Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

A world globe looks like a simple object, but look closely and you can see centuries of discovery, error, ambition and empire. The blank spaces, the imaginary islands, the borders and flags all tell us something about what people knew, and what they thought they knew.Guest: Nikolaus Schobesberger, Director at the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library, Vienna Producer: Ali Benton  

In May 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that he'd fired Kim Sajet, then Director of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, describing her as 'a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI'. Trump did not have the power to sack her, but Sajet decided to depart anyway. The White House continues to attack public museums and galleries deemed too 'woke' or unpatriotic in their displays of history. Sajet is in Australia to speak on the subject of courageous museum leadership in the age of culture wars.Guest:Kim Sajet, art historian and director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, former director of the National Portrait Gallery, SmithsonianKim is in Sydney for the International Congress of Maritime Museums, hosted by the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. Her speech is titled Courageous Leadership: Museums in the Age of Culture Wars

The UK's new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has announced new sanctions on Israeli West Bank settlements, prompting a furious response from Israel. Plus, UK Reform leader Nigel Farage has received two record £36m donations from crypto-billionaires - but are those donations legal? Guest: Ian Dunt, columnist with i-news, co-host of the Origin Story podcast

What did Benjamin Netanyahu know about the threat from Hamas before October 7? A new Haaretz investigation looks at warnings that reached the prime minister before the attack.Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Netanyahu was warned, and failed to act. Netanyahu rejects the claims and has threatened to sue Haaretz over the reportGuest: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ( 2006-2009)Producer: Ali Benton

For a long time walking into a bottle shop to buy wine felt like walking into an exclusive club. Wine labels were printed on thick, expensive paper; their message was prestige. Nowadays, says wine writer Katie Spain, it feels more like walking into an art gallery, with an explosion of new brands featuring labels that are bold, colourful and quirky. And many of them contain hidden meanings and subtle messages. There are also a lot of left over labels going to waste, which Ms Spain is collecting to turn into an art work, the proceeds of which will go to supporting those struggling in the industry. Guest: Katie Spain, national wine writerProducer: Catherine Zengerer

The fall out from One Nation's cartoon suggesting Liberal MP Andrew Hastie was a traitor continues, and David Marr asks Anna Henderson why the major parties are failing to take Pauline Hanson on over it. A podcast has emerged featuring Pauline Hanson making offensive remarks about Aboriginal people, but we are yet to see a response from the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, however, is forging ahead with tackling big tech companies about their use of social media algorithms. One Nation are still dominating headlines with their plan to cut migration, while we are yet to see a policy response from Immigration Minister, Tony Burke.  Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

Before 24-hour news, Washington’s most powerful journalists got their scoops over dinner — with generals, senators and senior officials. These invitation-only gatherings created a privileged pipeline between the press and the people running America’s Cold War.Guest: Kathryn McGarr, Associate Professor at the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Madison, Wisconsin.Producer: Ali Benton

As Australia grapples with a surging illicit tobacco trade, the Coalition and One Nation have called for a substantial cut to Australia's tax on legal tobacco. Professor of Public Health Becky Freeman says the tobacco industry continues to wield significant political influence.Guest:Professor Becky Freeman, School of Public Health, University of Sydney

Europe is a land of legendary rivers. For centuries, they've fed cities, transported great armies and powered modern industry. But this summer, after a series of exceptional heatwaves, the Rhine, Danube, Loire and Po have all shrunk to record lows. Ben Coates, author of a 2019 book about the Rhine, discusses what the drying up of Europe’s rivers means for the continent and its future.Guest: Ben Coates, journalist and columnist based in the Netherlands. Ben is the author of The Rhine: following Europe's greatest river from Amsterdam to the Alps His article about Europe's dying rivers is hereProducers: Ann Arnold and Julie Street

Since AI started being used by journalists in newsrooms around the world, there have been a number of high-profile publications that have made some rather embarrassing mistakes. Some have misquoted political leaders because AI simply made up and attributed statements to politicians who never said those words. Malicious actors are setting up fake news websites for AI to capture when it sweeps the internet for information. AI is also being used to generate fake videos that are alarmingly difficult to detect. Europe has just released an AI Act in an attempt to regulate what is being produced by big tech companies - and they don't like it. So as the ABC rolls out Anthropic's AI tool, Claude, and is about to trial the use of AI to help write digital news articles based on radio bulletins, LNL looks at whether AI is a tool that will give journalists super powers, or a slippery slope to AI slop at best, and dangerous misinformation at worst. Guest: Liz Corbin, Director of News, European Broadcasting Union Producer: Catherine Zengerer

