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Alan Joyce was once hailed as a saviour of perhaps Australia’s most iconic business.

The former CEO of QANTAS was championed by his board and well known in the Australian business community for his support of social justice causes throughout his 15 years in the job.

So, it’s been a dramatic fall from grace. 

Joyce has now left his successors with a reputational mess after a series of bad decisions that left customers furious. And he’s had his bonus cut by millions.

Today, reporter Marc Moncrief on what Joyce did wrong and whether his punishment will do anything to rebuild Australia’s trust in QANTAS.

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Guest: Business journalist and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Marc Moncrief

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The treatment or mistreatment of refugees fleeing to Australia has been the wellspring of Australian politics for almost a quarter of a century.  

This time, it's Peter Dutton with his call for Palestinians fleeing Gaza to be banned from coming to Australia. The language is designed to wedge the government by making them look soft on national security.

 It comes at a time when ASIO has called for politicians to dial down the heated and divisive rhetoric consuming national conversations, with fear it could spark violence within the community. 

Today, former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration Abul Rizvi on how we screen refugees and why Peter Dutton’s ban makes no sense.

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Guest: Former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration Abul Rizvi

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The hard-right group behind the “No” campaign, Advance, is amassing a multi-million dollar war chest to take down its next opponent: the Australian Greens.

Advance has called the Greens the “single biggest threat to freedom, security and prosperity in Australia” – and they have big plans to target their voters ahead of the next election.

Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper Jason Koutsoukis on who is behind Advance and why they believe they can flip progressive women to the hard right.

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Guest: Special correspondent for The Saturday Paper Jason Koutsoukis

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It was 2014 when Bruce Pascoe went from being a prolific, yet relatively unknown writer, to public enemy #1 in Australia’s culture wars. That was the year that Bruce published his now infamous book, Dark Emu, and its re-examination of accepted historical accounts of pre-invasion Australia. On this episode of Read This, he joins Michael for a discussion about his new novel Imperial Harvest and shares why he still believes we need the messiness of democracy.

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“I didn’t have a boyfriend to text anymore so might as well text a therapist,” a millennial podcast host tells her audience while recommending they seek out counselling.

Online therapy services like BetterHelp are some of podcasting’s biggest advertisers, promising to address the barriers that prevent people from accessing face-to-face therapy.

Now, the American company is expanding its app into Australia – recruiting Australian psychologists while capitalising on the failings of a mental health system that’s difficult to navigate. 

But are patients actually better off with subscription-based therapy apps?

Today, clinical and forensic psychologist Dr Ahona Guha on the dangers of app-based mental health support and what happens when you turn psychologists into gig-economy workers.

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Guest: Clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr Ahona Guha.

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Brittany Higgins has now been at the centre of three court cases.

First, there was the criminal trial of Bruce Lehrmann - which was aborted with no findings made against him.

Lehrmann later sued Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson, claiming that they defamed him by identifying him as a rapist.

The court found that he did, to a civil standard, rape Higgins.

Now, Higgins’ former boss, Senator Linda Reynolds, is suing her for a series of social media posts claiming that she was uncaring and unsupportive.

So is taking a rape survivor to court the best way to restore your reputation?

Today, legal affairs editor for The Saturday Paper Richard Ackland, on Senator Linda Reynolds’ defamation case and why some politicians are so quick to sue.

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Guest: Legal affairs editor for The Saturday Paper, Richard Ackland.

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Three years ago the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. 

From his new home in Adelaide, Australia, Hazara human rights activist and photographer Muzafar Ali watched warlords returning to the places he had loved but had been forced to leave. He saw Western journalists describing a place they didn’t know and didn’t really understand. 

So last month, Muzafar returned to Afghanistan at great personal cost to document what life is like there. He found a network of underground schools where girls are risking their lives to get an education. 

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Guest: Hazara human rights activist and photographer Muzafar Ali

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Neale Radley was in his early 40s when he dived off a houseboat and hit a sandbar, becoming a high-needs quadriplegic. With no family members able to look after him, he was faced with limited options and ended up in aged-care.

Now, a clause in the government’s New Aged Care Act could mean that more younger people will end up in aged-care, potentially unwinding decades of work to prevent this from happening.

Today, Neale Radley on the reality of living in aged-care as a younger person and The Saturday Paper’s senior reporter Rick Morton on the plan that might make the problem worse.

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Guest: Neale Radley and senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton.

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This year’s Olympics has been phenomenal for women in sport.

Paris 2024 also set a milestone as the first Olympics to achieve full gender parity on the field of play.

But these achievements have been overshadowed by the abuse levelled at two female boxers who both clinched their first olympic medals over unfounded speculation about their sex.

One of the boxers, Imane Khelif, has spoken out several times in the face of it all.

The saga is fuelled by a current moral panic about ‘fairness’ in women’s sport – but it’s also part of a long and insidious history of scrutinising the bodies of female athletes, especially the successful ones.

Today, Fox Sports News presenter and women's sports advocate Sam Squiers on why female bodies remain one of the main objects of regulation by sports committees.

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Guest: Fox Sports News presenter and women's sports advocate, Sam Squiers.

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In this episode of our sister podcast, Read This, host Michael Williams speaks with journalist, editor and media proprietor Eric Beecher about his new book The Men Who Killed the News. Eric has worked for some of the most well-respected newspapers in the world, including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal. He’s currently the head of Private Media, which runs the website, Crikey.

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