Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald

Is the abuse worth it?
A growing body of research suggests women in public life are facing a wave of online harassment that has been amplified by artificial intelligence, deepfakes and coordinated misinformation campaigns.
In this episode of Global Roaming, Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke examine the implications for democracy. If women are increasingly targeted with sexualised abuse, fake images and threats of violence, will fewer choose to enter public life?
Australian journalist and academic Dr Julie Posetti, who led a landmark UN study on online violence against women in public life, explains how AI is changing the threat landscape and why research is drawing links between online abuse and real-world harm.
Former NSW minister Bronnie Taylor reflects on her own experience of abuse in politics and why she fears the problem could deter women from putting their hands up for elected office.
Could online misogyny be reshaping democracy itself? And what can governments, regulators and technology companies do about it?
Guests:
Dr Julie Posetti, journalist, academic and UN researcher
Bronnie Taylor, former NSW Nationals minister and Women for Election advisory board member
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au
Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Arash Azizi says Iran's rulers may be more afraid of peace than war.
While the world watches Donald Trump, the American-Iranian historian argues the real story is the stasis inside Tehran. 
A collective leadership built around a 13-member National Security Council, with parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf the strongest figure, now calling the shots. 
Azizi says they stepped away from the June memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Washington that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz, partly because normal governance frightens them more than crisis. 
Now the new Mecca defence pact between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, a throwback to the 1955 Baghdad Pact, is leaving Iran more isolated than ever.
Azizi's sharpest claim is that the biggest threat to the regime is its own people. The ideological Khomeini era is over, he says, and the state has quietly lost its war on the hijab, with women now in tank tops on the streets of Tehran. 
So who breaks the deadlock? Latika Burke and Geraldine Doogue ask whether Iran can find its own Deng Xiaoping, or whether it just hobbles on like Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1990s.
Guest: Arash Azizi, author of What Iranians Want
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au
Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 
Mentioned in this episode:
These are Iran's emerging power players, Azizi's previous appearance on Global Roaming

Antony Loewenstein says Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has turned "almost apocalyptic".
The independent Australian journalist has reported from the territory for more than 20 years. On a trip to the area last month, Loewenstein says he witnessed near-daily attacks on a Palestinian family. It comes as the United Nations says Israeli settler violence has reached unprecedented levels.  
Loewenstein points to roughly 800,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, a prosecution rate for settler violence he puts close to zero, and the upcoming Israeli election as all contributing to the increased violence. 
He tells hosts Kylie Morris and Latika Bourke that, while he welcomes Foreign Minister Penny Wong's sanctioning of West Bank settlers and some Israeli ministers who openly advocate for the displacement of Palestinians, the move is merely "tinkering at the edges" should Australia keep exporting weapons parts to Israel. 
And, as a Jewish Australian, he warns the Antisemitism Royal Commission risks conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. 
Guest: Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au
Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 
Mentioned in this episode: 
Global Roaming: Should Israel remain a Jewish state? A look at Gaza's future.

Labor MP Ed Husic has a blunt warning: a handful of US tech firms could switch off the AI tools Australia runs on.
On 15 July the Prime Minister used a national address to label artificial intelligence (AI) a national interest, announcing a new Office of AI inside his department, mandatory rules for large data centres, and a digital duty of care for big tech.
At the same time Sydney is being tipped as one of the world's data centre hotspots, with firms like Anthropic and OpenAI scouting sites and the build-out talked up as the next mining boom.
The catch: Australia has no frontier AI model of its own, so we store the data without controlling the technology.
Digital Rights Watch founder Lizzie O'Shea and the McKinnon Institute's Tom Mooney, once chief of staff to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, argue Australia holds more cards than it thinks: a stable democracy, cheap renewables and a strong bargaining position.
They make the case for shaping big tech rather than receiving it and explain why Australians rank among the world's most sceptical about AI even as heavy users. In this episode Hamish Macdonald presses them on jobs, sovereignty, and whether any government can force these companies to care.
Guest:
Lizzie O'Shea - Digital Rights Watch
Tom Mooney - McKinnon Institute
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au
Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Fresh from winning the 2026 Miles Franklin Award, writer and artist Omar Musa joins Global Roaming to take us into the rainforests of Borneo, a place where environmental destruction, colonial history, economic development and cultural identity collide.
Drawing on the themes of his award-winning novel Fierceland, Musa explores how palm oil transformed Malaysian Borneo: lifting many families out of poverty while accelerating the loss of rainforest, Indigenous lands, languages and traditions.
With Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue, he discusses the enduring legacy of colonialism in Southeast Asia, the tensions between multiculturalism and nationalism, Australia's relationship with the region, and his own journey growing up between Queensland and Borneo.
It's a conversation about memory, belonging, faith, identity and one of the world's most remarkable forests.Guest: Omar Musa, Author of 2026 Miles Franklin award winning novel Fierceland
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au
Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.