During the Cold War, the US had 17 military bases across Greenland. Most were eventually abandoned, but now Washington wants to get its hands back on one.Narsarsuaq is  a former American air base in the south, where historian Ole Guldager has documented the history of the American military presence.Guest: Ole Guldager, historian, curator at Narsarsuaq Air Base Museum, and author, Americans in Greenland in World War TwoProducer: Ali Benton

Nearly a thousand trees are being cut down in Adelaide's heritage listed parklands to make way for a re-developed golf course and the MotoGP motorcycle race. A federal court case is underway, challenging the removal of certain trees due to both their heritage value and their significance to local Indigenous people. A parliamentary inquiry is also underway after more than 43,000 people signed a petition opposing the developments and thousands took to the streets of Adelaide, calling on the Premier to 'stop the chop'. But Peter Malinauskas is pushing ahead with the plans, citing the economic development opportunities they bring to the state. Some analysts are suggesting the SA government's aim is in fact to appeal to One Nation voters in Labor seats. Guest:  Greg Mackie, Former CEO, SA History Trust, former Adelaide City Councillor Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Bruce Shapiro reflects on the life of American feminist icon Gloria Steinem, and how many of the things she fought for are now under attack. As the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has said he would be offended if Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends the commemoration at Ground Zero, in what Bruce says is a reflection of the legacy of Islamophobia resulting from the terrorist attack. Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and TraumaProducer: Catherine Zengerer

Four years on, Giorgia Meloni has done what few Italian leaders manage: stay in power. But has her right-wing revolution really materialised — and how secure is her grip ahead of the 2027 election?Guest: Lorenzo Pregliasco, Political analyst, Adjunct Professor, University of Bologna, ItalyProducer: Ali Benton

The idea that everything in nature is interconnected comes largely from the German philosopher, geographer, naturalist and explorer, Alexander von Humboldt. After a scientific expedition to the Americas at the turn of the 19th century, Humboldt came to realise that nature existed in interconnected ecological zones, and that humans were not nature’s overloads, but part of nature itself, something which profoundly challenged religious beliefs about man’s place in the world. His observations were published in five volumes called Kosmos, a scientific work which would have a significant influence on evolutionary thinkers like Charles Darwin, and would ultimately kick off the ecology movement. Guest: Dalia Nassar, Professor of Philosophy at The University of Sydney, author of Romantic Empiricism – nature, art and ecology from Herder to Humboldt, published by Oxford University Press, and host, The Wednesday Society podcastProducer: Catherine Zengerer

Anna Henderson discusses the political impact on the government of falling house prices, whether One Nation's superannuation policy is a vote winner and the response to Nationals' leader Matt Canavan's statement on the so-called 'feminisation of the curriculum'. Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

For 80 years (1848-1928), the Queensland Native Mounted Police operated as a paramilitary force on Australia's frontier, with Aboriginal troopers under white command dispatched to suppress Indigenous resistance. The new book, Buried, shares the findings of a four-year project to locate, record and excavate the campsites of the Mounted Police, painting a more detailed picture of their activities - both violent and mundane. Guest:Heather Burke, Professor of Archaeology at Flinders University, co-author of Buried: Archaeology, frontier conflict and the Queensland Native Mounted Police (Sydney University Press), with co-authors Lynley A Wallis; and Bryce Barker

The quest to create enjoyable, successful lab-grown meat has been pursued over the past decade or two, by entrepreneurs around the globe who can see the potential for big rewards. But they have not, so far, been able to create the desired product. A reporter dives into the world of meat cells and venture capitalists.Guest: Erin Somers, writer, essayist, critic and novelist. Author of 'Where's the beef', the cover story of the September edition of Harper's Magazine.Producer: Ann Arnold

Amidst the chaos of the Khmer Rouge genocide and Cambodia’s civil war, a new crime wave emerged. Sacred temples across Cambodia were looted by smugglers and priceless treasures of the Khmer Empire were trafficked into the hands of elite collectors. At the centre of it all was a British expat named Douglas Latchford, aka “Dynamite Doug.” A new book explores how Latchford orchestrated one of history’s most brutal cultural heists, flooding the international art market with stolen antiquities from the Killing Fields. Guest: Matthew Campbell, reporter and editor for Bloomberg Businessweek. Author of The Man Who Stole the Gods: A True Story of War, Obsession and a Global Art ConspiracyProducer: Julie Street

Rogue corporations commit terrible harms. They kill, addict and ruin on a huge scale - and often get away with it. A new book 'Corporate harms: a horror story' draws on the horror genre to highlight the dual horrors of corporate malfeasance: the harms done, and the harms multiplied when the law fails to address them.Guest: Penny Crofts, Professor of Law at UTS, co-author with Dr Honni van Rijswijk of Corporate harms: a horror story

