The Briefing

Headlines: Rescued hiker in NSW survived a fortnight on berries and two muesli bars, wildfires have forced thousands to flee in Los Angeles, the pilot in Rottnest Island plane crash identified, and Brisbane (somehow) ranks worst city in Australia for traffic.

Deep Dive: As artificial intelligence gets exponentially better at just about everything, it’s making people in all kinds of professions – from teachers to doctors, to lawyers, to retail workers – a little bit nervous.

But AI is also making a lot of people very excited, with new, mind-bending capabilities coming online every week.

What tools should you be using in 2025 to keep ahead of the curve and make your life a little easier?

As part of The Briefing’s series on how to start your 2025 right, Bension Siebert is joined by Toby Walsh, professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW, to guide you through what’s out there, what you should be using, and where to start with AI in the new year. 

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Facebook, and its parent company Meta, is saying goodbye to fact-checkers.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an announcement posted to social media that fact checkers had become “too politically biased”, and have "destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US". Meta will also change its algorithms to recommend more political content on its platforms. 

Does the move have anything to do with Trump’s threats to jail Zuckerberg for life for alleged US election interference? And what is this going to mean for our Facebook and Instagram feeds in 2025?

Stephen Scheeler knows Mark Zuckerberg and is a former CEO of Facebook in Australia. What does he think of the tech super leader bending the knee to a Donald Trump administration? He joins Bension Siebert on this episode of The Briefing to unpack the announcement, and what happens next. 

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Headlines: Meta scraps independent fact-checkers, Aussie house prices dip, three missing after Rottnest Island plane crash and Donald Trump Junior arrives in Greenland amidst talk his dad wants to buy the country.

Deep Dive: A new year often brings reflection, and for many, that means rethinking their job. Does it make you happy? Pay enough? Offer the growth you’re looking for?

But changing careers isn’t an easy undertaking, especially when navigating new industries, re-training, the place of AI and figuring out how to put your best foot forward in an increasingly competitive market.

To kick off 2025, The Briefing is giving you everything you need to start your year on the first foot. In this episode, Chris Spyrou is joined by career consultant and recruiter Tammie Ballis from Realistic Careers, who shares expert insights to help you successfully change careers in 2025.

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A recent scroll of your social media feed might have made you feel like you were back in 2020.

Footage of overwhelmed hospital emergency rooms in China have been doing the rounds online, with claims that a new and mysterious virus is sweeping the country and making people unwell.

So, can we trust these reports? What is actually causing people to get sick in China right now? And are we at risk of it in Australia?  

On this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Professor Jill Carr from Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute to breaks down HMPV, it’s severity and whether we’re at risk here in Australia. 

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Headlines: Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau announces resignation, man faces court in Fiji over alleged rape of Virgin Airlines crew member, Donald Trump’s election win to be certified by Kamala Harris today, and the Aussies have been snubbed at the Golden Globes.

Deep Dive: For a lot of us, consuming news in 2024 could have been best described by one word – fatigue. 

Exhaustion from the 24-hour news cycle, the growing number of voices telling us what to think about a story and increasing lack of transparency in news sources might have led you to switch off from news as the year came to an end.

But news doesn't stop – and in the year of a federal election in Australia, a Trump 2.0 presidency, and everything else that might happen – how should you be consuming your news?

This week The Briefing is bringing you everything you need to get cracking in 2025. In this episode of the Briefing Helen Smith is joined by Crikey investigative journalist Daany Saeed and Konrad Benjamin AKA Punters Politics to break down how you can better consume news in 2025. 

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The Bop House is a multimillion-dollar mansion full of female OnlyFans creators living together and making viral online content. They claim to have made US$10 million just last month. 

Content creator houses full of influencers are nothing new - we’ve had the Hype House on TikTok and Team 10 on YouTube - but The Bop House has the internet divided.  

In this episode of The Briefing Helen Smith is joined by adult content creator and industry advocate Nova Hawthorne to explain what a 'bop' is, and why so many people are hating on the OF creators who live there.  

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Headlines: Anthony Albanese kicks off election year with multi-state blitz, top pay packets of Aussie uni execs revealed, six-day farewell for Jimmy Carter starts with all five living US presidents to attend, and a huge tuna sells for millions in Tokyo.

Deep Dive: We're fresh into a new year, and you might be feeling like it's time to start building some more long-term wealth. But where do you start, and how much money do you need to get things going? 

From making the most out of your superannuation to buying shares and knowing when to get into the property market, here’s our straightforward guide to investing this year.   
 
To kick off The Briefing’s week-long series on how to start your 2025 right – we’re bringing you Bension Siebert’s chat with Chief Investment Officer at Motley Fool Australia, Scott Phillips.  
  
Note: This episode contains general information. Always seek personalised advice from a financial advisor before investing.

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In this best of episode of the Weekend Briefing Antoinette Lattouf is joined by Dr Karl. 

Dr Karl is Australia’s favourite science communicator, with a passion for colourful shirts with the energy of an exclamation mark!

He’s a former taxi driver, was a serial university student – studying for 16 years – and is now a much-loved medical personality on radio and TV who has just written a memoir – The Periodic Tale.

In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Dr Karl unpacks his family’s traumatic journey and Holocaust survival to how he thinks OnlyFans could help climate change.

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Headlines: FBI confirms lone actor in the New Orleans New Year’s attack and rules out Vegas connection, bushfires east of Perth claims houses, search continues for possible shark attack victim in SA, and the Pink Test starts in Sydney this morning.

Best of Deep Dive: With less than ten days to go until the Australian Open, tennis fever is starting to sweep the nation.

As part of The Briefing’s Best of Summer Series, we're revisiting Bension Siebert’s conversation with now 12-year-old wheelchair tennis champion, Sonny Rennison.

In 2024, Sonny made history as Australia’s first wheelchair ballkid.

At the time, we spoke with him and one of Australia’s top wheelchair tennis stars, Heath Davidson, about the history-making achievement and the importance of improving accessibility for athletes with disabilities.

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Headlines: Chaos in New Orleans as a truck strikes New Year’s revellers leaving 10 dead, three Virgin Australia staff stuck in their hotel after an incident at Nadi airport, and the LNP claims 10,000 businesses will collapse before the next parliamentary sitting.

Best of Deep Dive: A network of volunteer doctors in Australia are stepping up to provide free medical care for Palestinians who have fled Gaza.

From performing surgeries on patients with amputated limbs to treating chronic illness, they are filling the gaps where our government has fallen short, largely due to the visas provided for those fleeing not allowing access to healthcare.

One of these doctors is Dr Mohamed Amr. He co-founded the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA).

As part of The Briefing’s Best of Summer Series, we revisit Antoinette Lattouf’s exclusive conversation with Dr Amr from November last year.

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