The Briefing

Monday Headlines: 

• Parliament returns, support for Labor slumps to decade low 
• Two airport workers stood down after another near miss at Sydney airport
• Netanyahu rejects US peace proposal for Gaza
• Ukraine says 50,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed to fight for Russia
• 90,000 take part in world’s biggest fun run in Sydney

Deep Dive: Tomorrow is census night, and this year the form looks a little different.  
 
For the first time, Australians are being asked directly about their sexual orientation and gender - and for the first time, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says artificial intelligence is helping process the millions of responses that pour in. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou goes behind the questionnaire with someone who's helped shape it for the best part of thirty years. How does the ABS land on which categories make the cut? Where do your name and address actually end up? Can the online system survive the night after its infamous 2016 collapse? And in an era of shaky faith in government, does the ABS really expect all of us to tell the truth? 

Chris is joined by Jenny Telford, General Manager of the Census and Population Division at the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

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Fresh data shows nearly 1,500 homes purchased under the federal government's 5% deposit scheme have been flipped into investment properties.

It’s a bit of a plot twist for an initiative built on a very specific promise: helping everyday Aussies get onto the property ladder as owner-occupiers with just a fraction of the usual deposit and zero lenders mortgage insurance. 

In this episode of The Briefing we revisit Helen Smith's chat with David Koch from last year about the scheme to get you across how it all works and what you need to know about it.

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We're back with 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 is joined by Justine Landis-Hanley and they unpack how Miles Phillips and his Eastern Rosellas went from a backyard novelty to the ARIA record books. Chris answers your questions about the Kyle Sandilands interview, before they dig into your thoughts on Kmart's knock-off Meta glasses (+ the bird flu conspiracy theory we didn't know existed). 

We’re also joined in studio by LiSTNR entertainment executive producer Elise Cooper for The Weekend Quiz, who brings more live vocals to the show than actual recording artists. Plus we cap it all off with the Weekend List.  

The Weekend Quiz (just questions, no answers):  

1. Which airline announced it will start charging passengers to put carry-on luggage in the overhead lockers? 
2. Which former NRL player and viral book-tokker alleged this week that gambling company promoters would supply him with drugs and alcohol to keep him betting? 
3. Who said this and who was he talking about? 
   "What single answer does she have to any of the list of problems and challenges which I went through before? Zip is the answer to that.”
4. What crashed into the moon this week? 
5. Name one song Delta Goodrem performed in the Comm Games closing ceremony.  

The Weekend List:  

• To Watch: Enola Holmes 3 (listener Georgie) 
• To listen to: Dungeon Crawler Carl (listener Narikka)
• To read: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

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Friday Headlines:

• US Senate committee votes to hold Dr Fauci in contempt of Congress
• 15-year-old charged with manslaughter over death of Melbourne shopkeeper
• Alan Jones’ alleged victim denies making up sex abuse claims for money
• ABC Apologises to Gina Rinehart over ‘violent’ skit  
• Millions of Aussies told to brace for icy temps
• Brisbane’s Ekka kicks off tomorrow

Deep Dive: Discussion around Ariana Grande’s weight reached a fever pitch this week. 

Photos from her tour, press appearances, and her new music video for Petal, show her shrinking frame, prompting fans to worry over what is going on behind the scenes. 

The public discourse hasn’t gone unnoticed. Also this week, Ariana announced that she will be taking a break from public life at the end of her album tour in September. Her representative told People Magazine that this decision came after “endless, ongoing public scrutiny”.  

Do we have a responsibility to raise concerns over Ariana’s weight loss? Editor of Mediaweek Natasha Lee says yes. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Natasha sits down with Justine Landis-Hanley to discuss her article in Mediaweek, in which she shares her experience dealing with an eating disorder while working on Australian television, and argues that we’ve been scared into silence. 

Link to the article: https://www.mediaweek.com.au/silence-isnt-always-kindness-ariana-grande-debate 

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Thursday Headlines: 

• Labor’s 5% first-home deposit scheme has been used to purchase 1500 properties converted to investments
• Federal government will force states to make AI data centres run on renewable energy
• Israel issues evacuation orders for first time since June ceasefire, starts striking Lebanon
• Omar Musa wins Miles Franklin literary award
• NASA warns about space debris after SpaceX junk slams into the moon

Deep Dive: Every year in Australia, dozens of women and children are killed in violent circumstances - and in 2026 the toll is already climbing fast.   
 
