If You're Listening

Turn on the tv and you’ll see no shortage of concerned journalists standing at fuel bowsers, shaking their heads at the rising prices. For plenty of young people, the idea that we might have to seriously limit our fuel consumption is unprecedented… But for anyone who lived through the 1970s, it’s all too familiar. So why did Donald Trump start this war?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

In 1987 the USS Stark became the first U.S. ship sunk by missile fire since World War II. The missiles were fired by Iraq, America’s ally at the time, who claim they did it by mistake.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

While governments scramble to find a way around the Strait of Hormuz, a pipeline sits half-finished in the desert that would have solved the problem. So why was it never completed?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

As we’ve been looking into Iran over this month, we’ve had a lot of trouble finding out what is really happening on the ground. That’s due to the concerted and deliberate internet shutdowns carried out by the Iranian regime. And this isn’t the first time the internet has been shut down for Iranian users. It’s happened many times before. Today, Matt speaks with Deakin University PhD candidate Amin Naeeni, who has not only spent years researching Iran’s system of digital control — but has also experienced it firsthand.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Water is the lifeblood of all civilisations. In Iran, the water is drying up. That disappearance is becoming impossible to ignore, and after decades of mismanagement, the country’s water system is approaching a breaking point. Rivers that once crossed the Iranian plateau are drying to threads; aquifers are collapsing; lakes have retreated into salt flats. The roots of the crisis stretch from the modernisation projects of the Shah to the Islamic Republic’s own industrial ambitions: dams, steel plants, and the cultivation of water-thirsty crops, all of which aren’t ideal pursuits for a country that is largely arid. The result is a slow-moving environmental emergency now pressing into politics, daily life, and the stability of the regime itself.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Author Saeed Fassaie shares his story of witnessing the Iranian revolutionary first-hand, from being a political fugitive, to a soldier, to building a new life in Australia.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

There’s a persistent fantasy in Washington that regimes are like light bulbs: smash the fixture, screw in a new one, problem solved. The reality in Iran is closer to a tangled electrical grid that’s been growing since 1979. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps isn’t just a military unit; it’s a sprawling ecosystem. It runs companies, shapes politics, and embeds itself deep in the economic and social life of the country. Which is why the idea that Trump could simply bomb the leadership and “decapitate” the regime misunderstands what the system actually is. It isn’t a pyramid with a single point at the top, take out one commander and another steps forward. For nearly half a century, the Islamic Republic has been preparing its successors. So what’s Trump’s plan for long-term stability?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert spent over 800 days in an Iranian prison interrogated by the Revolutionary Guard, and got into plenty of arguments while she was there. Kylie returns to the pod to share with Matt what she learnt about the group, what she makes of the latest in the Iran war, and where Australia should go from here.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Donald Trump once warned against endless wars. Now, he’s launched a strike killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and many Iranian leadership figures, so what’s changed? Has Trump decided the Iranian regime’s threats are all talk? Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Matt and Kara answer your questions about the the unfolding situation in the Middle East.Who are the contenders for new leadership, how will this attack impact the global oil trade and does Donald Trump actually have a master plan?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Where did Jeffrey Epstein get his vast fortune from? Of all the questions surrounding this labyrinthine saga, the source of Epstein’s millions has been one of the most enduring, with the least available evidence. Now, the deposition of billionaire businessman Les Wexner has provided a potential answer - Epstein simply scammed rich clients who didn’t know any better. Could the truth be so straightforward? And can we take Wexner at his word?If you're interested in seeing the If You're Listening live show in Newcastle you can buy tickets here: https://www.newcastlewritersfestival.org.au/events/if-youre-listening-declassified/Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Matt and Kara try to answer your questions about the Epstein files without being sued... with only limited redactions.They get into the consequences for the Royal family, whether Epstein could possibly be “Q”, and whether they’ve changed their view on the claim Epstein was a Mossad agent.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

A dark Epstein storm cloud is settling in over Europe — and it’s drifting straight across Westminster. As the newly released Epstein files reach London, Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure from within his own ranks, accused of knowing more than he’s let on. Meanwhile, Lord Mandelson’s long-rumored association with Epstein is now headline material, raising questions about how deep the connections really go. In the UK, proximity to Epstein is proving politically lethal, even when guilt isn’t proven. But across the Atlantic, in the United States it’s barely a footnote. So what happens when the same revelations shake two democracies, but only one starts to crumble? Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Space travel is a serious physical and mental challenge by all accounts. But what happens when an astronaut goes rogue mid-flight?Matt is joined by Fiona Pepper, co-host of the Science Friction podcast, to discuss a weird story the team stumbled across when researching flights leading up to the 1986 Challenger disaster.You can listen to The Challenger Legacy, the latest season of the Science Friction podcast, here, or wherever you get your podcastsFollow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

