Late Night Live — Full program podcast

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is at the G7 in Canada preparing to meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines, face-to-face for the first time. As Israel and Iran trade missile strikes, what might have been if President Trump had not dismantled the 2015 Iran nuclear deal? Plus, the story of how the Māori brought the sweet potato - or kūmara - to New Zealand.

It's a story of wars, conquests, trade, ideas and political struggle. Latin America and the United States have a long and complex relationship spanning centuries. Pulitzer Prize winning author, Greg Grandin, argues you can't tell the story of the North, without including the story of the South. Plus, one of Australia’s most celebrated figures, Emily Kngwarray is the highest-selling woman artist in national history. The Anmatyerr Elder found global fame in the late ’80s with large-scale paintings deeply rooted in her connection to Country, culture and community.

Journalist Lucy Ash examines the 'masculine' appeal of Russian Orthodox churches to a growing number of young men in the United States. Plus, a new documentary, The Haka Party Incident, recounts a significant race relations incident from 1979 New Zealand, when Maori activists confronted a group of Auckland university students who mocked the haka.

As protests over immigration raids continue in Los Angeles, US President Donald Trump has sent in the National Guard. Bruce Shapiro surveys the chaos. Plus, on the anniversary of the Myall Creek massacre in northern NSW, Mark Tedeschi KC remembers the good men who pursued justice for the slain Wirrayaraay people.

Political scientist Michael Albertus shows that who owns the land determines whether a society will be equal or unequal, whether it will develop or decline, and whether it will safeguard or sacrifice its environment. And David Runciman calls for the emancipation of 6-year-olds.

The Myanmar military and militia groups have just extended the ceasefire they agreed to after the earthquake. But there are concerns China is using the disaster to increase its influence, and scam centres are still going strong. Plus, the United States has become very divided, again. An anthropologist tries to understand these extremes and how to bridge them.

Beset by years of gang violence, the Haitian government has enlisted the assistance of the ex-CEO of the defunct private military firm Blackwater, notorious for its role in the death of civilians in Iraq. Plus, the science journalist Laura Spinney traces the ancient origins of English, Russian, Hindi, Greek and more - back to a linguistic origin known as "PIE" (Proto-Indo-European).

Ian Dunt examines Britain's new defence plan, as Europe ramps up its war-readiness. Why water is at the centre of ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan. And how did some of the more obscure parts of the human anatomy get their names?

Crikey's Politics editor Bernard Keane on the surprising defection of Senator Derinda Cox from the Greens to Labor, and US calls for Australia to increase its defence spending. Writer Xochitl Gonzalez critiques the widening chasm between the haves and have-nots in the US. Plus John Lethlean's colourful life as a food critic.

The term 'national security' wasn't always around. It was invented, effectively, by US President Franklin D Roosevelt, as a call to Americans to get involved in WW2. And Hollywood actress Merle Oberon had to hide her South Asian origins in 1930s London and America, in order to work in movies and remain in America.

First Nations in Tasmania have now secured permanent cultural fishing rights for abalone, and now they’re putting it back on the dining tables of Tasmanians. And the civil engineer who quit his job to campaign against the construction of a port in Tenerife.

US President Trump is threatening to deport a group of men to war torn South Sudan. We track the money behind the Enhanced Games - a kind of Olympics on steroids. And there is much to learn from a famous cookbook from ancient Rome.

After 30 years of appearances on Late Night Live - spanning nine Australian Prime Ministers - Laura Tingle bids farewell to LNL as its political correspondent in Canberra, before commencing her ABC Global Affairs role. In a sprawling conversation, Laura recounts her early beginnings in journalism, the ebbs and flows of Canberra politics through the decades, and what she's come to admire in our representatives.

Australia's Commonwealth government is due to make a decision on the proposed 50-year extension of Woodside's gas lease on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula. Marian Wilkinson investigates. And David meets the New Zealand hunter, fisher and gatherer Terressa Kollatt, now teaching troubled teens to forage for their own wild food.

