Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has  survived a second attempt to topple him in less than a year, but questions about his authority inside the National Party haven't gone away. Political commentator Trish Sherson examines whether this is a turning point for the Kiwi leader, or just a stay of execution?

Donald Trump is branding Democratic candidates "jihadists" and "communists" as America's midterms start to take shape. As progressive Democrats notch up election wins and Trump's own numbers slide, veteran political commentator E.J. Dionne explores whether the party is finding its future, or opening a damaging new fault line?

Scott Clayton has been an AFL recruiter for 35 years. He’s the man behind the scenes of some of the most successful teams and trades  in the game, so what's an AFL recruiter looking for when they’re talent scouting?

South Australia has announced a royal commission into Artificial Intelligence at a critical moment for the technology, with leaders of Big Tech calling on the US government to support an international effort to try and slow the pace of AI development, or risk it careening out of control.

Victoria has been labelled the suppression order capital of the nation, but after the identities of two high profile rapists were concealed from the public, the state’s new premier is promising to ‘close every loophole’ if he’s re-elected in November. Associate Professor Jason Bosland, Director of the Centre for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne Law School says he's never seen the relationship between the courts and the media at such a low point. 

Asbestos was once prized for its invincibility as a building material, elevating the ‘humble fibro shack’ to cult status in Australia. But now we know this magic mineral was the devil’s dust  - a toxic fibre that’s still killing hundreds of people every year. Historian James Watson joins Fran to talk about his new book, Asbestos Nation.

Every year thousands of giant cuttlefish put on a dazzling show in the freezing waters of South Australia’s Spencer Gulf. But this year the cuttlefish are missing in action and scientists and divers like Manny Katz say it will be very hard for the population to recover. 

Giant cuttlefish numbers collapsing in South Australia’s algal soaked waters, fur seals with alopecia on a remote Victorian island, hundreds of dead pelican chicks found dead in the far  west of New South Wales. Our natural world is sick and in distress, but are we paying attention? Euan Ritchie, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at Deakin University says ecosystems across Australia are showing signs of collapse. 

It’s the ultimate story of triumph over adversity, a black autistic academic becomes the youngest ever to be granted a professorship at the prestigious Cambridge University. The downfall of rockstar British scholar Jason Arday has critics of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives frothing but Daniel Engber, staff writer at The Atlantic says his story is unbelievable in so many respects. 

We have a brand new segment called 'The Diplomats', turning the spotlight on the peacemakers in our world: the people working, mostly out of sight and under real pressure, to ease the globe's sharpest tensions. Our first guest is Lachlan Strahan, who’s 30 year career in the foreign service took him to North Korea at the height of its nuclear enrichment stand-off. 

The mea culpa and pleas for unity from the FIFA boss Gianni Infantino have failed to placate powerful football associations, like Uefa which is still threatening to boycott the next World Cup, But would Infantino’s resignation really fix the world’s most political sports governing body? Lorin Parys is the CEO of the Belgian Pro League of football.

Australia’s first orchestral performance for deaf people. It's called Across Silence, a multi-sensory experience that treats Auslan not as translation but as an art form in its own right.

The Iran war is now in its sixth month ‌and yet again, the US President is doing his best to suggest everything is hunky-dory and the two sides are getting along. But Iran has labelled reports of negotiations with the US as ‘false’ and is instead trumpeting an imminent agreement with its neighbour Oman. Nada Al Taher a senior foreign reporter with The National, an English language newspaper based in Abu Dhabi, joins Fran to make sense of the latest deal or no deal.

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts has been out and about talking Chemtrails, and he’s got company; the party’s new Victorian State leader, Warren Pickering, who has espoused another well trod conspiracy theory about 15 minute cities. And it’s got us asking, what drives people to adopt these beliefs and who starts them in the first place? Matthew Marques, a senior lecturer in Psychology at LaTrobe University and Dr Kaz Ross, an independent researcher into the far right, extremism and conspiracy theories says at their core conspiracy theories tend to lead back to the same, age-old tropes. 

And it's national Poetry Month — we explore the life and work of Tasmanian poet, Gwen Harwood, regarded as one of Australia's finest poets.

When a shark viciously attacked Coogee mum Leah Stewart back in June, Charlie Verco didn’t flinch, he paddled straight towards danger. He joined Fran in the studio fresh from his victory in the Paddleboard World Championships in Hawaii.

It’s been a record breaking summer across Europe with deadly heat waves, raging bushfires, droughts and major rivers at all time lows, so low that WW2 Nazi ships and woolly mammoth remains have been exposed in the dried out Danube river. Australian, Dr Samantha Burgess is Deputy Director of the EU based, Copernicus Climate Change Service, she says it’s too early to tell, but there's a chance 2026 could be the hottest year on record, making the reality of climate change impossible to ignore for Europe's leaders. 

The National Census takes place next Tuesday night, and we’ve been reading your questions on the text line and from across the ABC, Jenny Telford, the General Manager of the Census has the answers. 

A folksy Congresswoman is taking on a progressive Muslim dubbed the Mamdani of the Midwest in the high stakes Democratic primary in the US state of Michigan — which is being seen as a referendum on the future direction of the party still licking its wounds from the brutal 2024 presidential election defeat. Emily Lawler, the State Government and Politics Editor for the Detroit Free Press, previews the race. 

We know Artificial Intelligence has a huge appetite for all the good things that make us human, like music and art, now it seems it’s coming for our rare and out of print books. Emanuel Maiberg from independent online journal 404 Media explains how a sudden and unexplained surge in demand tipped booksellers off to this strategy, whilst Australian bookseller Karl Slotte says he's had some curious requests of his own lately. 

Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has provided access to affordable medicines for nearly 80 years, but recently our tough talking government has met with some fierce resistance. That's partly because US President Donald Trump is insisting that American's pay the same for their drugs as other countries, like Australia which subsidises medicines. Dr Elizabeth Deveny, CEO of Consumers Health Forum of Australia and Philip Clarke, Professor in Health Economics at Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne say Australia needs to hold the line with Big Pharma but reform of the PBS is long overdue. 

A University degree was long considered a ticket to career success and prosperity .. but with the cost of degrees soaring and AI transforming the way students learn, academics like Dr Kylie Moore Gilbert say the experience may not be worth the money or brain rot. 

Psychedelics were used to treat mental health disorders like depression long before peace, love and rock n roll. Now decades on, scientists are reclaiming them as therapies to treat  conditions like PTSD with remarkable results. Dr Paul Liknaitzky is head of Monash University's Clinical Psychedelic Lab and 'Andrea' is one of his patients. 

For 14 years Louise Herron has been in charge of one of our most important public institutions - The Sydney Opera House. She made peace with the Utzons after a famous falling out over its design and saw off a campaign by Alan Jones to have her fired. Now she’s stepping down on her terms. 

It’s one of Mount Everest's most ghoulish landmarks. For thirty years the body of a climber known as ‘green boots’ has been a frozen reminder of the perils facing mountaineers as they enter the death zone above 8 thousand meters. Now authorities are planning to bring him down from the roof of the world. Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa has spent years guiding on Everest and leading body recovery missions, giving him a rare insight into one of mountaineering's most challenging tasks.