Dads on the Air: Recent Episodes
Dads on the Air | CRN | dadsontheair.com.au
The world's longest running radio program on fathers' issues | Australia’s leading radio program for fathers | 9 - 9:30am Thursdays | CRN
With special guest:
- Dr Sara Webb… in conversation with Bill Kable
The title of this program may look as though it will make us doom struck or at least a little gloomy but strangely it does not. This might have something to do with our guest who is so bright and cheery talking about these biggest of the biggest of issues.
Dr Sara Webb has written The Little Book of Cosmic Catastrophes *(That Could End the World)*for a general audience who will be able to get a better understanding of where we have come from and where our Earth and humanity itself will go.
Today we talk about what has happened in the distant past, in fact when time began. An amazing number of things had to go just right for the universe as we know it to exist. This goes back to the laws of physics as explored in the recent past by Albert Einstein. Who knew that if the forces between the atomic particles were different, the matter of which we are made simply would not have formed?
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Paul Ham… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our topics do not come much bigger or more interesting than The Soul: A History of the Human Mind written by our guest today Paul Ham. Certain ideas come to mind when we mention the word “Soul”. Are we talking about soul music or the definition in the catechism or maybe the soul of America which was said to be lost during the Vietnam war?
Paul tells us that the soul can mean all of these things and more. Paul has tackled a topic which is huge in breadth and also extended over the millennia to the beginnings of civilisation. His discovery is that what humans first called the soul was originally thought to be a part of all of us. The soul survived the death of the body and then ventured to an underworld which might be Heaven or Hell. Some Christians believed at one stage that there was also a halfway house called Purgatory but that has disappeared in more recent beliefs. In fact the soul itself disappeared mysteriously during the period called the enlightenment until we arrive where we are today and scientists tell us that the mind is a creation of the brain.
In this book Paul Ham restores the idea of a soul to the human story but not as something that can be located as a separate organ or entity. Instead Paul shows us how belief in, and beliefs arising from the soul or mind, have animated and driven the history of our kind.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Robin Bowles… in conversation with Bill Kable
In the Northern Territory of Australia there have always been strange, spooky happenings. The disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio can be added to the list with so many fascinating elements and weird explanations offered.
This real life story has even resulted in a horror movie being produced with some clear references to what happened on that lonely road right in the centre of the Australian mainland in the middle of the night in July 2001.
What we do know is that after driving off at night with his girlfriend Joanne Lees in completely unknown and wild country Peter Falconio went missing and the only explanation we have is from that girlfriend whose behaviour was to say the least unusual.
After becoming interested in the case after a telephone call from a friend, Robin Bowles entered the scene and did her usual thorough research. This included more than 50 hours with the accused and interviewing many of the main players. We get a glimpse into a world of criminals, forensic experts, seedy drug underworlds, worldwide media networks and the realities of high profile, high stakes legal process.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Prof Ian Hickie AO… in conversation with Bill Kable
We often hear about the rise in the rate of depression and anxiety in our community. The stigma of poor mental health has been reduced significantly so that sports stars such as Greg Inglis can now go on television and discuss their personal battles with depression without fear of any repercussions.
But even when so many people are opening up about their mental health battles there are questions we are left with. These might include what can be done to improve mental health without lining up for perhaps a year to see a Psychiatrist? What are the signs to be wary about?
This is where Professor Ian Hickie enters the picture as we speak with him today. This new book A User’s Guide to the Mind is written along similar lines as a good health guide for our physical health. It is written with all ages in mind and can be dipped into for particular topics.
We often hear about good mental health. But what does that mean? From Ian’s answer we can readily see that this is not a set and forget condition. There are lots of helpful suggestions from the authors on how we can nurture and protect this precious asset.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Keenan Mundine… in conversation with Bill Kable
Dreamer, nothing but a dreamer. That might be where it started for our guest today Keenan Mundine after a beginning in life that really didn’t give him a chance.
But after Keenan had spent the first half of his life in the criminal justice system he came to a realisation. Keenan either had to change his ways or face up to spending his life behind bars. Fortunately for us and for Keenan he decided to make a worthwhile contribution to society. And so was born Deadly Connections where he is the co-founder along with his wife Carly.
Keenan established Deadly Connections over a year ago and the charity is officially recognised with DGR status meaning that any donations of $2 or more will bring a tax deduction.
So what is Deadly Connections? What does “deadly” mean anyway? You can be sure that in this context it does not mean life threatening. In Keenan’s community it means something very good. Keenan and Carly do their work by getting right into the community with several approved programs. They aim to get to the Koori kids at risk and turn them around before they become candidates for entering the criminal justice scene.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Jeff Apter… in conversation with Bill Kable
It is hard to discover who the real Lee Gordon was but Jeff Apter provides a whirlwind tour of this extraordinary life in his book Lee Gordon Presents. We know Lee Gordon arrived for the first time in Australia in September 1953. We know he left for the last time in 1963 before he died alone in a London hotel at the age (probably) of 40. Not much is certain about his real name, his date of birth and why this brash American decided on making Australia his home. But in the ten years he lived in Australia he revealed himself as a force of nature.
Lee Gordon must have been a charming personality. He prevailed upon a whole host of the most successful entertainers in America to make the long trip to Australia and perform in sometimes primitive venues such as the Sydney Stadium. Those entertainers who fell under his spell included Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and the list goes on.
At first Australian audiences were wary that the stars would not really be performing. They thought that when the time came they would be presented with a film or perhaps impersonators but when the stars kept coming Lee Gordon had some hugely successful tours.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Gabriel Weston… in conversation with Bill Kable
In her absorbing new book called ALIVE Doctor Gabriel Weston looks in admiration at the incredible work 11 organs of our body do to keep us alive. Gabriel tells us that if the space permitted she would have liked to examine at least another 14 organs but we do get to investigate the most interesting.
Somehow Gabriel manages to talk about body parts without making even the most squeamish feel uncomfortable. This is clear when the book begins with a post mortem description that is very detailed. Gabriel is also able to deal with the genitals in a very matter of fact way that generates more light than heat.
What comes out most strongly in ALIVE is the sense of wonder that Gabriel feels when describing what the organs of the body do. Gabriel first felt this as a child when she was likely to go towards an accident or medical emergency. The feeling grew when she was invited to attend a surgical procedure but seemed thwarted when her maths and science abilities were not up to the standard required for entry into medical studies.
So Gabriel studied the subject she was good at namely English literature. Luckily for all of us she found a way into medicine and found her true calling.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Gideon Blecher
in conversation with Bill Kable
This is a topic that is not often raised in polite company or even on talkback radio.
Many men would be reluctant to discuss testicular cancer even with their doctor. This is despite about 700 men being diagnosed in Australia every year, and in men aged 18-39 it is the second most common form of cancer.
In this program we go to an expert at Healthy Male (formerly Andrology Australia), Dr Gideon Blecher, to find out what we should know. And there is some good news to pass on. Gideon refers to Lance Armstrong who developed this form of cancer before his later Tour de France exploits. We are told that Armstrong is a great example to show that even when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body modern treatment can lead to a full recovery.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Billy Garvey
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today is Dr Billy Garvey who is an expert in a field where you do not get provided with a guide book. All parents know the feeling when following the birth of your child you are set free expecting to know how to raise this very complex small version of ourselves.
One of the first things Dr Billy tells us that it is quite normal not to immediately develop the bonding and attachment that we sometimes hear about. Using his own example with his two children we hear that it took some time for this to develop.
Ten things I wish you knew about your child’s mental health is there to help all of us who encounter difficulties with children of any age. This extends from having a baby that cries at night too much, right through to sullen teenagers. That includes most of us. Whatever the problem is it is most likely that it has been seen before in Dr Billy’s 20 years of practice and the advantage here is that you do not have to go into a long waiting line, sometimes years long, to get advice from the doctor.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Will Davies
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The battlefields of World War 1 are now mostly beautiful green fields with some still hiding bullets and ordinance from over 100 years ago. To fully appreciate the sacrifices made in the First World War by young Australians from “the Golden Generation” you have to know what you are looking at when you see these fields more than 100 years after the shots were fired. Our guest today Dr Will Davies can help visitors get the most out of a visit.
After hearing the stories from Will, names like Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Fromelles and Ypres will never seem the same. There are extraordinary monuments representing the countries that participated in the war to end all wars. These include the English, the American, the Canadian, even one from Newfoundland. And there is the Australian monument at Villers-Bretonneux.
There is a daily ceremony at Menin Gate rain hail or shine that should not be missed. And Will has developed his own ceremony on his tours involving gum leaves from home.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Marco Renai
… in conversation with Bill Kable
What comes across very clearly when we speak with Marco Renai is that he is a ball of energy.
After Marco left school he had a path available to him in his family’s catering business. HIs first solo business venture was to set up a gym where members could improve their physical condition and wellness under Marco’s guidance. This was Marco’s first attempt at interacting with the community but alas Covid 19 struck. When the members stopped coming, the business folded.
This is where Marco’s strong family background and personal experience in the field of education shaped what happened next. While Marco had struggled with the discipline and uncompromising system of education he always had his loving and supportive family to fall back on. But when he was asked to volunteer some mentoring to local youth in the Gold Coast region of Queensland he realised that for many young men this safety net was not available. Sure enough, for many of the young men dropping out of the education system led on to big trouble with society and the law.
Having recognised the problem, Marco set about doing something about it. Marco rounded up some 100 local businessmen for an Italian lunch and over a pasta or two came up with a plan to raise $1million to help these young men. Being a force of nature this daunting sum did not pose a problem.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Chrissie Foster
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is the story of how Chrissie Foster responded and refused to back down when confronted by an all-powerful secretive protected institution. Chrissie Foster’s family tragedies and the tepid response by the Catholic Church changed her from living a life of domestic harmony and peace in a totally unexpected way.
No doubt when the choice of schools had to be made for their daughters there were discussions between Chrissie and her husband Anthony. Because of Chrissie’s background being raised and educated in the Church they chose a Catholic primary school. Years later they discovered what their daughters had endured.
Chrissie tells us how two of her young daughters were sexually abused by a priest in the Catholic Church. This went against generations of religious faith in her family. Fortunately Chrissie’s family were prepared to join her and give all the support they could when the Church failed to respond. Chrissie’s mother had been a lifelong attendee at weekly Mass but she chose to give that practice up as a result.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Gregory Smith OAM
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Now well and truly out of the forest he described in his first book, Gregory Smith has produced his next book called Better than Happiness in which he lets us know how he has progressed in the five years since we heard from him last time.
Gregory’s life story is extraordinary and uplifting. Gregory had a type of epiphany when sitting on a park bench in 1999 when a stranger showed him some kindness. From there it has been one step at a time.
After being told so many times while he was growing up that he was stupid, he slowly began to realise that this was wrong. He found that he could learn more things than just how to survive day to day. In fact he achieved recognition in an academic field. Senior people were coming to him for advice.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Sean Turnell
… in conversation with Bill Kable
It is a special welcome to our guest today Sean Turnell. Sean survived for 650 days in Insein prison under the orders of the military Junta of Myanmar. In Sean’s book An Unlikely Prisoner we hear how this unarmed University Professor who weighs 50kg wringing wet became a dangerous prisoner to a foreign government needing armed escorts wherever he went.
We hear from Sean that he was summarily arrested in his hotel before being confined to a small cell he shared with an enormous rat. Nothing could prepare a person for this ordeal and Sean did not see it coming. Yet as you will hear in this interview Sean maintained his faith in humanity, his sense of humour and mostly his health.
Perhaps the worst aspect was the uncertainty. Sean first thought that he would not be a priority for the authorities, that he would be fairly swiftly deported. It seemed that detention for a month would be the likely horrible outcome. But as the months went by there seemed to be no progress. Was he ever going to be released?
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Brett Mason
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Most Australians have some knowledge of the turning point in the Pacific war when the fear of invasion lessened. Most of us know something of the heroic story of Lieutenant John F Kennedy or JFK as he became known. Brett Mason in his book Saving Lieutenant Kennedy fills in the gaps in this amazing and hugely consequential story. These events literally changed the history of the world because if JFK had not survived it is conceivable that nuclear conflict could have erupted in the years that followed.
