The Briefing

Tuesday Headlines: Donald Trump and ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull continue trading blows, Russia warns Australia against putting boots on the ground in Ukraine, Sydney caravan plot revealed to be a hoax, and political fundraising events cancelled after cyclone backlash.

Deep Dive: Has the news media gone overboard with its coverage of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred?  

Over the weekend, ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred dominated news coverage, with major networks deploying dozens of reporters across multiple locations—leading to viral moments, online debate, and criticism that the coverage felt more like "disaster porn" than essential journalism. 

In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt and Chris Spyrou unpack the ethics of disaster reporting. Sacha also speaks with a familiar voice – Katrina Blowers, who’s providing wall-to-wall coverage of the cyclone as Seven News Queensland’s Chief Reporter.  

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Afternoon headlines: Raids reportedly carried out in relation to a caravan allegedly found packed with explosives, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warns flood crisis far from over and Security at regional airports is under scrutiny

Deep dive: Scammers are targeting Australians across the country in the wake of Cyclone Alfred, with the Prime Minister warning the impact from the crisis is far from over.  

The latest rise in scams include fake donation sites, fraudulent offers of support from scammers impersonating banks, insurance companies and charities or government organisations.  

In this episode of The Briefing Natarsha Belling is joined by Ben Young, Westpac’s Head of Fraud Prevention, to discuss the red flags you should be looking out for.  

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Monday Headlines: Hundreds of thousands without power as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred moves inland, latest Newspoll shows hung parliament still likely, Israel cuts off power to Gaza and St George Dragons strongly condemns pie throw at the NRL.

Deep Dive: Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is being sued by a conservation group alleging she is not meeting her legal obligations to protect threatened species.  
 
The case, brought by The Wilderness Society, focuses on eleven species and an argument that specific plans for their protection aren’t being met.  

The government says it has doubled funding for conservation efforts, but environmental advocates say it’s not enough to prevent extinction. So, can legal action force stronger environmental protections? And does it stand a chance at succeeding? 

In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith speaks with Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity Policy and Campaign Manager at The Wilderness Society, to unpack the case and what it could mean for Australia’s wildlife. 

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Comedian and author Michelle Brasier transformed the heartbreak of losing her brother and father to cancer into a bold and unflinching brand of comedy.

After discovering she has a 97% chance of carrying the same deadly gene, Michelle's life took a new direction. Her book, My Brother's Ashes are in a Sandwich Bag, powerfully captures how she uses humour as a tool to confront and navigate grief.

In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Michelle shares how she mistakenly slapped a priest and why she’s now using her story to advocate for families who are unfairly punished by insurance companies just for carrying a deadly gene.

Grab tickets to Michelle's current tour here

Weekend list with Jess Lukjanow and the listeners

• TO WATCH: Toxic Town on Netflix
• TO DO: Pilates retreats
• TO WATCH: High Potential on Disney+
• TO WATCH: Oscar winning documentary No Other Land on Doc Play

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Millions of residents across NSW and Queensland are preparing for Tropical Cyclone Alfred, expected to make landfall tomorrow.  

Torrential rain and wild winds have already caused widespread damage, prompting evacuation orders across Northern NSW and warnings that tens of thousands could be left without power. 

So, how bad could this get? And what should those in the impact zone expect? 

In this Afternoon Edition of The Briefing, Natarsha Belling breaks down the latest updates and emergency responses as Cyclone Alfred closes in with Senior Meteorologist Jonathan How from the Bureau of Meteorology.  

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Headlines: Tropical Cyclone Alfred continues slow journey towards land, Teenager arrested after trying to board plane with shotgun, EU leaders close to landmark defence deal as Trump again pauses tariffs, and Aussies are ditching Tesla.

Deep Dive: From an explosive meeting at the White House to accusations of an all-out trade war, the last seven days in international politics has been positively batshit insane. 

We’ve seen the US pull military aid and intelligence sharing from Ukraine, the UK lead the charge to achieve peace in the region and Canada accuse America of trying to annex it. 

That’s not to mention Donald Trump’s first speech to the new Congress. 

In this morning’s deep dive, geopolitical expert Dr Keith Suter joins Bension Siebert to break down all the important moments from the last week and tell us what we can expect to come from it all. 

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Charities and community leaders are raising the alarm, accusing Australian councils of criminalising homelessness, effectively making it illegal.

Councils in Queensland and Victoria have been under scrutiny for planning to slap thousands of dollars' worth of fines on people experiencing homelessness in a bid to lower crime and move people along.

This has sparked an open letter from a community group in Moreton Bay, calling on all levels of government, saying the move is both an emergency and a violation of human rights.

In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith is joined by Beau Haywood, Nourish Street Inc founder, who faced a 25-year addiction battle and a journey through homelessness to get his take on if councils and governments are in the wrong.

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Headlines: Tropical Cyclone Alfred slows but still expected to bring “three natural disasters in one”, US cuts off intelligence sharing with Ukraine and Trumps rejects Gaza rebuild plan, and Aussie men doing no more housework than they were 20 years ago.

Deep Dive: White supremacy, antisemitism and neo-Nazis have been making headlines lately in Australia. How worried should we be? 

We’ve seen rallies in Adelaide, Nazi salutes in Melbourne and politicians racing to legislate tough new penalties to crackdown on those displaying any sort of solidarity with the ideology. So how big is the neo-Nazi movement here in Australia right now? What does a modern day, Aussie Nazi look like? And are we doing enough to stop them? 

Dr Kaz Ross is an independent researcher into the far-right. She joins Sacha Barbour Gatt on this episode of The Briefing to reveal what she sees the state of Nazism to be in Australia, and what it’s future trajectory might be.

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Many of us are considering how we might protect ourselves and our careers if artificial intelligence gets smart enough to do our jobs better than we can.

Although unemployment is low in Australia and we are yet to see an AI jobs ‘tsunami’, economic modelling claims up to a third of Australians could be made jobless because of this technology in just five years.

So what can we do about it ourselves? And are the Government and the union movement doing enough to help us adapt? In part three of the Briefing’s special series on AI and your job, Bension Siebert speaks to Deputy Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Joseph Mitchell to find out. 

Listen to Part 1 and Part 2. 

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Headlines: Concerts and footy matches cancelled as Alfred heads towards land, Zelensky says he’s ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership, Teenager arrested over Sydney mosque threat, and we have an update on stranded astronauts.

Deep Dive: Should an act of aggression as blatant as punching a wall be enough to end Married At First Sight?  

The country’s biggest reality TV show recently aired an incident where a participant punched a wall during an argument with their partner. It appears the matter has been reported to police, and the show has also been reported to SafeWork NSW as a result. 

Since it’s airing, individuals and groups have been calling for Nine, and the production company behind MAFS, to act. A petition set up by What Were You Wearing Australia, a major domestic, sexual and family violence victim-survivor group, is calling for MAFS to take more responsibility on how the incident was portrayed, to rethink how they display healthy and unhealthy relationships, and to take the moment as an opportunity to educate those watching as to what domestic violence can look like. But should the show continue at all? 

On this episode of The Briefing, founder of WYWWA and a leading survivor-advocate for domestic and sexual violence Sarah Williams joins Helen Smith on The Briefing to unpack the moment, and what we should learn from it. 

Listen to our recent ep, Confessions of an ex-MAFS producer here. 

You can find WYWWA’s petition here 

1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family, and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or family violence, you can call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit our website 

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