Get your geek on with Lawrence Leung

Ziggy Ramo is a Wik man, powerful storyteller and rapper - but it took him fives years to release his first album because the world wasn't ready to embrace his art and perspective. Soon after the Black Lives Matter movement Ziggy set his words into the world releasing his music and he’s now written a book – his memoir – Human? In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Ziggy explains how racism in Australia continues to dehumanise groups of people and what lead him to rap. Ziggy will be appearing speaking throughout the Melbourne Writers Festival and on May 10th Jan Fran will be joining Ziggy live. Event details here WEEKEND LIST TO READ - Pheasants Nest by Louise Milligan TO EAT- Pasta salad by Emily English on TikTok TO WATCH - Baby Reindeer on Netflix TO LISTEN - I Forgot to Tell You Something podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smut used to be the kind of genre you’d find hidden away in the back corner of bookstores. But not anymore. Now, smut series are being featured on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and a quick search of #spicybook or #smut on TikTok will find hundreds of thousands of videos. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its issues. In this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert speaks with Esmé Louise James, author of “Kinky History”, to find out about the history of smut, discuss problematic characters, and get her personal smutty recommendations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since the Matildas world cup frenzy we’ve seen a rise in soccer participation numbers – not just for young girls – but also boys and older women too. The A League Women season will come to a close tomorrow with Melbourne City taking on Sydney FC in what will hopefully be a record-breaking crowd. On today’s briefing, we chat to Moya Dodd, lawyer, sports administrator and former Matilda, to find out if these numbers are sustainable. Headlines: Police dismantle UCLA pro-Palestine encampment as Biden speaks out  New ad campaign to show misogynistic social media feeds Aussie kids are seeing Australia’s housing crisis not going anywhere Sex scenes decline by 40% in Hollywood flicks Follow The Briefing:Instagram: @thebriefingpodcast Facebook: TheBriefingNewsAUTwitter: @TheBriefingAUSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Snus is a small tobacco sachet placed between your gum and upper lip. But now there’s a new form of ‘snussing’, with products that take out the tobacco and replace it with flavours like cool mint, espresso, or bellini, and leave in the nicotine.  Advertised on TikTok as an alternative to vaping, following a federal crackdown on non-prescription vapes, are these products just another sneaky way to keep the tobacco industry alive? In this episode, Sacha Barbour Gatt speaks with Associate Professor Becky Freeman, from the School of Public Health at Sydney University, to learn more about nicotine pouches and their growing popularity in Australia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A movement is growing around the world protesting Israel’s offensive against Palestine in the Middle East. This time it feels different. More than 100 students at Columbia University in New York were arrested last month when the college called in police to break up their protest, an encampment in the university’s quadrangle. Riot police were called in yesterday to remove students from a campus building. The arrests at Columbia marked a defining moment in the global protest – and similar protest encampments are springing up on campuses across the globe. In this episode of The Briefing, LiSTNR reporter Helen Smith visits an encampment at Sydney University to find out how and why the students have decided to join the global campaign.   Headlines: What’s come out of yesterday’s National Cabinet meeting on domestic violence? US Uni protests escalate into violence New AI chatbot launching on our iPhones    Follow The Briefing:Instagram: @thebriefingpodcast Facebook: TheBriefingNewsAUTwitter: @TheBriefingAU  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Experiments on driverless - or autonomous - cars began 100 years ago, but only in the last twenty years have they become a genuine reality. Elon Musk's Telsa announced last month it was launching an autonomous taxi. How do they work? How safe are they? And how long will it be before we're all expected to share the road with autonomous vehicles? In this episode of The Briefing, we're joined by James Ward from Drive.com.au to discuss the latest developments in autonomous vehicles.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the last few weeks, our national conversation has been heavily focused on the number of lives that have been taken by men because of domestic violence. Arman Abrahimzadeh lost his mother to domestic violence in 2010 when his father murdered her in front of 300 people. Since then Arman has dedicated his life to trying to end family and domestic abuse - talking to perpetrators in prisons, young people and across schools. On this episode, Arman joins us to discuss how we can stop the abuse, stop re-offenders, and protect victim-survivors. Lifeline - 13 11 14 1800RESPECT - 1800 737 732 Headlines: National Cabinet to discuss tracking DV offenders, online content   Donald Trump fined $13,000 and threatened with jail time over gag order  Bonza enters voluntary administration  King Charles returns to public duties    Follow The Briefing:Instagram: @thebriefingpodcast Facebook: TheBriefingNewsAUTwitter: @TheBriefingAU  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ozempic is the new wonder drug sweeping the world of weight loss. But now a new surprising side effect has potentially been uncovered. There's anecdotal evidence that semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic, may also be able to reduce the desire for alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs. Now, research is being undertaken to find out if science can back up those claims. In this episode of The Briefing, Simon Beaton speaks with Dr Leigh Walker from the Florey Institute to find out what we know already, and how safe Ozempic could be to treat addictions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine going to your doctor and having treatment forced upon you. This is called compulsory treatment and in Australia it’s legal. Compulsory mental health treatment is when a psychiatrist believes that a patient is at a severe risk of harming themselves or others, who can then be forced to take medication or undergo treatment. But how subjective is that decision on labelling the risk? And if the medical practitioner gets it wrong it means a loss of their rights, and quite often incredibly strong and debilitating medication. Dr Kay Wilson from the University of Melbourne joins the Briefing to explain how compulsory treatment works and the stigmas attached to mental health in Australia. Headlines: 30% spike in women killed by intimate partners last year US hopeful Hamas will accept new ceasefire offer Telcos to be forced to prioritise Triple Zero functions in outages News from the Royals Follow The Briefing:Instagram: @thebriefingpodcast Facebook: TheBriefingNewsAUTwitter: @TheBriefingAUSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At least 120-thousand people are experiencing homelessness in any given night in Australia. And this isn't a problem that only we are facing, with many countries around the globe struggling to tackle the homelessness issue.  However, this isn’t the case in Finland.   In their capital, Helsinki, the government aims to end homelessness – or get it down to where becoming homeless is likely to be very temporary for most people – by 2025.  So how are they doing this? And could Australia learn from what they’re doing right?  On this episode, Bension Siebert speaks with Juha Kahila, Head of International Affairs at the Y-Foundation, as he joins us from Finland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.