When news first broke of a billionaire sex offender with a private island… the story didn’t erupt through traditional media — instead it circulated through online message boards like 4chan. What began as internet trolling and fragmented rumour became fuel for something much bigger. The Epstein case fed directly into the rise of QAnon, a conspiracy movement built on the belief that a hidden elite was operating above the law. Now, after years of pressure and public obsession, millions of Epstein-related documents have been released by the U.S. government. The Epstein Files have exposed networks, associations, and uncomfortable truths. But instead of restoring trust in institutions, they’ve underscored how fragile that trust has become.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

That's right, we're talking soil again. Is there a field of Ukranian chernozem soil sitting in rural New South Wales? Producer Pat joins Matt to finally find an answer.Plus, rumours of a chernozem black market… is it true, or just a dirty lie?Thanks to the New South Wales Soil Knowledge Network!Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

For a long time, no matter which party was in power - the US government has operated within pretty defined guardrails… that is, until Donald Trump returned to the White House for a second term. The bold new direction is largely due to people like Stephen Miller: Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff and the key driver behind his immigration policy. Stephen Miller has spent his entire political career working hard to systematically dismantle and destroy the guardrails that keep the US government in check. So who is this dude? How did he rise to such a position of power? And is there anything that can get in his way?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Jon Lovett has been following the daily minutia of U.S. politics for a decade on his podcast Pod Save America. Ahead of their Australian tour, Jon joined Matt for a wide-ranging chat on how to deal with Trump, and whether the U.S. has a few lessons to learn from the Australian political system. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Matt is joined by psychologist and science writer Steven Pinker to discuss doomsday predictions, climate anxiety, and how best to split the balance between pessimistic fatalism and naïve optimism when considering the future.Listen to the full 1959 'Letters to the Unborn' Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

In the midst of the Cold War, it was a very real fear that a nuclear winter would obliterate life as we know it. Now, fortunately, that never happened. But ironically fast forward to 2026 and the sense of dread of a nuclear war has been replaced by the impending threat of climate change, or being overrun by our AI overlords. So are we destined to feel doomed? This is the final episode of Black Swans a four-part series by If You're Listening. 67 years ago, the ABC recorded a collection of predictions about the future—the one we’re living in now, in 2026. Their forecasts are truly extraordinary - Intergalactic super speed travel, future pod houses, Nuclear fallout, but strangely all of them are wrong. In Black Swans, host Matt Bevan gets to the bottom of why we’ve always been so bad at predicting the future.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Matt and Kara discuss the book that inspired the Black Swan series… but didn’t make it into the final cut! Can experts, soothsayers, and psychics really predict what’s going to happen?This episode is connected to Black Swans, a four-part series by If You’re Listening67 years ago, the ABC recorded a collection of predictions about the future—the one we’re living in now, in 2026. Their forecasts are truly extraordinary - Intergalactic super speed travel, future pod houses, Nuclear fallout, but strangely all of them are wrong. In Black Swans, host Matt Bevan gets to the bottom of why we’ve always been so bad at predicting the future.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

In 1959 a flight to London took days and cost half a year’s average salary. But things were changing rapidly. The invention of the Concorde meant that you could fly from Adelaide to London in just under seven hours. Travel was getting faster and many expected we’d be routinely zipping around the world and travelling to other planets in no time. But now, aside from planes, most of our transport is not much faster than it was back then, so why are we still so slow?

Matt and Kara delve deeper into the story of town planner Alex Ramsay, and the bizarre deal he struck to purchase the land that would become Elizabeth, SA. This episode is connected to episode two of the Black Swans series, all concerning predictions of Australia's future, and how we got it so wrong.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

In the 1950s three quarters of Australians were homeowners, most lived on a quarter-acre block, with a mortgage that could be covered with one income while someone stayed at home to look after the children. Nowadays, house prices have sky rocketed and younger generations largely feel locked out. So where did it all go wrong?

Until recently people were scared our planet would be outstripped by the weight of a colossal population. Experts feared that by 2026, there would be so many people that we would be starved of resources, and eat ourselves to death. Ironically we now find ourselves in a world where we’re not scared about having too many babies, but rather too few. So what happened?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Kara and Matt take you behind the scenes of putting the series together, and how hard it is to find an iron when you need one.The Black Swans series kicks off this Thursday 8th January on podcast, and hits television on Saturday 10th January.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq.

