In today's episode, singer/songwriter Tim Minchin discusses the poison that is social media, how he emerged from his bruising time in LA and why he urges students to look after their bodies. In conversation with culture reporter Thomas Mitchell, he reflects also on his infamous George Pell song, and on the impending publication of his first non-fic…

In this episode we speak with Markus Zusak, the bestselling novelist behind The Book Thief and Bridge of Clay, who has penned his first non-fiction book, Three Wild Dogs and the Truth, about Reuben, Archer and Frosty, the pound dogs he and wife Mika brought into their family. Zusak talks about the mad mayhem of sharing your life with a mongrel, and…

In this episode we speak with Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, who broke through two decades ago with her hit debut album The Sound of White, which dealt with teen and 20-something troubles. Now 41, Higgins has just produced a new album, The Second Act, which traverses the aftermath of the breakdown of her marriage. Higgins talks candidl…

In this episode we speak with Jason Arrow, otherwise known as Australia's Alexander Hamilton. The South African-born, Perth-raised performer won the role for the musical's 2021 Sydney premiere, and has since played the titular character in Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland, Manila, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Hosting this conversation about everything fro…

In this episode, we speak with Anna Marsden, managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Back in 2018, Marsden’s life changed overnight when she received news from then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull that the federal government was granting the foundation a record-breaking $443 million to help fortify the reef against the ravages of cl…

In this episode, we speak with best-selling author and social commentator, Roxane Gay. A decade after the publication of her much-talked-about book, Bad Feminist, Gay offers her unapologetic views on everything from body image, to writer's block, to the likelihood of Kamala Harris becoming America's first female president, to her current writing pr…

In this episode, we speak with author Theodore Ell. From 2018 to 2021, Ell accompanied his wife on her diplomatic posting to Lebanon, and unexpectedly found himself a witness to a country on the brink. His new book, Lebanon Days, takes in an economic meltdown, mass protests and finally, tragically, the Beirut port explosion of 2020. Hosting this ep…

In this episode we speak with the federal member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, who was swept into Canberra on a "teal wave" at the 2022 election. Spender talks candidly with The Sydney Morning Herald associate editor Deborah Snow about the aftermath of the April stabbings at Bondi Junction, the impact of war in Gaza on her constituents, and her d…

In this episode we speak with Matthew Evans, the Australian chef and restaurant critic turned Tassie farmer and food writer. Evans, who has written a new book called Milk, talks about the science behind dairy products, the truth and lies around them - and answers the curly question of whether cheese dreams are real. Hosting the conversation, in whi…

In this episode we speak with economics commentator Cameron Murray, author of the book, The Great Housing Hijack, which looks at the factors behind Australia's housing crisis. Murray was one of the few who predicted the boom in home prices after the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosting a conversation that covers Murray's analysis of the underlying causes of …

In this episode we speak with Nedd Brockmann. The 25 year old sparky captured the attention of the country in 2022 when he ran from Perth to Sydney, raising $2.5 million for homelessness in the process. With a second book and a Kayo documentary in the works, he’s now come up with a new way to challenge himself - and hopefully break a world record. …

In this episode, we speak with former Good Weekend staff writer Stephanie Wood. Stephanie's 2017 story about her real-life relationship with a man who deceived her with a web of lies received an incredible response from readers, such that she left the magazine to write a book about the experience, Fake, which was published in 2019. That story has n…

In this episode we speak to Tamsyn Manou (née Lewis). The former track star long ago traded her running shoes for the microphone, and is headed to France next month as a Nine Wide World of Sports expert athletics commentator. In this chat, she takes us into everything from the headspace occupied by aspiring Olympians right now, to the things she's …

In this episode we speak to Max Chandler-Mather, the 32 year old Greens MP who's shaking up Canberra with his uncompromising take on the housing crisis. Chandler-Mather talks with Good Weekend senior writer Jane Cadzow about his own experience as a renter and how it feeds into his policies and politics, his success with door-knocking at the 2022 fe…

In this episode, we speak with retired Australian netball champion and TV presenter Liz Ellis, who was recently appointed chair of Netball Australia, following a series of crises. Netball was riven with issues last year, including a team departing the national league, a pay dispute with players, and the loss of critical national funding. Hosting th…

In this episode we speak with the chief executive of the Australian Academy of Science, Anna-Maria Arabia, who leads a growing band of people expressing concern about the evidence used to convict Robert Farquharson of the murder of his three sons. The Victorian father drove his car, with the three boys inside, into a dam on Father’s Day, 2005, for …

From The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Trial by Water is a new investigative podcast series about Robert Farquharson, who has been locked up for decades for an unthinkable crime: murdering his three sons in a dam on Father’s Day, 2005. Now scientists and lawyers are asking the question: did we get it wrong? And is this man in prison for a crime he…

In this episode we speak with documentary maker Ian Darling, whose latest movie - The Pool - is premiering at the Sydney Film Festival in June before a national cinema release. The film is a paean to Bondi Icebergs, a picturesque pool on the edge of Australia’s most famous beach. Hosting this episode, which explores Darling's shift from stockbrokin…

In this episode we meet Rhanee Rego, the young Novocastrian who became interested in the case of Australia's "worst serial child killer", Kathleen Folbigg, when studying law. Six years later, Rego was instrumental in securing the release of Folbigg, who'd been jailed in 2003 for killing her four infant children. With Folbigg's convictions now quash…

In this episode we meet Rachelle Unreich, Melbourne-based author of the book, A Brilliant Life: my mother's inspiring story of surviving the Holocaust. Recently shortlisted for The Age’s non-fiction book of the year, this mother-daughter memoir weaves the remarkable story of Rachelle's mother Mira, who survived four concentration camps from the age…

In this episode we meet bestselling author Johann Hari, who has gone down an Ozempic rabbit hole to work out how and why this weight loss drug works. Hari writes about his findings in a new book, Magic Pill, including his own dramatic drop in clothes size. Whilst marvelling at how drugs like this are changing obesity management, he remains conflict…

In this episode we meet lawyer and author Shankari Chandran, who won the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens. Chandran’s writing explores the Sri Lankan diaspora in Australia, and weaves sharp commentary on racism, injustice and ignorance through richly told stories of family and community. Her new novel, …

In this episode, we meet economist Sean Turnell, who was imprisoned in Myanmar in 2022, following a military coup. Turnell spent 650 days behind bars, including two months in a metal room within a room that he calls "the box". He talks to us today about everything from his anxiety over the continued imprisonment of his colleagues from Myanmar, to f…

In this episode, we speak with Peter Winneke, who has spent more than two decades in the philanthropic sector, working for the Myer Foundation and serving on the boards of Philanthropy Australia, the Sidney Myer Fund, the Reichstein Foundation and the Catherine Freeman Foundation. Winneke is on a mission to convince Australia's high-net-worth famil…

In this episode, we speak with Sydney chef Neil Perry, and we're asking a specific question - can one restaurateur single-handedly lift a suburb from the doldrums? Perry now has three Double Bay eateries, Margaret, Next Door, and the Melbourne import Baker Bleu, with two more scheduled to open in August. Hosting this episode about the Perry family …