The Briefing

Whether you’re a fan or not, you can’t deny the absolute juggernaut that has been the Wicked movie press tour.

After kicking off in Australia earlier this month, the cast of the Broadway adaptation have been going viral while chatting with the media and public about the film.

Headlined by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the press tour has copped some flak for being cringey and over the top, amid viral videos of reporters crying in interviews to ridiculous platitudes about “holding space” for the lyrics of the movie’s title track Defying Gravity.

On today’s episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Justin Hill, host of LiSTNR’s The Streaming Service, to break down the insanity of the Wicked press tour and explain why it’s got people so riled up.

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Alicia Schiller is a convicted murderer – and the Victorian Government has given her permission to start IVF treatment during her sentence.

She stabbed her roommate to death in 2014 and she’s currently serving a 16-year-sentence in a maximum-security prison in Victoria. The decision has provoked outrage from the family of her victim, from politicians and members of the public.

If she gets pregnant, it’s being reported that she plans to raise the child with her in prison for the first five years, then hand the child over to her parents while she serves what's left of her sentence.

In part two of this special two-part episode of The Briefing, Victorian Liberal MP Brad Battin argues the Victorian Government should stop Schiller having a child.

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Headlines: Australia approves world first social media ban for kids, Israel fires on southern Lebanon after ceasefire deal, top trends for 2025 revealed.

Deep Dive: Alicia Schiller is a convicted murderer – and the Victorian Government has given her permission to start IVF treatment during her sentence.

She stabbed her roommate to death in 2014 and she’s currently serving a 16-year sentence in a maximum-security prison in Victoria. The decision has provoked outrage from the family of her victim, from politicians and members of the public.

If she gets pregnant, it’s being reported that she plans to raise the child with her in prison for the first five years, then hand the child over to her parents while she serves what's left of her sentence.

In part one of this special two-part episode of The Briefing, Australian barrister and criminal justice spokesman with the Australian Lawyers Alliance Greg Barnes joins Bension Siebert to argue why Schiller has every right to access IVF.

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In Australia, community water fluoridation programs have been underway since the 1950s. It’s a practice endorsed by the World Health Organisation as an effective and safe way of reducing tooth decay.

But earlier this year Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., promised remove fluoride from water supplies, a move that Trump has endorsed.

RFK Jr, often labeled a vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist, claims fluoride is linked to conditions like arthritis, cancer, and lowered IQ. It’s a case his supporters say is strengthened by a recent US-government report which found a tentative link between high fluoride levels and reduced neurodevelopment in children.

So, is it really safe and is it time we give it a rethink?

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by Dr Brad McKay, GP and author of ‘Fake Medicine: Exposing the wellness crazes, cons and quacks costing us our health’ to unpack it all.

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Headlines: 37 bills listed as “priority” on final scheduled sitting day, Lidia Thorpe suspended from the Senate, US to start work immediately on new Gaza ceasefire proposal and the TikTok Awards 2024 were held in Sydney overnight.

Deep Dive: Next year’s election will be the first in Australia’s history where there’ll be more Millennials and Gen Z than boomers at the ballot box. Who will be influencing their vote?

Celebrity endorsements seem to be losing their potency – despite support from Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, presidential hopeful Kamala Harris could not find the votes to give her the top job in the recent US election. Does that reflect a gap in the election market about to be filled by social media and influencers? And is that a good or bad thing?

Konrad Benjamin doesn't love the term influencer – but he’s the host and creator behind Punters Politics, a YouTube channel that aims to help “navigate the divisive world of Australian politics on a quest to make it simple for the every day punter”. In this episode of The Briefing, he joins Bension Siebert to unpack the power of the influencer, and how much of a say he thinks they will have on the 2025 vote here in Aus. 

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There’s been a major development this week for the appeal hopes of one of the country’s most notorious criminals.

Tony Mokbel, who became a household name during Melbourne’s gangland wars in the early noughties, could soon walk free, after a judge ruled his lawyer had perverted the course of justice by feeding information to the police in the lead up to his arrest.

So how likely is it that his case, and a number of others, will be overturned?

Veteran crime journalist Adam Shand joins Sacha Barbour Gatt on this episode of The Briefing to explain.

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Headlines: Eight Laos hostel staff detained over suspected methanol deaths, Benjamin Netanyahu urges Israeli ministers to approve Hezbollah ceasefire deal, an update on the bills Labor is trying to pass this week and Drake takes feud with Kendrick Lamar to court.

Deep Dive: Are you gearing up to spend your hard-earned dollars this Black Friday?

It's nearly impossible to miss the flood of aggressive marketing from retailers ahead of the Black Friday sales this week. But is it the sale of the year – or just the best marketing ploy ever?

On this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert unpacks why this longstanding American shopping event has become so big in Australia, and how you can you avoid getting sucked in by marketing and snatch a genuine bargain.

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Australia’s top politicians spent much of last week fighting over what will be a major issue in the upcoming election: migration. Specifically, international students, and how many of them should be allowed to study here each year.

Both Labor and the Coalition agree on one thing – they think we're bringing in too many, and it’s putting too much pressure on housing and infrastructure. But despite that agreement, government legislation to limit their numbers was rejected in the Senate last week. The uncertainty is putting universities across the country in a difficult position as they scramble to organise enrolments for the new year, and provide clarity for existing students.

In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt and Bension Siebert give you a no-bullshit explainer on international student caps, and unpack the arguments being made from both major parties as we approach the next federal election.

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Headlines: The Greens back Labor’s housing bill, Israel to vote on Hezbollah ceasefire, Google, Meta and X react to social media ban, and Wicked enjoys a bumper weekend at the Aussie box office.

Deep Dive: The Bali Nine were a group of nine Australians convicted for attempting to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia in April 2005. 

It sounds like a deal with the Indonesian government might be underway – but what would repatriation look like, why would we want them in Australia, and why has this group been such a big deal for so long?

Bishop Tim Harris is a long-time advocate for the release of the Bali Nine, having visited members of the group at Kerobokan prison and working with their families back home. He joins Sacha Barbour Gatt for this episode of The Briefing to explain why he thinks it’s time for the remaining members to return home.

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White water rafting has gone very wrong for a Lithuanian man in the fast-flowing Franklin River in Tasmania over the weekend.

After accidentally wedging his leg between rocks, the man was trapped for over 20 hours, partially submerged in the river, while rescuers attempted to release him, staving off hypothermia with hot meals and warm drinks in thermoses. Eventually they concluded the only way to get him out was to amputate the man’s leg at the knee.   

How does something like this happen? If you’re thinking of doing any adventure sporting over the summer or on your next holiday, should you think twice if considering white-water rafting? On this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert speaks with Bruce Baxter, owner and founder of Paddle Sports Australia and author or The Ever Varying Flood: Franklin River Rafting Guide to unpack what he thinks went wrong. 

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