Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has labelled AUKUS a bipartisan mistake. Is he right?

Peter Garrett, former Labor minister and rock superstar, is now leading a public inquiry into Australia's submarine pact with the U.S. and UK to answer a number of essential questions. 

Are the promised submarines likely to arrive? Why is Australia paying billions into US and UK submarine production? And does AUKUS strengthen Australia's security, or deepen our dependence on Washington at a time of growing uncertainty about America's role in the world?

In this episode, Peter Garrett joins Global Roaming to explain why the inquiry believes Australians have been largely excluded from one of the biggest defence decisions in the nation's history.

Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue also test the arguments around China's military rise, Taiwan, interoperability with US forces, and whether Australia has ever had the national conversation that a project of this scale demands.

Guest: Peter Garrett, leading commissioner of the public inquiry into AUKUS

Is the abuse worth it?

A growing body of research suggests women in public life are facing a wave of online harassment that has been amplified by artificial intelligence, deepfakes and coordinated misinformation campaigns.

In this episode of Global Roaming, Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke examine the implications for democracy. If women are increasingly targeted with sexualised abuse, fake images and threats of violence, will fewer choose to enter public life?

Australian journalist and academic Dr Julie Posetti, who led a landmark UN study on online violence against women in public life, explains how AI is changing the threat landscape and why research is drawing links between online abuse and real-world harm.

Former NSW minister Bronnie Taylor reflects on her own experience of abuse in politics and why she fears the problem could deter women from putting their hands up for elected office.

Could online misogyny be reshaping democracy itself? And what can governments, regulators and technology companies do about it?

Guests:

Dr Julie Posetti, journalist, academic and UN researcher

Bronnie Taylor, former NSW Nationals minister and Women for Election advisory board member

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Arash Azizi says Iran's rulers may be more afraid of peace than war.

While the world watches Donald Trump, the American-Iranian historian argues the real story is the stasis inside Tehran. 

A collective leadership built around a 13-member National Security Council, with parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf the strongest figure, now calling the shots. 

Azizi says they stepped away from the June memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Washington that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz, partly because normal governance frightens them more than crisis. 

Now the new Mecca defence pact between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, a throwback to the 1955 Baghdad Pact, is leaving Iran more isolated than ever.

Azizi's sharpest claim is that the biggest threat to the regime is its own people. The ideological Khomeini era is over, he says, and the state has quietly lost its war on the hijab, with women now in tank tops on the streets of Tehran. 

So who breaks the deadlock? Latika Burke and Geraldine Doogue ask whether Iran can find its own Deng Xiaoping, or whether it just hobbles on like Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1990s.

Guest: Arash Azizi, author of What Iranians Want

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These are Iran's emerging power players, Azizi's previous appearance on Global Roaming

Antony Loewenstein says Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has turned "almost apocalyptic".

The independent Australian journalist has reported from the territory for more than 20 years. On a trip to the area last month, Loewenstein says he witnessed near-daily attacks on a Palestinian family. It comes as the United Nations says Israeli settler violence has reached unprecedented levels.  

Loewenstein points to roughly 800,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, a prosecution rate for settler violence he puts close to zero, and the upcoming Israeli election as all contributing to the increased violence. 

He tells hosts Kylie Morris and Latika Bourke that, while he welcomes Foreign Minister Penny Wong's sanctioning of West Bank settlers and some Israeli ministers who openly advocate for the displacement of Palestinians, the move is merely "tinkering at the edges" should Australia keep exporting weapons parts to Israel. 

And, as a Jewish Australian, he warns the Antisemitism Royal Commission risks conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. 

Guest: Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory

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Mentioned in this episode: 

Global Roaming: Should Israel remain a Jewish state? A look at Gaza's future.

Labor MP Ed Husic has a blunt warning: a handful of US tech firms could switch off the AI tools Australia runs on.

On 15 July the Prime Minister used a national address to label artificial intelligence (AI) a national interest, announcing a new Office of AI inside his department, mandatory rules for large data centres, and a digital duty of care for big tech.

At the same time Sydney is being tipped as one of the world's data centre hotspots, with firms like Anthropic and OpenAI scouting sites and the build-out talked up as the next mining boom.

The catch: Australia has no frontier AI model of its own, so we store the data without controlling the technology.

Digital Rights Watch founder Lizzie O'Shea and the McKinnon Institute's Tom Mooney, once chief of staff to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, argue Australia holds more cards than it thinks: a stable democracy, cheap renewables and a strong bargaining position.

