Late Night Live — Full program podcast

There have been 141 royal commissions in Australia since Federation, but not all of them have brought about meaningful policy change. Plus, a new book tells the stories of people who have struggled to protect their food culture in the face of war, genocide, and violence.
Guests: 
Michael Mintrom, Professor of public policy at Monash University
Michael Shaikh, author of The Last Sweet Bite: when war changes the menu

Ian Dunt on the political demise of Keir Starmer: even if he hasn't yet resigned, Ian says, he's already dead. How Antoinette Lattouf found inspiration in the stories of other Australian women who challenged power structures when she was fighting her own case against the ABC. And Australia is celebrating fifty years at the Cannes film festival, so why are there no Aussie films in competition this year?
Guests: 
Ian Dunt, columnist with i-news; co-host of the Origin Story podcast 
Antoinette Lattouf, journalist and author of Women Who Win 
John Doggett-Williams, freelance video journalist and documentary maker

Journalist Debbie Whitmont revisits the 1994 murder of John Newman MP - a crime billed as Australia's first political assassination - and the man still behind bars, Vietnamese refugee and political aspirant Phuong Ngo. Plus, a new biography of Hideki Tojo challenges assumptions about Japan's ruthless wartime leader. 
Guests:
Debbie Whitmont, journalist and author of The Man Who Couldn't Wait: The true story of Australia's first political assassination
Dr Peter Mauch, historian and author of Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General

Anna Henderson looks at One Nation's victory in the Farrer by-election. What does the result say about the growing frustration with the major parties? The British nuclear submarine that's spent a record-breaking six months submerged and a look at the ethics of reporting in a crisis zone. 
Guests: 
Anna Henderson, SBS World News Chief Political Correspondent | National Press Club Director
Josh Glancy, associate editor of The Sunday Times
Cathy Otten, journalist and a visiting assistant professor of Media Ethics and Journalism at Rutgers University in New Jersey, US

Acclaimed journalist and author, Fintan O'Toole argues Trump’s political power lies in projecting the “right amount of crazy”. Plus how to help an Afghan woman and her five daughters escape the Taliban. 
Guests: 
Fintan O'Toole, regular contributor to the Irish Times and advising editor to the New York Review of Books.
Mij Tanith, playwright, teacher, refugee advocate and author of Laila’s Story (Spinifex Press, March 2026)