Extra: Recent Episodes
ABC Radio
Making sense of a changing world, Extra with Geraldine Doogue explores the risks and possibilities of big shifts in power, puts events with our neighbourhood and overseas into context and explains how this affects Australia’s place within our wider world.
Plus, new research into why Greek migrants changed or anglicised their names, and why so few have changed back.
A forensic look at the proposed changes to the Constitution which would enshrine an indigenous voice to parliament and how Turkey is turning its back on democratic ideals.
A forensic look at the proposed changes to the Constitution which would enshrine an indigenous voice to parliament and how Turkey is turning its back on democratic ideals.
Engaging and in depth discussions, debates and interviews presented by Geraldine Doogue.
The economics to growing up - A new academic analysis of 21 billion Facebook friendships sheds like on class and social mobility
Serious teacher shortage – Schools are at breaking point unable to find enough teachers. Classes are having to be merged, and teachers are being lured out of retirement to plug holes. The crisis is across public, catholic, and independent schools and has hit cities immune from previous shortages. AITSL chief executive Mark Grant
And Indigenous soldier Jack Huggins survived the notorious Thai-Burma railway in World War II. His daughters, Jackie Huggins and Ngaire Jarro, recently wrote a biography on his life.
And Indigenous soldier Jack Huggins survived the notorious Thai-Burma railway in World War II. His daughters, Jackie Huggins and Ngaire Jarro, recently wrote a biography on his life.
Russia and Ukraine share history that goes back centuries. But why has Russia never really accepted Ukraine's independence? Arkady Ostrovsky, Russia and Eastern Europe editor of The Economist joins us to explain how history plays into today's tensions.
Plus, Dr David Kilcullen and Dr Greg Mills on why the West failed in Afghanistan, and Politicians' Picks - Chris Bowen, Hollie Hughes and Zali Steggall join us with their recommendations for reading, watching and listening this summer.
Plus, Indigenous equine therapy in the Kimberley and ultimate train journeys of the world
How will the Coalition government fare in next year's election? Tax rebels and why fridges are so important
Facebook revelations lead to it's rebranding as 'META'. Our esteemed guests for A Foreign Affair discuss Australia's pivot to India, the ASEAN summit and the geopolitics of COP26. And the first vampire story in the English language has been found in a library in Queensland.
Plus, should you consider a job in tech? Tens of thousands of jobs are available in Australia's fastest-growing sector.
Plus, Lin Hatfield Dodds on systems leadership and steering Australia's oldest charity The Benevolent Society, CEO of Good Things Australia Foundation Jess Wilson provides practical advice on where you can go to build your digital skills and Catherine Fisher, author of Sound Citizens: Australian Women Broadcasters Claim their Voice, 1923–1956 examines how a cohort of professional women broadcasters, activists and politicians used radio to improve women’s status in Australia from the introduction of radio in 1923 until the introduction of television in 1956.
As the Chinese Communist Party gears up for 20th Party Congress in 2022, Beijing is implementing sweeping changes across a host of industries and parts of society. Is there a common motive, a ‘red thread’, running through these changes?
Two decades after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the memories of those terrible events still loom large in the national psyche. On the 20th anniversary of September 11, three American commentators from across the political spectrum reflect on the cultural legacy of September 11, and the lasting impacts it has had on the United States.
Plus, Evie Wyld reads her poem 'Floorboards', and we get some recommendations for reading, watching and listening in August.
Plus, reflections of an Australian writer who survived the Beirut port explosion a year ago.
Southeast Asia has quickly become the region hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with many countries that successfully held off the pandemic last year now suffering from the spread of the Delta variant. The domestic social, economic and political ramifications could be significant, and they come at a time when the region is of growing geopolitical significance to the US and China. Guests: Emma Connors, Southeast Asia correspondent for the Australian Financial Review; Dr Huong Le Thu, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and a non-resident fellow with the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Michael Wesley, Deputy Vice Chancellor, International, at the University of Melbourne.
After 15 years at the helm of AustralianSuper and a career in superannuation going back to 1994, Ian Silk reflects on what the incredible growth of industry super funds might mean for the future of the sector and for Australia's economy as a whole.
Founded in 1921 by 13 men inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party now has 92 million members and is undoubtedly the most powerful political party in the world. Leading Sinologists Kerry Brown, Director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London; Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and Linda Jaivin, the author of The Shortest History of China discuss the extraordinary rise of Chinese Communist Party, the philosophy that underpins it, and where it might lead China next.