In a post on Truth Social, US President Trump announced that he had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, and that the pair would face drug charges in New York. The legality of this seizure is certainly questionable, but surprisingly, an operation like this is not entirely unprecedented. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

The massive infrastructure project NEOM sits in the Saudi Arabian desert, and the jewel in its crown is The Line, a futuristic city which looks insane. The AI-generated ads depict a car-free city, for 9 million people housed between two mirrors, stretching along the desert. Despite promises of millions of residents by 2030, the project has been scaled back by 98 per cent. The Line will be more like a dot. So what the hell happened? And was it all just a scam?This episode was originally broadcast in September 2024Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Putting fluoride in drinking water has often been called one of the most successful public health measures in human history. But since the very beginning of fluoridation programs in the 1940s, it’s been plagued by misinformation and furious opposition.Now with Robert F Kennedy Jr at the helm of the US Department of Health, the Trump Administration is leading the charge to get states to ban the use of fluoride in water - and he’s succeeded in Utah and Florida. So when did this anti-fluoride scepticism kick off? And can it be stopped?This episode was originally broadcast in June 2025Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Australians are very proud of our gun laws, and we have good reason to be. The laws are world famous and frequently referenced in the wake of almost every mass shooting in the United States. And yet, we have now seen two men terrorise Australia’s Jewish community at a Hanukkah event at Bondi beach with legally-owned high-powered guns. Despite almost universal support for stricter gun control, there are more guns in Australia now than there were before the famous gun laws were introduced. So, what are the specifics of Australia's laws? Are they really as water-tight as we all like to believe? And if they are about to change what will that actually accomplish?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

On Sunday the 14th of December, two men; a father and son, used a range of firearms to attack a large Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach playground. At least 16 people were killed, including one of the two gunmen, and a ten year old girl. It was Australia’s worst ever terrorist attack, and its second-deadliest mass shooting. The local and global Jewish community are horrified and frightened, by the events. Australia is in shock, it’s left people wondering what could have been done to prevent this attack, and what needs to be done now. Perry Duffin is the Sydney Morning Herald’s senior crime reporter, and has broken multiple stories about the seemingly escalating violence and anti-Semitism in Sydney. For the last 24 hours - virtually without sleeping - he’s been covering the early investigations into the events in Bondi.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

During a 15 minute phone call, US President Donald Trump offered the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro safe passage for him and his family to the country of their choice, if they left Venezuela immediately. The deal seems to have fallen through and now Maduro is in hiding, and for the last few weeks, Maduro has reportedly slept in a different house every night. So why is the country with the most proven oil reserves on the planet enduring an economic meltdown that is so grave the President is now on the run? Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

We have always been obsessed with stories about killer robots. But where do stories about malevolent machines with a mind of their own originate? Matt and Kara dig into the archives and discover an English robot called Alpha who; according to newspapers at the time, “became more man than machine” and “fired a gun at its inventor” in front of a packed room of terrified onlookers in Brighton, England in 1932. The terrifying story was covered widely, and audiences flocked from all over to see the killer robot. But it turns out that’s not how the story went at all…Read the Ogden Standard Examiner story from 1932: https://www.scribd.com/document/35924338/1932-Oct-23-Ogden-Standard-Examiner-Ogden-City-UTRead the Time article from 1934: https://time.com/archive/6819850/science-robot/Watch Alpha at Macy's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiiq0V9QRJ4Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Tech bros are racing to develop the first mass-produced humanoid. But despite billions of dollars in investment, these robots require a great deal of human intervention. So, why has creating a humanoid proven so difficult? Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

You wouldn't steal a podcast!After meeting the founder of Sweden's Pirate Party, Rick Falkvinge, we decided to take a closer look at the world of piracy (on the internet, not the high seas).Matt chats with If You're Listening producer Adair Sheppard about the rise and fall of The Pirate Bay, the kinds of angry letters you'll get for stealing fonts, and whether piracy is making a comeback.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Currently, as many as 5000 Chinese spies are operating in Taiwan. Many of Taiwan’s allies are concerned that these spies, along with the increasing frequency of military demonstrations in the South China Sea, indicate Beijing may invade and force the "reunification" of China.Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that while he won’t rule out force, he would prefer a peaceful unification of the two territories. But what exactly does it mean to “peacefully” take a country that doesn’t want to be taken?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

In the early 90s, Australia’s most wanted fugitive was Christopher Skase. He was hiding on the Spanish island of Mallorca, to avoid the corporate crime charges that had been piling up against him back in Australia. In today's episode, Mark Humphries tells Matt about the bizarre attempts to bring Skase back to Australia, including one involving bounty hunters and TV personality Andrew Denton.Mark is the host of Skase: Fall of a Tycoon available here or wherever you listen to podcasts.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

For the last decade or so, there’s been a lot of talk about how the Chinese government uses technology to issue social credit scores to its citizens. There was even that episode of Black Mirror that everyone still talks about. Every time a Western government tries to increase its control over the internet, we hear that this is the beginning of a slippery slope that leads to jaywalkers being prevented from using vending machines. But does this dystopian AI powered surveillance system actually even exist? Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq