Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald

Andrew Hastie, the Liberal MP for Canning and Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability, joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald for the fourth instalment of The Alliance, marking 75 years of ANZUS. A former SAS soldier who deployed to Afghanistan and Middle East, Hastie traces his own path into the military back to a family story from World War II, and argues that Australia's deepening reliance on the US, from Pine Gap to AUKUS, has come at the cost of diminishing Australia's sovereignty. He makes the case for Australia investing in its own drone and AI capability, questions whether the public is being prepared for what the alliance might demand of them in a future conflict, and reflects on why he still sees the US as indispensable to Australia's security despite his reservations about the Trump administration.Guest: MP and former military officer, Andrew Hastie.Coming up on The Alliance: former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The ANZUS treaty might be based more on cynical self-interest than a shared system of democratic values. In this episode of The Alliance mini-series, Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue trace the origins of Australia's most important strategic partnership and examine how it has evolved through the Cold War, Vietnam, the War on Terror and the rise of China.Historian Michael Wesley and U.S. politics scholar Timothy Lynch explore why ANZUS was created, why Washington wanted the deal in the first place, and whether the alliance has always been far less certain than Australians assume. They also examine the key tension between Australia's fear of being abandoned in a time of conflict, and the United States' fear of being entangled in a war it doesn't want or need. As Donald Trump forces allies around the world to question old assumptions, the discussion turns to whether Australia still needs to prove its value to Washington, or whether its geography, intelligence facilities and strategic position make it more important to the United States than many Australians realise.At 75, ANZUS remains a cornerstone of Australian foreign policy. But is the alliance stronger, more flexible and more durable than we think? Or is it time to rethink what it was designed to do in the first place?Guest: Prof. Michael Wesley & Prof. Timothy J. Lynch, University of Melbourne.Coming up on The Alliance: Former prime minister and US ambassador Kevin Rudd; MP and former military officer Andrew Hastie; and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

At age nine, Kbora Ali arrived in Australia as an Afghan refugee after her family fled Taliban rule. Less than a decade later, she became the first Afghan woman to join the Australian Army.In this deeply personal conversation, Kbora reflects on her journey from Afghanistan and Pakistan to suburban Adelaide, the challenges of growing up Hazara, and her determination to serve the country that gave her family safety and a future.She speaks to Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly candidly about belonging, identity, military life, and the deeply difficult choice she made to remove her headscarf when she first arrived at Kapooka. Now an Air Force flying officer, and co-author, along with her sister, of her new memoir First of Her Kind, Kabora shares a story that sits at the intersection of migration, service, multicultural Australia and the enduring consequences of war.Guest: Kbora Ali, Air Force flying officer and co-author of First of Her Kind.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Helen Clark led New Zealand as Prime Minister for nearly nine years and she hasn't slowed down since.Now the Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Clark spoke to Global Roaming at a moment when vaccines have become a genuine political battleground. Clark talks to Hamish Macdonald about Trump's executive order to cut the recommended childhood vaccine schedule, RFK Jr.'s rise at the top of US health policy, and why she thinks Anthony Fauci pleading the Fifth before a Senate committee isn't necessarily what it looks like.She also raises a crisis that's had almost no attention: a fast-growing HIV outbreak in Fiji, driven by drug use and a lack of harm-reduction infrastructure.Plus: the misogyny and threats faced by women in politics - including, she says, threats to Jacinda Ardern far beyond what she or Julia Gillard ever experienced - and the story of the Tampa refugees New Zealand took in, and the search to reunite them with their families.Guest: Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand & Board Chair, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