Latin America is one of the parts of the world that has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and with 11 Latin countries holding elections this year, the region is plagued by insecurity and instability. Latin American experts Maria Victoria Murillo of Columbia University, and Kenneth Roberts of Cornell University discuss the transformative changes taking place in Colombia, Peru and Chile. Plus, it's been 18 months since Australia's devastating Black Summer of bushfires. We revisit one of the worst affected areas with ecologist Mark Graham, for an update on how its recovering. And, in his latest book, the bestselling author of A Very English Scandal, John Preston looks at the extraordinary rise and scandalous fall of the notorious media mogul and former MP, Robert Maxwell.
Plus, the perils of being a PhD student at the moment, and women walking through history
Leading Australian strategist Alan Dupont and space law specialist Dr Cassandra Steer argue that Australia has the potential to be a much bigger player in the new space age, but at the moment we’re being left behind.
RenewEconomy's Giles Parkinson and CSIRO Principal Research Scientist Dr Adam Best join us to discuss the latest in batteries - big and small; then former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk on diplomacy, political developments in Israel and Palestine, and the 'master of the game' - US diplomat Henry Kissinger; And, Alex Oliver director of research at the Lowy Institute and Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Crawford School of Public Policy give us their pick of books, shows, podcasts and music this month.
Two Republicans who walked away from their party, despite illustrious careers within it, speak out about the failure of the GOP to snap back to its pre-Trump position, the continued rise of far-right firebrands as moderates lose traction, and what this means about the trajectory of the Republican Party and American democracy as we know it.
Australian manufacturing has been steadily declining, but there are renewed efforts to 'make Australia make again'. Sue Boyd on her career as a successful diplomat, and her struggle for equal opportunity in Canberra. And author Tom Vanderbilt rediscovers the joy of learning new skills and debunks the myth that 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'.
Militaristic rhetoric about 'drums of war', regarding China, raises questions about what can be achieved with that sort of language, and what's brought it on. Does it strengthen our position with China, or create a whole new set of problems.
Journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Freedland on the possibility that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister for the last 12 years, is about to lose his post.
India has spent decades reinventing itself as a rising superpower in the world, but as the Modi government is facing increasing criticism over its handling of a deadly second wave of COVID-19 that is seeing hundreds dying every hour, and record breaking case numbers - where does this crisis leave India's international reputation?
There are big political shifts happening in Europe that go to heart of national identity, and have been somewhat obscured by the pandemic. Our international panel discusses the changes happening in Germany ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's departure, whether Emmanuel Macron is moving further to the right, and an anti-immigrant push that's gathered renewed momentum in Denmark.
The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has stated that there was a surge of US five trillion dollars in the wealth of the world’s richest in this past year. Most of that comes from large corporations, and some of those corporations, pay minimal tax thanks to various loopholes and tax havens. The OECD has been working on an international tax project and it just received the thumbs up from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who said they were behind a minimum corporate global tax.
The Australian Government's decision to not use the AstraZeneca job on most Australians under 50 because of a likely link to a small risk of blood clots raises broader questions about how we ought to think about medical risk, and the factors that can affect or influence our ability to make rational decisions when it comes to our health.
The story of the Sassoons and the Kadoories, two Baghdadi Jewish families that established rival dynasties in Shanghai but came together in the 1930s to help European Jews fleeing the Nazis. By this time, the Sassoons had lived in Shanghai for a century, the Kadoories arriving in the 1890s, and both had amassed huge fortunes, owning vast swathes of real estate and were on boards of the city’s council and its most important companies. So how did they survive with the establishment of the Communist Party of China? A fascinating part of the story of modern China.
Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick has served as Deputy Secretary of State, US Trade Representative and President of the World Bank. In his new book America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy he looks at the twists and turns of American foreign policy since its inception, and the lessons that the past might hold for the US and its allies today.
The statistics of how many victims even report sexual abuse, let alone get a conviction in the courts, are depressingly low. But how to improve the system? The Victorian Law Reform Commission is currently reviewing the process and will make its recommendations to the Victorian A-G in August, but there are other examples both in Australia and overseas that we can look to in order to give victims a supported space to tell their stories as well as making structural changes to institutions.
Twenty years after its humble beginnings, Wikipedia has become an indispensable tool. In a world of misinformation, it has been described as the ‘last bastion of idealism’ on the Internet. How did Wikipedia come to realise such unlikely success, and what are the challenges it faces as it enters the next phase of its life?
