The Briefing

Would you be happy having your face not just surveilled, but scanned every time you walked into the supermarket?  

It's no longer a hypothetical.  

Coles and Woolworths have both now admitted to trialling facial recognition technology, while Bunnings has won the right to scan customers' faces in limited circumstances - a shift privacy experts warn could creep from spotting known troublemakers to tracking every shopper who walks through the door. 

So what do we know about facial recognition technology and just how invasive can it really be? 

To make sense of it, we're rewinding a few years to one of the most alarming case studies involving facial recognition tech company – CLEARVIEW AI.  

In this bonus episode of The Briefing, we're revisiting an episode of Secrets We Keep: Uncovered by investigative journalist Joey Watson. 

When it became known that the shadowy facial recognition company had created a massive database, capable of identifying almost anyone, anywhere, reporters around the globe picked up the trail - working to uncover how this start-up could reshape privacy and policing internationally. 

Here in Australia, tech reporter Cam Wilson spent years digging through the Australian Federal Police's own files - and what he found in them was deeply disturbing. 

Read Cam Wilson's investigations here: 

• ‘World's most controversial company’ Clearview AI still being used to solve Australian police cases 

• Clearview AI is still collecting photos of Australians for its facial recognition database 

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Welcome back to The Briefing: Our Take, the time each week that we kick off our shoes, loosen our (non-existent) ties and chat the week that was. 

This weekend we debrief the latest in the Jackie O vs ARN court battle, with court documents revealing the former KIIS host claims she is suffering from PTSD after working with Kyle Sandilands. 

Then we crack open our inbox, getting across your thoughts, feelings, concerns and praise from the week’s stories, featuring superannuation and whether Chris and Sach are too childish to host a news show. 

We also have 2DayFM’s Yaz Haddad in studio for the Weekend Quiz before finishing off with your recommendations, including a rather cheeky one for Coles shoppers. 

As always, we want to hear from you! Reach out to us on Instagram @thebriefingpodcast and feel free to leave a comment if you’re listening on Spotify. 

The Weekend Quiz:

1. Which social media company settled a major lawsuit this week for $23 billion? 
2. There was a sad development in bird flu in Australia this week. What was it?
3. What did the Swans AFLW team celebrate this week? 
4. Harry and Meghan arrived back in the UK this week. What are they doing there? 
5. Finish off this legendary Dolly Parton quote: “It takes a lot of money to look ...” 

The Weekend List:

• To Watch: The Menu on Disney+ (listener Chris)
• To Watch: We are Jeni on SBS on Demand (Sacha)
• To Do: Flip off Coles cameras (listener Clair) 

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Friday Headlines:

• Death toll rises in Nepal amid fears of a second flood
• Albanese steps in to guarantee refugee intake won't go backwards
• One Nation tipped to win WA by-election
• NT passes VAD laws, Queensland introduces ‘breach bail, go to jail’ legislation
• UEFA plans criminal complaint against FIFA President
• Greens move to ban the import of smart glasses

Deep Dive: That cheap smart TV in your lounge room might be paying for itself by spying on you.  

In this episode of The Briefing, we unpack ACR - Automated Content Recognition - the little-known tech that quietly logs everything on your screen and feeds it to advertisers.  

Swinburne digital media professor Ramon Lobato explains how your viewing habits are being used, how it got switched on without you noticing and the settings that let you shut it down. 

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Thursday Headlines: 

• Meta agrees to settle for $23bn in teen social media addiction lawsuit
• More than 150 dead in devastating flash floods in Nepal and China
• Albanese caves on data centre renewables as Queensland wins coal-and-gas carve-out
• Antisemitism royal commission wraps up with powerful message from Sydney Rabbi
• Legendary actor Tim Curry dead at 80
• Miley Cyrus pays tribute to Dolly Parton

Deep Dive: Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, the country hasn't held an election due to martial law, which bans a vote while the war is on. 

Volodymyr Zelensky's term expired back in 2024, and now, for the first time, a senior figure inside his own camp is demanding a vote, with former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov breaking ranks to call for a wartime election. 

So is this a genuine democratic reckoning, or an opening for Russia to destabilise Ukraine from within? 

In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Politico journalist Ryan Heath to unpack the turmoil and corruption in Kyiv, whether Ukrainians support the idea of a wartime election and what it could mean for the country and its fight against Russia. 

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Wednesday Headlines: 

• Dolly Parton has died at 80
• Three Scots College students face court over aggravated sexual assault charges
• Man arrested after Melbourne mum repeatedly stabbed and her son punched in 'random' CBD attack
• Home ownership levels among young Aussies hits 80-year low
• Jai Arrow to make 100 game mileston after MND diagnosis

Deep Dive: One of the biggest songs on Australian radio last month was a cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer. It’s racked up tens of millions of streams and even cracked into the top five on the ARIA charts. But what a lot of listeners didn't know was that the vocals and drums were made with artificial intelligence. 
 