As rebel forces grow in strength, and tensions rise their once-friendly neighbour Pakistan, how long can the Taliban rule?The Australian's Asia-Pacific correspondent Amanda Hodge joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald to assess the Taliban's record in the 5 years since the last U.S. troop left Afghanistan. Plus, a so-called 'super El Niño' weather pattern is on its way. In Australia it's likely to bring dry conditions and a higher risk of fire, but across South-East Asia, the effects could be even more catastrophic. What are the consequences of weather that could serious slow or even reverse the explosive economic growth in the region?And a running club in Bali has come under fire for prioritising digital nomads and ex-pats over Indonesian residents, reviving debate on Indonesian's colonial past, and how to balance Bali's status as a tourist destination with the dignity of the local citizens.Plus, Amanda, Geraldine, and Hamish share what they've been reading and watching recently.Guest: Amanda Hodge, Asia-Pacific corresondent with The AustralianRecommendations: Amanda – Joe Strummer and the Legend of The Clash by Kris NeedsGeraldine – Greg Bearup's article on the death of Kumantjayi TjapaltjarriHamish - Tampa: The Turning Point available on ABC iviewGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

How do you begin mending one of the most destructive political divides in modern history?That is the challenge that former High Court of Australia justice Michael Kirby faced when he led a UN inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea in 2013.Despite being confronted with brutal repression and repeated failures of negotiation, Kirby remains hopeful that progress can be made, and that the United Nations has an irreplaceable role in facilitating communication between either side of the Korean DMZ.In this first part of an expansive two-part episode, Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly join Justice Michael Kirby to discuss his history in international governance, his impressions of leaders like Donald Trump and George W. Bush, and how nuclear weapons have completely changed the future of the region.Plus: how a very stern teacher and his cane gave Michael his first taste of injustice. Guest: Michael Kirby AC, former justice of the High Court of AustraliaGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

What happens when a party's own voters start to rebel against the establishment?The victories of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and Democratic senate nominee for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed have brought a lot of attention to progressive candidates, but some in the centre are warning about 'insurgents' that may never reach mainstream electability. Asma Khalid is an American journalist who has spent years reporting from the White House - she says that this movement could represent a real shift for the future of the Democratic party when it comes to tax, healthcare, and America's relationship with Israel.On today's episode, Asma joins Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly to talk about the strengths, weaknesses, and goals of the new trend of progressivism that is taking the spotlight, and its roots in Bernie Sander's transformative 2016 presidential bid. Plus: who are the Democratic Socialists of America, are they socialist, communist, or something new? And will these internal divisions lead to a stronger or weaker Democratic party?Guest: Asma Khalid, journalist, co-host of The Global Story podcast, and former NPR White House correspondentGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has labelled AUKUS a bipartisan mistake. Is he right?Peter Garrett, former Labor minister and rock superstar, is now leading a public inquiry into Australia's submarine pact with the U.S. and UK to answer a number of essential questions. Are the promised submarines likely to arrive? Why is Australia paying billions into US and UK submarine production? And does AUKUS strengthen Australia's security, or deepen our dependence on Washington at a time of growing uncertainty about America's role in the world?In this episode, Peter Garrett joins Global Roaming to explain why the inquiry believes Australians have been largely excluded from one of the biggest defence decisions in the nation's history.Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue also test the arguments around China's military rise, Taiwan, interoperability with US forces, and whether Australia has ever had the national conversation that a project of this scale demands.Guest: Peter Garrett, leading commissioner of the public inquiry into AUKUS

Arash Azizi says Iran's rulers may be more afraid of peace than war.While the world watches Donald Trump, the American-Iranian historian argues the real story is the stasis inside Tehran. A collective leadership built around a 13-member National Security Council, with parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf the strongest figure, now calling the shots. Azizi says they stepped away from the June memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Washington that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz, partly because normal governance frightens them more than crisis. Now the new Mecca defence pact between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, a throwback to the 1955 Baghdad Pact, is leaving Iran more isolated than ever.Azizi's sharpest claim is that the biggest threat to the regime is its own people. The ideological Khomeini era is over, he says, and the state has quietly lost its war on the hijab, with women now in tank tops on the streets of Tehran. So who breaks the deadlock? Latika Burke and Geraldine Doogue ask whether Iran can find its own Deng Xiaoping, or whether it just hobbles on like Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1990s.Guest: Arash Azizi, author of What Iranians WantGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. Mentioned in this episode:These are Iran's emerging power players, Azizi's previous appearance on Global Roaming