Since the Menzies era, home ownership has been the cornerstone of the ‘Australian dream', but for many it’s becoming just that – a dream. It’s a social issue, but also an economic one, so how can we bring housing back to the centre of economic policy-making, particularly at a federal level?
By all accounts, it appears that the Australian economy is coming out of the pandemic fallout earlier than expected and stronger. Most corporations have been reporting strong profits, commodities such as copper and nickel are priced at a ten year high, there's a bumper crop of wheat with again, strong global prices, household debt has been reduced whilst savings have increased. However, caution is prudent. Some fiscal measures are being removed or reduced, the global economy still has a long way to go and if anything the last twelve months has taught us, we need to be prepared for the unexpected.
A royal commission into aged care and a review on Australia's retirement income have in various ways showed where efficiencies are required. One recommendation from the Australian Council of Social Services is to make superannuation more equitable by taxing earnings after retirement to help pay for aged care services. CEO of ACOSS Cassandra Goldie explains.
The rising power of the online world, from Facebook to Reddit to Google, is disrupting established institutions – the stock market (Gamestop) and the media (news distribution). We look at the political responses and whether regulators can keep up.
The new Biden administration, Putin versus Navalny, Modi versus Indian farmers - Geraldine canvasses opinion on all the international news that's fit to print.
The fall of the Berlin Wall was supposed to signal the triumph of liberal democracy over tyranny in Central and Eastern Europe. But this has been a failed promise, and now we're seeing the backlash.
We’ve all heard in passing about Aboriginal people being used as trackers to assist early settlers in Australia, to find their way in this vast continent, or to find someone. But what is perhaps not know widely is the opportunity those traditional skills of tracking gave to Aboriginal men and women during colonial days, to use those skills to adapt and survive in a new world by being attached to police stations across the country.
For decades we have built an economy out of digging things out of the ground and selling them overseas. It's brought us wealth, but as we look to the future, it could become a curse.
WW2 caused enormous shifts in Australia's sense of itself and its place in the world Three guests, David Malouf, Julianne Schultz and Frank Bongiorno reflect on the changes - big and small - which shaped our political, economic and social fabric for the next few decades.
Tom Holland argues that many of the things we hold to be self-evident in terms of human rights and values — for example, gender equality, our solidarity with the weak against the strong, the displacement of religious law by the law of love — derive from the teachings of Christ.
GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) is less famous than its siblings, MI5 and MI6 but this cyber intelligence agency is at the centre of Britain’s security makeover. A timely new book looks at the agency’s past which includes code cracking in WW2 – and its future.
Twenty years ago there was no iphone, no Facebook, no Twitter and Google was just getting started. Since then the rapid developments in technology have thrown the media industry into chaos, upsetting orthodoxies about content, delivery, audiences and value judgements. Even now the consequences are hard to grasp.
In a recent book review in the Times Literary Supplement, Rory Stewart, former UK Conservative Minister and colleague of Boris Johnson, criticised him as an 'amoral figure'. He wrote: 'Unless we begin to repair our political institutions and nurture a society that places more emphasis on personal and political virtue, we will have more to fear than Boris Johnson.’
Suddenly there’s a lot happening on the renewable energy front. Victoria announced a giant new battery. NSW announced a major renewables plan. Then businessman Andrew Forrest announced his Fortescue Metals Group would become a huge energy company – one of the biggest in the world - focussing on renewables. It seems state governments of both political persuasions, and the private sector, are deciding not to wait for a national plan.
In a year like no other, there is an election like no other. Journalist and author Anne Summers takes the temperature of the US as it counts down to voting day.
An unpopular king, an unaccountable military government and too many rules about what to wear, how to bow and when to speak have left a new generation of Thais feeling short-changed. They're taking their dissatisfaction to the streets.
As Australia negotiates a rapidly changing political environment there is grand talk about co-operation and friendships, but the reality doesn't always live up to the hype as a new issue of Australian Foreign Affairs documents.
A brief assessment of the implications of President Trump's announcement that he, and his wife Melania, have coronavirus.
When Nicholas Kristof was growing up in the town of Yamhill, Oregon, his neighbours had their struggles, but they all shared a sense of optimism about the the future. Now a quarter of the kids he caiught the school bus with are dead - from bad personal choices, and from the failures of institutions meant to help them. It's a picture that's repeated across communities in the US. How, and when, did things go so badly wrong?
