a world first project to help people reduce their reliance on prescription drugs like sleeping pills and opioids amid growing evidence of dangerous side-effects. The project called SUPPORT-Meds is lead by Associate Professor Emily Reeve, at the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. As the Christian Brothers cry po...

As Russian soldiers continue to die in appalling numbers and Ukrainian drones terrorise civilians in Moscow, fears are growing that a paranoid Russian president could escalate the war both at grave cost at home and abroad.   On the eve of the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday his special representative is in Australia to sound an alarm about China’s new ethnic unity laws, which, they say, seeks to crush...

In quake stricken Venezuela once bustling streets are silent but for the sound of crying, as citizens scrape through the rubble with their bare hands searching desperately for the missing. Freelance Venezuelan journalist Camilla Rodriguez Montilla says hopes are fading but anger at the slow official response is growing.   If it takes you by surprise chances are you’re more likely to remember it. N...

There was a lot of hustle and plenty of chances and in the end Australia got the job done in San Francisco with a scoreless draw against Paraguay delivering them a berth in the knockout round of 32. Freelance football writer and ESPN Australia contributor Joey Lynch says whilst many people were hoping for an outright win, the team is playing with more confidence every time they step onto the pitch...

The Christian Brothers Catholic order has announced plans to liquidate its remaining assets, admitting there’s not enough left in the coffers to pay the compensation claims of potentially hundreds of victims of clerical sexual abuse. Lawyer and longtime advocate for hundreds of survivors Dr Judy Courtin says the announcement has blindsided her clients.       Remember when seeing was believing? It’...

It’s becoming a running joke; you have a conversation or you Google something and suddenly your feeds are flooded with ads and offers on the very same subject..what are the chances? . But what if the information being tracked  and shared online is about your fertility, choice of contraception or mental health? It’s a practice the Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind is taking on in a first ever ruling...

There’s growing fears a black swan event is unfolding in Western Australia - quite literally - with the arrival of the H5N1 strain of bird flu on our shores. Scientists are warning that creatures like the iconic black swan, which has no natural immunity to the virus, could be wiped out completely. Australia’s threatened species commissioner says  Victoria has ended native forest logging, but a Fou...

The crowds of reporters outside No.10 Downing Street this morning could only mean one thing. Sir Keir Starmer has resigned as Prime Minister - the sixth to bow out in ten years. His most likely successor? The so-called King from the North, Andy Burnham. Sir Keir’s biographer Tom Baldwin says the revolving door is a sign of a political system in crisis. Negotiations between the US and Iran are alre...

Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield by-election paving the way for him to challenge UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for leadership of the Labour party and the nation.  After a week of trash talk the countdown is on to tomorrow’s game between the Socceroos’ and team USA.  The American mid-west is about as far from North Africa as you can get, but the community of Lawrence in Kan...

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

Three decades after she first arrived in the federal Parliament, Pauline Hanson has finally fronted the national press club, with a clear message for the media, it’s time to take One Nation seriously.   And how do you tax a robot? As AI comes for our jobs and threatens to rob governments of their tax revenue, we look at some of the options being contemplated to ensure we all get a share of the wea...

A new report paints a picture of despair for Palestinians across the occupied territory. Under siege and constant attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and threatened with execution and torture by Hamas in Gaza. Australian human rights lawyer and UN commissioner Chris Sidoti says the Australian government should be doing more to hold Israel to account.     AI promises to transform our workpl...

President Donald Trump has celebrated his 80th birthday in style with a UFC fight on the White House lawns and a peace deal with Iran. But that’s already in peril as Israel continues its attacks in on Hezbollah. Will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally yield to the USA? Former Israeli diplomat and Prime Ministerial advisor Alon Pinkas says a lot could happen between now and when the deal is...

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite business has come to market selling 86 billion dollars' worth of shares and overnight shattering previous IPO records. But not everyone is convinced of its value, so are investors buying a moonshot? Tim Fernholz, senior reporter at TechCrunch & author of Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race says - at least for now - SpaceX...

President Trump has said repeatedly that a ceasefire was just days away, now he’s learning the hard way, it’s much easier to start a war than to end one. After weeks of stalled negotiations the US is now resorting to military force but Iran says it will continue to hit back, targeting American bases across the region.  The government is being accused of rushing it proposed reform of the NDIS and a...

With AI tech companies looking to invest billions in data centres on Australian soil, and predictions that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost to the technology, independent senator David Pocock is sounding the alarm and urging us not to let the profits escape offshore. Japanese authorities are on the hunt for a ‘very intelligent’ bear blamed for an attack on four people and then evading ca...

Ivanka Trump and Jared’s Kushner’s plans to turn the nation’s only island & a pristine wilderness into a billionaire's playground has triggered a wave of protests. Politico Europe editor Alice Taylor explains why this particular development has stuck such a nerve.  First Nation’s people have been dining out on bush tucker for millennia, but foods like warrigal greens, wattle seed and finger li...

He’s known as the world’s greatest living mathematician, but not so long ago he was just Tiny Terence, a whizz kid from Adelaide. Professor Terence Tao has today been made a Companion of the Order of Australia. What happens when three capable, intelligent young women, disillusioned with life and relationships in contemporary China turn to AI for comfort, support and romance? A new documentary, Rep...