Australia’s second-oldest city, Newcastle, was built around a single resource - coal.

Since then, Australia has come to rely on coal for its prosperity. Our industries grew around the cheap energy it provided, and our global trade balance relies on its export.

But now, that has to end. The question is - what will happen to Australia, and its coal communities - when it does?

Guests:

Professor John Maynard, Emeritus Professor, Indigenous Education and Research, University of Newcastle

Dr Judith Brett - Emeritus Professor of Politics at La Trobe University, author of the Quarterly Essay The Coal Curse

Julie Baird - Director of Newcastle Museum

Stephen Galilee - CEO of the NSW Minerals Council

Scott Hamilton, Australia-German Energy Transition Hub & former energy policy advisor to federal and Victorian governments

Wendy Farmer - Voices of the Valley

Darren Chester - Federal Nationals Member for Gippsland

In 1987, scientists gathered in Melbourne for a landmark conference where they discussed, for the first time, the effects climate change might have on Australia.

In the decade after that, two decisions were made by federal governments - one Liberal, and one Labor - which have shaped the climate debate in this country ever since. 

Australia, If You’re Listening will look at why Australia’s found it so hard to tackle climate change since then, and what that means for the future.

Guests:Dr Graeme Pearman - Former Chief of Atmospheric Research, CSIRO

Graham Richardson - former Federal Environment Minister

Ros Kelly - former Federal Environment Minister

Robert Hill - former Federal Environment Minister

The sixth season of If You’re Listening tells the story of Australia’s turbulent history with climate change, and what that means for the future.

As we approach a federal election where climate and energy is a key battleground, this 8 episode series will examine how Australia wasted decades fighting change, instead of capitalising on it.

Episode 1 launches on February 23.

For months commentators and politicians in Australia have been talking about one of the most frightening topics imaginable — a war between the United States and China over the island of Taiwan.

It's the last frozen remnant of a hundred year old Civil War — two governments both claiming to be the legitimate rulers of China, separated by 100 miles of ocean.

In this episode, we explain the bizarre story which led to the current tension, and look at what might happen next.

Guests:

Katherine Wei, Taiwan Correspondent, The Straits Times

Malcolm Turnbull, former Australian Prime Minister

Dr Helen Sham-ho OAM, first Chinese-born MP in an Australian parliament

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the shutdown of travel from China, it shone a harsh light on the way Australia treats Chinese students who come here to study.

Some feel isolated and discriminated against, others feel they are being treated as "cash cows" by a university sector desperate for their fees.

Can we do better? And can we handle it when problems arise inside the bubble we have created around Chinese students?

Guests:

Dr Fran Martin, associate Professor & Reader in Cultural Studies, University of Melbourne

Catriona Jackson, CEO, Universities Australia

Yaqiu Wang, researcher, Human Rights Watch

'Yuki', former University of Adelaide student

Jane Poon, Australia-Hong Kong Link

From humble beginnings in a tiny town whose name means "deep drainage ditch", electrical engineer Ren Zhengfei grew his company Huawei into a global technology giant, delivering competitive telecommunications equipment at low prices.

But when Australia accused Huawei of being a security risk, a snowball began to roll which led to arrests, hostages being taken, and pure white hot fury in Beijing.

This is the story of how a decision made in the midst of a Prime Ministerial spill may lead to a new technology cold war.

Guests:

Sue-Lin Wong, China correspondent, The Economist and co-author of The Beijing Bureau: 25 Australian Correspondents Reporting China's Rise

Malcolm Turnbull, former Australian Prime Minister

When China rolled out their trade sanctions regime against Australia to try and punish us for a litany of perceived insults, the trade of one commodity was conspicuously left untouched.

China's desperate need to stimulate economic growth through construction has left them with an insatiable appetite for Australian iron ore.

In this episode, we look at the incredible things they've built using our most valuable resource, and what might happen if they decide to stop buying it.

Guests:

Dinny McMahon, author of China's Great Wall of Debt: Shadow Banks, Ghost Cities, Massive Loans and the End of the Chinese Miracle

Dr Feng Chongyi, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology, Sydney

Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister

In 1989, five days after tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in Beijing and brutally ended weeks of protests, the then prime minister Bob Hawke gave a horrifying description of what Australia thought happened.

But where did the account come from? And what did it get wrong?

Over the past three months China, If You're Listening investigated the source of this description and found it was a previously undisclosed diplomatic cable from the Australian Embassy in Beijing, which subsequently had key details retracted.

This is a bonus episode, produced with our friends at The Signal — a daily ABC News podcast.

Guests:

Blanche d'Alpuget, biographer and wife of late former prime minister Bob Hawke

Richard Rigby, Emeritus Professor of the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra

Craig Emerson, former advisor to Bob Hawke, and cabinet minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments

For decades Australia has taken the approach that when it comes to China; we can criticise their human rights record without risking our trading relationship.

We told China we disapproved of their crackdown on students at Tiananmen Square in 1989, but continued to sell them iron ore.

Xi Jinping has made it clear that the arrangement has now changed, as he simultaneously takes the lessons Beijing learned at Tiananmen, and applies them to a crackdown on Muslims in his country's far west.

Guests:

Rose Tang, 1989 Tiananmen Square protester

Alim Osman, president, Uyghur Association of Victoria

Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister

Yaqiu Wang, researcher, Human Rights Watch