The Briefing

Few politicians in Australian history have quite the standing that John Howard does.
While his time in power as Australia’s 25th Prime Minister between 1996 and 2007 was characterised by both economic wins and policy fails (think industrial relations and immigration), he is looked to now as an elder statesman and a symbol of when things in Australia were ‘good’.
But that’s revisionist history, according to political journalist Amy Remeikis, whose new book Where It All Went Wrong: The Case Against John Howard, explores how Howard sold out the younger generations to benefit their parents, undermined the public health system and destroyed the housing market.
In this chat with Amy Remeikis, Sacha Barbour Gatt explores these ideas with Remeikis while discussing the Canberra bubble and how a child of a conservative Lithuanian dad who voted One Nation went on to become one of the leading progressive voices in this country.
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Friday Headlines:
Social media platforms are monetising gore content: eSafety Commissioner
Man pulled from rubble in Venezuela eight days after twin quakes
NSW to crack down on nangs
Australia’s wealth going backwards but the rich get richer
Eminem loses trademark battle with Aussie beach brand
Deep Dive: We’re more than a decade into the Netflix era, and every year we’ve heard the prediction that streaming will kill in-person cinema.
In 2026, those predictions are wrong, again, with June and July set to mark, some of the biggest release months this year with films including Odyssey and Toy Story 5 expected to rake in billions.
But it’s not only the big films that are winning with smaller franchises and female-skewing films also outperforming expectations.
So, is the box office back, for good? In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by Christian Kloukinas from Village Cinemas to find out.
Further listening from the headlines:
Venezuela's 'abysmal' earthquake response
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Thursday Headlines:
New analysis proves its harder to own a house now than when interest rates were 17%
Pollies turn out for Midwinter Ball
Online fraud and scams have increased as we become less vigilant
Karl Stefanovic to lose radio show
Details emerge about Taylor Swift’s wedding
Deep Dive: Twin earthquakes tore through Venezuela's north last week, leaving more than seventeen hundred dead and tens of thousands missing.
The emergency response has been widely criticised, international aid has faced unexpected obstacles getting in, and the government is carefully controlling the narrative as the outside world watches.
In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by LiSTNR senior journalist Claudianna Blanco to examine what this disaster reveals about the state of the country and what life actually looks like for Venezuelans six months on from the US capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Further listening from headlines:
What a 'free' Karl Stefanovic really means
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Wednesday Headlines:
Thai police investigating Australian man for possible links to suitcase murders
Support for One Nation remains high despite rejection of key policies
House prices drop by biggest amount since 2022
Donald Trump’s controversial birthright citizenship policy struck down by Supreme Court
Grad sacked after allegedly accessing Albo’s bank account
NT residents named the happiest in the country
Deep Dive: July 1 marks the start of the new financial year and also when a raft of new laws, policies, regulations and pricing comes into effect.
This year that includes cheaper electricity for most states, bucking recent trends which have seen prices for everything else go up.
But it’s a little more complicated than just getting a cheaper bill, in fact, some people will be paying more.
In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Canstar’s Data Insights Director, Sally Tindall, to unpack the changes coming to our power bills and how to get the best deal.
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Tuesday Headlines:
Anthony Albanese backs multiculturalism as Coalition considers a rebrand
US-Iran talks resume
Bruce Lehrmann loses bid for Brittany Higgins footage
Aussie fuel prices return to pre-Iran war levels
Musical theatre industry calls for government help
Deep Dive: Karl Stefanovic got tongues wagging last week when he had controversial UK figure Tommy Robinson on his independent podcast for a conversation that did little to challenge the far-right agitator on his problematic views about immigration and Islam.
Within days of the podcast episode going live, it had sensationally been pulled from all platforms, and the Nine Network’s highest-paid star had been shown the door, in an exit that signals yet another shift in the media space.
In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by Jacqueline Maley, columnist and senior writer at The Age to discuss Karl’s Nine exit, why he’s happy about it and what it means for free speech and the broader media landscape in Australia.
Follow The Briefing:
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.