Episodes
-
There are two states that have the most to gain, and the most to lose, when it comes to AUKUS: South Australia and Western Australia. In the final episode of AUKUS Investigated Hamish and Geraldine speak to South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas about why he thinks the rest of the country needs to come to the AUKUS party.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
AUKUS doesn't only affect us. From the time that it was announced there were mixed reactions from our neighbours - some who wanted in, and some who thought it unwise and provocative. A big part of the fear - both regionally and within Australia - concerns the nuclear question. As the first non-nuclear country to ever acquire a nuclear weapon, can we confident of our own safety? And what happens to the waste that will remain dangerous for generations of Australian to come?
GUESTS:
Gareth Evans - former Australian Foreign Minister (1988 –1996).
Maria Rost Rublee - Associate Professor of International Relations at Monash University, with expertise in international security and nuclear politics.
Dr Evan Laksmana - Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia Military Modernisation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Missing episodes?
-
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has said of AUKUS that "we don't need to be a pair of shoes hanging out of America's backside". Is that a fair characterisation of Australia's position vis a vis AUKUS? Are we getting the short end of the stick with this deal, and sacrificing our sovereignty to boot?
GUESTS:
Sam Roggeveen - Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace
Malcolm Turnbull - 29th Prime Minister of Australia 2015-2018.
Richard Marles - the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Minister for Defence and the Federal Member for Corio.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
In this episode Hamish and Geraldine examine the strategic thinking behind AUKUS. If China has undertaken the most rapid military expansion of any country since WWII, how does the AUKUS pact factor into Beijing's thinking? And does a plan that ties us more closely to the United States make us more or less safe?
GUESTS:
Zhou Bo – Senior Colonel (Ret.) of China's People's Liberation Army, is Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University.
Vice Admiral Mark Hammond - Chief of the Royal Australian Navy.
Hugh Jeffrey - Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry, Department of Defence
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
The plan for us to acquire nuclear submarines has been dubbed the 'Optimal Pathway', but achieving it will be no mean feat. In this episode we explore what the scheme involves, what the key challenges are to making it work, and we get some cold hard facts about what it is really going to cost us.
GUESTS:
Jennifer Parker - expert associate at the national security college ANU, an adjunct fellow at UNSW, and associate fellow at the Council on Geostrategy.
Vice Admiral Peter Jones - a retired senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), who served as the Chief Capability Development Group (CCDG) from 2011 until his retirement in October 2014.
Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead - the inaugural Director-General of the Australian Submarine Agency.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
In a special mini-series, Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald get the answers to all your burning questions about AUKUS.
In this first episode, we investigate how AUKUS came about - who spoke to who, what the true motivation was for going nuclear and whether the total secrecy around the deal was justified.
GUESTS:
Andrew Fowler - investigative journalist and author of Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty (MUP), which won the 2024 Walkley Book Award.
Scott Morrison - 30th Prime Minister of Australia, now Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the US-headquartered advisory and consulting firm American Global Strategies LLC and member of several advisory boards, including the DYNE Strategic Advisory Board.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
2024 has been an extraordinary year in terms of global affairs. And as we try to wind down, events internationally have been ramping up.
Global Roaming's inaugural year has been packed, and we thank our audience for being so engaged. This episode we highlight some of those moments and look back at what an incredible year it's been around the world.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
A short bonus episode where Geraldine and Hamish discuss the shock fall of Damascus, and the rest of Syria, to opposition group Hayat Tahir al-Sham. The hardline Sunni Islamic group has its roots in Al Qaeda but has refined its image to be more moderate. With Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and family getting asylum in Russia, Syrians around the world are celebrating. But what happens next?
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Hamish: New Yorker: How Syria became the Middle East's drug dealer
Geraldine: Firas Maksad with the Middle East Institute
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
When Hamish visited Finland he met up with Finland's Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz - although unfortunately not in a sauna.
But they do discuss the importance of saunas in keeping Finnish society egalitarian. And of course its focus on public education. Finland takes a holistic approach that gives teachers freedom and flexibility to teach multiple subjects together - a lesson might include maths, geography and art. Schools also focus on creativity, play and practical skills but don't test until the final years. And now the curriculum includes lessons on decoding fake news and assessing online sources for reliability.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
When Anders Adlercreutz’s cello performance of a patriotic Ukrainian song was widely shared it attracted backlash from Russian officials.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Why is Germany in a bit of a funk? How did the superstar of Europe go so far off the rails - even the German trains aren't running on time.
Germany is governed by a three party centre-left coalition that's in disarray, a snap election has been called for February, and polls show the main ruling SPD party is set to suffer a big loss. Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is the second most popular party.
Tobias Cremer is a German member of the European Parliament and he’s with the SPD party. But he was only elected a few months back so still has several years in parliament, at least. Tobias also has an interesting background researching the relationship between religion, secularisation and the rise of right-wing identity politics throughout western societies.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: The Granddaughter By Bernhard Schlink
Hamish: The Quiet German feature in The New Yorker
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Last week New Zealand parliament went viral when MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performed a haka and tore up a controversial bill. And this week tens of thousands of New Zealanders marched in protest, opposing the bill.
