Late Night Live — Full program podcast

Australia is a nation built by migrants, but immigration has always been politically contested. A new history traces how we came to decide who belongs, who gets in and who is kept out, right back to the early days of the colony. Plus, historian James Crawford explores what happens when the resources that underpin modern life become harder to find, harder to extract and harder to replace.

Guests

• Mark Cully, author of Waves of Plenty: Immigration and the Making of Australia, published by Black Inc
• James Crawford, author of The Vanishing Earth: A journey through the last days of Abundance

Australia is a nation built by migrants, but immigration has always been politically contested. A new history traces how we came to decide who belongs, who gets in and who is kept out, right back to the early days of the colony. Plus, historian James Crawford explores what happens when the resources that underpin modern life become harder to find, harder to extract and harder to replace.

Guests

• Mark Cully, author of Waves of Plenty: Immigration and the Making of Australia, published by Black Inc
• James Crawford, author of The Vanishing Earth: A journey through the last days of Abundance

Bruce Shapiro surveys the path ahead to November's critical US midterm elections, as US President Donald Trump's polling sinks to a new low. Plus, the senior Guardian correspondent Luke Harding on how Putin has up-ended the postwar global order, with help from his American counterpart. 

Guests

• Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma.
• Luke Harding, The Guardian's senior international correspondent, and former Moscow bureau Chief. Author of Betrayal: Trump, Putin and The New Age of Conquest

Anna Henderson is travelling with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as he launches Australia's bid for a seat at the UN security council, does the United Nations have a future? And why bandicoots are doing your garden a fantastic service. 

Guests:

• Anna Henderson, Chief Political Correspondent, SBS
• Richard Gowan, Director of Global Issues and Institutions at the International Crisis Group
• Annabel Ellis, PhD candidate at the University of Sydney in the Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Lab

For millenia, Turkiye’s former capital of Istanbul has been at the centre of world affairs thanks to its geography straddling the Bosphorus, the natural canal that forms the border between Europe and Asia. President Erdogan is keen to see the country reclaim some of its former power and importance, and get rich in the process, as his reign becomes more and more autocratic. Suzy Hansen chronicles the age of authoritarianism in Turkiye through an intimate portrait of its people, how Istanbul handled hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, and how its streets now teem with nationalistic fervour, political repression and rampant corruption. 

• Guest: Suzy Hansen, journalist and author of From Life Itself: Turkey and Istanbul in the Age of Erdogan, published by Allen and Unwin
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

The U.S.A.I.D program was established by President John F Kennedy in 1961, at the peak of Cold War tensions, but researcher Luke Fletcher says its roots date back to WWII, and a desire by the US to greatly expand its economic and military power. Plus, a tribute to Mary Gaudron, Australia's first female High Court judge.

Guests: 

• Luke Fletcher, Executive Director, Jubilee Australia Research Centre and author of America and the Birth of Global Aid, published by Routledge
• John Basten AO KC, former judge of the NSW Court of Appeal

Our regular UK correspondent appraises Ed Miliband's bold stance on West Bank. Meet Dutch-Australian Kim Sajet, former Smithsonian director who Donald Trump tried to fire. And the allure of world globes.

Guests:

• Ian Dunt, columnist with i-news; co-host of the Origin Story podcast
• Kim Sajet, Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum; former Director of the US National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian
• Nikolaus Schobesberger, Director at the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library in Vienna  

Anna Henderson on One Nation’s migration policy, the response to Pauline Hanson's 'derogatory' remarks about Aboriginal people on a podcast, and the government’s increasingly aggressive approach to big tech. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on what Benjamin Netanyahu was told before October 7, and why Netanyahu is threatening to sue Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Plus the hidden meanings in wine labels. 

Guests:

• Anna Henderson, Chief Political Correspondent, SBS
• Former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert
• Katie Spain, freelance wine writer

As Australia grapples with a surging illicit tobacco trade, the Coalition and One Nation have called for a substantial cut to Australia's excise on legal tobacco. Professor Becky Freeman says the tobacco industry has long backed a tax cut, and continues to wield significant political influence. Plus, how did Washington journalists gain access to information during the Cold War, and why did they keep secrets? 

Guests:

• Professor Becky Freeman, school of public health, University of Sydney
• Kathryn McGarr, Associate Professor at the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Madison, Wisconsin

Artificial intelligence presents enormous challenges to the business of journalism in its pursuit of truth and dissemination of credible information. News Director with EBU Liz Corbin says AI developers must respect key principles around transparency and accreditation to ensure their tools don’t damage the integrity of news. Plus, after an extraordinarily hot summer, Europe's iconic rivers have reached record lows, exposing warships, skeletons - and enormous geopolitical vulnerabilities. 

Guests:

• Liz Corbin, News Director, European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
• Ben Coates, guest essayist for New York Times, author of The Rhine 

Bruce Shapiro reflects on the life of American feminist icon, Gloria Steinem,  former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's attempts to keep current Mayor Zohran Mamdani from attending the commemoration of 9/11, and multiple legal cases are still at play over President Trump's attempts to centralise electoral rolls. In Adelaide, the SA Premier is pushing ahead with plans to cut down nearly a thousand trees in the heritage listed parklands to make way for a golf tournament and a motorcycle race. Plus why America wants its Greenland airbase back. 

Guests: 

• Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. 
• Greg Mackie, Former CEO, SA History Trust, former Adelaide City Councillor
• Ole Guldager, historian, curator at Narsarsuaq Air Base Museum