From Friday, ARIA's new code shuts songs like it out of the charts, and the industry's peak body is now urging radio and music promoters to fall in behind. 

But if listeners can't tell the difference - and the streams keep climbing regardless - will a ban on the chart actually change anything? 

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by the boss of ARIA, Annabelle Herd to discuss the move, whether it goes fare enough and what the AI wave means for the young Australian artists trying to break through. 

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Tuesday Headlines: 

• PM to announce block on data centres near homes and schools
• Family of murdered Thai teen respond to alleged Australian killer’s comments from behind bars
• Trump Administration announces economic 'D-day' on Iran as Tehran announces $10m bounty for Barron Trump
• World’s oceans record hottest temperature on record
• Specialist cargo ship arrives to remove SpaceX rocket from Christmas Island

Deep Dive: Pauline Hanson says Australia's superannuation system is broken. Senior Liberal Andrew Bragg has branded compulsory super a "loss of liberty." Suddenly, the four trillion dollars of retirement savings sitting in Australians' names is the subject of a political brawl - with the Treasurer vowing to defend the system all the way to the next election. 

So is super actually failing us - or quietly doing more than its critics admit? 

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by Mary Delahunty, CEO of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia to unpack where your 12% really comes from and why it's locked away for decades. Mary also makes the case against raiding super for a house deposit - and reveals the lessons COVID taught us about who gets hurt when the rules loosen. 

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Monday Headlines: 

• Record crowd turns out for Swans AFLW clash after tumultuous week for the club
• Australia records first case of bird flu in a mammal
• Pauline Hanson steps in after One Nation MP says party's targets 'not too different' from Labor's 
• Sydney shark attack victim speaks publicly for the first time
• Major blunder found on Sydney Marathon medal

Deep Dive: The federal government is attempting to roll out its largest gun buyback in a generation in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.  
 
New South Wales is the first state to sign on - paying licensed owners from November to surrender their firearms, pulling a huge slice of the state's registered guns from circulation. But other states are dragging their feet, shooters say they're being unfairly singled out, and critics argue the very people we should fear won't hand anything over.  
 
So will it actually work - or is it a costly show of action?  
 
In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by public health expert and senior advocacy advisor at the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Stephen Bendle to unpack what this landmark scheme can really achieve, and where its loudest criticisms land. 

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The Israeli military drew international criticism this week after finding it had no criminal case to answer to in the killing of seven aid workers in Gaza in 2024, including Australian woman Zomi Frankcom. 

April 2026 marked two years since the drone strikes which killed the staff from World Central Kitchen, and at the time, The Briefing sat down with Zomi’s brother Mal to discuss her family’s fight for justice. 

In this episode we’re revisiting Sacha Barbour Gatt’s chat with Mal Frankcom. 

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Heyo, 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 weekend Chris and Sach sit down for a heavier debrief than usual: the Lindsay Clancy trial, the case of the Massachusetts mother whose insanity defence has turned an unthinkable tragedy into a wider reckoning about postpartum psychosis.  
 
From there the mood lifts as they crack open the inbox – to get your reactions on arming guards in hospitals, Logies tea, and one listener’s oddly specific request for Dan's voice that we may or may not be honouring in the near future.  
 
Then, LiSTNR sport and Triple M producer, Curtis Figon joins us for The Weekend Quiz to see if he can answer:  

1. The government was accused of making a dog's breakfast of some big reforms this week. What were those reforms? 
2. Who won the Gold Logie on Sunday?
3. AI deepfakes of one person have scammed Australians out of $7.4 million in the past year. Who is that person?
4. Jacqui Lambie made an emotional plea to the Prime Minister in the Senate this week - what was she asking for?
5. Ten YouTubers were added to the National Sound Archive this week. Name one of them. 

Then we cap it all of with The Weekend List: 

• To Do: Digitise your old footage and pics (listener Krissy)  

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Friday Headlines: 

• Police commissioner apologises for miscommunication after family told missing bushwalker was alive
• Alleged Swans victim speaks out
• Zomi Frankcom's family slams IDF for clearing soldiers over her death
• Erin Patterson appeal wraps
• Harry and Meghan's UK return

Deep Dive: A murder trial in the US is making global headlines and has sparked a passionate conversation about the mental health of mums. 

Lindsay Clancy is accused of murdering her three children, and while she’s admitted to the killings, her lawyers say she can’t be held responsible because she was suffering at the time from postpartum psychosis. 

In this episode of The Briefing, we speak with psychologist, author and someone who has experienced the condition, Ariarne Beeston from COPE, to unpack the case and how a lack of support for mothers can lead to the most tragic consequences. 

This episode discusses crimes against children as well as serious mental health conditions including suicide. 

PANDA’s National Perinatal Mental Health Helpline: 1300 726 306 

Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE): https://www.cope.org.au/ 

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