The Radio National Hour

A once unthinkable result the far-right party, Alternative for Germany has had a resounding victory in a state election, coming within a hair’s breath of being the first ultra right party to govern since the Nazi era. Historian and journalist Katja Hoyer, says the party may have come very, very close to breaking Germany's fabled firewall. Australia's home construction system is broken.That the Bathla Group went bust building the affordable homes Australia needs most says a lot about the residential construction market, as it battles falling prices, surging costs and poor productivity. Michael Akkawi, chief executive of property developer Conquest says Australia needs a war-time like response to deliver the housing that's needed. Since the very first collection of clay tablets were stored together 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia….libraries have been a force for the democratisation of knowledge … but that unique access is increasingly under threat. Richard Ovenden the head librarian of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, says libraries are radically relevant in our modern world.

Three summits, three very different visions of the future. From the Pacific Islands Forum to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, we'll examine what this charged week of diplomacy reveals about the rapidly changing balance of global power.From North Korea to the Indo-Pacific, from Washington to ASEAN, Jane Hardy spent decades working on some of Australia's most important strategic relationships. In The Diplomats, she shares the insights, judgements and lessons that only come from a career on the front lines of foreign policy.And it was supposed to disappear without a trace. Instead, a kooky Chinese animated film made by a mother and son has become a box-office sensation. Adelaide University communication, media, and film scholar Yanyan Hong explains why Niu Lai has captured the imagination and heart of a nation. 

A week on from the deadly floods in Nepal and Tibet the search continues for more than four thousand missing people including 38 Australians. The focus has shifted to retrieving and identifying the hundreds of bodies and body parts that have been washed downstream, but hope remains with officials today saying  there’s a good chance that 46 people could be alive, in a chamber in an underground hydro-electric plant. ABC correspondent Natalie Whiting has been visiting the devastated district of Chitwan. Settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank reach unprecedented levels, and hundreds of former Israeli security chiefs have written to the US president Donald Trump pleading with him to intervene. Former brigadier general Ephraim Sneh describes the violence as 'ethnic cleansing'.Science communicator Vanessa Fuchs just LOVES plants, her latest book What the Flora? is an epic tale of evolution and the ingenuity of plants, and a timely reminder that our survival is deeply intertwined with theirs. 

Last week's disaster in the Himalayas did not respect borders, but information flows at a trickle between Nepal and China controlled Tibet and, critics like Dibyesh Anand, a professor of international relations at Westminster University, say has exposed a deeper problem when disaster strikes.More than seventy thousand hopeful African migrants swam to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in late July, spurred on by false rumours online of a new open door policy. Now Spain’s Prime Minister is accusing Israel and Russia of using the event for payback and to sow division in Europe. A major retrospective of Australia's most renowned artists, modernist Margaret Preston goes on show at the National Gallery of Victoria this Friday. Born in Adelaide in 1875, Margaret Preston helped to forge a uniquely Australian modernist style - with bold and distinctly coloured renderings of local landscapes, native flora and fauna. The exhibition's curator Beckett Rozentals lifts the veil on this collection.s. 

It’s D-Day for the collapsed New South Wales developer Bathla, which needs $20 million in cash to get to the end of the week, if not, the major property developer will be liquidated and with it, the dreams of hundreds of buyers who paid deposits for new apartments. AFR associate editor Primrose Riordan says the next few days will be critical.   The 2026 northern summer has driven home the reality of climate change in terrifying and deadly fashion; from the blistering heatwaves that gripped Great Britain like a vice for days on end, to the infernos that engulfed Europe’s holiday coasts and now of course, the catastrophic flash flooding in Nepal, which according to  scientists was triggered by a glacial melt and subsequent collapse. Paul Behrens British Academy Global Professor at the University of Oxford says it's not the new normal but the new abnormal. When the titans of Silicon Valley first spouted their ‘move fast and break things’ mantra they were hailed as heroes but little did we know it was democracy itself that they wanted to smash and replace with their own network states, their own laws and in their own image. That's the thesis of a new book called The Nerd Reich by journalist Gil Duran.