The story happens to involve an Australian who was also heroic, namely Lieutenant Reg Evans of the RAN. Reg Evans operated behind enemy lines knowing that if they were to be betrayed he would certainly be tortured and killed. Evans relied on his Solomons Islands friends who faced the same threats in what they were doing.
Evans and JFK were two very different personalities brought together in August 1943 in a way that echoes the discovery of Dr Livingstone in the African jungle. JFK’s words on being discovered on an uninhabited island of the south Pacific? “Man, am I glad to see you!”
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Edward Kruk
in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Our guest today has produced a book of 167 pages, The Equal Parent Presumption: Social Justice in the Legal Determination of Parenting after Divorce, that should be required reading for everyone who works in the space of parenting after divorce; and that includes judges who routinely make sole parenting orders, psychologists who offer family therapy, and all the other institutions that influence family relationships.
The trouble really arises because although there is a mantra of acting “in the best interest of the child” this becomes a discretionary assessment by a judge who has no training in the area of child development or family dynamics and furthermore the Judge takes no interest in reviewing the outcome of the decision. Dr Kruk invites us to take the child’s position.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Billy Garvey
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today is Dr Billy Garvey who is an expert in a field where you do not get provided with a guide book. All parents know the feeling when following the birth of your child you are set free expecting to know how to raise this very complex small version of ourselves.
One of the first things Dr Billy tells us that it is quite normal not to immediately develop the bonding and attachment that we sometimes hear about. Using his own example with his two children we hear that it took some time for this to develop.
Ten things I wish you knew about your child’s mental health is there to help all of us who encounter difficulties with children of any age. This extends from having a baby that cries at night too much, right through to sullen teenagers. That includes most of us. Whatever the problem is it is most likely that it has been seen before in Dr Billy’s 20 years of practice and the advantage here is that you do not have to go into a long waiting line, sometimes years long, to get advice from the doctor.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Robin Bowles
… in conversation with Bill Kable
In the Northern Territory of Australia there have always been strange, spooky happenings. The disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio can be added to the list with so many fascinating elements and weird explanations offered.
This real life story has even resulted in a horror movie being produced with some clear references to what happened on that lonely road right in the centre of the Australian mainland in the middle of the night in July 2001.
What we do know is that after driving off at night with his girlfriend Joanne Lees in completely unknown and wild country Peter Falconio went missing and the only explanation we have is from that girlfriend whose behaviour was to say the least unusual.
After becoming interested in the case after a telephone call from a friend, Robin Bowles entered the scene and did her usual thorough research. This included more than 50 hours with the accused and interviewing many of the main players. We get a glimpse into a world of criminals, forensic experts, seedy drug underworlds, worldwide media networks and the realities of high profile, high stakes legal process.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Tim Baker
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Patting the shark? This does not seem to be a good life lesson but when we hear Tim Baker explain the title it all makes sense.
Surfers such as Mick Fanning have had to confront their mortality. Mick is an old friend of Tim’s and he faced a shark in front of the world’s cameras. Many of us saw him swimming next to a man eating shark in the shark’s own territory. Tim Baker has had to face a different type of mortal threat, namely a diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer. We do not know how we would react if confronted with this situation but Tim’s new book Patting the Shark takes us right into that world and he gives us a no holds barred account of what it is really like.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Prof Ian Hickie AO
… in conversation with Bill Kable
We often hear about the rise in the rate of depression and anxiety in our community. The stigma of poor mental health has been reduced significantly so that sports stars such as Greg Inglis can now go on television and discuss their personal battles with depression without fear of any repercussions.
But even when so many people are opening up about their mental health battles there are questions we are left with. These might include what can be done to improve mental health without lining up for perhaps a year to see a Psychiatrist? What are the signs to be wary about?
This is where Professor Ian Hickie enters the picture as we speak with him today. This new book A User’s Guide to the Mind is written along similar lines as a good health guide for our physical health. It is written with all ages in mind and can be dipped into for particular topics.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- William McInnes
… in conversation with Bill Kable
In today’s program we go behind the public face of William McInnes. We do not speak to Max Connors from SeaChange, we speak to William McInnes the Dad from Queensland about his real life love of being a father to his son and daughter.
We get to hear lots of stories as included in William’s new book Fatherhood: Stories about being A Dad. As William tells us, being a Dad is a serious business but it is at the same time a funny, heart-warming and at times scary experience.
This is a Father’s Day special that will bring back many memories for all sorts of Dads and for the children and grandchildren of Dads. There are tales here that sound just like a friendly chat over the back fence, or at a backyard BBQ.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Will Davies
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The battlefields of World War 1 are now mostly beautiful green fields with some still hiding bullets and ordinance from over 100 years ago. To fully appreciate the sacrifices made in the First World War by young Australians from “the Golden Generation” you have to know what you are looking at when you see these fields more than 100 years after the shots were fired. Our guest today Dr Will Davies can help visitors get the most out of a visit.
After hearing the stories from Will, names like Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Fromelles and Ypres will never seem the same. There are extraordinary monuments representing the countries that participated in the war to end all wars. These include the English, the American, the Canadian, even one from Newfoundland. And there is the Australian monument at Villers-Bretonneux.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Marco Renai
… in conversation with Bill Kable
What comes across very clearly when we speak with Marco Renai is that he is a ball of energy.
After Marco left school he had a path available to him in his family’s catering business. HIs first solo business venture was to set up a gym where members could improve their physical condition and wellness under Marco’s guidance. This was Marco’s first attempt at interacting with the community but alas Covid 19 struck. When the members stopped coming, the business folded.
This is where Marco’s strong family background and personal experience in the field of education shaped what happened next. While Marco had struggled with the discipline and uncompromising system of education he always had his loving and supportive family to fall back on. But when he was asked to volunteer some mentoring to local youth in the Gold Coast region of Queensland he realised that for many young men this safety net was not available. Sure enough, for many of the young men dropping out of the education system led on to big trouble with society and the law.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
It is hard to discover who the real Lee Gordon was but Jeff Apter provides a whirlwind tour of this extraordinary life in his new book Lee Gordon Presents. We know Lee Gordon arrived for the first time in Australia in September 1953. We know he left for the last time in 1963 before he died alone in a London hotel at the age (probably) of 40. Not much is certain about his real name, his date of birth and why this brash American decided on making Australia his home. But in the ten years he lived in Australia he revealed himself as a force of nature.
Lee Gordon must have been a charming personality. He prevailed upon a whole host of the most successful entertainers in America to make the long trip to Australia and perform in sometimes primitive venues such as the Sydney Stadium. Those entertainers who fell under his spell included Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and the list goes on.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Chrissie Foster
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is the story of how Chrissie Foster responded and refused to back down when confronted by an all-powerful secretive protected institution. Chrissie Foster’s family tragedies and the tepid response by the Catholic Church changed her from living a life of domestic harmony and peace in a totally unexpected way.
No doubt when the choice of schools had to be made for their daughters there were discussions between Chrissie and her husband Anthony. Because of Chrissie’s background being raised and educated in the Church they chose a Catholic primary school. Years later they discovered what their daughters had endured.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Gregory Smith OAM
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Now well and truly out of the forest he described in his first book, Gregory Smith has produced a new book called Better than Happiness in which he lets us know how he has progressed in the five years since we heard from him last time.
Gregory’s life story is extraordinary and uplifting. Gregory had a type of epiphany when sitting on a park bench in 1999 when a stranger showed him some kindness. From there it has been one step at a time.
After being told so many times while he was growing up that he was stupid, he slowly began to realise that this was wrong. He found that he could learn more things than just how to survive day to day. In fact he achieved recognition in an academic field. Senior people were coming to him for advice.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Sean Turnell
… in conversation with Bill Kable
It is a special welcome to our guest today Sean Turnell. Sean survived for 650 days in Insein prison under the orders of the military Junta of Myanmar. In Sean’s new book An Unlikely Prisoner we hear how this unarmed University Professor who weighs 50kg wringing wet became a dangerous prisoner to a foreign government needing armed escorts wherever he went.
We hear from Sean that he was summarily arrested in his hotel before being confined to a small cell he shared with an enormous rat. Nothing could prepare a person for this ordeal and Sean did not see it coming. Yet as you will hear in this interview Sean maintained his faith in humanity, his sense of humour and mostly his health.
Perhaps the worst aspect was the uncertainty. Sean first thought that he would not be a priority for the authorities, that he would be fairly swiftly deported. It seemed that detention for a month would be the likely horrible outcome. But as the months went by there seemed to be no progress. Was he ever going to be released?
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Brett Mason
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Most Australians have some knowledge of the turning point in the Pacific war when the fear of invasion lessened. Most of us know something of the heroic story of Lieutenant John F Kennedy or JFK as he became known. Brett Mason in his book Saving Lieutenant Kennedy fills in the gaps in this amazing and hugely consequential story. These events literally changed the history of the world because if JFK had not survived it is conceivable that nuclear conflict could have erupted in the years that followed.
The story happens to involve an Australian who was also heroic, namely Lieutenant Reg Evans of the RAN. Reg Evans operated behind enemy lines knowing that if they were to be betrayed he would certainly be tortured and killed. Evans relied on his Solomons Islands friends who faced the same threats in what they were doing.
Evans and JFK were two very different personalities brought together in August 1943 in a way that echoes the discovery of Dr Livingstone in the African jungle. JFK’s words on being discovered on an uninhabited island of the south Pacific? “Man, am I glad to see you!”
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Keenan Mundine
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Dreamer, nothing but a dreamer. That might be where it started for our guest today Keenan Mundine after a beginning in life that really didn’t give him a chance.
But after Keenan had spent the first half of his life in the criminal justice system he came to a realisation. Keenan either had to change his ways or face up to spending his life behind bars. Fortunately for us and for Keenan he decided to make a worthwhile contribution to society. And so was born Deadly Connections where he is the co-founder along with his wife Carly.
Keenan established Deadly Connections over a year ago and the charity is officially recognised with DGR status meaning that any donations of $2 or more will bring a tax deduction.
So what is Deadly Connections? What does “deadly” mean anyway? You can be sure that in this context it does not mean life threatening. In Keenan’s community it means something very good. Keenan and Carly do their work by getting right into the community with several approved programs. They aim to get to the Koori kids at risk and turn them around before they become candidates for entering the criminal justice scene.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Jai Hobbs
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Covid 19 is just one more hurdle for our young people coming out of school. They already have to face up to serious competition to progress in a chosen career. If they can get through University they face a HECS debt and what about the housing market.
Our guest today Jai Hobbs decided to do something practical to help the young people get on top of all that. With his wife Marlies, Jai has written a manual called FLY which stands for financially literate youth. This is what he is striving for.
Unfortunately financial literacy is not taught at school and surveys have shown that the level of financial literacy in our youth is appallingly low. So first of all we ask Jai what does he mean by the term financial literacy, what are the essentials?
Jai tells us that financial literacy is a skill and like other skills it can be learned. It can be learned from a very young age when kids of say 9 or 10 can become good money managers and then they retain that skill for the rest of their lives.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Simon Jarvis
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Who says men need help in today’s society?
Our guest today would answer by pointing to the shockingly high rate of male suicide with 7 out of 10 victims being male. Yet at a time like this it is hard to gain financial support for male issues because of the focus on other worthy causes. This is where Mentoring Men can make a difference and where Chief Executive Officer Simon Jarvis can build on the work by his predecessor and founder of the movement, Ian Westmoreland, a guest on Dads on the Air in November 2019.
Simon tells us that Mentoring Men is not a crisis centre. This is not for men who have gone over the edge in one way or another. The group aims to get in early with men who just need a non-judgemental ear, someone who may have experienced all this before and who might have a few tips to pass on.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Dr Will Davies
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Surprisingly little has been written about the last 100 days of World War 1.
This is the time when the Australian Imperial Force had some of their greatest victories. It was also the time when Adolf Hitler was wounded in battle before coming to the unshakeable conclusion that Germany had been betrayed in agreeing to sue for peace.
This imbalance in the accounts of the conflict has been addressed by Will Davies in his new book The Last 100 Days: The Australian Road to Victory in the First World War. In his book Will reveals why he has been described as being more than an historian because he has the rare gift of being a story weaver. As with his other books on the events of World War One this story will remain etched in your memory.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Lorin Clarke
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The mere mention of John Clarke’s name brings a smile to the faces of Australians and New Zealanders in particular.