Behind those numbers is a support system that campaigners say is buckling: refuges at capacity, transitional housing waitlists stretching years, and women turned away from help at the very moment they need it most. 

Sherele Moody is one of the country's foremost researchers on femicide and child deaths, and the founder of the Red Heart Movement where she records the names and stories of women killed across the country, and pushes for a system that takes their safety seriously. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Sherele Moody sits down with Chris Spyrou to unpack why billions in spending isn't stopping the deaths, why she's calling for a Royal Commission into femicide, and what a properly funded response to violence against women would actually look like. 

Help is available:
1800 Respect national helpline: 1800 737 732

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Wednesday Headlines: 

• Albanese under pressure to do more on gambling ads reform
• Tony Burke delays migration cut announcement
• Competing drone videos in Russia, Ukraine war
• Alan Jones trial continues
• Jetstar to charge for carry-on baggage lockers

Deep Dive: Five months into the United States' war on Iran, Donald Trump keeps insisting that a deal, or a decisive victory, is within reach. So why does neither ever arrive? 

Trita Parsi's answer is blunt: the President is chasing a knockout blow that doesn't exist.  

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou speaks with Parsi, who is an expert on US-Iranian relations and Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft - about who can really outlast whom and whether Trump has walked into a new forever war. 

Trita’s last chat with Chris from March: Why the Iran war can’t end ‘soon’ 

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Tuesday Headlines: 

• Sportsbet and TAB execs to be grilled at Senate inquiry into gambling reform today
• One Nation climbs in the polls as Hanson refuses ABC and Guardian entry to Victorian press conference
• Ralph Carr unmasked as rapist after suppression order lifted
• Kmart sells out of dupe Meta camera glasses amid global privacy concerns
• Ariana Grande steps back from public life amid scrutiny over her weight

Deep Dive: For years, Australia watched from a distance as bird flu tore through wildlife on every other continent - before it finally reached our shores in June. 

What began with a few lone migratory birds is now spreading through our native populations, and while conservationists welcome the more than $113 million already invested to get us prepared - they say now that it's here, more needs to be put on the table. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou speaks with Jack Gough, CEO of the Invasive Species Council, who's urging the Albanese Government to commit at least $200 million to help our wildlife survive what's coming. He explains what that money would go towards, what species are most at risk, and how the strain can move from low risk in humans to a higher one. 

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Five months after the Kyle and Jackie O Show was pulled off air, Kyle Sandilands will be back behind the microphone with a paid subscription show that launches next week. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou sits down with the veteran broadcaster for a wide-ranging chat about what really brought down the most expensive act in Australian radio.  
 
Sandilands responds to the workplace bullying allegations at the heart of his former co-host's lawsuit against their old employer, explains why he chose to settle his own multi-million-dollar case rather than fight on, and reflects on the mistakes that have marked his 25 years on air - the moments, he says, that taught him where the line sits. 
 
Then it's over to you: we put your questions to him, and he talks up a possible reunion with Jackie, floats getting Karl Stefanovic on the payroll, and names the controversial figure he's booked for the show's first week. 

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Monday Headlines:

• Motorists warned to expect fuel shock as excise ends 
• Donald Trump cancels Iran strikes subject to deal being made rapidly
• Authorities await results from South Australia mass bird death event
• Alan Jones indecent assault trial getting underway today
• Housing market downturn spreads across Australia
• Australia wins the Comm Games

Chris' chat with Kyle Sandilands is out now.

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Victoria has a new premier this week - and within hours of being sworn in, Ben Carroll did the one thing his predecessor spent months refusing to do: call a royal commission into the CFMEU. 

Jacinta Allan's resignation was driven in large part by a corruption scandal engulfing the state's Big Build, where a landmark report earlier this year alleged the construction union had siphoned $15 billion from taxpayers while the government turned a blind eye.  

Reporters at The Age have been documenting the organised crime, intimidation and misconduct across the union's Victorian operations since 2024.  

In this episode of The Briefing, we revisit Chris Spyrou's conversation with award-winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie from The Age, recorded back in February when that explosive report first landed. 

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