They make the case for shaping big tech rather than receiving it and explain why Australians rank among the world's most sceptical about AI even as heavy users. In this episode Hamish Macdonald presses them on jobs, sovereignty, and whether any government can force these companies to care.

Guest:

Lizzie O'Shea - Digital Rights Watch

Tom Mooney - McKinnon Institute

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Fresh from winning the 2026 Miles Franklin Award, writer and artist Omar Musa joins Global Roaming to take us into the rainforests of Borneo, a place where environmental destruction, colonial history, economic development and cultural identity collide.

Drawing on the themes of his award-winning novel Fierceland, Musa explores how palm oil transformed Malaysian Borneo: lifting many families out of poverty while accelerating the loss of rainforest, Indigenous lands, languages and traditions.

With Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue, he discusses the enduring legacy of colonialism in Southeast Asia, the tensions between multiculturalism and nationalism, Australia's relationship with the region, and his own journey growing up between Queensland and Borneo.

It's a conversation about memory, belonging, faith, identity and one of the world's most remarkable forests.Guest: Omar Musa, Author of 2026 Miles Franklin award winning novel Fierceland

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Pauline Hanson sat down with Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's most notorious far-right figures. So why did the interview happen, and what does it say about the rise of right-wing populism globally? 

From Luton to Moscow, the money behind the far right has gone global. Journalist Daniel Trilling traces cash flowing from the United States and Canada to fund Islamophobic activists in the United Kingdom, Russia's long-running interest in stirring British politics, and Elon Musk using X to play kingmaker: backing Nigel Farage, cooling on him, then boosting Robinson and another breakaway rival. 

And Robinson himself has been courted by Israel and photographed in Moscow alongside Errol Musk. So how connected are far-right movements around the world? 

Trilling argues these movements, supercharged by a fragmented media landscape and the failures of neoliberalism, share a style and a pool of funders but are not formally coordinated.

He also explains to hosts Latika Bourke and Kylie Morris why the political centre keeps ceding ground on immigration, why Reform UK is suddenly in real trouble, and what can eventually make these movements come unstuck.

Guest: Daniel Trilling, journalist and author of If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable.

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Should the FIFA World Cup be sold to private investors?

That was the proposal by FIFA president Gianni Infantino that shocked the world and FIFA council members.

Though the proposal has been abandoned after a swift backlash, Infantino now faces a leadership crisis that could see him booted from the top position, with others already vying to take his place. 

But bigger questions remain. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the most profitable in history and generated over $15 billion in revenue. So why was the proposal made in the first place? And is this really the end of the idea, or just the beginning?

Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke speak with veteran football broadcaster Simon Hill about the plan to create FIFA Forward Enterprise, the governance crisis now facing FIFA, the growing influence of money in the game, and why selling part of the World Cup crossed a line that even many football insiders found unacceptable.

They also explore whether this was a geo-political victory for Europe, what Donald Trump's orbit has to do with the controversy, and if the plan could have some unappreciated merit. 

Guest: Simon Hill, football commentator and broadcaster.

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Australia has been offered a seat in space, but time is running out.

The European Space Agency has invited Australia to send its first government astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, to the International Space Station (ISS).

The catch? The ticket likely costs about $100 million and the ISS is set to deorbit around 2030. The offer stands for a few months longer, at most.

Deputy Director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia, Larissa Wiese, calls it a once-in-a-generation shot at an Australian seat at the global space table, backing an industry that already turns over $4.6 billion and employs 17,000 people. Miss it, she warns, and we may never catch up.

But as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stares down a tight budget and a cost-of-living crisis, is a $100 million space ticket smart nation-building, or an easy political target? 

Hosts Waleed Aly and Hamish Macdonald dig into the money, the potential stakes for AUKUS and advanced manufacturing, and whether Australia is happy to remain a space "consumer" as other countries reach for the stars.

Guest: Larissa Wiese, the deputy director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia. 

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Mentioned in this episode:

Global Roaming: Prof Brian Cox on whether Elon Musk owns the moon

What does the war in Gaza mean for the future of Israel, Zionism and Jewish identity?

Peter Beinart has become one of the most prominent and controversial Jewish voices challenging Israel's political direction. Once a supporter of a two-state solution, he now argues that lasting peace can only come through equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, regardless of religion or ethnicity.

In this conversation with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald, Beinart explains his struggle with the idea of a Jewish state, how his South African upbringing shaped his views on nationalism and democracy, and why he believes Israel is becoming increasingly isolated internationally.

Beinart also asks: how can you make a plan for the future when there is no clear way for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to make their voice heard? Without elected representatives, how can decision-makers know what the Palestinian people want for themselves?

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Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.