A new history of the union movement in Australia looks at those often left out of the picture: migrants, women, Indigenous Australia and LGBTIQA+ people. Plus Cambridge scholar, Luke Kemp and his historical autopsy of why societies collapse.

Trump's constant changes to tariffs are wreaking havoc on US ports, logistics, and the price of goods. Any Russia/Ukraine ceasefire may be at a high cost to Ukraine, given the losses it agreed to in the recent US minerals deal. And Kati-Thunda Lake Eyre is on the brink of its biggest inundation in 15 years.

7.30 Political Editor Laura Tingle surveys the path ahead for conservative politics in Australia. And from Lady Macbeth to Kate the Shrew - actor Dame Harriet Walter imagines what Shakespeare's women might have said, if the Bard's plays had a more female perspective.

Journalist Vincent Bevins on the popular Landless Workers Movement of Brazil - an agrarian movement which redistributes unused government land. And environmental historian Rohan Howitt, from Monash University, argues that Australia had an Imperial zeal to claim the Antarctic and Southern Ocean as its own.

Antony Loewenstein on the countries still supplying arms to Israel. And nature writer Robert Macfarlane asks, is a river alive?

Ian Dunt unpacks the UK government's tough new plan to reduce migration. With swathes of Europe in drought, could new data centres exacerbate growing water problems? And the project preserving Australia's most ancient long-distance communication tool: the message stick.

Analysis of current events to the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and culture.

Analysis of current events to the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and culture.

Cambridge scholars Dr Wesam Amer and Dr Mona Jabril on the destruction of universities in Gaza. Plus, why does US President Donald Trump enjoy meddling with the world map?

Bruce Shapiro critiques Donald Trump's first hundred days in office. Fifty years ago Kerala was one of India’s poorest states, now it's one of the richest. How? And a tribute to Canadian Ted Kotcheff, who directed one of Australia's biggest cult films - Wake in Fright.

Laura Tingle and Niki Savva dissect Labor's landslide victory in the federal election, and examine what went wrong for the Coalition. Plus, writer Nick Ryan explains why there's a glut of wine in Australia.

Leni Riefenstahl has been hailed as one of the greatest directors of all time, even though her most famous films were works of propaganda for Hitler's Reich. Her film about the 1934 Nuremberg rallies broke new ground in cinematic techniques and had a huge influence on filmmakers for years to come. Riefenstahl always claimed she was just an artist, unaware of Nazi atrocities, but a new documentary reveals secrets from her extensive archives.

Australia's tax system is unusually generous to the prosperous. Ahead of the Federal election, why is tax reform not on the agenda? And how Mexico's first female President, Claudia Sheinbaum, is taking on US President Donald Trump.

Ian Dunt looks at how the gender wars have exploded in the UK, Global Affairs Editor John Lyons take us to a bunker in Kyiv and Brook Turner examines the funding dramas inside some of Australia's oldest arts institutions.

Laura Tingle counts down to election day, as costings are released and Labor maintains its two-party preferred polling lead. Writer Phil Craig recounts how the final, dramatic acts of the Second World War shaped the ensuing century. And a look back at 125 years of Australian electoral paraphernalia: from flyers, to ballots, boxes, pins and corflutes.

Approximately 70 Australians risked their lives to fight Franco's fascism in the Spanish Civil War, but they are not honoured in Australia. And, whiskerology - one term for the 19th century American movement that judged people's character by their hair.

A former employee of the US Institute of Peace (USIP) recounts the dramatic days when members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) raided his office and sacked most of the staff. Plus, historian Judith Brett on the fearless 1970s Australian feminist, Beatrice Faust.

Early voting opens on a subdued day in the federal election campaign. Will the 76 year-old security pact NATO survive, despite US President Trump's skepticism? And how did pigeons go from prized possessions, to pests?