The number of missing people in Nepal has risen sharply to more than 4,000, with least 900 confirmed dead. We speak to John Torpey who's leading the emergency response for World Central Kitchen. Computers powered by human brain organoids, grown from skin, blood or hair. That's the vision of a Dr Brett Kagan, chief scientist and CEO at Cortical Labs a Melbourne based company which claims to have developed the world’s first biological data centre, replacing silicon chips with human tissue.  And Sanjeev Gupta was dubbed 'The Saviour of Steel' when he swooped into the South Australian town of Whyalla in 2017, offering a billion dollar lifeline and a grand vision for the future of green-steel. But as former ABC presenter Paul Barry details in his new book, The Big Steal, that appears to have been a mirage. 

The Chair of Universities Australia, Professor Carolyn Evans has spoken out this week about her concerns over creeping government regulation and how populist backlash over issues like migration is already harming higher education. For this week's edition of 'The Diplomats' Tracey spoke to one of the world's foremost most experienced and respected hostage negotiators, Suzanne Williams.For six decades Ghanaian cameraman Chris Hesse toiled in obscurity amassing a visual record of Africa’s painful journey to independence. The precious reels have been used in a new documentary Eyes Of Ghana, debuting at the Africa Film Festival Australia. Tracey spoke to the films producer, Anita Ofanu.

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

A quarter of a century ago, hundreds of refugees were rescued from a small fishing boat adrift in the Indian Ocean and taken aboard the Norwegian freighter the MV Tampa. The stand-off that followed up-ended decades of refugee policy and crystallised a political mantra embraced by governments across the world: ‘stop the boats’. Abbas Nazari was a small child on that ill-fated voyage, Australia refused to take him and his family but they started a new life in New Zealand where he went on to become a Fulbright scholar.They can run, dance and box but the robots on show at the World Humanoid Games in Beijing aren’t just there for our entertainment, they point to a future in which machines that look like us are indispensable to our lives. Michael Milford is a professor and director of the robotics centre at Queensland University of Technology and has been watching the advancements on show in Beijing closely.Dolly Parton wrote over 3,000 songs during her seven decade career, but her gift and passion for storytelling extended well beyond the stage. Because of her, 3 million children around the world and 50 thousand here in Australia receive a book in the mail every month. 

One Nation voters say Australia is on the wrong track and immigration is to blame. The Labor government would rather we look the other way, but fresh polling says  both major parties are bleeding votes over the issue. It’s been ten years since Myanmar’s military launched a murderous campaign to expel the country’s Rohingya minority forcing more than seven-hundred thousand people to flee the country. Fayazul Islam was just 11-years old when he escaped this horror. Now 20, he works as a photographer documenting his life and that of fellow Rohingya living in the world's largest refugee camp, Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. Author and podcaster Jon Ronson has a knack for sniffing out a bizarre story, his latest began when his son was lured to a mock gothic castle in suburban Connecticut and invited to participate in a reality tv series called Princesses 101. What followed was definitely not a fairytale. 

When teenage boys are accused of sexually assaulting their peers we’re horrified and wonder why and how? But in Australia now, boys are more likely to commit these crimes against their peers than adult men. Global consent advocate Chanel Contos says their sense of entitlement is part of the problem. Israel is accused of feeding Large Language Models propaganda in a bid to influence the response produced by chatbots to questions about their war in Gaza. Politico journalist Jacob Wendler says the information is being used to prepare briefs for US lawmakers.Airports are the backdrop to monumental beginnings and sometimes tragic endings - life, death, adventure and romance - taking flight or coming into land all day long. That’s the premise of a new SBS series, The Airport Chaplain starring beloved Aussie actor Hugo Weaving and inspired by the real-life airport chaplain Martyn Scrimshaw.

Tracey Holmes brings you compelling conversations with some of the most interesting people from around the world, on the issues that challenge, entertain and inspire us. 

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

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

At a time when China is testing America's allies across the region, is Donald Trump easing back one of Washington's most important military partnerships? Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Melbourne, Dr Pradeep Taneja explores whether Asia is entering a new era of uncertainty about US power and commitment.Smart glasses can read signs, identify objects and help people with low vision navigate the world. But as cameras move from our pockets to our faces, University of Sydney law professor Kimberlee Weatherall asks whether we're giving up more privacy than we realise.One of President Donald Trump's longest-running political battles is his fight against the "deep state". Former CIA officer Steven Cash is now the executive director of an organisation called Steady State which argues the US is facing its gravest threat to constitutional democracy since the Civil War.

