Saturday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Curated listening, reading and viewing this week brought to you by Dr Jessica Collins, Research Fellow in the Pacific Islands Program, Lowy Institute and Mark Mulligan, World Editor, Australian Financial Review

Elite female cyclists will have an historic moment later this month when the 8 day Tour de France Femmes kicks off in Paris.

The Victorian government has committed $200 million to place well being leaders in the state's primary schools by 2026.  But what exactly is wellbeing?  How do you define it - and even more importantly how is it attained? 

A growing number of Tory MPs are voicing their disquiet over the decision by outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to remain as caretaker PM until a new leader is elected.

After a drop in social unrest during the early stages of the pandemic, the IMF is now reporting an uptick in protests and unrest. So, can economists predict where the next flash point may be?  If so, can the unrest be prevented or at least moderated? 

Vanuatu has reopened its borders to travellers after two years of tough border restrictions caused by the pandemic. What's life been like without tourists?

NATO is to be expanded and strengthened with the aim of deterring President Vladimir Putin from further attacks on Ukraine. The alliance has also included threats posed by Beijing into a blueprint guiding its future strategy. Plus, genuine engagement in the Pacific.

Bo Seo is a two-time world champion debater and a former coach of the Australian national debating team and the Harvard College Debating Union. His new book “Good Arguments: How debate teaches us to listen and be heard” is published by Simon and Schuster

The latest census has unveiled a new portrait of Australia, which shows a sharp increase in Australia's Indigenous population. In some age groups, there was almost a 30 percent jump in the numbers from the last census in 2016. Why?

When APRA awarded a raft of new neo-banks banking licenses there was much fanfare about technology and competition. However we've now seen high profile companies Xinja and now Volt fold their businesses. Why?

o Vanuatu will reopen its borders to travellers after two years of tough border restrictions caused by the pandemic. What's life been like without tourists?

Chinese researchers have announced a successful small-scale test of technology that aims to one day wirelessly transmit solar power from outer space to Earth. Other countries are also in the race to develop solar power in space – how does it work and could it help solve our future renewable energy needs?

Researchers in the US undertook a study where they paid a group of regular Fox News viewers to switch over to CNN for a month. Some of the results were very surprising.

This week health ministers from the G20 met and created a new monetary fund that will power research into pandemic preparedness. Here in Australia the new Albanese government has committed to a new Centre for Disease Control.  Are we doing enough to prepare for inevitable?

How can Australia and its allies walk the tightrope of maintaining diplomatic relations and trade with China while continuing to contain its ambitions with Taiwan, and the South China Sea?  And what lessons from history can help to inform the decisions we make? 

The US Supreme Court has overturned the 50 year old legal decision, making it the responsibility of individual states to decide if abortion is legal.

How has food shaped us as a nation and what does it say about contemporary Australia?

This month on Tackling Transitions: Victoria's largest, new solar suburb and town centre which has dealt with a maze of transmission and regulatory issues to include rooftop solar into the suburb's design right from the start. Plus, what significant renewable projects are in the pipeline?

How would transnational regulation of the global internet work? And is it possible for technology to be a digital public good and serve the world equally.

The Australian Tax Office has issued warnings that it intends to crackdown on "washing machine" payments from family trusts to beneficiaries. And the head Treasury, Dr Stephen Kennedy, indicated in a recent speech that there should by closer scrutiny of tax planning by individuals and businesses. Is copious tax planning an affront to a fair tax system?

Both the Ukrainians and Russians are reaching the point of operational exhaustion with spent ammunition and mounting human losses. But Russian forces have learnt lessons from earlier failures and are making ground in the Luhansk Pocket. 

Nadeem Shehzad and his brother Saud live in the Muslim quarter of Delhi and run a soap dispenser business, but their true passion is caring for birds. For almost 20 years, the brothers have been rescuing black kites and painstakingly nursing them back to health. The documentary All That Breathes captures the densely populated city, full of creatures and rife with tensions and the quiet dedication of Nadeem and Saud.

A new book by Kerry Brown Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute, at King's College, London explores how Xi Jian Ping's political power works – his rise to power and how he is part of part of a tradition of Chinese leaders carrying on the aspirations of the Chinese communist party

Elon Musk has ordered Tesla workers back to office, but other companies are happy with a remote workforce. What does this all mean for the future of work, and where might we be in two years time?

The new Australian Curriculum was endorsed by education ministers in April 2022. Schools can begin teaching the content from next year, after a long deadlock over the proposed content. David de Carvalho, CEO of the Australian Curriculum Assessment Reporting Authority, discusses a "more stripped-back and teachable curriculum" that supports deeper conceptual understanding and aims to improve performance.

There are reports that unaccompanied women and children fleeing Ukraine are falling prey to human traffickers, however many are finding safe refugee with concerned European families.

Stay entertained and informed with great recommendations from Jonathan Pearlman, editor of Australian Foreign Affairs and world editor of The Saturday Paper, and Justin Burke, the Lowy Institute's 2022 Thawley Scholar and Program Coordinator for Foreign and Security Policy at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Canberra.

What was the Debney Peace, when and where was it negotiated, and why is it nationally significant in 21st-century Australia? Historian Tom Griffiths discusses this little-known negotiated truce in the frontier war of Queensland's channel country.

On a recent road trip around the UK, The Atlantic's Tom McTague discovered a country that was struggling in its new post Brexit economy.  We talk to him about his findings and the economic pressures facing Boris Johnson

How might former university vice chancellor Glyn Davis steer and shape Australia's bureaucracy after the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appointed him to head the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet?

Head of Seven West media James Warburton wants TV ratings overhauled and says Australian television stations need more prominence on smart televisions.

A look back at the life of Dervla Murphy, Ireland's most intrepid and fearless travel writer who died at the age of 90 this month. The Waterford based author wrote over 25 books and travelled all over the world. Dervla rose to fame with her first book Full Tilt - Ireland to India with a bicycle published in 1965.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has visited Fiji, telling the Pacific Island Forum that Australia had neglected action on climate change, and pledged economic support. Her visit coincides with the Chinese Foreign Minister's tour of Pacific nations. What are the regional challenges for the new Labor government?

Why has the Liberal Party edged towards the right over recent decades? And after its election loss, will it move further right or closer to the centre?

While there appears to be a burgeoning friendship between Moscow and Beijing, China is invested in a stable international system whereas Russia thrives on disorder and uncertainty says The Lowy's Bobo Lo.

Wheat prices have soared by 50 percent this year,  which could see more than 1.4 billion people with not enough food.

This federal election will mark the end of a number of political careers, either through retirements or the will of the voters. So what's life like afterwards?

Communities in Australia's coal and gas heartlands say they need greater federal support and policy to mange the energy transition and make the most of economic opportunities.

On federal election day 2022, we examine the drivers of voters in the cities, regions and rural Australia.

Economist Saul Eslake tracks the two major parties economic performance over the past 30 years

Bass in the north- east corner of Tasmania is brutally known as the 'ejector' seat. In the ten federal elections since 1993 only one sitting member has ever been re-elected. Corey Martin, editor of the Launceston Examiner is your guide. And Pawan Luthra, editor and publisher of Indian Link returns to Election Express in Parramatta for his analysis of issues and voting intentions in the Australian Indian community

Most famous as a poet, Judith Wright was also a very fine writer in prose, and a new book "Judith Wright: Selected Writings, edited by Georgina Arnott" explores her writing and he life as an early environmental activist, champion of indigenous writers and someone who went against the fray in exploring Australian identity.