Lesbia Harford was one of the first women to graduate as a lawyer from Melbourne University in the First World War, but followed her socialist ideals by working as a machinist in a factory. She went on to become one of the first female trade union leaders in Australia and a leader in the anti-war, anti-conscription movement. All the time she wrote poetry, mostly about love for both men and women, but also about the conditions for workers and the impact of war.  Lesbia's poems were frank and fearless, and startlingly modern -  a far leap from the flowery, archaic forms of the time. Her work was largely unpublished during her short lifetime, or for years after, but those who discovered her found her work profoundly relatable. “Lesbia’s was a radical poetry of everyday life, accessible but intellectually sumptuous, and quite unlike what anyone else was writing,” says academic and author, Jeff Sparrow, who has written the first full biography of her life.    Guest:  Jeff Sparrow, author, ‘Somewhere Here the Future's Hid - the Extraordinary Life of Lesbia Harford’ published by Monash University PublishingProducer: Catherine Zengerer

A bloody reshuffle for Britain’s Conservatives — is Kemi Badenoch taking the party further to the right? Andy Burnham faces his first week back in parliament as Prime Minister, and the UK turns up the pressure on Israel over its plans to expand West Bank settlements.Guest Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentatorProducer: Ali Benton 

We all carry GPS technology around in our pockets. But there’s a lot more to the 'Global Positioning System' than meets the eye. GPS was originally conceived as a military product, one designed to drop enormously powerful bombs with staggering precision. It now underwrites everything from rideshares to traffic light systems, international banking and supply chains. Our over-reliance on it makes us incredibly vulnerable.Guest: Katherine Dunn, journalist and author. Her new book is Little Blue Dot: How the Global Positioning System Shaped the Modern WorldProducer: Julie Street

In October, the citizens of Alberta will vote in a referendum to decide whether the province should proceed with a process to separate from the federation of Canada. The vote exposes fractures in one of the world's most stable federations, but is there any real prospect of secession, anytime soon?  Guest: Andrea Lawlor, Associate Professor in political science, McMaster University, OntarioProducer: Jack Schmidt

Anna Henderson discusses One Nation's historic win in Western Australia, securing its first lower house seat in the state for candidate Luke Herdegen., and what the latest polling shows about the issues One Nation voters care about most. Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

Early last century, Alice Duncan-Kemp grew up on a remote Queensland cattle station. Later she would write down her childhood memories of learning from Aboriginal women and men at home on their own Country. Historian and writer Tom Griffiths examines - and corroborates - Alice's revelatory encounters.Guest: Tom Griffiths, author of 'Alice's dreaming' (2026)

The wealth and power of American elders was epitomised in the US 2024 election, with Joe Biden vs Donald Trump. But elder power spreads beyond political leadership, and is preventing the US from becoming as forward thinking and economically successful as it could be, our guest argues.Guest: Samuel Moyn, the Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. Author of 'Gerontocracy in America: how the old are hoarding power and wealth, and what to do about it' (Macmillan, 2026)  Producer: Ann Arnold

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore traces 125 years of war, revolution, upheaval and revival in the Middle East. From the final days of the Ottoman Empire to to the current Iran-US conflict, Simon's new book The Cauldron examines the forces, characters and calamities that have shaped the region.Guest: Simon Sebag Montefiore, writer and historianProducer: Ali Benton

In May 1841, French sea captain Augustin Lucas arrived in Sydney with the first camera ever seen in colonial Australia. A new book offers a comprehensive study of photography's arrival, and its implication in the colonial project. Guest: Elisa DeCourcy, writer and curator, author of Early Photography in Colonial Australia, Melbourne University PressProducer: Jack SchmidtThis program originally aired in November 2025

A UN Security Council report has found 'credible' evidence that weapons and ammunition are making their way from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into Sudan, despite an international arms embargo. The UAE denies it is covertly arming the RSF - the Sudanese paramilitary group accused of mass killings, rape and torture. The UAE is currently Australia’s biggest weapons export market, with nearly $300m in arms and ammunition shipped from Australia to UAE in the past five years. So can Australia stop those weapons be on-sold to Sudan? The group Australians for War Powers Reform has been asking the Australian government.Guest: Andrew Bartlett, President of Australians for War Powers ReformProducer: Catherine Zengerer

Our regular commentator on US politics explains why American cattle producers have a beef with President Trump. Many of them Trump supporters, they feel betrayed after he announced on Friday that he was lifting tariffs on imported ground beef.Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor for the Nation; executive director of the Global Centre for Journalism and Trauma

