The Briefing

Friday Headlines: 

• Labor faces criticism over new migration laws
• Australian accused of murdering Thai teen faces court
• Federal Government considers AI glasses ban 
• Gov scraps planned veteran allied health cap 
• Australian HYROX athlete apologises for poo incident 

Deep Dive: Ed Sheeran’s US Loop Tour is making headlines after rapper Macklemore was dropped as a support act for saying ‘Free Palestine’ on stage.  

It’s had a flow on effect, with all four of Ed’s other openers withdrawing in solidarity with the rapper.  

In this episode of the Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Catherine Strong, Associate Professor in the Music Industry program at RMIT to unpack the relationship between musicians and politics, and what that means for the rest of Ed Sheeran’s tour. 

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Thursday Headlines: 

• Labor to unveil migration plan today
• More details emerge about Bali double murder suicide
• More than 100,000 displaced as Yemen conflict intensifies 
• Anthropic signs agreement for the country’s biggest data centre
• Kim Kardashian awarded €1 in damages for Paris robbery

Deep Dive: A far-right party just came closer to running a German state than any has since the Nazi era. 

It's not a one-off. The same movement now sits in or beside government across Europe and it’s reaching Australia too, with a known neo-Nazi group fighting the government in the High Court for its right to exist. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by far-right researcher Kaz Ross to unpack how much ground the far-right is gaining worldwide, what's driving the surge, and what it all means for us here in Australia. 

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Wednesday Headlines:

• Pauline Hanson apologises for comments about Indigenous Australians, PM's mum
• Gov accused of wanting to protect AI companies over Australians 
• Ed Sheeran responds to Macklemore backlash 
• One of Sydney’s biggest councils bans smart glasses at local swimming pools
• Karl Stefanovic and podcast partner in Supreme Court  

Deep Dive: There have been renewed and urgent warnings this week from not only former staff, but also the big tech bosses themselves about the existential threat AI poses to humanity.  

We've been warned by the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic and Grok that an urgent slowdown is needed in the advancement of this tech, with fears it could result in the extinction of the human race, possibly as soon as 2030.  

While most have taken them at their word, some experts are a little more skeptical, and others think it's downright fantasy. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Professor Emily M. Bender, the Director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory at the University of Washington to offer an alternative view to the narrative that AI is going to kill us all. 

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Tuesday Headlines: 

• One Nation's migration fight
• Pauline Hanson slammed for racist comments
• Indonesian police investigating death of Australian man and children in Bali as suspected murder-suicide
• Donald Trump claims there’s a 'sick conspiracy' against AI, that’s helping China
• Rates of Gonorrhea and syphilis up by more than 50% in Australia
• HYROX issues apology over Australian woman pooing during comp

Deep Dive: Rising sea levels are no longer a looming threat in the distant future, they're here right now and Australia is especially at risk.  

We know the physical impacts of this; accelerated coastal erosion, property damage and loss as well as the destruction of natural barriers like mangroves and wetlands. But there's also a dollar amount we can expect to fork out too.  

In an Australian first, the Climate Council has crunched the numbers, with a conservative estimate that we'll need to find an extra $855 billion by 2100 to cover the costs of rising sea levels.  

In this episode of The Briefing, Adjunct Professor Andrew Watkins from Monash University and the Climate Council joins Sacha Barbour Gatt to talk about the threat, who pays the bill and whether Australia is pulling its weight when it comes to climate change. 

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Monday Headlines: 

• Pressure mounts, again, on Pauline Hanson to apologise
• Albo's approval slides as comms minister flags concessions to digital duty of care laws
• Australian woman identified after falling to her death from a poplar beach near Bali
• South Australia records first bird flu case in a sea lion 
• New screen time limits for NSW public school students
• Celine Dion makes an emotional return to the stage in Paris

Deep Dive: Clips from a new documentary about Silicon Valley start-up founder turned convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes have gone viral after a secret screening at the Telluride Film Festival.  

Directors of You Can See Everything Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim stayed with Holmes in the days leading up to the start of her 10-year prison stint in 2023.  

In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by culture critic for Triple J's The Slop, Michael Sun, to talk about the extraordinary story of Holmes and why we're so obsessed with it. 