The much loved actor/writer/comedian died suddenly on 9 April 2017 but his memory lives on. Now with the new book Would that be funny? John Clarke’s daughter Lorin Clarke ensures that we learn some more about the man we all feel we grew up with. Lorin really did grow up with him and she has a unique insight into the man who appeared so often on our radios and televisions.
John had an unlikely start into becoming an icon. He started two University courses that he did not finish and at that point had no idea what he was going to do in life. So he travelled to London as young people did and found himself with a key part in one of our favourite movies. When The Adventures of Barry McKenzie was being cast in London he played a stereotypical Aussie abroad. Most importantly he met in London his future wife Helen. “Picked her out of thousands” he liked to say.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Brendan Watkins
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The title of this book Tell No One has an ominous ring to it. We can imagine sex offenders threatening their victims should the story ever get out. As Brendan discovered there may also be another reason for this instruction involving a power imbalance.
Brendan knew at a young age that he had been adopted but when he started looking for his biological parents he did not know if his conception may have resulted from a sexual offence or young love or something else. One thing that kept driving Brendan was his desire to know the truth wherever that may lead.
The first part of his story was surprising. His mother had been 27 when Brendan was born so she was not the teenager in trouble who adopts out her child under pressure from her family. Then the shock of finding out that his mother had been a nun, a bride of Christ. Having made this discovery Brendan was mightily disappointed when the Catholic agency acting as intermediary advised that his mother said they must never meet.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guest:
- Megan Hunter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Megan Hunter is the co-author with Andrea Larochelle of the book The High-Conflict Co-Parenting Survival Guide with the sub-title Reclaim Your Life One Week at a Time.
Perhaps this book would not be necessary if everyone followed the recommendations contained in Megan’s earlier book Dating Radar: Why Your Brain Says Yes to “The One” Who Will Make Your Life Hell. However as Megan writes in Week 1 you cannot unconsciously or consciously rewrite history in an attempt to save yourself (and your kids) from the present circumstance. It is what it is.
If you have to deal with a high-conflict co-parent then best to find out what Megan has to say based on her expertise in this area and many years of experience. When a marriage breaks up it is not just the Courts that the parent has to worry about. All of a sudden you cannot have an expectation of seeing your children if the other parent becomes high conflict. You may not even be sure of having a roof over your head. Bad things come in threes so you might also find yourself looking for a job at the same time as Child Support start making unreasonable claims because they deem you are choosing not to be looking after your children. You might for the first time suspect that what the high conflict co-parent is saying about your sanity is right.
Yet your aim may be as simple as wanting to feel the way you did before the breakup. This is when Megan’s advice to reclaim your life comes into play. This book is a roadmap. One day at a time you get to build on a secure foundation for your very different future life.
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With special guest:
- Dr Susie O’Brien
… in conversation with Bill Kable
There is a toasted sandwich in the cover picture of her book and that leads our guest Dr Susie O’Brien to tell us that a toasted sandwich is a quite acceptable dinner alternative. This is the world of Susie O’Brien where parents can escape all that guilt about not being the best parent in the world and just start enjoying their children.
In Susie O’Brien’s new book The Secret of Half-Arsed Parenting we get an insight that is fun. It is also comforting to know that the conclusions are drawn from research all around the world. And most parents will find sections where they have to say to themselves ‘No doubt about it, that resembles me.’
We all have some idea of the message conveyed in the title but it does not mean doing a bad job. It really means protecting our offspring from bullies and head lice but not from boredom and hunger between meals.
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With special guest:
- Gordon Bray AM
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today is part of a select group of legends. Peter FitzSimons has described Gordon Bray as ‘more than a sporting icon’, Gordon is no less than ‘the soundtrack of our sporting lives’.
The Voice of Rugby joins us today after a career of over 50 years describing major sporting events on a variety of radio and TV stations. And yet despite being front and centre for all that time we do not know so much about Gordon himself.
Gordon tells us of his difficult upbringing after his father died when he was only 9 years old. As one of four children Gordon did his best to ease the burden for his mother who was left to provide for them with the significant assistance of Legacy. The story then is that Gordon made the most of every opportunity that came his way and he has some amazing stories to tell us now as he looks back on that fabled career.
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With special guest:
- Elly Robinson
… in conversation with Bill Kable
All parents realise on leaving the maternity ward that there is no manual that comes from the hospital with instructions for a new baby. The parents just strap themselves in for the rapid growth and development of this new and totally dependent child.
Ten years later with the coming of adolescence there is another period of risky growth and development. The age group from 10 to 19 calls upon a whole new skill set to deal with challenges some of which are familiar and some that are new to this century.
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With special guest:
- Dr Gregory Smith
… in conversation with Bill Kable
When asked if he sometimes pinches himself and wonders if all that has gone before is true, Gregory Smith says not sometimes but all the time. Our guest today has a truly amazing story that should encourage all of us.
After a traumatic childhood Gregory was always trying to escape from his surroundings and became something of an escape artist. Except that he did not escape and his efforts just led to painful encounters with the country Police of NSW.
When his mother deceived him and left him at an orphanage in Armidale he spent 19 months experiencing institutional abuse. To make matters worse he was thinking all the time that his sisters were enduring something similar at the same institution after they were separated from him by the nuns on arrival.
Following these experiences Gregory understandably would not trust adults. Having left school at the age of 14 and not being trained in anything useful Gregory found himself homeless, friendless and frequently jobless. It was only when he followed a road that led off the highway near Mullumbimby in northern NSW that he finally found peace in the isolation and tranquillity of a rainforest.
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With special guest:
- Gerry Georgatos
… in conversation with Bill Kable
We are honoured today to have as our special guest a social warrior, Gerry Georgatos. Gerry is the founder of the National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project (the Project) set up in 2019. His colleague Megan Krakouer appeared on The Drum to talk about the work Gerry and she are doing with young Aboriginal offenders in Western Australian prisons. Footage has emerged of young children being hog-tied by prison guards and Megan spoke of the need for help.
Gerry Georgatos has remained constant as a social justice and human rights campaigner. His social justice and human rights campaigns began at an early age, from 11 years of age. From that young age he would represent workers of migrant Greek backgrounds, victims of asbestosis – mesothelioma – who struggled with the English language.
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With special guest:
- Paul Ham
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our topics do not come much bigger or more interesting than The Soul: A History of the Human Mind written by our guest today Paul Ham. Certain ideas come to mind when we mention the word “Soul”. Are we talking about soul music or the definition in the catechism or maybe the soul of America which was said to be lost during the Vietnam war?
Paul tells us that the soul can mean all of these things and more. Paul has tackled a topic which is huge in breadth and also extended over the millennia to the beginnings of civilisation. His discovery is that what humans first called the soul was originally thought to be a part of all of us. The soul survived the death of the body and then ventured to an underworld which might be Heaven or Hell. Some Christians believed at one stage that there was also a halfway house called Purgatory but that has disappeared in more recent beliefs. In fact the soul itself disappeared mysteriously during the period called the enlightenment until we arrive where we are today and scientists tell us that the mind is a creation of the brain.
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With special guest:
- Luke Benedictus
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Professor Richard Fletcher says it’s the most exciting time in history to be a dad. But there is an old problem of where does that modern dad get his riding instructions.
Our guest today is Luke Benedictus who like so many others was faced with this problem. So Luke got together with two mates, Jeremy Macvean and Andrew McUtchen, to set up The Fatherhood, a new destination for modern dads.
The idea is for dads to be able to draw from each other’s’ experiences in the way that mothers have done through the ages. The Father Hood is seen as something like a neighbourhood except that the dads do not have to live in close proximity. Dads all over the world and in wildly different occupations and circumstances have a lot in common that the dads can now explore. So there is a website www.the-father-hood.com and the usual social media sites on Facebook and Twitter. Now there is a book called The Father Hood: Inspiration for the New Dad Generation.
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With special guest:
• Raymond Hawkins
… in conversation with Bill Kable
There is a word for the special mystical feeling we get when we look at the stars in the heavens or listen to some ethereal music and that word is “numinous”. Unfortunately numinous is not a word most of us get to use very often but our guest today experiences this feeling frequently through his tours to remote locations and he tells us all about it.
Our guest is Ray Hawkins and he organises singing tours to some of the most significant locations in the history of this country. Ray draws on his experiences to thrill us all in this program with his vivid descriptions of these communal journeys to the very heart of Australia with Blue Swan Events (formerly known as Sound Tracks Travel).
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With special guest:
- Wil Patterson
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Mr Ordinary Goes to Jail is really a story about choices.
Some choices we hope we will never have to make. Once made they have significant consequences. Wil Paterson found himself facing temptation at a time when he had financial pressures at home and he made a fateful choice.
Wil was at work on an ordinary day. Part of his job was that he was expected to cancel his employer’s cheques when the payee had not been located.
But on this day a returned cheque for $5000 made out in his own name came across his desk and instead of cancelling it Wil decided after a few days to deposit in his own bank account. If it happened that once it could happen again and again until in the end $300,000 had been taken. When Wil was caught, the feeling strangely enough was relief even though he knew it would be the end of his life as he had known it.
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With special guest:
- Dr Craig Emerson
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is a rare opportunity. We do not often hear a successful politician being hailed for giving a shockingly personal honest and compelling reflection with brilliant insights. Our guest today is Craig Emerson who opens up about his rollercoaster ride from Baradine a small town in north western NSW to the corridors of power in Canberra.
In his book The Boy from Baradine we follow Craig on his journey. We hear how we are all shaped by our upbringing but this does not mean that we are imprisoned by it. Craig and his brother Lance were subjected to random acts of physical and mental cruelty from their mother and a father who was unable to help while he battled his own demons.
Yet from this unpromising start in life Craig was able to benefit from a good education. By a combination of hard work and some good fortune along the way Craig found himself advising the Prime Minister and bravely standing up for what he thought was right even when under pressure.
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With special guest:
- Dr Hugh Mackay AO
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is a rare chance to peek inside a Psychotherapist’s office.
Hugh Mackay has a wealth of experience to draw on after so many years working in the community as a social psychologist surveying what we think of ourselves and our issues. After listening intently to so many people’s stories he has distilled for us some fascinating characters facing some modern day challenges. There are therapists who have major personal issues, there are some moral issues to resolve and all this is before we get to the clients and the assistance they need.
The Therapist is very topical with Hugh telling us that a third of the qualified Psychologists in Australia have closed their books to new clients because of the overwhelming demand. Hugh believes that we all need to take some time out for serious reflection on our own life, our relationships, our dreams, the source of our happiness and disappointments, in fact, how are we doing in general.
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With special guest:
- Mark Tedeschi AM KC
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Mark Tedeschi has faced a number of cold blooded killers in Courtrooms and on many occasions has argued successfully that they should spend the rest of their days in prison. This is an enormous responsibility on behalf of the victims of these crimes but also of the whole community.
In writing his latest book Missing, Presumed Dead Mark’s aim was to let the community know what is involved in a complex and lengthy criminal case such as the murder prosecution of Bruce Burrell. We get a glimpse of the determination needed to bring the felon to justice.
Because our justice system makes it a priority to avoid imprisoning innocent people sometimes the guilty go free and that could have happened with Bruce Burrell. Along with this protection for guilty people sometimes innocent people face accusations and innuendo.
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With special guest:
- Tim Baker
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Patting the shark? This does not seem to be a good life lesson but when we hear Tim Baker explain the title it all makes sense.
Surfers such as Mick Fanning have had to confront their mortality. Mick is an old friend of Tim’s and he faced a shark in front of the world’s cameras. Many of us saw him swimming next to a man eating shark in the shark’s own territory. Tim Baker has had to face a different type of mortal threat, namely a diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer. We do not know how we would react if confronted with this situation but Tim’s new book Patting the Shark takes us right into that world and he gives us a no holds barred account of what it is really like.
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With special guest:
- Matthew Spencer
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Matthew Spencer decided to make a big change in his life after 20 successful years as a journalist.
The challenge he took on was not going to be easy and there were no guarantees. Matthew chose to enter the highly competitive field of writing a crime novel and as with a lot of ventures he needed a bit of luck along the way.