The resignation of top executives at Rio Tinto is the logical end of a series of governance missteps.
Rio Tinto’s destruction of two culturally and historically significant rock shelters in Juukun Gorge in the Pilbara, in May, shocked the nation. One of the reasons it happened is that WA legislation permitted it. This week, a long awaited amendment to that legislation – which was being worked on at the time of that cave blast – has been released for discussion. Can it prevent another Juukun disaster?
An update on the unfolding crisis in Russia: the apparent poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. As we go to air, Russian doctors have permitted a German airlift of Navalny. We look at the possible political contexts for this attack.
When war was declared against Japan on the 8th December 1941, Prime Minster John Curtin realised this was a new war in the Pacific. Military historian Peter Stanley outlines what he sees as the three key turning points of the Pacific War, not just in terms of the battles, but what it meant and still does, to Australia.
A preview of a United States Studies Centre publication coming out next week, forecasting what direction the US might take under a Biden Government, and what that might mean for Australia.
Last week we discussed the global plight of the estimated 300,000 stranded merchant seamen, who are unable to go ashore because of the coronavirus pandemic. There are hundreds in Australian waters at any one time.
The ABC and Nine have uncovered stories of operations gone badly amiss in Afghanistan, including allegations of murder of Afghani men and boys. What went wrong?
Mike Pezzullo has been in the business of bureaucracy for over thirty years and during that time he has sat down with a range of Prime Ministers and cabinet ministers. He is currently the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs. He discusses with Geraldine Doogue about Australia's national security.
In May the WHO warned that mental health must be at the centre of any pandemic recovery plan. Australia is responding with a national plan for mental health and wellbeing but some say its not nearly enough.
In the 2007/2008 financial crisis, Australian philanthropy pulled back, citing lack of funds.
The closure of hundreds of small suburban and community papers has left a hole in civic life. But it's not all gloom and doom - entrepreneurial journalists and publishers are forging a new model - even if its from their dining room table.
Universities are facing huge challenges, but perhaps it was already time the sector looked at structural reform. Stephen Parker argues that maybe the golden age of university growth has passed, or at least plateaued. The pandemic may simply have brought forward the future.
The coronavirus pandemic is giving mainstream journalism a chance to rebuild trust and support, according to the former editor in chief of The Guardian.
The call by the Australian government for an independent inquiry into China's handling of the initial outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the city of Wuhan has caused some controversy between the two countries. Do we need to be concerned and if so, how does the Australian government proceed with China and what are the risks involved?
Even as universities scramble to stay alive, there is no lifeline from the government. What's gone wrong?
Some pundits say capitalism can never recover from Covid-19, and there will need to be bigger government. Others say the future economic recovery rests with the business sector.
Guests:
Adam Tooze Historian of economic crises Professor of History and Director of the European Institute at Columbia University
Rana Foroohar Global economic analyst with CNN, and global business columnist with The Financial Times Percy Allan Economist, and former Secretary of NSW Treasury Public sector advisor Professor at the Institute of Public Policy and Management, UTS
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The global pandemic has been revealing in many ways in how people, countries and governments manage the situation. But what is it saying about the two major superpowers, the US and China? And where does that leave Australia, a question which has been on the minds of foreign policy experts for some time; now many of them feel its time has come.
Guests:
John Prideux, US editor The Economist and host of the podcast, Checks and Balance.
Richard McGregor, senior fellow at the Lowy Institute, author of numerous books on East Asia, his latest is Xi Jinping; The Backlash
Allan Gyngell, National president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and host of podcast Australia in the World.
In the last few years, the renewable industry has been going from strength to strength. However 2020 might see that end. So what needs to be done to sustain the industry and protect Australia's electricity prices from the whims of the oil controllers?
The EU has 'Europeanised' regulations around everything from phone privacy to food safety - and this, the 'Brussels effect' is the source of its real and often under-estimated power.
Australian lives and livelihoods now depend on the ability of Australia's public service to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For months now France has been trialling a new form of democracy - bringing citizens together to think about ways forward on climate change policy. Could citizen councils be the future?
All the news looks bad - but are we worrying needlessly about our economy, our health system and our institutions?
Have you wondered what happens to all that stuff you sent to the charity shop? Author Adam Minter did more than wonder, he started following the trail of second hand clothing and electronics - and discovered a hidden, global economy.