Parents generally choose the name of their child based on familial or cultural ties, or for the way a name looks in writing. But perhaps more important - in day to day life - is the sound of our names (and nicknames) when spoken or called. Guest:Andrew Ford, composer and host of The Music Show on ABC Radio NationalRead Andrew's piece on names for Inside Story

Israel's Ambassador to Australia Hillel Newman has defended the IDF probe into the death of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, which recently cleared soldiers of any criminal liability for the deadly 2024 strike on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza. Newman's defence of the report prompted UN commissioner Chris Sidoti to call for him to be returned to Israel. David Marr discusses Newman's role with veteran Israel correspondent Irris Makler, plus they look ahead to the political challenges facing Benjamin Netanyahu as he heads into an election.  Guest: Irris Makler, freelance journalist, veteran Jerusalem correspondent  

One Nation's Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson have been busy trying to correct what fellow One Nation MP David Farley said the party's immigration figures should be on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday. Mr Farley said the migration target should be around 130,000 plus "a minimum" 100,000 skilled workers under established visa schemes, which is very close to Labor's migration targets. Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

Until the mid-20th century the Wyndham Native Hospital, on the far north coast of Western Australia, was an apartheid institution where Indigenous men, women and children were imprisoned, left untreated and subjected to experimental treatments without their knowledge and against their will.Guest: Annabel (A.M.) Stafford, former journalist, teacher, author of 'The wanted and the unwanted' (MUP)Producer: Ann Arnold

John Cameron Mitchell wrote and starred in punk musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch – the tale of a gender queer east German rock and roll singer. He’s now on a mission to bring back punk, saying: “The job of youth is to be punk, meaning to question the status quo in a way where it doesn’t matter if you feel offended, safe…they should be physically safe, mentally unsafe. That is education.”  He tackles cancel culture, identity politics and stories vs facts in this conversation with David Marr. John Cameron Mitchell is appearing at Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas and Melbourne International Film Festival in August, and then at Sydney's Enmore Theatre and Melbourne Recital Centre in September. Guest: John Cameron Mitchell, writer, director and actor.Producers: Jack Schmidt

The Cambridge Five have gone down in history as the most notorious spies of the 20th century. For seventeen years, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean and John Cairncross got away with leaking top-secret British intelligence to the Soviet Union with disastrous consequences. Now a new book, drawing on recently declassified files, debunks some enduring myths about them.Guest: Antonia Senior, author of Stalin's Apostles: The Cambridge Five and the Making of the Soviet Empire Producer: Julie Street

Is true social equality an impossible dream? The German philosopher Dr Hanno Sauer argues that class hierarchy is a permanent feature of human societies. Old elites may fall, but new ones fill the void. Rank, hierarchy and privilege, stubbornly persists.Hanno Sauer appears at Melbourne's The Wheeler Centre on 20 August and at Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas from 22-23 August. Guest: Hanno Sauer, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Utrecht University, author of Klasse, and The Invention of Good and Evil: A History of MoralityProducer: Jack Schmidt

From Shogun era Japan to the techno bunkers of 90s Berlin, people across time and cultures have always looked to let loose at night. Guest: Imogen Willetts, author of 'Up All Night: A History of Going Out'Producer: Ali Benton

An expert guide to the commercial sins that have put the big consultancy under the spotlight, after more information emerged in a parliamentary hearing last week.Guest: Tom Ravlic, journalist, author and academic who has been writing about the KPMG saga for Crikey, and The Mandarin. He has previously been involved in the setting of ethical standards and accounting regulation. 

Ian Dunt examines the fallout from the death of Cambridge academic Jason Arday. And Nigel Farage’s Clacton by election victory -  what does it say about his political fortunes? Plus an update on the Andy Burnham 'bounce'. Is it still happening?Guest: Ian Dunt, iNews columnist and regular LNL commentatorProducer: Ali Benton 

In recent weeks, the ABC has removed references to the Australian mining executive Gina Rinehart, following complaints. Guardian reporter Sarah Martin looks back at Rinehart's efforts to defend her public image in recent years. Guest: Sarah Martin, reporter at the Guardian Australia, host of Gina: Becoming Mrs RinehartProducer: Catherine Zengerer

Jordan has been trying to maintain neutrality in the Middle East war, but with a pre-existing military agreement with the US, that is proving increasingly difficult. After Iran sent missile strikes into Jordan recently, prominent Jordanian citzens have been urging the government to shore up sovereignty and neutrality.Guest: Nabih Bulos, Middle East bureau chief for the Los Angeles TimesProducer: Ann Arnold

