The Briefing

This week the Parliamentary Budget Office released costings for a Greens plan to add dental to Medicare.

On the face of it, the fact that a major branch of healthcare is just not a part of the public health system might be surprising to many. But adding it now, according to the costings, would mean billions of dollars in new government spending – and the Australian Dental Association says we just don’t have the number of dentists required to do it.

So how would it cope if we added a whole new category of medicine? Jordan Steele-John is the Greens Senator for Western Australia – he joins Bension Siebert on this episode of The Briefing to make the case for dental to join Medicare. 

Headlines:

Paralympics update

Federal government to announce domestic violence package  

Donald Trump pleads not guilty to revised federal charges 

Maori queen anointed 

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Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson has this week credited natural therapies with curing her cancer.

Every day, 58 people in Australia are diagnosed with breast cancer – one in seven Australian women will experience it in their lifetime. Diagnoses have increased by almost a quarter in the last 10 years – but the relative five-year survival rate is 92%. Despite most patients getting a positive prognosis, it is a disease that will impact every facet of a person’s life.

When the 60-year-old former supermodel says she rejecting chemotherapy for an all-natural approach to treating her breast cancer, she raised some serious eyebrows. Are her comments irresponsible? Dr David Robert Grimes is a cancer researcher and author. He joins Sacha Barbour Gatt on this episode of The Briefing to explain why he thinks her comments could cause serious harm. 

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Yesterday Australia’s economy got its quarterly checkup, and the results are in.

Gross Domestic Product performance, or GDP, grew by 1.5% over a year. But what does that actually mean, and how does GDP growth affect our lives? Is this an economy at panic stations, or is there no real cause for concern?

Motley Fool’s chief investment officer Scott Phillips joins Bension Siebert on this episode of The Briefing to unpack the jargon and clear the mist on what these latest figures reveal about the state of the Australian economy.

Headlines:

Paralympics Update - Aussies win nine medals. 

US School Shooting

Australian gambling report 

Rachel “Raygun” Gunn has broken her silence

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Good news! Your mobile phone isn’t giving you brain cancer!

Decades of worry about radio waves travelling out of our phones and into our skulls have apparently been put to rest with a massive World Health Organisation review published today, finding zero link between mobile phone use and brain, head or neck cancer.

However, different groups of scientists conducting different kinds of studies on mobile phone radiation and possible health effects have suggested the opposite previously – so how are most of us non-scientists meant to tell who’s right?

Assistant Director of Health Impact Assessment at the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency Ken Karipidis joins Bension Siebert on this episode of The Briefing to unpack the findings, and what we should take from them. 

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The situation for women in Afghanistan right now is bleak.

After retaking control of the country in August of 2021, the Taliban has wasted no time reinstating a raft of rules stripping away the rights of females. A week ago, a decree made it illegal for women to speak outside their homes.

Alongside having to completely cover their bodies head-to-toe in thick fabric, they’re also banned from working and can’t look directly at men they aren’t related to by blood. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are banned from attending school after completing the sixth grade.

For activists and advocates, what’s happened since the Taliban came back into power is not surprising - but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up hope. On this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Shabnam Safa, a refugee advocate in Australia who here herself as an Afghani refugee, to hear what she thinks of the latest developments in the country.

Headlines:

Paralympics - Aussies have netted more gold

Australian ambassador to Iran recalled after post supporting LGBTQIA+ community

Two sailors have been rescued hundreds of kilometers offshore from Sydney

Queen Camilla gives rare King Charles cancer update

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More info on Afghanistan from Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/afghanistan-0 

International campaigns:
The End Gender Apartheid campaign is run by experts and advocates from Afghanistan and Iran. https://endgenderapartheid.today/  - https://www.instagram.com/endgenderapartheid.today/ 

Follow and support journalism in/from Afghanistan

• Rukhshana Media - a women-led online news agency for women and children in Afghanistan - https://rukhshana.com/en/  - https://www.instagram.com/rukhshanamedia/ 
• KabulNow - https://kabulnow.com/  - https://www.instagram.com/kabulnow.af/ 

In Australia:

• Action for Afghanistan campaign by the Afghanistan-Australian Advocacy Network - https://www.actionforafghanistan.com.au/  - https://www.instagram.com/actionforafghanistan/
• Australian Hazara Advocacy Network - https://www.hazaraadvocacynetwork.com.au/  - https://www.instagram.com/hazaraadvocacyau/?locale=kk-KZ&hl=af 

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Have you ever found yourself endlessly scrolling through TikTok being bombarded with food reviews?

Sometimes they appear organic, with creators hopping on a trend or trying a viral product for their followers. Other times, these creators are being paid by restaurants and cafes to plug their businesses or products.

There are legal and ethical guidelines in place to stop this content from appearing organically in your feed – but why are they being so rarely followed, and even more rarely enforced?

In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by TikTok lawyer Jahan Kalantar to find out exactly how online creators are sidestepping consumer laws and what more, if anything, can be done.  

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Much of Israel’s economy ground to a halt overnight, during the country’s first major workers’ strike since the start of the war.

The strike shut down Israel’s international airport and disrupted banks, manufacturing facilities, healthcare facilities and businesses, as Israelis expressed their anger over six Israeli captives of Hamas found dead in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career has survived major demonstrations before, but could this strike finally force him to agree to a hostage swap deal and a ceasefire?

On this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert is joined Dr Eyal Mayroz, a Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney to provide some insight into what impact it might have. 

Headlines:

Paralympics Update

Britain is suspending dozens of weapons sales to Israel

Wild weather wrap

Famous Beluga whale found dead 

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Renting in Australia can really suck.

With winter over and the end of 2024 approaching, we’re heading towards peak moving season.

Moving house can be one of life’s most stressful events – made even more stressful by the process of trying to get your bond back.

In this two-part feature, The Briefing investigates the messy world of rental bonds. In Part Two, Bension Siebert speaks to Leanne Pilkington, President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, on what the experience is like on the landlord and agent side of the bond system, and what she thinks might make the system fairer overall. 

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Renting in Australia can really suck.

With winter over and the end of 2024 approaching, we’re heading towards peak moving season.

Moving house can be one of life’s most stressful events – made even more stressful by the process of trying to get your bond back. 

In this two-part feature, The Briefing looks into the messy world of rental bonds. In Part One, Bension Siebert speaks to CEO of the New South Wales Tenants’ Union Leo Patterson Ross on how to stop your landlord stealing your bond, and whether there’s a way to run this system that’s better for everyone.

Headlines:

Paralympics update

Israeli military recovers bodies of six hostages in Gaza

Australians advised to work from home due to wild weather 

New survey asks Aussie teens what they want to be when they grow up

Follow The Briefing:
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Instagram: @listnrnewsroom @thebriefingpodcast 
YouTube: @LiSTNRnewsroom
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Senator Fatima Payman first won office in 2022 and dominated headlines this year when she crossed the floor over Labor’s refusal to recognise a Palestinian state. Her life since then has been a self-described “whirlwind.”

Fatima now sits as an independent, and in this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, she reveals the inner workings of the Albanese government that led to her resignation and whether she was prepared for the wave of bigotry and intense scrutiny she and her family experienced.

Her story begins in Afghanistan in the 1990s where she and her family fled the Taliban to Pakistan, before starting a new life in Australia. As a proud and determined independent voice for Western Australia, Fatima is committed to breaking stereotypes, saying she is “more than a Muslim senator.”

Weekend List

• TO BUY: Sticky grippy phone stickers
• TO DO: Bye-bye text messages and hello voice memos!
• TO TRY: Korean skincare
• TO WATCH: Fatima Payman on Australian Story

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