At the heart of the debate is the Treaty of Waitangi and a bill that seeks to reinterpret it, with some fearing it will dilute Maori rights.
Guest: Taiha Molyneux, Māori News Editor Radio New Zealand
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Hamish - Rear Vision episode on the Treaty of Waitangi and the podcast The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior
Geraldine - Fateful mix: Great powers, strongman leaders and manifest destinies, essay by Michael Wesley in Australian Foreign Affairs
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Much has been going on around the world this year so climate and environment have taken a back seat. Now with the US electing a president who calls climate change a hoax, how will conversations and actions change globally? Perhaps there are opportunities for Australia as China increases its dominance.
Martijn Wilder joins us to discuss - and it's not all bad. Martijn founded Pollination, a climate change advisory and investment firm that's working to speed up the transition to net zero. But he's worked in climate law and policy for many years, advising governments and organisations.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: Documentary film Martha on Netflix
Hamish: The Jury: Death on the Staircase directed by Tosca Looby on SBS on Demand
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Donald Trump has a mandate to do what he promised after winning easily. But how far will he actually go and how fast? And will he try to unite the country a little, as hinted at in his victory speech?
Jonathan Swan, who’s been covering Trump for close to a decade, warns that Trump's been emboldened to take more risk, and little stands in his way this time. Swan is a reporter for The New York Times covering national politics and the US government but known for his Emmy-award winning interview with Trump when he was president.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Hamish: The Great Global Rebalancing with Dr Samir Puri - episode of War Studies podcast
Geraldine: Noble Fragments: The maverick who broke up the world’s greatest book, by Michael Visontay
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
An election on a knife-edge, and a nation seemingly on the brink. How do we make sense of this fever-pitched moment?
First a snapshot from USA Today political reporter Deborah Berry, who's been in Georgia a lot lately. Then we hear how strategist Rachel Bitecofer has advised the Democrats to beat the Republicans at their own game, with less focus on policies and more on negative attacks.
And we discuss the deluge of listener feedback to our Niall Ferguson episode.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: Don Waton's Quarterly Essay - High Noon
Stopping the Steal documentary on SBS
Hamish: Elon Musk's Secret Conversation with Vladimir Putin
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Our friends at If You're Listening have a new series about the US presidential election that we want to tell you about.
Donald Trump still refuses to accept the result of the 2020 election. Now he’s on the ballot again, and in his campaign against Kamala Harris he’s calling on his supporters to make the race ‘too big to rig’. In America's Last Election, Matt Bevan leaves his basement and heads to the US, examining the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election and what it means for the vote this November.
Find the latest episodes by searching for If You're Listening in the ABC listen app.
-
In this extended conversation with Geraldine and Hamish, renowned historian Sir Niall Ferguson warns that Donald Trump is not the biggest threat to American democracy. A bigger threat, he says, lies much closer to Australia...
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: Niall Ferguson: The Treason of the Intellectuals article in The Free Press
Hamish: The tragedy of a 50-50 America article in the Financial Times by Janan Ganesh
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Like it or not, we all have a stake when Americans head to the polls in November. So what would a Harris or Trump presidency mean for the global economy, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, and an increasingly powerful China?
Guest: Edward Luce - US national editor, Financial Times.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: Secret Documents Show Hamas Tried to Persuade Iran to Join Its Oct. 7 Attack by Ronen Bergman in The New York Times
Hamish: The World from Down Under by George Negus.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
In the final instalment of our New Frontlines mini-series, we look at the ideological fault-lines that are dividing countries from within. Identity, values and fears are being weaponised by those on the political extremes, and it's working.
Guest: Margaritis Schinas - the European Commission vice president for Promoting our European Way of Life.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: Europe Takes a Trumpian Turn by Hans Kundnani in Foreign Affairs Magazine
Hamish: Kosciuszko: The incredible life of the man behind the mountain by Anthony Sharwood
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Iran talks a big game, but in the last two weeks Israel has dealt some serious blows to the ‘axis of resistance’, while Tehran has done little to deter Netanyahu from going even further. Is the balance of power in the Middle East swinging away from Iran and towards Israel? Or is there more going on inside Iran than meets the eye?
Guests:
Ali Ansari - Professor of Iranian History & Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews
David Hale - Global Fellow, Wilson Center; Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Former Ambassador to Pakistan, Lebanon, and Jordan.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: Kaos, series on Netflix
Raf: English teacher, series on Disney +
VOTE FOR US:
Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
-
Exploding pagers, attacks on underwater gas pipelines and deepfake videos - we’ve entered a terrifying new realm of hybrid warfare, where the aim is to sow discord deep within our democracies. But how do you fight a war that isn’t really a war, against an invisible enemy? We visit a centre in Finland where they are urgently trying to find the answers to that question.
Teija Tiilikainen - Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.
Elina Valtonen - Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Geraldine: Ezra Klein podcast with David Remnick: Israel vs. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran — and Itself
Hamish: We have changed, says Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiah leader Para Wijayanto by Amanda Hodge in The Australian
VOTE FOR US:
Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
- Show more