It can be a lonely path requiring in this case four years of working on his original idea. There were a lot of setbacks on this four year journey but Matthew had the good fortune of being able to engage with a professional editor who worked alongside him for most of that journey. Although tough on Matthew her criticisms were always constructive and there never was a time when she said the effort would go unrewarded. Finally all that hard work has paid off and Matthew is proud to unveil his first novel, Black River, which has already received some rave reviews from some of our most respected writers.
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With special guest:
- Joe Williams
… in conversation with Bill Kable
When his father presented his South Sydney first grade rugby league jersey to Joe Williams it was a special moment. When Joe went straight into the ranks of professional boxers without any need for an apprenticeship as an amateur it was another special moment. Off the sporting field Joe is an established speaker on the circuit in Australia and the USA. So what could possibly be wrong?
We learn in this fascinating discussion that behind all the achievements Joe was battling serious mental illness from a young age. There were inner voices crowding out his thoughts and trying to drag him down. Joe admits that these voices denied him the satisfaction of reaching his true sporting potential but he is now on a course that he sees as more important.
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With special guest:
- Madonna King
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The book by Madonna King L Platers is a fascinating sequel to her previous book Being 14.
Something happens to young girls between the ages of 14 and 18 and all parents need to get an insight as to what to expect and what to be concerned about.
We live in times where the word “unprecedented” has almost been worn out by over usage. But how else to describe these times when for the first time in history we are living through a worldwide pandemic? Covid 19 has limited the usual social interaction and forced many to start living a huge part of their lives online which creates its own problems. Not only is this unprecedented but it is happening when so many choices have to be made in comparison to simpler times. When a personal discussion is called for, parents are likely to be called to centre stage for many of these decisions.
The good news is that Madonna has for the purposes of this book interviewed over 1000 teenagers, parents, teachers and medical experts to find out what the effect of these times is on this age group and to make recommendations on what parents should be doing. And there are a few surprises along the way as we hear from Madonna.
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With special guest:
- Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our own Keith Urban is an enormous success in the biggest music market of all, the United States. Who knew? For some reason Keith Urban has never been really big or even acknowledged in Australia and today we get a few clues as to why that is so.
There is a lot more to Keith than the amiable coach we see in The Voice on Australian TV and our guest today can let us in on some surprises. In his new book Keith Urban our special guest Jeff Appter takes us from Keith’s birth in New Zealand to childhood days on the outskirts of Brisbane to being “discovered” while playing at the Bayview Hotel in Sydney and reaching the stage where he is asked to sing at the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. On top of that Keith has been married to Nicole Kidman since 2007 to add a bit of Hollywood glamour to his life.
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With special guest:
- Peter FitzSimons
… in conversation with Bill Kable
As well as being a 20th century marvel in its soaring design it remains a source of marvel that the Opera House was even conceived in the parochial, conservative backwater that was 1950s New South Wales.
One thing that was typical then and remains so is the Australian love for a gamble so it was a brainwave of the NSW government to think of financing the construction by way of a lottery. All of a sudden there were more than enough funds to do the work of construction.
But the bigger gamble was to construct a building like no other that would be on display at the heart of the city with techniques that had not been invented based on the imaginings and sparse drawings of a Danish architect who had never taken a building design through to completion.
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With special guest:
- Dr Norman Swan
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our health is such an important topic for all of us, maybe the most important.
But as our guest in today’s program Dr Norman Swan points out this sometimes leads to unnecessary worry about doing the right thing for ourselves. In fact the topic of what we should be worrying about is the one that comes up most often from his audiences. In his new book So You Think You Know What’s Good for You? Australia’s most trusted medical practitioner tells us what really is good for you and as a bonus what is bad for you.
Norman’s popularity over so many years is due to his ability to present the up to date research in a friendly non-technical manner, with even a dose of humour thrown in. All that comes out when we get to speak with him. What is more, Norman often illustrates points by drawing on his own experience which adds to the authenticity.
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With special guest:
- Dr Will Davies
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The battlefields of World War 1 are now mostly beautiful green fields with some still hiding bullets and ordinance from over 100 years ago. To fully appreciate the sacrifices made in the First World War by young Australians from “the Golden Generation” you have to know what you are looking at when you see these fields more than 100 years after the shots were fired. Our guest today Dr Will Davies can help visitors get the most out of a visit.
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With special guest:
- Chris Hammer
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is the first of Chris Hammer’s books to be set in the Australian outback.
There is a murder in a fictional opal mining town loosely based on Lightning Ridge in a far corner of NSW.
We go immediately to the gruesome murder scene. The early indications are that so-called “ratters” are involved and that is a story in itself as Chris explains to us what a ratter is in the context of small mining operations.
What a pleasure it is to get the latest book from Chris Hammer. Treasure and Dirt includes new characters each with a flaw that we discover just as the characters in the book do. We have to make a decision about which character we can trust.
Chris describes the town so well that we can almost taste the dust and feel the isolation. And there is the suspicion of opal fever throughout. When you throw in some big business shenanigans by rogue billionaires and even a religious cult there is plenty of action to follow as you get into this page turner.
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With special guest:
- Thomas Keneally AO
… in conversation with Bill Kable
A Bloody Good Rant you might expect from the title that this is going to contain some wild and extremist views.
However on the contrary except for some well-deserved and unapologetic criticism of one group of economists, you will not find in this book that sort of ranting and raving. It is instead Tom Keneally writing with intimacy and insight and an invitation to share his insight and humanity.
Tom Keneally has, on occasion, been branded as being “unAustralian”. Our guest is very much Australian, born in Homebush Sydney in 1935. Tom describes growing up with an ingrained primitive sense of being fortunate to live in Australia. The white society would frequently say it was the best country in the world while the outrageous treatment of Indigenous Australians and refugees was usually glossed over.
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With special guest:
- RWR (Rob) McDonald
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This story can stand alone. But if you have read the first book in the series, The Nancys, you will be even keener to see what happens in Rob McDonald’s new book Nancy Business.
For anyone who loves the British murder mysteries such as Frost, Inspector Linley, Taggart and all the others Nancy Business is a treat. But there are a few twists that you do not often find. The narrator and main character is a young girl in Otago a small town on the South Island of New Zealand whose father died about a year ago. Her name is Tippy Chan and with her uncle Pike and his boyfriend Devon they make a formidable team for solving a mysterious murder mystery.
This is a modern family story and the relationships are explored with all the black comedy and snappy dialogue we might hope for. Given that the author is himself in a “rainbow family” he has special insights and we explore with Rob some of how this type of family compares with other families.
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With special guest:
- Peter FitzSimons
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The title tells it all in the latest book by Peter FitzSimons whom we are excited to welcome back to Dads on the Air.
In The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins we hear about the life of a genuine Australian hero with so many adventures that a fraction of them would seem to fill the quota to qualify for that description. This man was decorated in World War 1 while not a combatant, described by another hero, Monash, as the bravest man he had ever had under his command, and yet few Australians had heard of him prior to the release of this book by our guest.
Any exploration of this anomaly could start with his name. Wilkins was known through most of his life as George but when he was prevailed upon to accept a knighthood he insisted on accepting the award as Sir Hubert, this being his middle name. The reason? The King’s name was George so this self-effacing man did not think it was appropriate to receive an award in the same name.
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With special guest:
- Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Bon Scott as his name might suggest was born in Scotland but after his parents signed up to be £10 Poms he arrived in Australia at the age of 6 to a new life. That short life was filled to the brim and Bon provided plenty of his own commentary on his wild adventures before and during his time with the world beating rock band AC/DC.
Our guest today is writer Jeff Apter the author of Bad Boy Boogie, a new book published by Allen & Unwin. Jeff is very familiar with the AC/DC story having previously written about other members of the band the Young brothers and original bass player Mark Evans. When we speak with Jeff again today we are able to go behind the scenes to find out how Bon fitted in so quickly and easily with the Young brothers in their closely guarded troupe. We find out more about the real Bon Scott, his wild side where a party could go on for days but also how many women who came into his orbit described his as a real gentleman.
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With special guest:
- Marco Renai
… in conversation with Bill Kable
What comes across very clearly when we speak with Marco Renai is that he is a ball of energy.
After Marco left school he had a path available to him in his family’s catering business. His first solo business venture was to set up a gym where members could improve their physical condition and wellness under Marco’s guidance. This was Marco’s first attempt at interacting with the community but alas Covid 19 struck. When the members stopped coming, the business folded.
This is where Marco’s strong family background and personal experience in the field of education shaped what happened next. While Marco had struggled with the discipline and uncompromising system of education he always had his loving and supportive family to fall back on. But when he was asked to volunteer some mentoring to local youth in the Gold Coast region of Queensland he realised that for many young men this safety net was not available. Sure enough, for many of the young men dropping out of the education system led on to big trouble with society and the law.
Having recognised the problem Marco set about doing something about it. Marco rounded up some 100 local businessmen for an Italian lunch and over a pasta or two came up with a plan to raise $1million to help these young men. Being a force of nature this daunting sum did not pose a problem.
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With special guest:
- David W Cameron
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Port Arthur is a beautiful setting for what our guest today describes as “misery of the deepest dye”.
In his book Convict-Era Port Arthur David Cameron takes us back to the days before it became a convict settlement, before its charms were viewed in a completely different light by the British newcomers.
Its advantages as a proposed convict settlement included that it was surrounded by wild impenetrable bush except for one narrow access route that was easily secured. The security at what became known as The Dog Line involved half-starved dogs that were waiting for any convicts trying to escape. You could not swim away from confinement but just in case food scraps were often scattered to keep the sharks interested.
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With special guest:
- Chrissie Foster
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is the story of how Chrissie Foster responded and refused to back down when confronted by an all-powerful secretive protected institution. Chrissie Foster’s family tragedies and the tepid response by the Catholic Church changed her from living a life of domestic harmony and peace in a totally unexpected way.
No doubt when the choice of schools had to be made for their daughters there were discussions between Chrissie and her husband Anthony. Because of Chrissie’s background being raised and educated in the Church they chose a Catholic primary school. Years later they discovered what their daughters had endured.
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With special guest:
- Hugh Mackay AO
… in conversation with Bill Kable
When we looked forward to 2021 we also looked back on the disaster of the national bushfires season of 2019/20. That changed us but we did not expect the floods and then the ongoing impact of Covid 19.
Our guest today is Hugh Mackay who has been listening to what the community thinks and says for over 60 years as the country’s pre-eminent social researcher. Hugh draws on this immense experience to see where the community is now and what comes next.
It may turn out that The Kindness Revolution is Hugh’s last non-fiction book to grace our book shelves so we should all listen up. In his usual articulate way Hugh sees that the horrors of 2020 and 2021 have in fact set the scene for a kindness revolution.
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With special guest:
- Sam Mac
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This show is not for anyone expecting to hear a TV weatherman in the mould of Alan Wilkie.
Sam Mac has forged a new role for himself in the Sunrise program where he goes around Australia looking for interesting people, interesting towns in fact anything that will give his morning viewers a lift. Naturally Sam will pass on the essential weather information such as do you need to get your umbrella but he will not go into the detailed meteorological analysis behind that decision mainly because he is not a meteorologist.
When you read Accidental Weatherman you get to find out what Sam has discovered in the course of visiting over 800 towns for his weather reports over the last five years, namely the real characters of Australia.
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With special guest:
- Rosie Ayliffe
… in conversation with Bill Kable
All Hell broke loose on that night in 2016.
When we speak with Rosie Ayliffe about her book Far from Home we hear firsthand how her loving 20 year old daughter Mia was put in harm’s way in a backpacker hostel. We hear how Mia and another backpacker who tried to protect her were both killed by another resident in the middle of a psychotic episode. What made it even worse is that Rosie was far away on the other side of the world in England when this nightmare unfolded. Rosie’s dreams of a future life involving her daughter Mia were gone.
Rosie thought that her daughter was working in a healthy environment on a farm in outback Queensland in order to comply with the Australian government’s visa requirements for an extended stay in Australia. After being told by the local Police in England about her daughter’s tragic death Rosie decided immediately to come to Australia and get to the bottom of what had happened.
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With special guest:
- Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Everyone remembers Jon English with those raccoon eyes and tall thin frame contributing to a very distinctive appearance.
Jon English had regular appearances in so many different forms of entertainment. He was a rock singer, a star of live musicals, a romantic star of acclaimed television series, and at all times a rascal. In between those activities he wrote sensitive music and became an entrepreneur.