Five years since the Taliban swept back into Kabul Afghan women have been erased from public life. One of Afghanistan’s first professional cricketers, Firooza Amiri, shares her story of exile, resilience and what she fears lies ahead for the country she still calls home.What’s it like to be Australia's representative when a crisis erupts? Former ambassador Amanda Gorley has had to deal with tragedies like the MH17 disaster and negotiations with strong man leaders like former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte.Award-winning film composer David Hirschfelder gives us a peek behind the scenes of composing Aussie classics like Strictly Ballroom. 

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

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has  survived a second attempt to topple him in less than a year, but questions about his authority inside the National Party haven't gone away. Political commentator Trish Sherson examines whether this is a turning point for the Kiwi leader, or just a stay of execution?Donald Trump is branding Democratic candidates "jihadists" and "communists" as America's midterms start to take shape. As progressive Democrats notch up election wins and Trump's own numbers slide, veteran political commentator E.J. Dionne explores whether the party is finding its future, or opening a damaging new fault line?Scott Clayton has been an AFL recruiter for 35 years. He’s the man behind the scenes of some of the most successful teams and trades  in the game, so what's an AFL recruiter looking for when they’re talent scouting?

South Australia has announced a royal commission into Artificial Intelligence at a critical moment for the technology, with leaders of Big Tech calling on the US government to support an international effort to try and slow the pace of AI development, or risk it careening out of control.Victoria has been labelled the suppression order capital of the nation, but after the identities of two high profile rapists were concealed from the public, the state’s new premier is promising to ‘close every loophole’ if he’s re-elected in November. Associate Professor Jason Bosland, Director of the Centre for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne Law School says he's never seen the relationship between the courts and the media at such a low point. Asbestos was once prized for its invincibility as a building material, elevating the ‘humble fibro shack’ to cult status in Australia. But now we know this magic mineral was the devil’s dust  - a toxic fibre that’s still killing hundreds of people every year. Historian James Watson joins Fran to talk about his new book, Asbestos Nation.

Every year thousands of giant cuttlefish put on a dazzling show in the freezing waters of South Australia’s Spencer Gulf. But this year the cuttlefish are missing in action and scientists and divers like Manny Katz say it will be very hard for the population to recover. Giant cuttlefish numbers collapsing in South Australia’s algal soaked waters, fur seals with alopecia on a remote Victorian island, hundreds of dead pelican chicks found dead in the far  west of New South Wales. Our natural world is sick and in distress, but are we paying attention? Euan Ritchie, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at Deakin University says ecosystems across Australia are showing signs of collapse. It’s the ultimate story of triumph over adversity, a black autistic academic becomes the youngest ever to be granted a professorship at the prestigious Cambridge University. The downfall of rockstar British scholar Jason Arday has critics of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives frothing but Daniel Engber, staff writer at The Atlantic says his story is unbelievable in so many respects. 

We have a brand new segment called 'The Diplomats', turning the spotlight on the peacemakers in our world: the people working, mostly out of sight and under real pressure, to ease the globe's sharpest tensions. Our first guest is Lachlan Strahan, who’s 30 year career in the foreign service took him to North Korea at the height of its nuclear enrichment stand-off. The mea culpa and pleas for unity from the FIFA boss Gianni Infantino have failed to placate powerful football associations, like Uefa which is still threatening to boycott the next World Cup, But would Infantino’s resignation really fix the world’s most political sports governing body? Lorin Parys is the CEO of the Belgian Pro League of football.Australia’s first orchestral performance for deaf people. It's called Across Silence, a multi-sensory experience that treats Auslan not as translation but as an art form in its own right.

The Iran war is now in its sixth month ‌and yet again, the US President is doing his best to suggest everything is hunky-dory and the two sides are getting along. But Iran has labelled reports of negotiations with the US as ‘false’ and is instead trumpeting an imminent agreement with its neighbour Oman. Nada Al Taher a senior foreign reporter with The National, an English language newspaper based in Abu Dhabi, joins Fran to make sense of the latest deal or no deal.One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts has been out and about talking Chemtrails, and he’s got company; the party’s new Victorian State leader, Warren Pickering, who has espoused another well trod conspiracy theory about 15 minute cities. And it’s got us asking, what drives people to adopt these beliefs and who starts them in the first place? Matthew Marques, a senior lecturer in Psychology at LaTrobe University and Dr Kaz Ross, an independent researcher into the far right, extremism and conspiracy theories says at their core conspiracy theories tend to lead back to the same, age-old tropes. And it's national Poetry Month — we explore the life and work of Tasmanian poet, Gwen Harwood, regarded as one of Australia's finest poets.

