Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has won a second term with an increased majority for the Australian Labor Party currently sitting at 85 seats. LNP leader Peter Dutton has lost his seat of Dixon with a 8% swing against him. Katina Curtis, Canberra Bureau Chief for The West Australian reports on the results from a surprising night. 

Guest: Katina Curtis, Canberra Bureau Chief, The West Australian

Josh Bornstein is an employment lawyer who has taken the case of workers against some high profile employers like Qantas, the ABC, Patrick Stevedores and even the High Court itself. 

Guest: Josh Bornstein, lawyer and author of Working for the Brand

How has the world of books influenced the English language? In particular the word book itself? How has that changed over time?

Guest: David Crystal, linguist and author of Bookish Words and their suprising stories (Bodleian)

The only new electorate in the 2025 Federal election is Bullwinkel, named after World War two nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, the sole Australian survivor of the Bangak massacre.

She only moved to the electorate later in life, which prompted some family and community members to lodge a submission calling for the seat to be named after fellow military nurse Alma Beard who was born and grew up in the Perth hills. 

It’s the Marbled Frog! 

Named after their pattern of marbling across their back, this brownish frog tends to call hidden away in thick vegetation at the edge of the water. They are a common frog to hear during the wet season around Darwin, Cairns, Townsville and down past Mackay and Rockhampton.

This is a large species of frog, and can be heard during the wet season across the north of WA, the NT and in QLD, and down to mid-north coast of QLD.

Despite growing up to 6cm in body size and making such a loud and distinctive call, this species is highly secretive and is rarely seen. They tend to breed in temporary ponds and flooded grasslands after rainfall, and their eggs are laid in piles of foam that females whip up for them, to keep them safe from predators. 

How many seats are up for grabs in the federal election?

There’s 150 seats in the House of Representatives, and if you add in the 76 seats in the Senate that’s 226 in total in the Parliament.

But in 2025, it’s a half Senate election, so there are 40 Senate seats up for grabs, making a total of 190. 

We thought we’d metaphorically unfurl the long Senate  voting paper and take a look at the 40 upper house seats up for grabs.

GUEST:

Ben Raue Election analyst and editor of The Tally Room 

The lead up to the Canadian election has gone through some spectacular twists and turns ahead of polling day.

At the start of the year the Liberals, after ten years in government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, looked headed for certain defeat by the Conservatives under Pierre Polivere.

Now former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Mark Carney is Prime Minister, and set to lead the Liberals to an unlikely victory.

GUEST:

Holly Ann Garnett Associate Professor of Political Science at the Royal Military College of Canada in Ontario and director of The Electoral Integrity Project.

https://www.electoralintegrityproject.com/

The life of Pope Francis was celebrated yesterday in St Peters Basilica. During his papacy, Pope Francis called on global leaders to face the challenges of migration and climate change as well as calls for peace in Gaza and Ukraine. Geraldine Doogue and Noel Debien reflect on his legacy and whether the Catholic Church will continue down this path.

Guests: Geraldine Doogue, host of Global Roaming on ABC Radio National and Noel Debien, Radio National religion and ethics specialist

For 12 years Steve Williams had a front row seat to one of world sports biggest attractions, as caddie to golfing superstar Tiger Woods. 

During their time working together, starting in 1999, Woods was year in year out the best golfer in the world, destined it seemed to become the greatest ever. 

But it was not to be, just when it looked like Tiger would lay claim to being the GOAT, it all fell apart – and his partnership with his caddie came to an abrupt end. 

GUEST: Steve Williams

Book: Together We Roared (2025) Harper Collins

Peter Melocco arrived in Australia in 1908 with a flair for drawing and the skills to create beautiful mosaics that were the speciality of the region of Fruili in Italy where he was born. Soon he and his brothers were running a successful business that created the most beautiful mosaics for public buildings, businesses and in private homes. There are many still on view. 

Guest: Zeny Edwards, author of Painting with Stone: The story of the Melocco Brothers