In the last segment for this week’s show,  Macca and Kenny  talk to Lucio Ribeiro Chief AI & Innovation Officer, TBWA Australia; Forbes Australia columnist; co-founder DISRUPT AI Film Festival

 The AI movie revolution apparently belongs to young digital natives pressing one magic button. Except the festival data says the average Australian entrant was nearly 45, the strongest films took hundreds of decisions, and most creators were men using a stack of foreign-owned tools. Lucio Ribeiro helped run the experiment, and he’s back with the results.

Sources: 

DISRUPT AI Film Festival white paper — DISRUPT AI Film Festival, 2026

DISRUPT research report — Swinburne Figshare, 2026

TBWA AI research: creative AI as national infrastructure — Little Black Book, 2026

SAG-AFTRA statement on synthetic performer — SAG-AFTRA, 2026

Australia AI copyright debate — Guardian Australia, 1 July 2026

The post Sat, July 11th, 2026: Lucio Ribeiro Chief AI & Innovation Officer, TBWA Australia; Forbes Australia columnist; co-founder DISRUPT AI Film Festival appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Macca and Kenny are joined live on air by, Tania Davidge: Executive Director and Chief Curator, Open House Melbourne. Cian Davis: Director, Bates Smart Melbourne

Most of us walk past Melbourne’s most interesting buildings without ever seeing what is inside. Open House Melbourne changes that for one weekend, and this year one of the star attractions is Orica House, often described as Australia’s first skyscraper. Tania Davidge and architect Cian Davis join us.

Open House Melbourne Weekend runs 24–26 July 2026. The program opens buildings, infrastructure and design practices to the public through tours, talks and events.

Orica House, completed in 1958 and historically known as ICI House, is widely regarded as Australia’s first skyscraper and a landmark of postwar modernism. Bates Smart staff will lead guided tours on 25 and 26 July.

Useful angle for Cian: what the building introduced technically and culturally; what has survived; and how adaptive reuse can preserve modernist architecture without freezing it in time.

NICA: The Joys of Circus runs on 24 and 25 July and marks 25 years of the National Institute of Circus Arts. It adds a celebratory performing-arts dimension to a weekend often perceived as building-focused.

Open House Melbourne Weekend 2026 — Open House Melbourne, accessed 10 July 2026

2026 Program Broadsheet — Open House Melbourne, 23 June 2026

Meet the team — Tania Davidge — Open House Melbourne, accessed 10 July 2026

Orica House event listing — Open House Melbourne, 2026

NICA: The Joys of Circus — Open House Melbourne, 2026

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Macca and Kenny talk to Asso. Prof. Brad E. Tucker  Astrophysicist and cosmologist, ANU; about space junk, debris and ‘space balls’.

Six spherical objects were found around Forrest Beach and nearby north Queensland beaches in early July. Emergency services established exclusion zones and removed them.

The Australian Space Agency says they are likely pressure vessels from a foreign rocket body that recently re-entered the atmosphere. The precise launching state had not been publicly confirmed at the time of briefing.

Hazard claims must be qualified: residual hydrazine or other propellant is a plausible reason for caution, but public reporting had not established that these particular vessels contained toxic fuel.

Under international space law, the launching state retains ownership of space objects and may be liable for damage. Australian must work through diplomatic and technical channels to identify and, if requested, return debris.

Human injury from falling space debris is exceptionally rare, but uncontrolled re-entry is becoming a larger governance issue as launch rates rise.

Sources: 

Australian Space Agency reveals likely origin of Queensland “space balls” — Guardian Australia, 6 July 2026

How “space balls” put Forrest Beach in the global spotlight — Guardian Australia, 11 July 2026

Dr Brad Tucker: The Future of Space — Australian National University, accessed 10 July 2026

The post Sat, July 11th, 2026: Asso. Prof. Brad E. Tucker Astrophysicist and cosmologist, ANU; Space Balls and Debris appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Senator Shoebridge is a NSW Greens senator and former barrister. Since June 2025 his federal portfolios include foreign affairs, defence, home affairs, justice and digital rights. He has attacked the government over what the Greens describe as a $29 billion defence blowout and argues procurement changes do not address structural waste or AUKUS risk.