When a shark viciously attacked Coogee mum Leah Stewart back in June, Charlie Verco didn’t flinch, he paddled straight towards danger. He joined Fran in the studio fresh from his victory in the Paddleboard World Championships in Hawaii.It’s been a record breaking summer across Europe with deadly heat waves, raging bushfires, droughts and major rivers at all time lows, so low that WW2 Nazi ships and woolly mammoth remains have been exposed in the dried out Danube river. Australian, Dr Samantha Burgess is Deputy Director of the EU based, Copernicus Climate Change Service, she says it’s too early to tell, but there's a chance 2026 could be the hottest year on record, making the reality of climate change impossible to ignore for Europe's leaders. The National Census takes place next Tuesday night, and we’ve been reading your questions on the text line and from across the ABC, Jenny Telford, the General Manager of the Census has the answers. 

A folksy Congresswoman is taking on a progressive Muslim dubbed the Mamdani of the Midwest in the high stakes Democratic primary in the US state of Michigan — which is being seen as a referendum on the future direction of the party still licking its wounds from the brutal 2024 presidential election defeat. Emily Lawler, the State Government and Politics Editor for the Detroit Free Press, previews the race. We know Artificial Intelligence has a huge appetite for all the good things that make us human, like music and art, now it seems it’s coming for our rare and out of print books. Emanuel Maiberg from independent online journal 404 Media explains how a sudden and unexplained surge in demand tipped booksellers off to this strategy, whilst Australian bookseller Karl Slotte says he's had some curious requests of his own lately. 

Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has provided access to affordable medicines for nearly 80 years, but recently our tough talking government has met with some fierce resistance. That's partly because US President Donald Trump is insisting that American's pay the same for their drugs as other countries, like Australia which subsidises medicines. Dr Elizabeth Deveny, CEO of Consumers Health Forum of Australia and Philip Clarke, Professor in Health Economics at Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne say Australia needs to hold the line with Big Pharma but reform of the PBS is long overdue. A University degree was long considered a ticket to career success and prosperity .. but with the cost of degrees soaring and AI transforming the way students learn, academics like Dr Kylie Moore Gilbert say the experience may not be worth the money or brain rot. 

Psychedelics were used to treat mental health disorders like depression long before peace, love and rock n roll. Now decades on, scientists are reclaiming them as therapies to treat  conditions like PTSD with remarkable results. Dr Paul Liknaitzky is head of Monash University's Clinical Psychedelic Lab and 'Andrea' is one of his patients. For 14 years Louise Herron has been in charge of one of our most important public institutions - The Sydney Opera House. She made peace with the Utzons after a famous falling out over its design and saw off a campaign by Alan Jones to have her fired. Now she’s stepping down on her terms. It’s one of Mount Everest's most ghoulish landmarks. For thirty years the body of a climber known as ‘green boots’ has been a frozen reminder of the perils facing mountaineers as they enter the death zone above 8 thousand meters. Now authorities are planning to bring him down from the roof of the world. Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa has spent years guiding on Everest and leading body recovery missions, giving him a rare insight into one of mountaineering's most challenging tasks.

Alan Joyce is the man Australia came to hate; notorious for firing baggage handlers and and, in the eyes of many, trashing a beloved national icon. When he quit as CEO of Qantas, much of the country cheered. Three years on he’s back with a memoir to sell and a reputation to restore.They’re the happy snaps that parents love to see but now the e-Safety commissioner warning teachers and parents to reconsider posting images of students on social media amid a spike in sexualised AI content targeting children and teachers. UNSW Professor of Criminology Michael Salter says children in uniforms are particularly vulnerable to some of the internet's worst offenders.  It's been one year since Palestinian community leader Owdah Hathaleen was shot and killed by an extremist Israeli settler in the Hebron Hills. His friend and fellow peace activist, Israeli American Elly Oltersdorf says the violence and displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank is only intensifying. 

