Late Night Live — Full program podcast

Behrouz Boochani was locked in Naura for more than half a decade after fleeing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC). Now, that group will be designated a terrorist organisation by the Australian government. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Trump administration is sacking librarians and deleting public archives. Oxford librarian Richard Ovenden, is the author of "Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack".

Ian Dunt looks at Nigel Farage's scare campaign on migration in the UK, Al Jazeera plus' Managing Director, Dima Khatib, speaks out about the huge number of journalists Israel has killed in Gaza, and, as the price of gold hits new heights, LNL traces its history and its continuing allure.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley condemned the weekend's anti immigration protests, but CLP Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price supported them. Meanwhile the government has signed a $400million deportation deal with Nauru. Plus what is Project Esther and why do they think Hamas has infiltrated Australia?  And a new history argues that the dandy was often a working-class irritant, subverting class structures through their sartorial splendour. 

The 2025 federal election marked the most significant electoral defeat in the history of the Liberal–National Coalition, with the party reduced to just 43 seats. The result was widely attributed to strategic missteps, internal divisions, and a failure to connect with a changing electorate. Almost four months on, where does the future lie for the Liberal Party? 

GUESTS:

Judith Brett, Emeritus Professor of politics at La Trobe University

Frank Bongiorno, Professor of history at the Australian National University

Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large at The Australian

PRODUCER Ali Benton

Robyn Williams looks back at fifty years of broadcasting The Science Show on ABC Radio National. Plus, why the tech tycoons of Silicon Valley love the philosophy of French literary scholar Rene Girard.   

From the USA, Bruce Shapiro on the latest deportation attempts against Kilmar Ábrego García, the FBI raid on John Bolton, and the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Then to Palestine, where the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is 89 and deeply unpopular. As Australia and other Western states move towards a recognition of a Palestinian state, what could that future Palestinian state look like? And: before the days of Instagram, personal cameras, and privacy laws, street photographers set themselves up around Sydney. The industry peaked between the 1930s-1950s, and has left the legacy of an incredible archive.

Anna Henderson from SBS World News looks at the Nationals' attempt to repeal their net zero emissions target and what that means for the Coalition's energy and environment policy credibility. Sudan is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with 25 million people hungry and the largest number of displaced people as their civil war has no end in sight. And, three years since the federal government announced its plans to name an Australian poet laureate in 2025, it has yet to do so, and the Khaled Sabsabi saga might be a reason for the delay.

Drawing on her expertise in mental health and trauma studies, Palestinian psychiatrist, Doctor Samah Jabr, explores how the trauma of displacement and conflict continues to shape Palestinian lives. And why wool became one of the most important commodities for militaries across the globe.

John Menadue has been at the heart of Australian public life for over fifty years, working for the Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke governments. He oversaw the effective end to Australia's White Australia Policy, was CEO of Qantas and set up the Centre for Policy Development. In the media he ran The Australian for Rupert Murdoch, launched the online weekly New Matilda and founded the influential public policy platform, Pearls and Irritations. Now aged ninety, John reflects on Australia's media, in particular its coverage of the war in Gaza, our attitudes to race relations, AUKUS, our relationship with the United States and how Australia is navigating its place in the world during a global power shift. 

• Guest: John Menadue, Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations 
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Columnist Ian Dunt on the UK & European scramble to support Zelenskyy and Ukraine at the White House, after Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska. After two years behind bars, the former PM of Pakistan Imran Khan remains defiant, but at what cost? Plus, should lost buildings be rebuilt, replicated, or left in ruins?