Digital accountability is live: the Senate recently ordered the Privacy Commissioner to release a report into American Express technology-security failures after a long-running investigation. He is also prominent in the debate over foreign-owned AI data centres, arguing that government policy must protect Australian jobs, water, energy and data rather than simply facilitate large US technology investments.

Senator David Shoebridge profile and portfolios — Parliament of Australia, accessed 10 July 2026

David Shoebridge — latest media — Australian Greens, 1 July 2026

Senate orders release of American Express privacy report — ABC News, 2 July 2026

Angus Taylor attacks One Nation economic plan — ABC News, 9 July 2026

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Kenny and Macca are joined live on-air by Ruby Grant is a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS).

The $477,590 Australian Research Council-funded Out in Suburbia project, led by La Trobe University’s ARCSHS, investigates LGBTQ+ wellbeing in outer suburbs. It combats the lack of localized suburban support by uncovering how geography impacts mental health

Current evidence reveals that LGBTQ+ people living in outer suburban areas experience higher rates of psychological distress and suicidal ideation than those in inner cities, alongside lower community connectedness.

To bridge this gap, the Out in Suburbia team is co-designing tailored strategies with local councils and adapting the How2 LGBTQ-inclusive organisational change program for local governments.

Ruby is a sociologist specialising in LGBTQ community health and wellbeing. Her research projects have explored lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women’s sexual health, LGBTQ mental health, trans affirming healthcare, bisexual health, and LGBTQ-inclusion in education and healthcare. Ruby is the leading scholar of Tasmanian LGBTQ community wellbeing, with her work providing key insights into the role of place in shaping LGBTQ identity, health, belonging and inclusion in regional and rural areas.

Ruby draws on feminist and queer perspectives from sociology, social geography, and public health to develop new understandings of the needs and experiences of LGBTQ people, with a strong focus on partnering with Government and community organisations to promote diversity and inclusion. She is the author of Sexual Citizenship and Queer Post-feminism, and numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

At ARCSHS, Ruby leads QSOX: Queer Women’s Substance Use Over Time (LP210100122), a longitudinal qualitative project exploring LBQ women’s use of alcohol and nicotine. This project uses feminist and critical drugs scholarship to examine the roles of alcohol and nicotine in LBQ women’s lives and communities, offering a more nuanced perspective extending beyond minority stress explanations for higher rates of substance use among this population. As a longitudinal study, QSOX aims to examine factors influencing changes in substance use and help seeking behaviours among LBQ women across an 18 month period. In leading this project, Ruby draws on her extensive experience in engaging community organisations, co-ordinating a steering committee of partners including: Thorne Harbour Health, ACON, LGBTIQ Health Australia, Quit Victoria, and the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA).

Sources: 

Out in Suburbia project page — La Trobe University / ARCSHS, accessed 10 July 2026

Major funding for outer suburban LGBTQ wellbeing — La Trobe University, 2025

Associations between residential location and LGBTQ experiences — Gender, Place & Culture, 2024

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Macca and Kenny are joined live on-air by Rachel Withers Freelance writer; Crikey contributor; co-host, Spin Cycle on Triple R.

The Coalition is trying to outflank One Nation, the teals are becoming a party without quite calling themselves one, and now a government envoy wants a new body looking over the ABC’s shoulder. To separate the politics from the spin, we’re joined by writer and broadcaster Rachel Withers.

Rachel Withers is a freelance writer with an unfortunate penchant for Australian politics. She is the former editor of The Politics and currently co-hosts Spin Cycle on Triple R radio.