SBS political correspondent Anna Henderson surveys a busy week ahead in federal parliament, with the government eager to broker a deal to reform the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

The popularity of calming 'night' music to help people sleep is the latest iteration of compositions that reflect the coming of the night. It was composer John Field at the end of the 19th century, followed by Chopin and others, who first brought us the musical concept of 'nocturnes'.Guest: Susan Tomes is an award-winning pianist and writer,  'Nocturnes, and the fascination of night music' (Yale University Press) Producer: Ann ArnoldMusic excepts, in order of appearance:Frederic Chopin's Nocturne Op.27, No.2 in D-flat Major, played by Artur RubensteinJohn Field's Nocturne No.4  in A Major, H.36, played by Alice Sara OttMax Richter, Yuki Namata, Caleb Burhans, Clarice Jensen, Brian Snow and Ben Russell playing Richter's 'Sleep. Patterns. (Cypher)'Gabriel Faure's  Nocturne No.6 in D-flat major, op.63, played by Angela Hewitt. 

Late Night Live is sad to hear of the passing of Kris Short, who was one of LNL’s most enduring producers. She worked on the show between 1996-2015. Long before that Kris started at the ABC in the typing pool in 1976, becoming a clerk, production assistant, a broadcast production officer in Film Services and the ABC's Education department, where she was talent spotted by Wendy Mcleod to work on a new program called Offspring - the precursor to Life Matters. Before coming to Late Night Live she worked with David Marr on Arts Today where David said she had the difficult job of teaching him how to make radio. "What a woman," Marr said. "She was feisty and indefatigable." Wendy McLeod said Kris had a deep understanding of what worked on radio, the practical aspects of studio, writing and scripts, meeting talent and planning OB's. "She was so great to work with and handled our somewhat intense presenter with her quiet intelligence...I loved my time with Kris...she was a great friend. I watched successful career at RN, met up with her occasionally and we remembered those days and shared our love of cats. I can't believe she has left us at such a young age...it was a privilege to be her colleague and her friend," McLeod said. But it was on LNL that she stayed. Phillip Adams described Kris as 'delightfully grumpy' and has fond memories of sneaking off to the stairwell with her to eat ice cream. Former LNL Executive Producer, Gail Boserio, said "Kris understood and cared for the ABC and its importance to Australian culture and intellectual life. Sharp as a tack, she had a fine knowledge of grammar and made sure everybody's briefs were up to scratch. Kris was well read, with a cheeky sense of humour and infectious laugh! Phillip Adams used to say who needs google when you've got Kris Short."Vale Kris, and thanks for all the stories,  many of which can be found here: In Bed With Phillip - 20 Years of Late Night Live

What if your mortgage was illegal, your taxes were voluntary and you could simply opt out of the law? Sovereign citizens believe they’ve discovered a hidden legal system that can set them free from the state. Outlawed explores the strange world of pseudolaw, and what its rise tells us about trust, power and the law.Guest: Harry Hobbs, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales, co-author with Stephen Young, of Outlawed: Responding to the Global Rise of Sovereign Citizens and legal conspiracies published on August 18, 2026.Producer: Ali Benton

Born in 1712 without the fingers of her left hand, Agatha spent her life at the Venetian orphanage known as the Ospedale della Pietà. Her Cantata, ‘Ecce nunc‘, is the only surviving composition by an orphan from the Pietà music school, where Antonio Vivaldi famously taught. The discovery, reconstruction and premiere performance of her ‘lost’ work by the Australian Chamber Choir is the subject of a new documentary, on SBS On Demand. Agatha's Cantata is being performed in Australia. Details here: https://www.auschoir.org/buy-tickets/Guest: Elizabeth Anderson, Assistant Artistic Director, Australian Chamber ChoirProducer: Jack Schmidt

The last time a presidential election was held by the Palestinian Authority was in 2005, when Mahmoud Abbas was elected to a four-year term following Yasser Arafat’s death. He’s been in power ever since. Now aged 90, Abbas has called parliamentary elections for November 28, with a possible presidential election to follow. The man most likely to be elected to succeed Abbas is Fatah party leader, Marwan Barghouti, but he’s been in an Israeli prison for murder since 2002.Guest: Arab Barghouti, son of Fatah party leader, Marwan BarghoutiProducer: Catherine Zengerer

A deep split is emerging inside the Democrats as yet another progressive populist wins in Michigan, while a more conservative group called The Third Way is pushing back. Support for Israel is at the centre of the split. Plus former  Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci faces a hostile Senate inquiry.Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and TraumaProducer: Catherine Zengerer