The Radio National Hour

Helen Haines' husband Phil has given a heartbreaking update on his wife's condition, confirming she has now had both legs amputated. We take you into her electorate of Indi and speak to the woman who preceded her as local member, Cathy McGowan. From diagnosing disease to wearables that warn of looming medical threats, AI promises to transform medicine. But how much should we trust it with decisions about our health? And it's time to get twitching again. Conservationist, comedian and Bird Nerd Sean Dooley joins Fran to talk about the annual Aussie Bird Count and why Birdlife Australia want people to count common garden variety birds.

As the independent member for Indi Helen Haines fights for her life in a Melbourne hospital the Governor General of Australia Sam Mostyn reflects on the ugly forces working to undermine Australian democracy and urges Australians to 'show kindness and enter into debates better'. Amid warnings of escalating threats of violence against politicians, was this atrocity predictable? Liesbeth Long a councillor with the Central Goldfields Shire Council in Victoria and its former Mayor says she's been confronted with vile slurs and death threats throughout her career. He’s one of the most important British artists of the last century, famous for his explosive colours and light and visions of shimmering pools, now Australians are being invited to take a deep dive into the world of the late, great David Hockney as his acclaimed immersive exhibition comes to Sydney.

Democrats are being urged not to count their chickens after the latest Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, which shows President Trump's approval rating has plummeted to a new low of 33%. The Democrats now hold an eight point lead nationally among registered and likely voters. Scott Clement the polling director for The Washington Post says midterms tend to be a referendum on the president and many Americans aren't happy with theirs. While many Americans are turning off politics, Israelis are flying across the world to cast their ballots in what’s considered by some as an election for the nation’s very identity. Jonathan Barsade is the founder and president of the America-Israel Democracy Coalition which has been organising charter flights and supporting people wanting to fly in for the ballot. And it’s a vast engine; the largest repository of human knowledge ever created, all sustained by volunteers. Journalist and author Richard Cooke has written a definitive history of Wikipedia, which he calls The last best place on the Internet.

It’s one of the most scrutinised jobs in the world. On Tuesday Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia stepped up to the lectern for her first press briefing, an awkward exchange in which she confused her husband with the president and took just three questions. We look back at the history of the people who speak for the president with long-time White House correspondent Brian Karem. 14 years ago former American Marine Corp veteran Austin Tice disappeared on a freelance reporting trip in Syria and hasn’t been seen since. A new podcast is seeking answers. In Where is Austin Tice? award-winning journalist Josh Baker us inside the Assad’s regimes industrial complex of disappearance and torture and asks whether escape was ever an option. And our guest on The Diplomats' former Italian ambassador Andrea Canapari talks about the unifying power of food.

Paul Keating once said, "anyone who’s any good never writes about themselves.” Luckily, plenty of others have and last weekend Fran sat down in front of a live audience, with celebrated journalists - Kerry O'Brien, Laura Tingle and Lorena Allam – to talk about great political writing. From the Yirrkala bark petitions, to Gough’s memoir, and the many leadership spills, what are the political books that have shaped the way we think about politics and the people who govern us.

We’re told it’s bigger - much bigger - than any technology revolution that’s come before, but are we buying the AI hype or, perhaps more crucially, are we willing to pay for it? Chief business correspondent Ian Verrender explains why markets around the world are getting the jitters. They’re the invisible workforce: more than 3 million Australians who work (unpaid) as carers for loved ones with mental illness, disabilities and the elderly. As we mark National Carer’s Week, carer Laura Knight and Jonathan Harms, CEO of Mental Health Care NSW share their experiences. More than 50 years after Monty Python and the Holy Grail farted in our general direction, the award winning musical it spawned - Spamalot - is back on Australian stages, starring Steven Curry and Marney McQueen.

In 2023 oncologist Ophira Ginsburg blew the whistle on the scandal of millions of women dying prematurely because of medical misogyny in cancer care. Three years on she says progress is being made but too many women in the developing world are relying on miracles instead of science for a cure. ACCC boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb has launched action against some of Australia’s biggest egg producers accusing them of colluding for years to choke the supply and drive up the price of eggs. And schools out for the 2026 Sydney Symphony Fellows, cellist Noah Lawrence and trumpet player Sophie Kukulies.

More than a decade ago, neuroscientist Rafael Yuste made a startling discovery: enabling the technology that is now being used to read and manipulate human minds. Now he's working to ensure that our neural privacy is protected in legislation. Angry 'Cockroaches' are being encouraged to take to the streets of India's capital New Delhi. That's the name given to a highly motivated and mobilised youth-led movement that has the country's ruling government spooked. A documentary about a Port Arthur survivor became something its filmmaker never expected: the story of his own descent into the world of conspiracy theories. Jared Nicholson, discusses his new film Aftermath and confronting his own conspiratorial tendencies.

When Jenny Bloomfield arrived in Australia from Greece at the age of 12 she felt like an alien landing on a strange planet, little did she know three decades later she would be representing her adopted home as its Ambassador to Greece, just one chapter in a diplomatic career that took her across the world. Tsar Samuel, the Emperor of Bulgaria, conquered the Balkans more than one thousand years ago. Now, after years of negotiations, what are believed to be his remains have finally been laid to rest in Sofia. But his old bones have become a political flashpoint with North Macedonia also claiming him as their own. And in his new book A World Appears acclaimed American writer and journalist Michael Pollan explores the miracle of consciousness and how humans are squandering this gift.

