Saturday Extra - Separate Stories Podcast

Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, has made a stunning change to Germany’s foreign policy, boosting German's defence force capabilities and sending military weapons to Ukraine.  

Former Prime Minister and China expert Kevin Rudd joins us with insights on how China is reacting to Putin's aggressive invasion of Ukraine, which has galvanised the world against Russia. Has it given China pause for thought about its own territorial intentions?

Weather forecasting has been criticised for not accurately predicting the inundation of Queensland and northern NSW, which flooded homes and businesses. But forecasting such extreme rainfall events isn’t easy, as climatologist Professor Janette Lindesay of ANU tells us.

War has turned to a battle of the cities – brutal, bloody urban warfare.  How long can the Ukrainians hold out? And what is the best strategy to win the war?

Despite the horrors of the Holocaust, Australia kept a rigid quota for Jewish refugees during and after World War Two. It was left to the Jewish community themselves to help as many as possible. In Australia, Leo and Mina Fink led the efforts – taking on the Immigration Minister of the time to breach those quotas and help survivors set up home here. Historian Margaret Taft joins us to talk about her book 'Leo and Mina Fink: For the Greater Good'.

Should America should look to the history of the Cold War for lessons in how to succeed in great-power rivalry today?

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine and silence from China, we are living in increasingly volatile world.  How will the Morrison government handle the turmoil and what does it mean for the election?  

The AGL takeover bid by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield Asset Management will eventually be successful predicts our guest, energy economist Bruce Mountain. When it is, he says Australia’s electricity industry is going to decarbonise at a pace few have foreseen, and the federal government needs to step in and help it happen.

Russia has done what many in Europe couldn’t believe would happen – it has invaded Ukraine, on the false pretext of genocide in the eastern Donbas region. Vladimir Putin says he’s only aiming to demilitarise the country, not occupy it. But does the scale of the invasion indicate otherwise? Defence and Russia expert Keir Giles from Chatham House joins us and says he's not surprised by developments, because US and UK intelligence indicated this would happen.

We’re joined by the Lowy Institute’s Richard McGregor and Melissa Conley Tyler of AP4D, who talk us through what they’ve been reading, watching and listening to

From Brexit to Trump and now the Ukraine crisis, the world is experiencing one political shock after another. But could all these disruptions be interconnected and, if so, what’s next?

It's been ten years since the Gosnki report into school funding was released. A new book “Waiting for Gonski – how Australia failed its schools” examines whether the needs based funding model achieved any of its goals.

Australia Institute chief economist Richard Denniss joins us to argue for more public debate about the shape and size of the public sector. Should the Australian government be spending more on key institutions such as healthcare, housing and education? And hear why he thinks the public sector isn’t big enough or well-governed enough to cope with what lies ahead.

In a matter of days in 1942 during World War II Singapore fell, Darwin was bomb and East Timor became occupied by the Japanese.  We reflect on the tumultuous time 80 years on.

The McIver's Ladies Baths near Coogee Beach have been a sanctuary of swimming for women for more than 100 years. Now, a new collection of stories The Women's Pool recounts the experiences and histories of women who have used and loved the 30 metre rockpool over the years. Guest: Editor, Lynne Spender

Social, economic and cultural inequalities are rising in Australia. But class is often missing from, or obscured, in our public and political debates.  So what are the realities of class in Australia and can we still claim to be the “lucky country”?

In a bid contain a growing Omicron outbreak, this week Hong Kong has implemented its tightest social-distancing rules since the start of the pandemic. It's calling the strategy 'dynamic' covid zero.

The troubles of Magellan’s Hamish Douglass has shed a light on the often opaque investment banking industry. So, what makes a top stock-picker?

Late last month, Australia exported the world’s first shipment of liquefied hydrogen to Japan. But there is ‘brown hydrogen’, ‘blue hydrogen’, ‘green hydrogen’ and more. Is Australia backing the right hydrogen?

The Quad's latest meeting Melbourne has seen US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken fly to Australia to be part of the summit of foreign ministers and their counterparts. How much of this meeting is about showing the US still considers the Indo-Pacific important - and how far have the Quad come with their agenda?  Guests: Hayley Channer, Perth USAsia Centre Richard Maude, Asia Society Australia