Sources: 

Envoy calls for independent oversight of ABC — ABC News, 9 July 2026

ABC and SBS reject call for Israel-coverage oversight — Guardian Australia, 9 July 2026

Proposed solutions are ill-conceived and dangerous — Guardian Australia, 10 July 2026

IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism — IHRA, accessed 10 July 2026

Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism — JDA, 25 March 2021

Rachel Withers author profile — Crikey, accessed 10 July 2026

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Macca and Kenny are in the hosting seats this week as they discuss the news, views, reviews of the week that was.

The post Sat, July 11th, 2026: Weekly Wrap Up with Macca and Kenny appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Our last segment for the week, was a very special one for Macca.

Joining us live in the studio is one of the organisers of the Melbourne Tartan Festival, a celebration of Scottish culture, music, dance and community right here in the heart of Melbourne. The centrepiece is tomorrow’s Tartan Day Parade down Collins Street, with hundreds of pipers, drummers, dancers, clans, societies and even Scottie dogs. And this year there’s something extra special: a world record attempt for the largest ladies pipe band ever assembled.

 The Melbourne Tartan Festival is an annual celebration of Scottish culture, music, dance, clans, community and heritage in the heart of Melbourne. It was first held in 2018 and is a joint initiative of the Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation and the Scots of Victoria Co-ordinating Group. (Victorian Scottish Heritage Foundation)

 The Melbourne Tartan Day Parade is on Sunday 5 July 2026, starting at 2.00 pm on Collins Street from the Spring Street / Old Treasury Building end. Expect pipers, drummers, Highland dancers, clan and society representatives, and Scottie dogs. The parade heads down Collins Street, turns into Regent Place, and finishes with a short recital near The Westin. (Melbourne Tartan Festival)

The post Sat, 4th July, 2026: Melbourne Tartan Festival: Bernadette Rae, Glenrae Dancers Campbell Wilson, Pipe Major of City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Joining Macca and Paul live on air this week was Giordano Nanni, founder of The Juice Media and the creator of the brutally funny Honest Government Ads series, which takes the kind of language governments use to sell us things and strips it back to what they might be saying if they were accidentally telling the truth. His latest target is Palantir, the US data and surveillance giant now embedded in government systems around the world, including here in Australia.

Giordano Nanni is the Melbourne-based founder/writer behind The Juice Media, best known for the satirical Honest Government Ads series. Before satire, he completed a PhD in history, researched settler-colonialism, published books, and worked on the public-facing Coranderrk inquiry/verbatim theatre project. He has said YouTube gave him a much larger, more democratic platform than academia for sparking public debate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBW9QCVDSjY

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As one of Australia’s leading financial and political commentators, Sally’s role at Canstar is to help Australians make better financial decisions. As Canstar’s spokesperson, Sally provides her insights daily on trends and changes in the personal finance sector, translating often-complicated topics to help people understand how they might be impacted. She also helps identify and advocate for excellence in banking, insurance, energy and other key financial services sectors. 

With mounting cost-of-living pressures, every dollar counts. That’s why a few well-chosen switches could see you saving more than $10,000 a year. That’s a nice little chunk of extra change in your back pocket! Canstar’s Cost of Living Comparison looked at a wide range of everyday bills—from mortgages and credit cards, through to home and health insurance, utilities and even groceries—to see where households could cut costs. And the results are certainly illuminating.

We considered the kind of household expenses you might typically see in a year, then explored potential savings. In some cases, savings came from switching to the cheapest product, and in others, from selecting Canstar 5-star rated products that balance cost and value. Individual results will vary, but our findings show just how much can be saved by reviewing and comparing everyday expenses.

Here are our top tips to save heading into the new year:

Your mortgage or car loan could be quietly costing you more than necessary. For example, if you’re paying off a $600,000 home loan or a $40,000 five-year car loan, your interest rate might be well above others on the market, and you could stand to save thousands annually simply by switching to a provider with a more competitive rate. By switching to a 5-star rated product, you could enjoy meaningful savings while maintaining quality service.

Insurance doesn’t have to break the bank. Canstar found that, by selecting a 5-star rated policy, a 40-year-old non-smoker could save:

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