In the first episode of 2026, Dr Julie Macken returns with a heavy heart and a frank assessment of the year we’ve stepped into. From the December attack at Bondi to the political theatre that followed, Julie speaks to a nation struggling with grief, division, and identity.

With Australia Day around the corner, she asks uncomfortable but necessary questions: What does it mean to be Australian? Who are we when confronted by violence? What values do we actually share, and who gets to decide? Amid bans on language, rising political opportunism, and a world seemingly spiralling into absurdity, this episode calls for clarity, decency, and at the very least, kindness.

This isn’t a conversation about social justice so much as a lament for its erosion and an invitation to rebuild it.