But there was a lot more to his fascinating story as revealed by our guest today. Jeff Apter wrote Behind Dark Eyes: The True Story of Jon English. It is the subtitle of the book which gives a clue that all was not sunshine and roses for Jon English.
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With special guest:
- Mike Allsop
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Mike Allsop was worried that marriage would spell the end of the adventurous life he had been living. He also had experienced a difficult family upbringing himself. So when he met the love of his life he certainly did not rush into that long walk down the aisle. But these days he has the “full disaster” with his wife Wendy and three beautiful children. And there are lessons to be learned from Mike’s progress that we can all appreciate.
Talking to Mike makes you feel like you were there with him when he reached the summit of Mt Everest with nobody in front of him. We learn about the setbacks when he was getting ready to run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents starting with his belief that he wasn’t really a marathon runner.
This love of setting and reaching goals started when he was a child and he saw an Air New Zealand jet passing overhead. He had the goal of becoming a pilot and finished up getting his pilot’s licence before he had his motor vehicle licence. By gaining the confidence of some airline pilots he went on to achieve his dream.
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With special guest:
- Paige Toon
… in conversation with Bill Kable
In today’s episode we speak to author and citizen of the world Paige Toon who has written a novel exploring the relationship between two children from opposite ends of the world and their fathers.
We drop in on these lives every five years to see how things have changed and we find there are plenty of surprises as we trace the emotional development of the main characters.
The fathers in the story start from different points. One is close to his daughter and always has been. The other did not get to meet his son until he was seven. Yet both children see the importance of that father/child relationship as they make their way through life. The book is all about relationships and how timing can be all important.
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With special guest:
- Benjamin Gilmour
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Paramedics. These are the people who answer the call when someone, anyone, is in a very serious situation. Paramedics have to be extra resilient, resourceful, caring and if they are going to be able to stay in the job they need to get on with their work partner in regularly stressful situations. And if that means sharing a joke that could be black humour it is all part of the job.
Our guest today is Benjamin Gilmour who was attracted to the life of a paramedic as a child. After obtaining his formal qualifications with a Bachelor of Paramedicine and a Master’s Degree in Public Health he has now clocked up over twenty years serving the community in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs and several country locations.
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With special guest:
- Samuel Johnson OAM
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Samuel Johnson gave his contributors only one restriction when he contacted them about writing a letter to their Dad for a book he was editing. Their letters had to start with the words “Dear Dad …”. Faced with this task what would you say? Samuel himself is such a noteworthy character and he is candid about the relationship he had with his own father. Samuel wrote his own contribution as well as editing those from 85 other luminaries.
Samuel likes taking on a challenge in a good cause. When his sister Connie was diagnosed with breast cancer she suggested that he should unicycle around Australia. With that completed he said what next? The great thing for us is that it lead to this beautiful book called Dear Dad.
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With special guests:
- Colin & Paul Tatz
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This program is dedicated to the memory of Professor Colin Tatz.
Black Pearls: The Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame is a celebratory book about the earth shattering sporting performances of our Aboriginal and Islander Australians since the arrival of the white man in 1788.
This handsome work is presented by the Aboriginal Studies Press. As our guest Colin Tatz explains, the book is also a Hall of Fame that unlike bricks and mortar halls can be on display in our own homes and carried around with us.
With its beautiful pictures and stories about its 276 members covering 36 sports this is a project that began in the Bi-Centenary year of 1988 after Colin spoke to some communities about the absence of recognition for these sports stars.
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With special guest:
- Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Jeff Apter has written the definitive story of Neil Finn, one of the Finns, including some remarkable things about this Kiwi icon we claim as an Aussie.
Neil first appeared in our consciousness as a freaky member of the band Split Enz. He was the one up front singing I Got You which he also wrote. The band was not a one hit wonder but there were tensions among the members particularly between Neil and the leader of the band, his brother Tim, which cut short the life of the band.
Ultimately Tim gave his brother good advice, go and form your own band and this led to Crowded House arriving and taking over the world record charts.
Podcast (mp3)
With special guests:
- Peter Symes & Robert Stoker
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Jeremiah Chapter 20 Verse 18. For those of us not familiar with that extract from the Bible it is relevant to today’s show as our guest Peter Symes points out. Jeremiah House 2018 is not a religious institution but it is doing work that many Christians would like to claim as being core to their life principles.
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With special guest:
- “Sarah”
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Sometimes through no fault of our own the people closest to us will turn against us. People who do not even know us will take a position about who we are. Sarah, not her real name, was assigned male at birth but always knew something was not quite right. Finally after the trauma of a marriage breakdown Sarah decided to express her true self by confirming her gender.<
While she expected this to be a challenge, she was not expecting all of the problems she would then face from her family and the legal system. Join us today so by listening to Sarah we can all learn something about ourselves.
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With special guest:
- Dennis van Someren
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Dennis van Someren is getting the word out that we have a crisis in the community, a crisis involving some of our most vulnerable children that impacts on all of us.
Governments have responded to concerns about crime rates by building more jails with there being nearly 40,000 inmates in overcrowded jails around the country. This is up from 21,000 inmates only 10 years ago. At a cost of $292 per inmate per day the numbers are frightening. But when you consider that these inmates have in the order of 60,000 children and that the children of prisoners are 6 times more likely to end up in prison themselves you can see the problem.
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With special guest:
- Dr Charlie Corke
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Our guest today is Dr Charlie Corke who as an intensive care specialist regularly sees people who are reaching the end of their lives, where a decision has to be made, care or cure?
Unfortunately many of us have not thought about our own death and how we can make it a good death until it is too late. We are not going to live forever so we need a Plan B and Dr Corke’s new book Letting Go: How to plan for a good death provides a guide on how to do that planning.
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With special guest:
- Mark Williams
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest in today’s program is Mark Williams who has been awarded “Inspirational Father of the Year” at the Pride of Britain awards. This is impressive enough but it also shows how far he has come since the birth of his son Ethan in 2004.
Both Mark and his wife Michelle suffered crippling anxiety after the birth and Mark hit rock bottom when he began to experience suicidal thoughts. And yet the reason for the torrent of negative emotions and spiralling depression had less to do with their son than the mental health issues that were confronting them. In hindsight Mark recognises that he had experienced a condition long recognised in mothers, that of post-natal depression.
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With special guest:
- Tania de Jong AM
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Something unusual for listeners today. Our guest is Tania de Jong who tells us about a new production called Driftwood The Musical. Tania happens to be the creator and producer of Driftwood The Musical as well as being one of the stars on stage. For her choice of song we have the special pleasure of bringing you a song Tania wrote and performed herself.
The story of Driftwood concerns Tania’s grandparents who survived Nazi atrocities in Vienna and eventually became artistic treasures in their adopted country Australia.
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With special guest:
- Dr Tim Hawkes
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
What the world needs now is leadership and that is our topic today.
Our guest in this program was one of Australia’s leading educators whose book Ten Leadership Lessons You Must Teach Your Teenager takes a different approach to the topic of leadership. This book is not addressed to the business people trying to get higher on the greasy pole of corporate success. Dr Hawkes writes for mums and dads to share some wisdom with their teenage children.
Based on his great experience from many years teaching and leading thousands of students Dr Hawkes provides parents with realistic expectations and their children with challenges that the contemporary teen can reasonably be expected to achieve.
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With special guest:
- Para Paheer
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Para Paheer was five years old when civil war between Tamils and the Sinhalese government started in Sri Lanka and continued for the next twenty six years. At the time Para did not know that the causes went back to 1830 when the Tamil people were imported to Sri Lanka to work on the plantations in conditions that were not far off slavery. Para had spent his childhood in poverty by Australian standards but when the war began conditions got even harder. Survival required courage, ingenuity and in Para’s case the kindness of strangers.
The inspiring part of Para’s story, as told in The Power of Good People: Surviving the Sri Lankan Civil War, is that he describes accurately and fully some of the horrors he witnessed and experienced personally yet he can focus his attention on the good things that people he has met along the way have done for him and his family.
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With special guest:
- Prof Roy F. Baumeister
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Something we have always wanted to know but never been game to ask.
This book’s title Is There Anything Good About Men? How Cultures Flourish by Exploiting Men leads on to a whole range of surprises. We often accept without questioning that women are better networkers than men and that women are better at multi-tasking but is this supported in the research? At a practical level will women succeed in the current push for much more representation on the Boards of major companies?
Professor Roy Baumeister has examined human behaviour as our culture developed. This culture brings humans enormous advantages not available to other primates. You just have to think of us being able to shop at supermarkets, sleep in a warm bed every night and being able to find out on our computers everything ever learned in human history.
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With special guest:
- Dr Dawson Cooke
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
We will all readily make the assumption that the bond between mothers and their babies is important for the health of the family but what about the dad-baby bond? Our guest today is Dr Dawson Cooke who is able to discuss that relationship based on the findings in his study published in Infant Mental Health. Dr Cooke has been working with parents and particularly fathers for the last 20 years both in his practice and as a researcher at Curtin University in WA. In his study which involved 451 families he has made some findings that have caught the attention of the media.
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With special guest:
- Tara June Winch
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The Yield is a big book that in Paul Kelly’s words “sings up language, history, home, blood – all the important stuff” with its focus being on an area of some 500 acres in western New South Wales.
This is a novel by Indigenous author Tara June Winch that she has been working on for the last fourteen years. It tells of the experiences of the fictional Goondiwindi family based on the real history of Aboriginal people in Australia. The novel is set in Massacre Plains and one of the places is called Poisoned Waterhole Creek. These are real place names. The town in the story is somewhat ironically called Prosperous.
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With special guest:
- Janet Allison
… in conversation with Bill Kable
After listening to this show many men will be wishing that they could have had Janet Allison as their teacher in years gone by. Janet speaks to us from Portland Oregon in the USA where she has founded the organisation Boys Alive! to benefit teachers and children in the education process. Janet’s warm style is engaging and inspiring.
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With special guest:
- Maggie Dent
… in conversation with Bill Kable
It is ten years since we last spoke to Maggie Dent and in that time the pressure on our boys has only got worse.
Now more than ever we need a consistent voice, a sensible voice backed by extensive research, in fact a boy champion. Fortunately this is recognised in the huge reaction given to Maggie’s new book Mothering Our Boys: A guide for mums of sons and in public forums that Maggie delivers around the nation. It is a privilege for us to be able to share Maggie’s thoughts in this special program.
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With special guest:
- Dr Preeya Alexander
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Eat, Sleep, Play, Love sounds pretty good to all of us. But sometimes our very young children do not stick to the recipe and can distress both themselves and those caring for them.
Today we go on a journey with our celebrity guest Dr Preeya Alexander who distils for us in her new book what we should be doing to have an easier life. We are happy to say that Preeya’s book does not start out with rigid rules on parenting accompanied by a prescription for lots of guilt if we do not follow precisely.
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With special guest:
- Simon Jarvis
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Who says men need help in today’s society?
Our guest today would answer by pointing to the shockingly high rate of male suicide with 7 out of 10 victims being male. Yet at a time like this it is hard to gain financial support for male issues because of the focus on other worthy causes. This is where Mentoring Men can make a difference and where Chief Executive Officer Simon Jarvis can build on the work by his predecessor and founder of the movement, Ian Westmoreland, a guest on Dads on the Air in November 2019.
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With special guest:
- Peter Greste
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Our guest is Peter Greste who in the last two decades of reporting has journeyed through wars in some of the world’s most dangerous countries but does not describe himself as a serious risk taker. Over the years he has developed another sense of when he needs to take extra precautions for his own safety giving his family a certain degree of comfort. In any event there has always been an understanding that foreign correspondents are seen as outsiders which presents a way out of sticky situations.
When Peter arrived in Egypt in 2013 he had never been arrested for anything and he was planning to be in the country for three weeks doing what he called “vanilla journalism” meaning nothing controversial. All that changed after the dreaded knock on the door when a group of heavy set men shovelled him backwards and started searching the room for evidence of something, anything, they could accuse him with.
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With special guest:
- Craig Collie
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The threat of invasion was very real to the Australian people in World War II. Within families decisions were made to kill wives and daughters rather than leave them to be raped and murdered by a ruthless invader.
Our guest today is Craig Collie who has explored what was really going on in 1942. What were the leaders of Australia, Great Britain and the USA doing about the threat? How real was the threat from Japan anyway?
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With special guest:
- Dr Susie O’Brien
… in conversation with Bill Kable
There is a toasted sandwich in the cover picture of her book and that leads our guest Dr Susie O’Brien to tell us that a toasted sandwich is a quite acceptable dinner alternative. This is the world of Susie O’Brien where parents can escape all that guilt about not being the best parent in the world and just start enjoying their children.
In Susie O’Brien’s new book The Secret of Half-Arsed Parenting we get an insight that is fun. It is also comforting to know that the conclusions are drawn from research all around the world. And most parents will find sections where they have to say to themselves ‘No doubt about it, that resembles me.’
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With special guest:
- Carrina Hampton
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today is Carrina Hampton who has many qualifications that include being a qualified social worker, a family therapist, a clinical hypnotherapist and a doula.
All of this expertise is put to good use when Carrina takes her Beer + Bubs program to the pub in locations right across Australia. Beer + Bubs is a one-night session at the pub where expectant dads learn how to best support their partner up to and following the birth of their child. The combination of the location, the one or two glasses of amber fluid and being surrounded by other men in similar circumstances has proven to be a winner for the program.
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With special guest:
- Dr Hugh Mackay AO
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is a rare chance to peek inside a Psychotherapist’s office.
Hugh Mackay has a wealth of experience to draw on after so many years working in the community as a social psychologist surveying what we think of ourselves and our issues. After listening intently to so many people’s stories he has distilled for us some fascinating characters facing some modern day challenges. There are therapists who have major personal issues, there are some moral issues to resolve and all this is before we get to the clients and the assistance they need.
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With special guest:
- Gordon Bray AM
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today is part of a select group of legends. Peter FitzSimons has described Gordon Bray as ‘more than a sporting icon’, Gordon is no less than ‘the soundtrack of our sporting lives’.
The Voice of Rugby joins us today after a career of over 50 years describing major sporting events on a variety of radio and TV stations. And yet despite being front and centre for all that time we do not know so much about Gordon himself.
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With special guest:
- Fred Smith
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
It is difficult to categorise Fred Smith. After completing University qualifications he became a diplomat but he is also a musician who has made “seven or eight” albums. When a diplomatic position in Afghanistan became available he decided to apply against some professional advice because he looked on it as a type of therapy. So after being selected to represent Australia in this beautiful but troubled land it was off to Kabul with guitar in hand.
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With special guest:
- Terry Virts
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
In today’s show we reach for the heavens.
Our guest is Terry Virts an American Air Force Colonel and test pilot who was selected by NASA to be an Astronaut in 2000 and subsequently made his first flight into space as the pilot of space shuttle Endeavour STS 130. In 2014 Terry launched into space again from Baikonur, Kazakhstan to ride to the International Space Shuttle where he was to be the Commander and he stayed on the station for 200 days.
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With special guest:
- Jem Lester
…in conversation with Bill Kable
In this program we cross to London to discuss with author Jem Lester his novel SHTUM. For anyone who has missed the British television shows and is not sure what “shtum” means Jem tells us that it means “silent or uncommunicative”. That is what a loving father may face when he has a child with profound autism.
The book SHTUM won the 2013 PFD/City University Prize for Fiction but in writing the book Jem tells us he draws on his own experiences having raised a boy now nearly 16 who is profoundly autistic.
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With special guest:
- Dr James Best
…in conversation with Bill Kable
How many Dads will walk away from their jobs for six months, sell their home and then travel to the wilds of Africa in the hope that it will be good for their son?
We like to think most Dads would do it. Today we get to speak to Dr James Best who did exactly that with his 14 year old son Sam. Sam said he went away as a boy and came back as a person summing up what his parents had hoped for when they embarked on this adventure.
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With special guest:
- Glen Gerreyn
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today is Glen Gerreyn a man by choice as distinct from being born male. This personal development did not happen when he became a champion athlete but rather by some important choices that Glen has made in his life. So what does it mean to be a man, a real man? And what are these choices?
Glen has spoken to groups around Australia and around the world on the topic of men of honour and some of the content probably comes under the heading of “secret men’s business”. In these talks no subject is taboo. Because so many fatherless boys in our community do not have a mentor they can confide in, Glen often finds that no-one else has ever spoken to our young men so frankly in language they understand.
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With special guest:
- Rev Dr John Killinger
… in conversation with Bill Kable
In today’s program we are invited into the usually private world of conversations between a grandparent and his grandchildren. Strangely we can get the message very clearly from the other side of the world but the grandchildren themselves are completely unaware of the one way conversations in the letters written to them, letters that are so tender, thoughtful, wise and loving.
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With special guest:
- Jimmy Barnes
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Normally we expect to listen to Jimmy Barnes’s creative output as the lead singer and one of the main songwriters for iconic Australian rock band Cold Chisel. But Jimmy has now produced Working Class Boy which has become an Australian bestselling book.
This is not the story of that well-known band or his more recent exploration of the soul music catalogue. In today’s program we hear about Jimmy’s family upbringing and the influence that had on him in his adopted country.
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With special guest:
- Dr Edward Kruk
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today has produced a book of 167 pages, The Equal Parent Presumption: Social Justice in the Legal Determination of Parenting after Divorce, that should be required reading for everyone who works in the space of parenting after divorce; and that includes judges who routinely make sole parenting orders, psychologists who offer family therapy, and all the other institutions that influence family relationships.
The trouble really arises because although there is a mantra of acting “in the best interest of the child” this becomes a discretionary assessment by a judge who has no training in the area of child development or family dynamics and furthermore the Judge takes no interest in reviewing the outcome of the decision. Dr Kruk invites us to take the child’s position.
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With special guest:
- Dr William (Bill) Fabricius
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Most studies in the area of children and families concentrate on the influence of mothers. Fathers are understudied in this area. For this reason we welcome the results of a paper on the role of fathers and we have the opportunity today to speak with one of its lead authors, Associate Professor Dr William Fabricius who joins us from New York. The title of the paper is Effects of the Inter-Parental Relationship on Adolescents’ Emotional Security and Adjustment: The Important Role of Fathers.
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With special guests:
- Richard Aston & Ruth Kerr
…in onversation with Bill Kable
On this program we get to talk to good people who are making a difference in our society. Our guests today, Richard Aston and his wife Ruth Kerr, fit this category and they speak to us from across the ditch in New Zealand.
For 15 years Richard and Ruth through the Big Buddy program provided fatherless boys with a buddy, someone who can show them the way to manhood. These buddies are volunteer mentors who are carefully chosen by going through a detailed screening. The boys know they can rely on their buddies to turn up when expected and listen to what is happening in the boys’ lives. And they get to do fun things.
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With special guest:
- Gavin Topp
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Today’s show is a knockout! Our guest is Gavin Topp and he tells us about his training program called Fight Like a Pro which he runs on the Gold Coast of Queensland.
It is not an overstatement to say that the program has changed lives because on top of the physical aspects of training hard with a group of fellow amateurs Gavin looks for the mental changes in his charges. You might not expect to hear life lessons from a professional boxer but as numerous testimonials on the website of Fight Like a Pro will confirm Gavin is a bit of a philosopher as well as a hard physical taskmaster.
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With special guest:
- Dr Tim Sharp
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest in this program is Dr Tim Sharp, also known as Dr Happy.
Tim has produced a new book Transformation: Turning tragedy into triumph and he joins us today to spread a little happiness. The book has eleven people making a contribution with a story about themselves or someone close to them. Some of the contributors’ stories are well-known while others tell of living a quiet life before they reached a turning point in their life story. Looking outside themselves brought surprising benefits not only to others but to the contributors as well.
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With special guest:
- Kirsten Matthew
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Kirsten Matthew was inspired by her father to take on the Big Apple where she worked as a journalist for ten years. This is a huge achievement considering that she arrived in New York without even a green card, no job offers, not even any friends. At a low point Kirsten rang her father who gave some simple advice to get on with it and that was enough to get her established.
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With special guest:
- Dr Alistair Cooper
… in conversation with Bill Kable
“She has a mind of her own” is something we hear often enough when parents are talking about the challenges they face in trying to relate with their children. Yet if parents accepted this as fact and tried to find out what was going on inside this other mind the world would become a lot less complicated for both parent and child. With co-author Dr Sheila Redfern our guest today Dr Alistair Cooper has written a new book Reflective Parenting: A Guide to Understanding What’s Going on in Your Child’s Mind showing how to read your child’s mind and use this knowledge to improve your relationship. If you follow the principles of reflective parenting in everyday interactions it will help your child achieve her full potential and save your sanity.
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With special guest:
- Dr Anne-Marie Slaughter
…in conversation with Bill Kable
When our guest today Dr Anne-Marie Slaughter wrote an article for The Atlantic magazine in 2012 it created what could be described as a firestorm. The article had an estimated 2.7 million views and sparked intense debate. Someone seen as a leading light in feminism was questioning the feminist narrative.
The article was called “Why women still can’t have it all” but clearly there was some unfinished business and this became the title of her new book Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family in which she uncovers the missing piece of the puzzle.
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With special guest:
- Gerry Georgatos
… in conversation with Bill Kable
We are honoured today to have as our special guest a social warrior, Gerry Georgatos. Gerry is the founder of the National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project (the Project) set up in 2019. His colleague Megan Krakouer appeared recently on The Drum to talk about the work Gerry and she are doing with young Aboriginal offenders in Western Australian prisons. Footage has emerged of young children being hog-tied by prison guards and Megan spoke of the need for help.
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With special guest:
- Tim Baker
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Patting the shark? This does not seem to be a good life lesson but when we hear Tim Baker explain the title it all makes sense.
Surfers such as Mick Fanning have had to confront their mortality. Mick is an old friend of Tim’s and he faced a shark in front of the world’s cameras. Many of us saw him swimming next to a man eating shark in the shark’s own territory. Tim Baker has had to face a different type of mortal threat, namely a diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer. We do not know how we would react if confronted with this situation but Tim’s new book Patting the Shark takes us right into that world and he gives us a no holds barred account of what it is really like.
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With special guest:
- Jonathan Bedloe
… in conversation with Glen Poole
Jonathan Bedloe has been an advocate for men’s health and wellbeing for the past fifteen years.
Jonathan’s focus on men’s health and wellbeing has been a core passion since establishing a Men’s Shed in Hobart in 2005.
He previously worked for seven years as the Men’s Health Policy Officer with the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services. Jonathan has held voluntary board positions with the Australian Men’s Health Forum, the Tasmanian Men’s Shed Association and Tasmen.
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With special guest:
- Dr Will Davies
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This book started when Will Davies’ insatiable curiosity got him wondering about a group of graves in the war cemeteries of northern France. These graves were all on their own, usually next to the boundary fence. When he went to have a look he found that they were erected for Chinese participants in the First World War.
Since China was supposedly neutral in that conflict and did not have a seat at the table when the powers decided on war reparations what was this all about? Will gives us a fascinating account of the real story behind these forgotten men in his new book The Forgotten: The Chinese Labour Corps and the Chinese Anzacs in the Great War.
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With special guest:
- Dr Gideon Blecher
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is a topic that is not often raised in polite company or even on talkback radio.
Many men would be reluctant to discuss testicular cancer even with their doctor. This is despite about 700 men being diagnosed in Australia every year, and in men aged 18-39 it is the second most common form of cancer.
In this program we go to an expert at Healthy Male (formerly Andrology Australia), Dr Gideon Blecher, to find out what we should know. And there is some good news to pass on. Gideon refers to Lance Armstrong who developed this form of cancer before his later Tour de France exploits. We are told that Armstrong is a great example to show that even when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body modern treatment can lead to a full recovery.
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With special guest:
- Dr Jennifer Harman
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Why is it that we never see young animals rejecting a caring parent in the way we see some children acting? The behaviour of the other parent may be the cause and this strange behaviour may be due to Parental Alienation.
Our guest today is Associate Professor Jennifer Harman who tells us that the problem of Parental Alienation is all too common and getting worse around the world yet it is still decried by some as “junk science”.
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With special guest:
- Mark Tedeschi AM KC
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Mark Tedeschi has faced a number of cold blooded killers in Courtrooms and on many occasions has argued successfully that they should spend the rest of their days in prison. This is an enormous responsibility on behalf of the victims of these crimes but also of the whole community.
In writing his new book Missing, Presumed Dead Mark’s aim was to let the community know what is involved in a complex and lengthy criminal case such as the murder prosecution of Bruce Burrell. We get a glimpse of the determination needed to bring the felon to justice.
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With special guest:
- Dr Craig Childress
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Why is parental alienation such a controversial topic?
Nearly everyone knows someone who has had a child turned against them after separation of the parents. It happens unfortunately all over the world and looks remarkably similar wherever you find it. The construct was defined and given a label, “parental alienation” some thirty years ago by Dr Richard Gardner. More recently there has been a strong push to have it included as a separate diagnosis in the therapists’ “Bible” the DSM-5.
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With special guest:
- Darren Lewis
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
He doesn’t claim to have been the beginning of all fathering adventures but in July 2008 Darren Lewis started an organisation by that name which has made many fathers and their children come alive through adventure based activities. Darren quotes Howard Thurman in recognising that the world needs people who have come alive.
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With special guest:
- Lisa Heim
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
A check in the index of topics will reveal that we have explored parental alienation from different angles by talking to academics, psychologists and researchers. Today we cross to Florida in the USA to hear a very real account of what this type of psychological child abuse looks like to those who are personally caught up in it.
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With special guest:
- Dr Chris May
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Who ya gonna call?
Our guest today is Dr Chris May from the University of Newcastle and he has a simple message for new Dads with mobile phones. Sign up for SMS4 dads and you will get the advice you need to deal with the new challenges we face as a Dad. This is not limited to young Dads. The age range of Dads already accessing the service extends to the over 50 year olds.
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With special guest:
- Peter Dornan AM
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest is not squeamish about many things. He opens up to us today about what it is like to face a condition that we still do not like talking about, urinary incontinence. Incontinence affects men and women; it has been described as the most widespread yet least known and understood affliction in society today. This problem can seriously impact on your lifestyle, job, emotional wellbeing, exercise activity and most importantly, your sex life.
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With special guest:
- Owen Catto
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today is Owen Catto from The Regional Men’s Health Initiative of Western Australia.
Owen’s life as a farmer began when he worked on the family farm for 18 years with a small interest in that farming business given to him by his father. To back up this direct experience of conditions on the farm Owen also has a Bachelor of Business in Agriculture and has operated a farm consultancy business. When talking about life on the land we might say that Owen knows his onions.
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With special guest:
- Barrie Cassidy
…in conversation with Bill Kable
It makes for a rare occasion when Barrie Cassidy goes to the other side of the microphone. Barrie is one of Australia’s most respected and experienced political journalists and we welcome him to Dads on the Air.
But we are not going to discuss politics in this program. We are going to find out more about Barrie’s father Bill who is the main subject in Barrie’s book Private Bill: In Love and War.
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With special guest:
- Karen Clarke
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Have you been bullied? Has anyone in your family been bullied?
In her book From Bullied to Brilliant: How to artfully avoid fitting in, our guest sets out how to understand and deal with bullies. In the program today we get to hear directly from Karen Clarke how to bounce back and turn pain into gain when confronted by bullies.
We learn that bullying can be experienced by anyone at any stage in life and it is nothing to be ashamed of if you are the victim. It is one of the myths of bullying that the victim has shown some weakness that the bully seizes on but in fact bullies are often attracted to people who possess the very qualities they secretly or unknowingly admire.
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With special guest:
- Suzanne Venker
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Do you know any Alpha Females? We know them when we see them but it may be difficult to work out how to relate to them because of some of their defining characteristics. Equally the alpha females may need some guidance to find out what is missing in their lives even if the culture says they have everything. And our special guest today, Suzanne Venker has answered the call with her new book The Alpha Female’s Guide to Men & Marriage: HOW LOVE WORKS.
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With special guest:
- Dr Peter West
…in conversation with Glen Poole
How have dads evolved since the 1930s? In the 1990s Dr Peter West interviewed a wide variety of men who grew up in the decades between the Depression and the final decade on the 20th Century. The result of those interviews was the book Fathers, Sons and Lovers: Men Talk About Their Lives from the 1930s to Today. From footballers to policemen, from railway workers to farmers, he provided a rare glimpse into the lived realities or everyday Australian dads.
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With special guest:
- Richard Glover
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Our guest today is famous.
Richard Glover is the host of the top rating Drive show on 702 ABC Sydney, and the weekly podcast of Thank God It’s Friday. He is the author of twelve books including the bestseller In Bed with Jocasta. His new book Flesh Wounds is in a similar humorous vein but the big difference this time is that it is the real story of his unusual, to say the least, upbringing.
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With special guest:
- Robert Hoge
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Robert Hoge has a daughter Imogen who sums it up best. She said about Robert’s book Ugly “It’s important to tell your story especially when you’re different.”
As one of the many roles that our guest today has filled with distinction he is an advocate for those with a disability and today we hear what it is like to grow up in a special club.
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With special guest:
- Prof Barry Golding AM
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
When we think of great Australian inventions we might be referring to the Black Box Flight Recorder, electronic pacemakers, cochlear implants or even the stump-jump plough. But today we talk about another Australian invention that has spread internationally and saved thousands of men’s lives.
Our guest today is Dr Barry Golding who is the honorary patron of the Australian Men’s Shed Association and he provides a fascinating insight into the development and growth of this iconic Australian success story. Barry Golding gives us the benefit of his fifteen years of research in his new book The Men’s Shed Movement: The Company of Men. In talking to us today Barry lets us discover what actually goes on inside the Men’s Sheds we see as we pass through so many country towns.
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With special guest:
- Matthew Spencer… in conversation with Bill Kable
Matthew Spencer decided to make a big change in his life after 20 successful years as a journalist.
The challenge he took on was not going to be easy and there were no guarantees. Matthew chose to enter the highly competitive field of writing a crime novel and as with a lot of ventures he needed a bit of luck along the way.
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With special guest:
- Madonna King
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The latest book by Madonna King is L Platers and it is a fascinating sequel to her previous book Being 14.
Something happens to young girls between the ages of 14 and 18 and all parents need to get an insight as to what to expect and what to be concerned about.
We live in times where the word “unprecedented” has almost been worn out by over usage. But how else to describe these times when for the first time in history we are living through a worldwide pandemic? Covid 19 has limited the usual social interaction and forced many to start living a huge part of their lives online which creates its own problems. Not only is this unprecedented but it is happening when so many choices have to be made in comparison to simpler times. When a personal discussion is called for, parents are likely to be called to centre stage for many of these decisions.
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With special guest:
- Max Michell
We hear a lot of statistics relating to community health. We see major campaigns that raise the awareness of different threats to our everyday life. But the knowledge and awareness of prostate cancer has a long way to go if it is going to arrive at good community awareness.
The sad part is that if more men went for regular check-ups they could be getting the diagnosis and treatment that would save their lives. Prostate cancer after diagnosis has one of the highest 5 year survival rates compared with other cancers at 92%.
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With special guest:
- Anthony Smith
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
1901 male deaths by suicide were recorded in 2012 along with another 634 females meaning a total of 2,535 Australians lost their lives in this way. There has been no significant improvement in the period since these figures became available.
Our guest today, Anthony Smith, argues that these figures are conservative and the belief of the people working in this area is that the figure for men should be some 500 higher. Reasons for this conservatism include the shortfall in the number of Coronial enquiries and the general reluctance of Coroners to brand a sudden death as suicide because this only makes it harder for the surviving family members to deal with the tragedy.
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With special guest:
- Dr Arne Rubinstein
…in conversation with Bill Kable, Ken Thompson, and Glen Poole
“If we don’t initiate our boys they will burn down the village to feel the heat.” This is an African proverb quoted by our guest today Dr Arne Rubinstein that could describe the situation for young men today in Australia and other societies far from Africa.
The Making of Men is a book that Dr Arne Rubinstein has written after seeing first-hand in his medical practice the disasters that can befall boys who are not initiated into life as a man in the community. Arne recognises the qualities valued in young boys when they are naturally loving, energetic, funny, creative and sensitive. What happens then, when so many kids get into trouble as teenagers?
In this program we talk about one of the most important ways in which the community or village can play a role in bringing the boy through to being a valuable man in the community.
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With special guest:
- Karen Hodgkins Varney
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
‘Dad’ is a documentary that Karen Hodgkins made for a higher purpose than looking for film industry awards. This film is a powerful and emotional appeal to the law makers and the law enforcers to do something for the Dads who are not travelling as well as frequently portrayed in our society.
In our interview today Karen tells us that she was asked by a Dad in May 2013 to do some research on the injustices in the Family Court and Child Support systems. This Dad was desperate to spend more time with his own children and suspected there was more going on than the general population is aware of.
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With special guest:
- Karen Middleton
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Everybody loves Albo - even many of his opponents in the national Parliament.
We can identify the three drives he lists as having influenced his development, namely the Catholic Church, South Sydney Rugby League team and the Australian Labor Party. These drives were all inherited from his fiercely loyal and protective mother Maryanne but behind the relationship between Albo and his mother is another fascinating story that has never been revealed until the release of Karen Middleton’s book Albanese - Telling it Straight.
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With special guest:
- Sarah Brown
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Twenty years ago in Central Australia the Aboriginal people called kidney disease “never return home.”
When kidney transplant is not available survival from end stage renal failure means dialysis where the patient is hooked up to a machine for five hours every second day for the rest of the patient’s life. And if Central Australians can only access the machines in Alice Springs and Darwin then that is where they will spend the rest of their lives.
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With special guest:
- Isaac Bacirongo
…in conversation with Bill Kable
When you are born and raised in Australia you know little about life as a refugee despite it being a frequent topic for conversation and opinion. Most of us have never spoken to a refugee.
Our guest today is Isaac Bacirongo who arrived in Sydney in 2003 with his wife and ten children as refugees after surviving the effects of Rwanda’s civil war in his own country, Congo.
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With special guest:
- Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our own Keith Urban is an enormous success in the biggest music market of all, the United States. Who knew? For some reason Keith Urban has never been really big or even acknowledged in Australia and today we get a few clues as to why that is so.
There is a lot more to Keith than the amiable coach we see in The Voice on Australian TV and our guest today can let us in on some surprises. In his new book Keith Urban our special guest Jeff Apter takes us from Keith’s birth in New Zealand to childhood days on the outskirts of Brisbane to being “discovered” while playing at the Bayview Hotel in Sydney and reaching the stage where he is asked to sing at the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. On top of that Keith has been married to Nicole Kidman since 2007 to add a bit of Hollywood glamour to his life.
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With special guest:
- Peter FitzSimons
… in conversation with Bill Kable
As well as being a 20th century marvel in its soaring design it remains a source of marvel that the Opera House was even conceived in the parochial, conservative backwater that was 1950s New South Wales.
One thing that was typical then and remains so is the Australian love for a gamble so it was a brainwave of the NSW government to think of financing the construction by way of a lottery. All of a sudden there were more than enough funds to do the work of construction.
But the bigger gamble was to construct a building like no other that would be on display at the heart of the city with techniques that had not been invented based on the imaginings and sparse drawings of a Danish architect who had never taken a building design through to completion.
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With special guest:
- Simon Jarvis
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Who says men need help in today’s society?
Our guest today would answer by pointing to the shockingly high rate of male suicide with 7 out of 10 victims being male. Yet at a time like this it is hard to gain financial support for male issues because of the focus on other worthy causes. This is where Mentoring Men can make a difference and where Chief Executive Officer Simon Jarvis can build on the work by his predecessor and founder of the movement, Ian Westmoreland, a guest on Dads on the Air in November 2019.
Simon tells us that Mentoring Men is not a crisis centre. This is not for men who have gone over the edge in one way or another. The group aims to get in early with men who just need a non-judgemental ear, someone who may have experienced all this before and who might have a few tips to pass on.
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With special guest:
- Michael Molkentin
… in conversation with Bill Kable
If we are looking for a genuine Australian hero then we need go no further than South Australian Sir Ross Macpherson Smith born in 1892. After he volunteered to enlist for the First World War Ross Smith had a very full but tragically short life.
His first experience of war was to wade ashore at Gallipoli, not in the first wave on 25 April 1915 and not on a horse as he might have expected having joined the 1st Light Horse Brigade as an excellent horseman. His early experience in the War was mostly as an infantry man although he did have one engagement mounted on a horse.