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Spring brings with it some pretty wonderful things; blooming flowers, warmer weather and longer days. But it also means another thing that can strike fear into the heart of nearly every Australian – magpie swooping season.  

From August to October, the black and white birds are nesting, which means they’re feeling extra protective and have been known to fly at humans as they pass by their babies.  

In this episode of The Briefing, we're revisiting Sacha Barbour Gatt's chat with bird expert Sean Dooley to break down the facts and myths around these fabulous animals this swooping season. 

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Well, well, well… fancy seeing you here. 

Welcome back to The Briefing: Our Take, our weekend hang-out where we loosen our ties and kick off our shoes to take you behind the scenes of the week that was, and what you (and we) made of it. 

This week Chris and Sach get into HBO's new Harry Potter series dropping on Christmas Day. They react to the latest trailer, dig through your comments on it, and discuss whether they’re going to watch it. 

They're also joined in studio by 2DayFM's very own Emma Chow, who steps up to The Weekend Quiz but somehow manages to get them talking about Tipping Point and Sach’s days as a court reporter.
 
They also discuss Emma’s very exciting news she received this week! 

The Weekend Quiz (just questions, no answers):

1. The government this week proposed new laws that could give us the power to opt out of, or switch off, the algorithm on socials. What's it called?
2. Pauline Hanson was on ABC News24 this week and got into a bit of argy-bargy with Chris Kenny. What were they arguing over? 
3. We spoke to Greens Senator David Shoebridge on the pod this week. He was appointed the party's first-ever spokesperson for what?
4. A Melbourne council this week announced it would be banning what from public pools and playgrounds?
5. What subject did Chris and Sach admit on the podcast they cared the least about in school? 

The Weekend List: 

To watch: New Zealand Spy on ABC iview (thanks to listener Jay) 
To listen to: Harry Potter audiobook for free on Spotify 

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Twenty-five years ago, the September 11 terrorist attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and changed the course of history. The images of hijacked planes striking the World Trade Center, the collapse of the Twin Towers and the devastation left behind became defining images of this century. 

But the consequences of 9/11 reached far beyond the United States. The attacks triggered America’s longest war - a 20-year conflict in Afghanistan that began with the fall of the Taliban. This year also marks five years since the war came full circle: the Taliban returned to power as the US withdrew its troops. 

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet witnessed that extraordinary arc. Drawing on almost four decades of reporting from Afghanistan, she takes LiSTNR Senior Journalist Claudianna Blanco from the aftermath of 9/11 and the hope that followed the Taliban’s fall, to the chaotic final days at Kabul Airport and the Afghanistan of today. 

This special episode of The Briefing looks back at the long shadow of 9/11, 25 years on. 

• Lyse's debut book
• Lyse on The Weekend Briefing

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Friday Headlines: 

• Head of Instagram warns against turning off algorithm
• Barnaby Joyce apologises to Andrew Hastie over 'traitor' video
• Donald Trump accused of bribery over 5k election promise
• August declared hottest month on record
• Historic NFL game takes over Melbourne 

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Thursday Headlines: 

• Pauline Hanson defends Victorian One Nation leader, Andrew Hastie cartoon 
• Anthony Albanese defends pork barreling allegations
• Another man killed in Sydney's escalating gangland war
• Melbourne council bans smart glasses from public pools and playgrounds
• Apple unveils new folding iPhone

Further listening from the headlines: 

• Sach's deep dive on Sydney's gangland war
• Chris' chat with David Shoebridge

Deep Dive: Australia's not really well known for skiing, but there is a dedicated ski fraternity who love getting to the slopes each winter. So, what happens if there’s no snow?  

That’s the question being put to the country’s resort operators after a dismal 2026 season plagued by warm, dry conditions and patchy snow cover.  

With most ski fields wrapping up their seasons over the weekend and just a couple still clinging on, we’re being warned winters like this will become more likely, not less.  

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou chats with the CEO of Snow Resorts Australia, Josh Elliott about the future of snow tourism in Australia. We also hear from Dr Lily O’Neil from Protect our Winters to talk about what climate change’s role is in all of this   

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