Rear Vision — How History Shaped Today

Taiwan today produces ninety per cent of the world’s most sophisticated microchips that power everything from our smart phone and laptops to military equipment, electric cars and rockets that go to Mars. But Taiwan is also in the eye of a political storm, caught between China on the one side and the United States on the other.  How did the tiny island of Taiwan come to dominate the production of microchips and what happens if something goes wrong?

Secret trials and overblown sentences are the hallmarks of state hostage-taking. What can governments do when their citizens are wrongfully detained overseas?

Decisions made by the Reserve Bank affect so much of our lives—from our mortgage repayments to the cost of supermarket items. For the first time in decades, how it operates is up for review.

The e-book has turned the book industry upside down affecting bookshops, publishers, authors, libraries and readers.

This program was first broadcast on 24 October, 2021

In the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are calling for an Indigenous Voice to parliament. While they haven’t set out how that would work there are models we can look back on.

Ever since the referendum of 1967 federal governments have attempted and failed to set up administrative organisations to give Indigenous Communities a say in their own affairs.

As we once again debate how we acknowledge Australia’s first people - what if anything can we learn from those past attempts?

Britons were promised an economy free from European regulation and the right to make their own laws once they left the EU. Instead, British businesses are setting up in Europe and holidaymakers are stuck in traffic as they try to get to France.

In the 1970s, scientists warned of a potential natural disaster – the destruction of the ozone layer by CFCs, chemicals commonly used in fridges and spray cans. The world came together to protect the ozone layer. Why hasn’t this happened with climate change?

Choosing to not drink is a pretty big thing in this country. Globally we’re well up there in terms of consumption levels and risky drinking - alcohol is entrenched in almost all aspects of society. But there’s growing interest in staying dry past July. Australia has a long history with alcohol but are we seeing a change in drinking habits?

PNG has hundreds of languages groups, almost a thousand tribes and is one of only four nations globally that doesn’t have any women in parliament. Over three weeks the country is holding its national election – the 10th since it gained its independence from Australia in 1975.

Australia has everything it needs to produce electricity - coal, gas, sun, and wind. Yet we've wound up with energy shortages and huge price hikes. How did we get here - why is our energy system in such a mess? And what can we do to fix it?