With pressure mounting over their billion dollar property holdings, Edmund Rice Education Australia has caved to public pressure, announcing it will pay all outstanding financial claims for victims of sexual abuse by Christian Brothers and sparing survivors another legal battle. Dean Paatsch, director of Ownership Matters says its a stunning victory for abuse survivors. Another seven suspected cases of bird flu have been detected in South Australia, including on one of Adelaide’s most popular beaches. Dr Carol Booth from The Invasive Species Council is warning that the deadly virus could now be spreading within native bird populations. And out of the kitchen and into the frying pan; Oz Harvest is getting ready to host its annual CEO CookOff, where the big bosses get down and dirty for a great cause.  

Stacey Duguid spent two decades building a career as a fashion editor which took her to the couture houses of Prada and Paul Smith, but 16 months ago that career stalled. Since then the 52-year old has submitted hundreds of job applications, and almost all were met with silence. After posting online about here suspicions that her resume is being screened by and AI and filtered out because she's tool old, she was inundated with similar stories from women all over the world. Now she's on a crusade against AI ageism. Alysia Blackham is a professor at Melbourne Law School and an expert on age discrimination law, she says experiences like Stacey's aren't unique but recruiters aren't transparent about how they're using AI to screen candidates. Technology has dramatically changed modern warfare and in Ukraine it’s also enabling civilian participation - from fundraising for equipment on the frontline to applications that warn of incoming drones, it turns out when your country needs you, you just pick up your phone. This phenomenon is the focus of Dr Olga Boichak's work at the University of Sydney. She's one of the ABC’s Top 5 residents - a group of early career scholars who are given an opportunity to become the best communicators in their specialist research areas. 

The Tate brothers are blamed for promoting and monetising a culture of often violent misogyny and now Britain is seeking their extradition from the US to face multiple charges of rape and human trafficking. The New Yorker’s Heidi Blake has interviewed them both - her account of their exploits will shock you. The countdown is on to Australia’s national Census and this year there’s an expanded list of questions, like whether you ride an e-bike to work, your sexual orientation and ancestry. Jenny Telford is the general manager responsible for this massive record keeping exercise.In the age of AI and algorithms - is there still a role for music critics? Sosefina Fuamoli has been at it for 15 years and says she's not giving up yet. 

Britain's new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham wants to bring back hope to Britain. He arrived at Number 10 Downing Street promising to end rough sleeping and offering immediate cost of living relief. Anne McElvoy, host of Politics at Sam & Anne’s podcast says his cabinet appointments show he's determined to tread a middle path.  Former UN head of the UN Development Program and member of The Elders, Helen Clark has just returned from a tour of the West Bank where she says the prospect of a two-state solution is rapidly slipping away. She says Palestinian towns are being encircled by barbed wire and Israeli settlements.And she’s the most brilliant 18th century composer you’ve never heard of, Marianna Martinez was top of the pops in the court of Austria’s empress Maria Theresa. 250 years on, her work is being newly discovered and performed by contemporary musicologists like Dr. Judith Valerie Engel.  

Police in Western Australia are claiming success following the rollout of controversial facial recognition technology that's already identified dozens of wanted people, by scanning them in real time. Professor Ed Santow, Co-Director of the Human Technology Institute at University of Technology Sydney says this technology will be rolled out across Australia very quickly and now is the time to ensure it has guardrails.      More than four hundred and forty thousand Australians are believed to be living with dementia, a disease that kills more of us than any other. But according to the latest guidelines published by the World Health Organisation our risk of developing it could be nearly halved by taking action now. Scientia Professor Kaarin Anstey is Director of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute and Principal Senior Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia, she’s also the only Australian researcher on the World Health Organisation’s dementia panel.Spain have lifted the football world cup, defeating Argentina, meanwhile US president Donald Trump reckons it was the best tournament ever - by a factor of four, maybe even five - SBS Sport’s lead commentator David Basheer says he might just be right.  

