Sunday Extra - Full program podcast

We’d all like deeply considered policy and informed debate to be at the heart of politics, but unfortunately controversies and scandals tend to steal the show.

For most parties, scandals are disastrous: they lose seats, ministers and elections — but not One Nation.

It's weathered defections and punch-ups (including a memorable smearing of blood on a Senate door), jail and chaos, and thirty years on it's surging.

This is a party that doesn’t just survive the chaos, but cultivates it and capitalises on it.

This series was hosted by Ashlynne McGhee and produced and edited by Isabella Podwinski for The Conversation. Sound design by Michelle Macklem.

From missing oil money to disappearing flight credits, and new Mozart music uncovered. Plus chess prodigy and International Master, Irina Berezina on how a chess competition nearly ended her life. 

You might remember this line in Pauline Hanson's maiden speech: "I'm afraid we're in danger of being swamped by Asians."

It wasn't the first racist comment she'd made in public and it certainly wasn't the last.

Over the years, her enemies have changed and she now targets Muslims and elites, but it's the same tactic and it's infiltrated Australian politics.

This series was hosted by Ashlynne McGhee and produced and edited by Isabella Podwinski for The Conversation. Sound design by Michelle Macklem.

From a knife-edge by-election in Britain to a pivotal vote in Colombia, a peek at Arthur Boyd's monumental tapestries and acclaimed author Anna Funder on The Year That Made Me.

From a fish and chip shop in regional Queensland to the heart of Australian politics: this is the unlikely story of the country's most controversial minor party.

In episode one, Ashlynne McGhee asks who was Pauline Hanson before she became a phenomenon, and what did she actually represent? Was she a cause of a new kind of politics, or a symptom of one already forming?

This week on Sunday Extra, the father-daughter dates of North Korea's Supreme Leader and his 13-year-old daughter being positioned as successor, Russia and the Taliban cosy up and Gen-Z discover the joys of bird-watching.

Armenians head to the polls in a pivotal election that could shape the country's future direction at a time of profound regional uncertainty.

Despite its vast population and investment in the game, why does China continually fail to qualify for the men's Football World Cup.

Burmese artist and dissident Sai Redacted on receiving the  2026 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.

A chat with Rwandan director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo on her film that won the Camera d'Or at Cannes.

An Iranian-Australian poet reflects on the personal impact of war and what conversations about Iran can overlook.

An exhibition called Cane in Rockhampton explores the history, identity and resilience of Queensland's South Sea Islander communities.

A newly discovered medieval document offers rare insights into how some people survived the plague and returned to everyday life.

And on The Year That Made Me, Former miner, artist and adventurer Chris Wilson reflects on the year that changed the course of her remarkable life.

Who is Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir and how has he managed the negotiations between the US and Iran?

Will China's reforms to internal migration finally allow Chinese to move to a better life?

Elite-level sports can't compete with the gruelling mental training needed to become a world chess champion. 

Can a circle of older women in the UK overcome housing scarcity with a new model for community living? 

In the mysterious world of Bigfoot chasers, is there room for both mythology and scientific beliefs?

How were a group of historians drawn into a covert spy mission to protect the treasures of Ancient Greece during World War II?

Why do New Zealanders say 'fush and chups'? A new theory on the origins of the Kiwi accent,

And on The Year That Made Me, cricket legend Jason 'Dizzy' Gillespie shares the runs and wickets of his career. 

Ukraine’s new 35 year old defence minister is pushing the use of autonomous killer drones to win the war against Russia. In Norway, a remarkable artwork known as Future Library is collecting manuscripts that will remain unread until 2114. And on The Year That Made Me, acclaimed Soviet historian Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick reflects on the experiences and historical moments that shaped her life and career. 

Art Detective Arthur Brand shares his latest case; the recovery of a modernist painting by Dutch artist Toon Kelder, recovered from the home of a Dutch SS commander’s descendants. 

The release of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra after eight months in jail has prompted debate over whether Thailand’s long-dominant “Thaksin era” has finally come to an end.

Kristi Lawlor discusses her new book, Being Reasonable, and argues that reasonableness is a misunderstood but essential virtue that shapes our everyday lives.

Aunty Barbara and Luke Patterson, share stories from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inmates and young people in youth justice centres.

Author Colin Burgess recounts the harrowing survival and evacuation of two Australian Army Nursing Sisters from Singapore in 1942. as told in his book, Sisters Under Fire. 

Fashion scholar Llewellyn Negrin shares the philosophy behind the Met’s new Costume Art exhibition, which explores how fashion and art intersect with the human body.

On The Year That Made Me, we hear from former federal MP Warren Entsch on his long career in parliament , as well as his highly varied pre-politcal career, which included stints as a crocodile catcher.