Weekend One on One

Maryam Zahid first fled to Australia as a refugee from Afghanistan 26 years ago. Since then, she's been an advocate for women in her community being able to live freely and openly in their new home of Australia through her organisation Afghan Women on the Move. They help provide skills training, financial literacy and employment opportunities to women while helping to heal trauma through art programs and support groups. I'm Sam Dover and I spoke to Maryam after one of her latest efforts to get the word out about her organisation, a one-act play called The Good Woman which shares some of the stories of women helped by Afghan Women on the Move.

A new report has calculated how much annual climate finance is needed to flow from rich nations to Pacific countries. The funds would help speed up the energy transition, address climate impacts, and deal with climate-related loss and damage. The report by Caritas Australia and the Jubilee Australia Research Centre finds that around US$1.5 billion is needed annually to meet the climate finance needs for Pacific nations. The current gap or shortfall is calculated to be two-thirds of that amount. Report co-author Damian Spruce from Caritas Australia spoke to Biwa Kwan about the report's findings as world leaders at COP29 negotiate a deal for a new climate finance target.

The United States has recently added 78 entitites to its Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act list to ensure domestic businesses do not profit directly or indirectly from forced labour occurring in a number of overseas countries - including by the Uyghur minority population in China's Xinjiang province. So far $3.62 billion worth of goods has been inspected by customs which has denied 42 per cent of shipments into the country. Australian anti-slavery expert and founder of Fair Futures, Fiona David. says Australia should adopt similar legislation so that we have greater transparency around where our products come from, and more crucially, how they are being made. She speaks to SBS' Catriona Stirrat

In a trade speech at the Japanese embassy in Canberra, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said the world was increasingly vulnerable and volatile due to the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, as well as challenges in Chinese trade. What then are the implications of a new President in the White House for the existing and future global order? And what could Donald Trump's policies mean for Australia, a close US ally? Deborah Groarke speaks with Professor Dennis Altman from La Trobe University to find out.

Cory Alpert is a PhD researcher at the University of Melbourne looking at the impact of AI on democracy - but he has a wealth of experience in the world of American politics. He served for three years in the White House during the Biden-Harris Administration working in the Executive Office of the President. He's worked on three Presidential campaigns, including for Hillary Clinton in 2016. and as regional chief of staff for Pete Buttigieg’s historic 2020 campaign. He has also had senior staff and advisory roles on Senate, House, Gubernatorial, mayoral, and state legislative races across the United States. So with just a couple of days before the US Presidential Election, SBS's Deborah Groarke asked him about how the campaigning strategies are put together:

Mahendra Chaudhry was Fiji's first Prime Minister of Indian ancestry, but in 2000 he and most his cabinet were held hostage for almost two months, after a civilian coup backed by a faction of the military and led by George Speight stormed parliament. Since the 1980s there have been four coups in Fiji - each with links to ethnic tension between Indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians. Mr Chaudhry is the current leader of the Fiji Labour Party. In an interview with SBS's Jennifer Scherer, he talks about Fiji's movement toward social cohesion and how Diwali can promote reconciliation despite a history of coup culture

A fluffy native mouse and five other Australian species have been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia’s escalating extinction crisis, is being fuelled by climate change, deforestation, and outdated conservation laws. SBS's Essam Al-Ghalib was joined by the Australian Conservation Foundation’s national nature campaigner, Jess Abrahams

SBS' Ciara Hain spoke with settlement service provider AMES' public affairs manager Laurie Nowell.

With campaigning for the US election entering its final stages, record numbers of voters have submitted their ballots early, across a number of crucial battleground states. Early voting was a key sticking point for the Trump campaign in 2020, which made unproven claims of vote rigging. For more about the final sprint to the White House, reporter Tys Occhiuzzi spoke with Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the New America think tank.

Senator Lidia Thorpe has defended her protest during the King's visit to Canberra. She says her calls for a treaty have garnered international attention, and has furthered the national conversation. But the headlines remain squarely on her eligibility as a senator. Listen to her full interview with SBS Chief Political Correspondent Anna Henderson about the controversy.