This week it was the turn of University leaders to front up at the Antisemitism Royal Commission.They were challenged and chastened over their failure to protect Jewish students and academics in the protests that followed October 7. Jennifer Westacott, Chancellor of Western Sydney University says too many institutions hid behind the defence of free speech.Do you struggle with the shorter days during the winter months? Well in Antarctica the sun doesn’t rise at all for six long weeks, and when it finally peaks over the horizon, it's only there for 24 minutes. Davis Station leader Jenny Bonser talks about what it's like living in the dark for so long. And a musical collaboration that crosses borders and cultures. Australian-British pianist Jayson Gillham and Palestinian pianist Iyad Sughayer get ready to tour their new show, The Keys of Life 

First he came for the beards, now he wants their bloods. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has unleashed a brave new policy for restoring the American defence forces: mandatory testosterone checks. Professor Bu Yeap is an endocrinologist  in the school of medicine at the University of Western Australia, he’s also the author of one of the world’s largest ever studies on the factors influencing testosterone levels in men. More than one thousand home batteries are installed in Australia everyday. EVERY DAY. It’s a green energy success story, placing us third in the world for battery storage capacity. But it's also changing the economics of the grid. Could virtual power plants be the answer and would you give your energy provider the keys?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has opened the Office of Artificial Intelligence, tasked with creating new standards governing the technology. Johanna Weaver, executive director of the Tech Policy Design Institute, says its an important step towards determining what our AI future looks like and who gets to build it.The words discounts and diamonds don’t usually go together but the world’s largest miner De Beers is slashing prices for their precious gems as demand for cheaper, lab grown versions takes off. Diamond expert Edahn Golan says the decline in demand is a combination of shifting demographics and cost of living pressures. And Australia’s ‘sorceress of percussion’; the prodigiously talented, award winning percussionist Claire Edwards 

The US has vowed to dismantle the International Criminal Court, declaring it a rogue force that threatens every aspect of America’s political and legal systems. Former ICC special advisor and UTas Professor of law Tim McCormack says the Trump administration is completely misrepresenting the way the court operates. Australia sends more than 27 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste to landfill every year. Architect Alex Symes believes that has to change — and he's turning a 120 year old terrace into a working demonstration of how renovation can be done with less waste, fewer new materials and a smaller environmental footprint. Its dramatic. We’ll take a visit to his house to find out just what that looks like. The end of reading is here; that’s the stark claim in a new essay published by The Atlantic charting the decline in reading and comprehension and the profound impact it's already having on our brains, even the bestsellers have shorter sentences than they did 50 years ago. 

He was the New Zealand actor we claimed with pride; Sam Neill, star of film and television, has died at the age of 78 in Sydney. In a career spanning six decades he starred in the blockbuster Jurassic Park franchise, the Oscar winning film The Piano and played opposite Hollywood luminaries like Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. His good friend and fellow actor Heather Mitchell says he loved Australia, and he cherished and loved people.The US and Iran are sliding back into a state of all-out-war less than a month after a ceasefire and Memorandum of Understanding to progress peace talks was agreed. At issue is a disagreement over the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran insisting they have the power to decide who comes and who goes. Dr Dania Thafer Executive Director of Gulf International Forum says Iran is seeking to become a regional hegemon. More than a decade after ISIS launched its genocidal campaign against the Yazidi people, thousands are still waiting for justice. Later this year a Community-Based Truth Commission will be convened in the German Bundestag in a bid to force countries and organisations to reckon with these atrocities and prosecute perpetrators. Aldo Zammit-Borda, Professor of Law at City St George's, University of London is among the experts running the commission. 

Telstra prides itself on connecting Australians but this week a software glitch caused the nation’s largest telecommunications network to crash - bringing trains and cabbies to a halt, shutting down businesses, and preventing hundreds of people from calling Triple Zero. Turns out it was all about the timing and Swinburne University Professor Allison Kealy warned the telco of this vulnerability in their system earlier this year.NAIDOC week is celebrating half a century, a movement forged in resistance, elevating and celebrating Indigenous culture, language and art. Zoe Cassim program Director at the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, and Joe Ross, author of the children's book Winthali and the CEO of the Bunuba Cultural Conservation Institute joined us to talk about how they're using technology is bringing Indigenous children’s books to remote communities and libraries across Australia.And the bass clarinet, long maligned as the grumpy cousin of the woodwind family, is the star attraction at a forthcoming show by The Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Alex Morris, principal bass clarinet performs for The Radio National Hour.   

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 are more than 90 new facilities in the pipeline. Michael Bommarito is president of the non-profit research group -  Institute for the Advancement of Legal and Ethical AI and one of the leading researchers tracking this phenomenon. He's the author of Why Communities Fight Data Centers and has documented the rapid rise of opposition movements across the United States.Sasha Titchkosky is a member of the Lane Cove Responsible Planning Group, which has been fighting against a proposal for five data centres for the northern Sydney suburb.Dr Dylan McConnell is an energy systems researcher at the University of NSW and Dr Bronwyn Cumbo is a Lecturer in the Trans-disciplinary School at UTS where she’s focusing on sustainable AI futures.Belinda Dennett is the CEO of the peak body, Data Centres Australia.

