Earshot - ABC RN

Earshot is working on something new! We're busy putting together a special season of shows: see you in your podcast feed again soon.

Ahmed spent six years in immigration detention before winning a landmark legal case, he was finally free. But when the government appealed that decision in the High Court Ahmed and his partner Danice faced a difficult choice.

Ahmed spent six years in immigration detention before winning a landmark legal case, he was finally free. But when the government appealed that decision in the High Court Ahmed and his partner Danice faced a difficult choice.

Danice and Ahmed fell hard for each other, even though he was behind bars and she had four children. When he was released they started building a life together until Ahmed's visa was cancelled, he was thrown into immigration detention and Danice was left fighting for his release.

Danice and Ahmed fell hard for each other, even though he was behind bars and she had four children. When he was released they started building a life together until Ahmed's visa was cancelled, he was thrown into immigration detention and Danice was left fighting for his release.

When the daughter of a trailblazing feminist moves to small town NSW, the only women's organisation she can join is the Country Women's Association. How will she fit in?

Stand up comedian David Rose is deaf in one ear. His own experience of living with hearing loss gets him curious about the rise and rise of headphone wearing, and what this may be doing to one of our key senses: hearing.

Listless in the Melbourne lockdowns two through six, Lisa Divissi became obsessed with the mystery of her adopted cat's past life - and what it means to live with the unknown

We follow two people in Afghanistan whose lives have been transformed since the Taliban takeover. Surveillance and poverty have become part of everyday life for Ahmad, whose home has been searched by The Taliban. When Bayan lost her job as a manager in the media simply because she was a woman she had no reason to stay.

We follow two people in Afghanistan whose lives have been transformed since the Taliban takeover. Surveillance and poverty have become part of everyday life for Ahmad, whose home has been searched by The Taliban. When Bayan lost her job as a manager in the media simply because she was a woman she had no reason to stay.

Two stories from the beating heart of small town country Australia: how a fence is helping to hold one community together and the tale of local legend Charlie Woollett

As he helped his mother Sushila pack up her home to move into residential aged care, writer Sunil Badami uncovered something even more valuable than his grandmother's century-old wedding sari: the stories of some of the most important saris — and moments — in Sushila's long and trailblazing life. And in sorting out what to hold onto and what to let go of, Sunil discovered what might have always been the most precious thing of all. And another portrait of a special family member, producer Catherine Merchant's Uncle, Bruce. He loves music, fairs, and keeping things tidy. His generosity and zest for life made him the best babysitter and friend a child could possibly have.

Four sisters plan to take on their family's huge beef cattle property in southwest Queensland. Despite the spectre of drought, the Penfold daughters are determined to keep feeding Australia well into the 21st century.

Australia is famous for its unique wildlife and landscapes. But we also have the highest mammal extinction rate in the world, and there are big declines in frogs, reptiles, and birds caused by introduced predators and land clearing. Could paying farmers and indigenous landowners to return parts of their properties to nature help solve our biodiversity crisis?

In regions worst-hit by Australia's Black Summer bushfires, a rebirth is happening. Not just the green shoots bursting from the blackened trees, but the reawakening of ancient knowledge. On sacred land of the Yuin people, cultural fire is being reintroduced to protect endangered koalas, and bring the land back to life.

The ocean is central to the Esperance community's lifestyle and identity. But three fatal shark attacks in three years have had a profound impact on this remote Western Australian coastal town. As this community grieves the loss of life, they are also navigating their relationship to the ocean and the apex predator that swims within it.

As more people use anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers to alter their appearance, the way we see ourselves and what we think we should look like is changing. What does that mean for the future of our faces?

As more people use anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers to alter their appearance, the way we see ourselves and what we think we should look like is changing. What does that mean for the future of our faces?

Welcome to Werribee South. A wedge of verdant farming land 30km south-west of Melbourne that's under threat from the ever-growing city.

Over the last decade, Australia has deported up to a 1000 people each year, largely to New Zealand, using provisions in the Migration Act that allows the government to remove foreigners who are deemed not of good character or pose a threat to the safety of Australians.

Between 2015 and 2019, Michael* was a leader in the Australian alt-right movement. He was instrumental in building the presence of extreme rightwing groups, online and in the real world, before a series of shattering events forced him to pull away.  For the first time, he tells his story in full. In part 2 of 2, Michael travels the country helping to steer warring facist groups towards a united project, before an unexpected visit, and a traumatic family event, forces a personal reckoning. *Name changed to protect his identity

Between 2015 and 2019, Michael* was a leader in the Australian alt-right movement. He was instrumental in building the presence of extreme rightwing groups, online and in the real world, before a series of shattering events forced him to pull away.  For the first time, he tells his story in full. In part 1 of 2, islamophobia in politics and the media inspires Michael to look for answers online. In his late teens, he is groomed into a fast-growing fascist movement, with tentacles reaching right into the heart of Australian politics. *Name changed to protect his identity

How important is diversity in seeds and what kinds of diversity will we eat in the future?

What's it like to live under a military coup? Across the past year, after the military seized power in Myanmar on February 1st, 2021, young Burmese journalist, Mi Zar has been keeping a diary of daily life in her country under the junta.

Danny Stuart was a teenager when he witnessed what he says was a stitch-up by corrupt Queensland Police of his Uncle John Stuart for the firebombing of the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub.  Veteran journalist Frank Robson tells the tale of Danny's obsession with clearing his Uncle's name, an obsession that took him to the brink of madness. But it's also a story of a brother and sister whose love and support for each other helped them survive an unspeakable childhood.