As Taiwan waits to hear what tariffs the Trump Government will impose on its world-leading computer chips and semi-conductors, we bring you a rollicking account of this strategically important small nation. This program was first broadcast on 10 October 2024.Guest: Jonathan Clements, author of 'Rebel Island: the incredible history of Taiwan' (Scribe) Producer: Ann Arnold

In 1998, the former Chilean head of state Augusto Pinochet was arrested on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide. Philippe Sands was called to advise Pinochet on his claim to immunity, but would instead represent a human rights organisation against him. Guest: Philippe Sands, author of 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia, appearing at the Sydney Writers Festival, May 2025

Sean Johnson from Open Politics says Australia's federal parliament needs to act against MPs who fail to disclose their private interests. And journalist Pagan Kennedy shares the story of Marty Goddard - the true inventor of the standardised rape kit - a vital tool in sexual assault forensics.

The Trump administration's war on universities continues, but Harvard refuses to 'yield'. Political economist Yanis Varoufakis compares Trump's tariffs to the 'Nixon Shock' of 1971. Plus, the folklore of Australia's oldest running race: the Stawell Gift.

Laura Tingle recaps the official campaign launches of the major parties, three weeks out from the federal election. Another federal term ends without a promised reform to the Sex Discrimination Act, to remove an exemption allowing religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQI students and staff. And philosopher Damon Young maps the history of human gestures..

Two decades after The Secret River, Kate Grenville looks back into her family history—this time with fresh questions. What does it mean to live on land taken from others? Retracing her settler ancestors’ footsteps, Grenville reflects on legacy, belonging, and the stories we inherit.

Legendary ABC election analyst Antony Green has announced this federal election will be his last in an on-air role. Plus, journalist Nicholas Pelham on what lies ahead for Syria's new government.

Bruce Shapiro on who is getting rich from Trump's tariffs, Irris Makler on how the Gaza war is playing out inside Israel, plus why the theatre interval is disappearing.

Can Opposition leader Peter Dutton recover from a policy backtrack? What does the UK's AUKUS review mean for the relationship between the three allies? And a look at ancient Rome reveals that tariffs are nothing new, but always messy.

An ABC podcast has uncovered new evidence that casts doubt on the Howard governments' claims they knew nothing about plans to sack 1400 wharfies and train a new, non-union workforce in Dubai during the 1998 waterfront dispute. Plus the Australian Book Review's CEO and editor, Peter Rose, reflects on a lifetime shaping the national conversation.

Historian Stephen Gapps reveals the incredible story of frontier resistance warfare in a huge area of the Murray-Darling river system, across many First Nations’ lands, in a concerted defence of River Country. Plus, Professor of Humanities Mark Lilla on why humans are seduced by ignorance.

Analysis of current events to the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and culture.

As the election campaign gets underway, Laura Tingle looks at the messaging, who is being effective and what role US President Donald Trump plays in it all. Plus why many Australian universities have adopted a definition of antisemitism that includes criticism of Israel.

Journalist Omar El Akkad examines what he sees as the moral contradictions of the West in the face of sustained violence in Gaza. Plus, lawyer Judy Courtin on the recent Australian High Court ruling that the Catholic Church is not 'vicariously liable' for a priest's abuse.

Perpetrators of sexual violence are getting younger, and the messaging campaigns aimed at men are only causing a backlash. Jess Hill on why our prevention programs are failing. Plus the real story behind the tale of four children lost in the Amazon jungle after their plane crashed.

Bruce Shapiro on the pressure facing judges, law firms and institutions to either comply with - or resist - US President Donald Trump's executive orders. As Europe ramps up defence spending, Poland is already digging lines of defence. And what happens when human conflict - or even a crime - occurs in an Antarctic workplace?

Laura Tingle on how the major parties have aligned to water down environmental protection laws in the face of further disasters in the Tasmanian salmon industry. Thousands protest the arrest of Turkiye's opposition leader. Plus the Australian-isms we love, and what they say about our history.

Questions are being asked about whether its ethical to publish author Joan Didion's personal diaries after her death - and without her consent. Plus the dark history of the green cities movement - with links to eugenics and ideas of making compliant workers.