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With special guest:
- Alan Sampson
…in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
Schools of Fish won the 2015 Finch Memoir Prize for author Alan Sampson, a Queenslander, who by telling us about his own experiences lets us find out much about the importance of a father’s relationship with his children. A big part of the story relates to Alan’s role as Principal at the well-known Cavendish Road State High School in Brisbane. There are times at school when personal courage is required as well as unshakable integrity if favourable results are to be achieved.
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With special guest:
- Mick Both
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
When you listen to Mick’s interview, just like when you see his face looking straight at you on the cover of his new book you know the sort of bloke he is. Mick is a straight shooter with a background in the military who takes us into the kitchen on a practical mission. COOKING for Kids BY DADS does not assume any prior knowledge of the essential art of cooking. In language we can all understand and with gorgeous photos we get the picture on how Dad can go from zero to hero with his kids and his family generally.
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With special guest:
- Dr Linda Nielsen
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest, Dr Linda Nielsen speaks to us today from North Carolina in the United States about a topic that nearly everyone has a stake in but on which there is very little guidance. How important is the relationship between a daughter and her father? This topic has been explored by Dr Nielsen in her book Father-Daughter Relationships: Contemporary Research & Issues.
Many studies have been directed at the importance of a mother’s relationships with her children. But a father may need some reassurance about the value of his relationship with his daughter particularly if he feels more comfortable with his son. The first thing we get to check with Dr Nielsen is what is it that fathers do for their daughters? Are they really needed?
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With special guest:
- Linda Gottlieb Kase
… in conversation with Bill Kable
In today’s program we go to New York to find out the latest on the way Parental Alienation is treated by the Courts and by therapists internationally. While Parental Alienation Syndrome (or PAS) still appears to be a controversial topic in Australia there is no difficulty in recognising this evil for what it is in the USA.
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With special guest:
- Andrew Tink AM
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
No book on Australia covering the early years of the twentieth century could overlook the 61,500 of our men killed or listed as “missing” in World War 1. Another 156,000 had a fate that was sometimes worse, they were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner.
In his book Australia 1901-2001: A narrative history, Andrew Tink, former Member of State Parliament, tells us that like the school children of Villers-Bretonneux France we must never forget the heroism of our soldiers, the diggers of World War 1.
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With special guest:
- Matt Barwick
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
In his book Life in Limbo Matt Barwick says that men in their desire to be alpha-male typically hide behind an impenetrable wall of machismo. So if anyone asks “How ya going?” the response is most likely going to be a stoic “Yeah everything’s fine.” No-one must see any sign of weakness or fragility, particularly male friends. The result is that most men avoid open and honest communication about physical or mental health.
This book changes that expectation in a big way. Matt writes openly, candidly and even dispenses some laid back humour along the way in describing his own extreme personal experiences.
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With special guest:
- Bill Eddy
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
The word Splitting brings to mind a number of possibilities but in Bill Eddy’s book it is not the obvious meaning of breaking up with a partner. Here we are looking at “splitting” meaning a defence mechanism universally seen in people with Borderline and Narcissistic Personality Disorders. It means unconsciously seeing people as all good or all bad and is especially prevalent when there is stress such as in a break-up with someone the person afflicted sees as critical to emotional survival.
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With special guest:
- Simon Turner
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Simon Turner’s book Out on a Limb is refreshingly plain speaking. To read the book is like sitting down with a mate who has some important, perhaps life-changing, information to share. Using language we can all relate to, Simon takes us through the jungle that confronts a father at the gates of a Family Law dispute with the mother of their children.
Simon discusses what he describes as the three golden rules that were passed on to him informally by a Family Court Judge in an Art Gallery rather than a court room. Based on these golden rules Simon gives some invaluable ideas about how a dad can give himself the best chance of continuing to parent his child after a separation or divorce.
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With special guest:
- Carolyn Managh
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Carolyn Managh comes to our program today to lift the lid on what Australian men think about masculinity, women, and brands treating them like idiots. To do this Carolyn interviewed 140 Australian men including influential leaders and role models from diverse aspects of Australian life. These included Australian men in business, sport, men’s brands, military, popular culture, health, hospitality, construction and more.
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With special guest:
- Dean Mason
…in conversation with Bill Kable
In his book Daddy’s OK: Fathers’ stories of separation, divorce and rebuilding author Dean Mason takes us into the world of 14 families that have been through the trauma of separation and divorce. The 2006 Census showed that 50% of children in single parent families never have an overnight stay with the other parent, normally the Dad. But if our eyes glass over when contemplating the tens of thousands of Dads in this situation Dean brings it back to the individual personal level with these real life stories from his days as National Chairman of Parents Beyond Breakup (formerly Dads in Distress Support Services).
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With special guest:
- Ryan Heffernan
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Ever thought about how when you leave the hospital with your new baby you do not receive an instruction manual? Our guest this week Ryan Heffernan has addressed this issue. In his entertaining and informative book Ryan provides a welcome toolbox for any Dad left with the responsibility of caring for a young child in the age range of 0-6. In fact any parent will welcome this no-nonsense source book for handling the challenges of parenting where you get the benefit of learning from a single Dad’s experience. What’s more with Ryan Heffernan giving us the lesson there is a lot of fun to be had which everyone can enjoy.
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With special guest:
- Dr Tim Hawkes OAM
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Parents are all too familiar with the difficulties of relating to their sons in a language that they understand while they grow from boys to men. Our guest today is Dr Tim Hawkes who as Headmaster of The King’s School was responsible for 1500 boys. Dr Hawkes held this position from 1998 to 2017 adding to a wealth of experience gained in England and Australia on how boys can best reach their potential as men.
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With special guest:
- Dr Norman Swan
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Our health is such an important topic for all of us, maybe the most important.
But as our guest in today’s program Dr Norman Swan points out this sometimes leads to unnecessary worry about doing the right thing for ourselves. In fact the topic of what we should be worrying about is the one that comes up most often from his audiences. In his new book So You Think You Know What’s Good for You? Australia’s most trusted medical practitioner tells us what really is good for you and as a bonus what is bad for you.
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With special guest:
- Peter FitzSimons
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The title tells it all in the latest book by Peter FitzSimons whom we are excited to welcome back to Dads on the Air.
The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins we hear about the life of a genuine Australian hero with so many adventures that a fraction of them would seem to fill the quota to qualify for that description. This man was decorated in World War 1 while not a combatant, described by another hero, Monash, as the bravest man he had ever had under his command, and yet few Australians had heard of him prior to the release of this book by our guest.
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With special guest:
- Clint Greagen
…in conversation with Bill Kable
Our guest today provides us with an entertaining peek into what is still an unusual career in our society. Clint Greagen is a stay-at-home Dad with the skills of an award-winning blogger who tells us about his life in suburban Melbourne with four boy-children and a loving working wife.
There is nothing un-masculine about Clint’s struggles as he is assigned to buy breast pads for his wife and to do the cooking / washing / cleaning for the family. He has to juggle these responsibilities and apply some logic in the middle of the chaos and craziness.
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With special guest
- Charles Areni
…in conversation with Bill Kable
In the news lately there have been frequent references to pay differentials between males and females. This is often put down to the different opportunities available in the workplace because of gender roles that are a hangover from a less-enlightened past. But what about the denial of opportunities to look after the children and get involved in other areas around the home? In brief, Mums have too many roles, Dads have too few.
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With special guest:
- William McInnes
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Christmas means……what? The answer is not so easy these days with there being so much commercialisation of the season. What we can say is that Christmas raises lots of emotions in all of us including nostalgia, loss, indulgence, funny presents but most of all family and love.
Our guest today is the very well-known actor and author William McInnes who takes us into his own Christmases over the years in his new book Christmas Tales. William is able to illustrate those Christmas emotions and reactions during this most significant season in the year with lots of stories mostly funny but with a few that tear at your heart.
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With special guest:
- Chris Hammer
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This is the first of Chris Hammer’s books to be set in the Australian outback.
There is a murder in a fictional opal mining town loosely based on Lightning Ridge in a far corner of NSW.
We go immediately to the gruesome murder scene. The early indications are that so-called “ratters” are involved and that is a story in itself as Chris explains to us what a ratter is in the context of small mining operations.
What a pleasure it is to get the latest book from Chris Hammer. Treasure and Dirt includes new characters each with a flaw that we discover just as the characters in the book do. We have to make a decision about which character we can trust.
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With special guest:
- Thomas Keneally
… in conversation with Bill Kable
In the new book A Bloody Good Rant you might expect from the title that this is going to contain some wild and extremist views.
However on the contrary except for some well-deserved and unapologetic criticism of one group of economists, you will not find in this book that sort of ranting and raving. It is instead Tom Keneally writing with intimacy and insight and an invitation to share his insight and humanity.
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With special guest:
- R.W.R. McDonald
… in conversation with Bill Kable
This story can stand alone. But if you have read the first book in the series, The Nancys, you will be even keener to see what happens in Rob McDonald’s new book Nancy Business.
For anyone who loves the British murder mysteries such as Frost, Inspector Linley, Taggart and all the others Nancy Business is a treat. But there are a few twists that you do not often find. The narrator and main character is a young girl in Otago a small town on the South Island of New Zealand whose father died about a year ago. Her name is Tippy Chan and with her uncle Pike and his boyfriend Devon they make a formidable team for solving a mysterious murder mystery.
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With special guest:
- Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Bon Scott as his name might suggest was born in Scotland but after his parents signed up to be £10 Poms he arrived in Australia at the age of 6 to a new life. That short life was filled to the brim and Bon provided plenty of his own commentary on his wild adventures before and during his time with the world beating rock band AC/DC.
Our guest today is writer Jeff Apter the author of Bad Boy Boogie, a new book published by Allen & Unwin. Jeff is very familiar with the AC/DC story having previously written about other members of the band the Young brothers and original bass player Mark Evans. When we speak with Jeff again today we are able to go behind the scenes to find out how Bon fitted in so quickly and easily with the Young brothers in their closely guarded troupe. We find out more about the real Bon Scott, his wild side where a party could go on for days but also how many women who came into his orbit described his as a real gentleman.
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With special guest:
- David W Cameron
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Port Arthur is a beautiful setting for what our guest today describes as “misery of the deepest dye”.
In his new book Convict-Era Port Arthur David Cameron takes us back to the days before it became a convict settlement, before its charms were viewed in a completely different light by the British newcomers.
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With special guest:
- Will Davies
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Surprisingly little has been written about the last 100 days of World War 1.
This is the time when the Australian Imperial Force had some of their greatest victories. It was also the time when Adolf Hitler was wounded in battle before coming to the unshakeable conclusion that Germany had been betrayed in agreeing to sue for peace.
This imbalance in the accounts of the conflict has been addressed by Will Davies in his new book The Last 100 Days: The Australian Road to Victory in the First World War. In his book Will reveals why he has been described as being more than an historian because he has the rare gift of being a story weaver. As with his other books on the events of World War One this story will remain etched in your memory.
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With special guest:
- John O’Halloran
… in conversation with Bill Kable
John O’Halloran was an unlikely war hero. With the assistance of Ric Teague John tells his story for the first time in The Platoon Commander: The extraordinary story of the man who led Australia’s most decorated platoon of the Vietnam War.
Coming from Tamworth in country NSW John was called up in the first conscription ballot. But before doing his compulsory medical he was involved in a street accident which badly damaged his foot which should have ruled him out as medically unfit. However with a bit of help from a local medico he got over that first hurdle and soon distinguished himself in training.
John was made Platoon Commander and at the age of 21 he was sent to Vietnam. In that war-torn country he now had enemy soldiers shooting at him, trying their best to kill him. And the men under his command were dependent for their lives on his decisions under fire.
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With special guest:
- Megan De Beyer
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Something many of us wonder about from time to time is what turns a boy into a man. With the title of Megan de Beyer’s new book being How to Raise a Man there was no hiding from this question and Megan dives straight in.
And then there is the most common issue for parents raising young men - how to get more than a grunt in lieu of conversation. In these Covid restricted times as we are forced to spend more time at home this question become even more important. The best approach is to treat this time as a challenge rather than a threat and Megan has lots of suggestions on making this time productive. In brief Megan encourages us to look at ourselves more in this dynamic relationship rather than trying to fix something in our young men.
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