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 this legalised swindle is the greatest threat to democracy in the 21st century.  She first picked up the violin as a three year old, more than four decades on virtuoso Leila Josefowicz still finds her chosen instrument endlessly fascinating. 

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 14 hundred people over four days. In his new book, Blood Will Flow, writer and journalist Alex Perry tells how the promise of striking it rich in a faraway African nation, blinded a multi-billion dollar French energy company to a catastrophe foretold.

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 Weitzer says there are powerful forces at play in the industry.America’s once unconditional support for Israel is declining, with some politicians, including the nation’s Vice President openly hostile towards its leadership … is this a permanent rupture or just a spat between staunch allies? Israeli American pollster and political scientist Dahlia Scheindlin says Israelis are concerned but remain deeply divided over its warmongering leadership. An allegation of inappropriate behaviour is made, without evidence, about a popular priest at a Catholic school. Is suspicion alone enough to condemn him? That’s the premise of the cult classic play Doubt: A Parable which is currently being staged at the Sydney Theatre Company, starring actors Pamela Rabe and Sam Reid.

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 CentreAnd musician Xavier Rudd on his latest release, an homage to Dr Jane Goodall

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 at the growing abuse of Jewish Australians, particularly on social media. After growing up in a family where a game of Mahjong was cutting loose, Jailing Cai chose a decidedly more daring career; photographing microscopic sea creatures in the open ocean in the dead of night. Now the award winning photographer travels all over the world mastering this dark art.  

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 poor and appeal to the court for a stay on compensation payments to victims of historical child sexual abuse, attention is turning to the properties they transferred to Edmund Rice Education Australia for as a little as one dollar. 80 years ago today the USA detonated an atomic bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the beginnings of a devastating nuclear testing program in the pacific. Dave Sweeney, co-founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Nobel peace prize winner and Samuel Barton, President of the Marshall Islands Student Association at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji are using the anniversary to appeal to the Government to finally ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 

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 their culture and identity.It’s the food staple that nourishes half of humanity, but rice crops are particularly vulnerable to the ravages of an El Nino weather cycle. That’s forcing poor farmers across our region to roll the die with their crops in a bid to outrun the long hot dry.  

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. Neuroscientists from the University of Sydney have looked inside our brains to understand how we respond to unexpected events, and how that primes our neural pathways for high performance and memory making. Dr Reuben Rideaux, is the lead researcher of this paper. Palestinians describe their presence as psychological warfare, but music teacher Ahmed Abu Amsha has found a way to drown out the menacing thrum of Israeli drones - with song.  

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. Somewhere in rural Paraguay Australian flags were flying over a small township during today's clash. Its Paraguayan residents go by the names of Smith, Kennedy, Adams and Murray; descendants of a failed 19th century utopian experiment dreamt up by a radical unionist from Brisbane. Writer and journalist Ben Stubbs visited Nueva Australia more than a decade ago and was surprised to meet some very Australian characters.    Did you ever rock out to The Shaggs back in the day? The trio of sisters in the sixties were challenging on the ears, but decades on this curious anti-musical outfit has achieved a cult status. And now a documentary in their name by filmmaker Ken Kwapis. 

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’s a quaint idea in the AI age, when even the experts now say they can’t spot a fake. Digital forensics expert Hany Farid now uses code words with his colleagues and his wife to confirm he’s talking to a real person, and he warns humanity is at risk of losing its shared sense of reality.Sounds to warm the soul; musicians and story-tellers Mark Atkins and Erkki Veltheim perform their collaboration Mungangga Garlagula, (yarning by the fire). 

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 of its kind. Debut Tasmanian author Konrad Muller has been shortlisted for the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award, but in the increasingly cut-throat world of publishing, stories like his are more likely to be fiction than fact. He joins editor and researcher Alice Grundy to explain how the industry has become so pressured and crowded. From cracking some of biology’s toughest problems to opening new frontiers in treatment, AI is already transforming medicine – opening up a world of possibility ly in the lab and in frontline treatment.