Behind the tragic firebombing of the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Brisbane 1973, where 15 people lost their lives, lies another tale of two young children surviving the violence of their abusive father. Queensland journalist Frank Robson tells the story of Danny and Maggie Stuart and their Uncle John Stuart, one of the few people ever to show them respect and kindness, before he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the firebombing. A crime he said he never committed and a conviction aided and abetted by the false testimony of his own brother – Danny's father.

How an imprisoned playwright helped create Australia's most iconic internet meme. This...is democracy manifest.

Every family has its secrets, but for people from the LGBTQIA+ community the 'secret' can be their true selves. We meet three young queer Australians at different stages of coming out.

As you enter the town of Lake Bolac in southwest Victoria, you pass a sign that says 'home of aquatic sports', but historically Lake Bolac is famous for its fine quality and abundance of kuyang or short-finned eels. Eels were the most important food source for indigenous communities in this area, but the records that are left are patchworked and few. Walk eel country, following the path of the eel migration and in the footsteps of human history.

Locals were devastated when their newspaper was axed, so they set up their own. Dynamo editor cum journalist Susanna Freymark tells the stories that really matter to The Richmond River community.

Indigenous and African migrant communities collide in the Northern Territory, as Sydney-born Brian Obiri-Asare explores what it means to be black in Australia

When the Black Summer firestorm hits her street, Cath runs for her life—leaving her partner Jack, who's hellbent on staying to defend their home. Later, among the shock and the chaos, it hits her: Oh my god, where is Jack?

Landays is a powerful and subversive form of poetry in Afghanistan, performed by women. Part of traditional folk culture, the poems are oral and improvised. And for the women who give voice to them, there's a price to pay.

It might be the most famous recipe in Australia: flour, salt, a little red wine, and don't forget a dollop of tomato sauce. Paul Kelly's ‘How to Make Gravy' — written as a letter from prison at Christmas time — has grown in popularity since it was first recorded 25 years ago. Using the song as a starting point, Earshot speaks with five previously incarcerated people about their experience in prison on Christmas day.

Ghezal is a journalist trapped in a safehouse in Kabul as The Taliban take over the city. Through the intimacy of voice messages she tells her story of searching for a way out of Afghanistan for her young family and the realities of becoming a refugee.

Ghezal is a journalist in Afghanistan and when her city Mazar i Sharif falls to The Taliban they come looking for her. She escapes to Kabul, joining the desperate crowds at the airport but unable to board a plane she returns to the city, her young family in tow, with nowhere to stay. She tells her story of fear and defiance through intimate voice messages recorded on her phone.

The Cat Empire's style is impossible to pin-down. The most accurate description might be 'uniquely Melbourne'. The six-piece have earned fans worldwide through 20 years of raucous live shows and dogged touring. Before the original line-up play their final shows together the band reflect their incredible story.

Chinese-Australia singer, Rainbow Chan, returns to her mother's village in Hong Kong. She meets some charismatic grannies who sing surprisingly subversive and feminist protest songs, known as bridal laments.

Three stories which explore brief encounters, chance meetings and the fleeting nature of life

It's the perennial question: what's for dinner tonight? But for a rising number of Australians experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic, the question has taken on new meaning. As NSW emerges from lockdown, Earshot shares a portrait of the community group, Addi Road and discovers what we can learn from their hyperlocal response to the crisis.

It was a simple act, done in a less-than-simple way. When Johnny Danalis decided to return the “Star of Taroom”, an ancient Indigenous groove stone his father had souvenired in the 1970s, it was simply to give back what was taken. But when he decided to wheel the 160 kilogram stone 500 kilometres from Brisbane to Taroom he had no idea it had the power to teach its people's history, draw Iman people back to country and heal old wounds.

What does your voice say about you? Not your choice of words, but all the extra information the voice carries, like our emotions, accents, even apparently our identity. Details that big tech and governments are more and more interested in each day.

Under the rule of President Erdogan Turkey has become the world's biggest jailer of journalists.

Stella Nyanzi's words are searing, she plans to topple a dictator with them.  She was imprisoned for her poem on facebook that called the President of Uganda, Museveni, a diseased foetus that should not have been born.  Her 18 months in prison have made her bolder, angrier and more determined to create change in Uganda.

Ma Thida is a major figure in the struggle for democracy in Myanmar.  A surgeon and writer she was initially happy to go to prison to gain experience to write a prison memoir.  However after years in solitary confinement it was only mindfulness meditation and books she had smuggled into jail that got her through.  She speaks to Earshot for this special series marking the anniverary of PEN International from an undisclosed location she has fled to after the February coup in Myanmar.

A series marking 100 years of Pen International, the organisation that advocates for prisoners of conscience around the world.

Are white people being silenced by being labelled as racists? Controversial comedian Isaac Butterfield thinks so.  And what about people who publicly call out racism? Are they also silenced? Sami Shah feels frustrated with all this shouting and looks for answers to cancel culture by confronting his own racism.

The idea that immigrants are taking work away from working class white people has created a perfect racist storm.  Where does the idea come from and how do we counter it?

Why do people who've experienced racism dish it out to other racial groups?  Sami Shah investigates a taboo subject that's like a crack in the mirrorball of multicultural Australia.

Comedian and journalist Craig Quartermaine describes white Australia's reaction to  Indigenous people and their place in our national narrative as “an uncomfortable truth”.  So how do young Indigenous people get around that reality?  Craig talks to two young people who are facing up to racism with bravery and creativity.

Comedian and journalist Craig Quartermaine describes white Australia's reaction to  Indigenous people and their place in our national narrative as “an uncomfortable truth”.  So how do young Indigenous people get around that reality?  Craig talks to two young people who are facing up to racism with bravery and creativity.