The Leap Year

Rabbi Ralph Genende was shattered when, for the first time in 75 years, he had to close the doors of Melbourne’s Caulfield Shule in March. In this episode, he talks with Sally about leadership during times of hardship, prayer in isolation, preservation of life in Jewish law and how ritual helps us shape time in moments of crisis. 

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Kara Baker is a fashion designer, whose business stopped dead on 13 March this year, when a host of major events including Melbourne Fashion Festival were cancelled.

In this episode, she talks with Sally about how major historical events influence the evolution of fashion, how the pandemic might change outdated and unsustainable fashion business models and how women might want to burn their leggings after lockdown.

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Luke Davies is a poet, novelist and screenwriter, best known for Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, and the Academy Award-nominated film, Lion. This year, he has found himself alone in Los Angeles with the thing a writer wishes for most: all the time in the world. He speaks to Sally Warhaft about how he is passing these slow days, his feelings of America, and his deep longing for Australia. 

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Gabrielle Chan is the author of Rusted Off: Why Country Australia is Fed Up. Speaking to Sally from her farm in Harden, in the South West Slopes of New South Wales, Gabrielle reflects on regional economies, food production and how Covid-19 has shifted routines, priorities and the atmosphere in her small country town.

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Glyn Davis is a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University's Crawford School of Public Policy, and previously served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge economic and human toll on Australia’s university sector, with thousands of jobs lost, students forced to study remotely and international students left stranded due to travel restrictions. Glyn Davis reflects on what has been lost, and what can be salvaged.

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Earlier this year, Todd Heery was already preparing himself for a year of isolation. Todd is the plumber at Mawson Research Station in Antarctica – the only continent so far untouched by the coronavirus. When he boarded the boat for departure, he never expected that the world he was leaving behind would change the way it has. In this episode, Todd speaks to Sally Warhaft about life in Antarctica, the importance of ritual and surviving isolation. 

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Earlier this month, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews appeared for his 100th consecutive press conference. But politicians are not the only ones on this marathon. Rachel Baxendale is the state political reporter for the Australian, and is one of the journalists covering these highly public press conferences. She has also been subjected to online trolling, and has even become a meme – #WhatsTheIssueRachel?

In this episode, she describes what it’s really been like for journalists this year. 

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Professor Margot Prior was a pioneer in the advancement of autism research in Australia. She was also a multi-talented talented musician, and a loving mother. Her life ended when she contracted the coronavirus in an aged care facility this year. In this episode, Sally Warhaft speaks to Margot’s daughter, Sian Prior – a writer and memoirist – about Margot's wonderful life, and Sian's personal experience of loss during this most difficult year. 

Content warning: this episode includes discussions of death and illness. 

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Dennis Altman is a writer and academic who first came to attention in 1972 with the publication of his book Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation.

While the coronavirus pandemic is most people’s first experience of having their lives affected by a pandemic, Dennis was President of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific from 2001-2005, and has been a member of the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society. In this episode, he shares his insight on the similarities – and differences – between coronavirus and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the upcoming American election, and the ache of distance.

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Dr Neil Cunningham is an emergency physician at St Vincent's Hospital, where he oversees 600 junior doctors. Throughout his career, he has witnessed a number of pandemics, including Sars, Swine Flu, and now the Coronavirus. 

In this conversation with Sally Warhaft, he describes his duty to protect those around him – his patients, staff and family – in a year like no other.

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