Labor MP Ed Husic has a blunt warning: a handful of US tech firms could switch off the AI tools Australia runs on.On 15 July the Prime Minister used a national address to label artificial intelligence (AI) a national interest, announcing a new Office of AI inside his department, mandatory rules for large data centres, and a digital duty of care for big tech.At the same time Sydney is being tipped as one of the world's data centre hotspots, with firms like Anthropic and OpenAI scouting sites and the build-out talked up as the next mining boom.The catch: Australia has no frontier AI model of its own, so we store the data without controlling the technology.Digital Rights Watch founder Lizzie O'Shea and the McKinnon Institute's Tom Mooney, once chief of staff to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, argue Australia holds more cards than it thinks: a stable democracy, cheap renewables and a strong bargaining position.They make the case for shaping big tech rather than receiving it and explain why Australians rank among the world's most sceptical about AI even as heavy users. In this episode Hamish Macdonald presses them on jobs, sovereignty, and whether any government can force these companies to care.Guest:Lizzie O'Shea - Digital Rights WatchTom Mooney - McKinnon InstituteGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Pauline Hanson sat down with Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's most notorious far-right figures. So why did the interview happen, and what does it say about the rise of right-wing populism globally? From Luton to Moscow, the money behind the far right has gone global. Journalist Daniel Trilling traces cash flowing from the United States and Canada to fund Islamophobic activists in the United Kingdom, Russia's long-running interest in stirring British politics, and Elon Musk using X to play kingmaker: backing Nigel Farage, cooling on him, then boosting Robinson and another breakaway rival. And Robinson himself has been courted by Israel and photographed in Moscow alongside Errol Musk. So how connected are far-right movements around the world? Trilling argues these movements, supercharged by a fragmented media landscape and the failures of neoliberalism, share a style and a pool of funders but are not formally coordinated.He also explains to hosts Latika Bourke and Kylie Morris why the political centre keeps ceding ground on immigration, why Reform UK is suddenly in real trouble, and what can eventually make these movements come unstuck.Guest: Daniel Trilling, journalist and author of If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Australia has been offered a seat in space, but time is running out.The European Space Agency has invited Australia to send its first government astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, to the International Space Station (ISS).The catch? The ticket likely costs about $100 million and the ISS is set to deorbit around 2030. The offer stands for a few months longer, at most.Deputy Director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia, Larissa Wiese, calls it a once-in-a-generation shot at an Australian seat at the global space table, backing an industry that already turns over $4.6 billion and employs 17,000 people. Miss it, she warns, and we may never catch up.But as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stares down a tight budget and a cost-of-living crisis, is a $100 million space ticket smart nation-building, or an easy political target? Hosts Waleed Aly and Hamish Macdonald dig into the money, the potential stakes for AUKUS and advanced manufacturing, and whether Australia is happy to remain a space "consumer" as other countries reach for the stars.Guest: Larissa Wiese, the deputy director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia. Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. Mentioned in this episode:Global Roaming: Prof Brian Cox on whether Elon Musk owns the moonFlykatherine.com.au

Christopher Nolan's blockbuster adaptation of The Odyssey has become far more than a film. It's sparked fierce arguments about race, masculinity, Western civilisation, Christianity, leadership, and the culture wars.Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald are joined by Quillette founder Claire Lehmann to unpack why Nolan's retelling has generated such intense debate. From Elon Musk's criticism of the film to disputes over casting choices, they explore what today's political battles are revealing about how we interpret ancient stories.Is Nolan preserving a foundational text of the Western canon for a new generation, or reshaping it through modern values? And why has a 3,000-year-old myth suddenly become a flashpoint in 2026?Along the way, they debate whether Odysseus has been stripped of his complexity, whether the film reflects Christian ideas of guilt rather than ancient Greek values, and what the story may tell us about leadership, social cohesion, and fears of civilisational decline.Guests: Claire Lehmann, founder of QuilletteGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.