7am

The United States is once again tightening its grip on Cuba. 

New travel and economic restrictions are adding to a brutal oil blockade that has already pushed the country deeper into crisis, leaving Cuba increasingly isolated both politically and economically. 

But behind the decades of hostility between Washington and Havana, there’s a human cost that can be easy to lose sight of. 

Power cuts stretch through the night. Food and medicine are scarce and millions of people are struggling with water shortages. 

Today, SBS reporter for Dateline, Colin Cosier takes us inside Cuba, where he travelled undercover to document what life has become for the people caught up in an age old power struggle. 

 

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Guest: SBS reporter Colin Cosier

Photo: SBS / Colin Cosier

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Last week, Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham stood in front of the Labour Party conference and promised to break politics as usual. 

In an emotional speech, he took aim at privatisation, austerity and Brexit, arguing that Britain’s departure from the European Union had done more harm than good. 

Alastair Campbell was in the room and he sees Burnham’s speech as part of a much bigger political moment, as populist parties gain ground, America redraws its alliances and China is asserting more power abroad. 

For countries like Britain and Australia, that means old assumptions about political leadership, alliances and global power are being tested all at once.   

Today, former Tony Blair adviser and the co-host of The Rest Is Politics, Alastair Campbell, on how centre-left leaders can respond to the rise of populism, and what a shifting global order means for countries like Australia.

 

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Guest: Co-host of The Rest is Politics Alastair Campbell

Photo: Supplied

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If you listen to podcasts, and let’s be honest, there’s a fair chance that you do, it’s likely that you’ve heard ads for a thing called Better Help.

It’s an app offering flexible, affordable therapy whenever you need it. Kind of an “Uber for therapy”.

Since we first brought you this story two years ago, app-based therapy has continued to grow – and now AI chatbots are increasingly being used for mental health support too.

So are we actually better off with BetterHelp and apps like it?

Today, we’re returning to our conversation with clinical and forensic psychologist Dr Ahona Guha, on the Uberfication of mental health care – and why a gig economy for psychologists isn’t the answer to our struggling mental health system.

This episode first aired in August, 2024

 

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Guest: Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr Ahona Guha

Photo: betterhelp.com

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David Shoebridge has taken over the Greens leadership with a big ambition: to replace Labor.

He’s doing it at a time when Australians are becoming less attached to the major parties, and less trusting of the people who run them.

But so far, it’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation that has made the most of that anger, while the Greens, after losing seats at the last election, have stagnated in the polls. Their challenge now is to convince disillusioned voters that the Greens can be more than a bit player in the halls of parliament. 

Today, Greens leader David Shoebridge on his plan to turn the Greens into an anti-establishment force, and whether that requires changing the party itself.

 

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Guest: Greens leader David Shoebridge

Photo: AAP Image/George Chan

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News of an alleged rape involving seven men at an elite university – a case being called the ‘Cornell 7’ – is reverberating across the US. 

For many people, the case – and the way the men and the institutions involved responded at the time – echoes high profile incidents here in Australia. 

So what responsibilities are our institutions failing to live up to? And what should they be doing differently? 

Today, advocate Tarang Chawla on the so-called Cornell 7, and what the case tells us about misogyny at home.

And a warning – while we try not to get too graphic, this episode does cover sexual assault.

 

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Guest: Anti-violence advocate Tarang Chawla

Photo: AP Photo/Seth Wenig

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In April this year, Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested and charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.

He’s now out on bail and maintains his innocence – and One Nation has swung its support behind him. 

Now, the minor party says it’s also seeking to make a change to the criminal code — a change that could make a big difference to Roberts-Smith’s upcoming trial. 

Today, journalist Ben McKelvey on the law One Nation wants changed — and what that could mean for Australia’s international standing. 

 

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Guest: Journalist Ben McKelvey

Photo: AAP Image/Russell Freeman

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For years we’ve heard from older generations that the current interest rate pain is nothing compared to the horror of 17.5 per cent rates in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

But now, as the Reserve Bank delivers its fourth hike this year, analysis shows the pain being inflicted on homeowners is comparatively worse.

So, as the official cash rate hits a 15 year high of 4.6 percent – how bad could it get?

Today, KPMG senior economist Terry Rawnsley on the chance of more interest rate hikes, the flow on effects of this latest hit, and whether we should be looking at alternatives like tax hikes, to get inflation under control.

 

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Guest: KPMG senior economist Terry Rawnsley

Photo: AAP Image/Sarah Wilson

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In June, an OpenAI agent was looking for public information about medicines spending when it broke into a Medicare statistics website and accessed files it wasn’t authorised to see.

No personal Medicare information was accessed, and the breach itself was relatively minor. But the behaviour is more concerning: the agent hit a barrier – and instead of stopping, found a way around it.

And it wasn’t the first time.

Sydney Von Arx runs the Nightingale Collective, which monitors these AI systems. Her team uncovered a group of OpenAI agents behaving in remarkably similar ways around the same time as the Medicare breach – even sharing tips with each other about how to get around restrictions.

Today, what happens when AI agents stop taking no for an answer – and can the companies building them actually control what they do?

 

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Guest: AI researcher and CEO of Nightingale Collective, Sydney Von Arx

Photo: AAP Image/Susie Dodds / Pictures: Tracey Nearmy and Dan Himbrechts

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A rare old book can now be worth more dead than alive.

Books are being bought, cut apart and scanned to train artificial intelligence.

Nobody knows how many books have been destroyed this way, but second-hand booksellers around the world have reported anonymous orders ranging from thousands to as many as a million books at a time.

And internal documents from AI giant Anthropic revealed plans to “destructively scan all the books in the world”.

Today, author Sarah Wilson on the destruction of knowledge to build artificial intelligence.

 

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Guest: Author Sarah Wilson

Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

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When starting out at university, it’s normal to want to meet new friends and establish a community.

But for some young Australians, that formative time has led them down the path of a secretive and extreme religious group accused of using deceptive tactics to draw in young people: Shincheonji. 

According to one former member, the group took over his life – leaving him sleep deprived and isolated, and teaching him that using his own judgement was dangerous. He described what happened to him as “mind control”.

Since then, similar accounts have been heard by a major Victorian parliamentary inquiry – which has now recommended new laws targeting coercive control by high-control groups.

And Shincheonji itself is now under investigation by Australia’s charities regulator.

Today, journalist Aleisha Orr on one young Australian who spent years inside the doomsday church – and what it took for him to get out.

This episode was originally published in March, 2024.

 

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Guest: Journalist Aleisha Orr

Photo: shincheonji.org

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