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

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

It's like something out of a Dickens novel: Australians sleeping rough, veterans, migrants and those suffering severe mental health are being buried in unmarked, mass graves in New South Wales and Queensland because they're unable to afford a proper burial or relatives can't be identified. In an exclusive investigation The Guardian's chief investigative correspondent Christopher Knaus has identified more than 100 graves & Rev Bill Crews says state government's have failed to properly identity the dead for years. After relinquishing the on hosting rights for this year's UN Climate Conference to Turkiye, the Australian Government is determined to make this week's Pre-COP meeting in Fiji a meaningful exercise. But minister Chris Bowen is copping heat over Australia's continued fossil fuel expansion. Successive waves of migration have transformed and tantalised Australian palates, elevating our cuisine to the world stage. Now chef, writer and broadcaster Adam Liaw is on a quest to find the Recipe of The Year, a new show celebrating the stories and flavours that nourish modern Australia.

Tennessee prison authorities tried for more than an hour to kill her with two doses of a lethal poison before doctors intervened to save her life. Murderer Christa Pike remains on life support after last week’s botched execution. So will this catastrophic failure be a moment of reckoning for Americans who still support the death penalty? Facing increased threats from China, North Korea and Russia, Japan is building its first intelligence agency, described by the country’s Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae as a “matter of the utmost urgency”. And what makes a good political cartoonist: a nose for politics, a talent for drawing and a great sense of humour. So are these uniquely human talents or could AI replace cartoonists too?

Former Australian Prime Minister and Ambassador to the United State Kevin Rudd joins The Diplomats to reflect on his differing roles in diplomacy, as well as explore the misinterpretations between the US, the West and China.Humorist and essayist David Sedaris's latest work focuses on travelling, growing older, family but continues his iconic style of finding humour in everyday oddities. Could artificial intelligence every replace him? And in 1997 the people of Newcastle lined the M1 to Sydney to cheer on their Knights to their inaugural rugby league premiership. Veteran broadcaster, author and mental health advocate Craig Hamilton reflects on that experience and how Justin Holbrook tapped into the Hunter's blue collar roots, taking the Knights from wooden spooners to grand finalists in 2026.

The latest 'State of the Force' was another firey speech from US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth signposting an American focus on autonomous warfare, 'Fortress America', faith and the promotion of a warrior culture. Retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Air Force Rachel VanLandingham, now professor of law at Southwestern Law School looks at the broader agenda. European intelligence officials are warning Russia is stepping up its attacks across NATO territory. Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, explains how Moscow is testing resolve. The tale of how Australian women war artists inspired author Pip Edwards' expansion of her literary universe, and Rampaging Roy Slaven and HG Nelson stop by with their preview of the NRL Grand Final.

With David Shoebridge voted in by his peers as the new federal leader of the Greens, Phil Coorey, Political Editor of The Australian Financial Review looks at where the party could wield its influence in the Senate. Plus Kos Samaras, pollster and director strategy and analytics at Redbridge Group, looks at what the electorate thinks of the Greens and where it does have support, but where its also leaking potential votes. With more tricky economic data showing inflation rising a day after interest rates rose, does the removal of credit card surcharges provide consumers with any relief? Simon Birmingham CEO of the Australian Banking Association details what will change. Plus author Andrew Bailey on how indigenous artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye changed Australia's art landscape after picking up a paint brush in her late seventies and without formal arts training.

The Albanese Government wants to help more first home owners get into the market, but the fourth rate rise from the RBA this year just made that more difficult. Dr James Graham, Assistant Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Sydney and a former economist with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand explains why there's a perfect storm of factors at play working against the government's objective. As the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program trails the fight to track down missing Ukrainian children, abducted during the war, Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, details the efforts of trying to find tens of thousands of children before they're indoctrinated and conscripted into fighting against their homeland. And it's arguably never been a bleaker time to be a humanitarian worker. James Elder is the Global Spokesperson for UNICEF - the United Nations Children's Fund on what still gives him hope despite several major conflicts and diminishing aid funding.

What do we know after a public tip off about three 'suspicious' white vans which led to five arrests near a British airforce base used by the United States in its war against Iran? The UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall explains what happens next.Where should Australia turn after OpenAI paused training of its latest AI models, following the revelation its confession that it lost control of its own AI Agents, which broke into Australia's Medicare website last week? Executive Director of the Tech Policy Design Institute Johanna Weaver, who also served as Australia's chief cyber negotiator at the United Nations looks at the options.After a stunning weekend of results across the major football codes, leading sports and performance psychologist Jacqui Louder unpacks the psychology of winning under pressure, following epic results in the AFL Grand Final, NRL preliminary finals, the Wallabies winning the Nelson Mandela plate and the Socceroos against Brazil.

Tracey Holmes brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge, entertain and inspire us.

OpenAI’s stunning confession that it lost control of its own AI Agents, which broke into Australia's Medicare website, has raised alarm in Canberra and around the world. AI expert Kate Crawford and former national security adviser to the Department of Home Affairs, Greg Sadler, unpack the fallout. The leaders of the world’s two AI superpowers, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, sit down for talks in Washington later tonight - who holds the upper hand? Head of the Science, Technology and Innovation Program at the Berlin-based think tank MERICS, Rebecca Arcesati previews the meeting. For three decades, June Oscar has fought for the rights, health and dignity of Aboriginal people, especially women and girls. She shares what keeps her hopeful and fighting for change.