The Briefing

Headlines:
Bowen on refinery fire: “Not good timing”
Marles lays out Australia’s next defence challenges
Bank data shows 45% rise in fuel spending
Unemployment at 4.3%
NZ Airlines introduces bunk beds
Jail time for ant-smuggler
Deep Dive:
Fuel prices were high, and then an oil refinery caught on fire. Australia has two oil refineries and late on Wednesday night one of them sprung a leak that became a half-day fire. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the blaze at Viva Energy Refinery in Geelong was “not great timing”. But why is Australia reliant on such fragile energy infrastructure?
In this episode of The Briefing, Natarsha Belling is joined by David Leaney, a Lecturer at the ANU College of Business and Economics and expert in international supply chain management.
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Thursday Headlines:
Iran threatens to stop all trade in the Gulf region
Labor set to boost defence spending by $53bn over next decade
Large fire broken out at one of Australia’s only two remaining oil refineries
Second school shooting in Türkiye in two days
A British tourist has paid a LOT of money for a kebab while on holiday in Brazil.

Deep Dive: The government is unveiling its new defence strategy that places drones and autonomous systems at the forefront of how it prepares for future conflict. Shaped by lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East, the plan signals a major shift away from traditional big-ticket military assets toward cheaper, scalable technologies designed for speed, surveillance, and agility.
But as the government commits billions to this transformation, questions remain about whether Australia can move fast enough to keep up with the pace of modern warfare, close critical capability gaps, and balance ambitious spending with existing defence priorities.
In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith is joined by retired Major General Mick Ryan, a former Australian Army commander and respected military strategist who has closely studied the war in Ukraine and the future of industrial-age warfare to explain how drones and autonomous systems are changing the way we approach conflicts.
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Headlines:
Gina Rinehart to pay rival family millions
Virgin also cutting flights due to fuel prices
Albanese back in Asia; Chalmers flies to D.C.
Israel and Lebanon agree to peace talks
South Korean wolf still on the loose
Deep Dive:
It's about to get easier to access the pill. In NSW, pharmacists will soon be able to prescribe the contraceptive pill without a GP appointment. In this episode of The Briefing, Natarsha Belling is joined in the studio by NSW Health Minister Ryan Park to talk about the change to pill access and the concerns raised by GPs.
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Wednesday Headlines:
Positive ceasefire talks between the US, Israel and Lebanon
International Monetary Fund warn of global recession
NSW city shaken by a magnitude 4.5 earthquake
St Kilda VFL player handed 9 week ban for using homophobic slur
Royal Ballet and Opera thank Timothee Chalamet for boosting ticket sales
Deep Dive: Millions of Australians are turning to chatbots instead of doctors - using AI to interpret symptoms, scan results and diagnoses without clinical oversight.
A recent YouGov poll found 40 per cent of Aussie adults have already done it, with many acting on that advice or using it to question their GP - raising concerns about accuracy, regulation and trust.
In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou speaks with Poppy Reid about the rise of the “shadow doctor,” why and how people are relying on it, and what it could mean for the future of healthcare.
Further listening: Will Asia fix our fuel crisis? and THE BEEFING: The AFL vs homophobia
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Headlines:
More face-to-face U.S.-Iran negotiations coming
Australia in talks to safeguard Strait of Hormuz
Qantas and Uber hike prices
TGA warns against unregulated peptides
Harry and Meghan visit children’s hospital
Deep Dive:
What happens when you offend a billion Catholics? Trump’s about to find out. After feuding with the Pope and posting an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, Donald Trump is facing criticism from some of his biggest supporters.
In this episode of The Briefing, Natarsha Belling is joined by Corey Alpert, a researcher at the University of Melbourne and a former staffer in the Biden Administration, to talk about the role of religion in American politics and Trump’s religious boundary-pushing.
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