Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Last October, we covered the story of Australian writer and resident of Thailand Murray Hunter, who was arrested in Thailand for articles he had written on Substack that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission deemed to be false and defamatory.

We have an update on that case - a settlement agreement has been reached and the charges against Murray have been formally withdrawn.

Guest: Murray Hunter, retired academic, writer and journalist 

Listen to our previous episode about Murray's case here.

Last week we spoke with Christopher Gunness from the Myanmar Accountability Project about the universal jurisdiction legal case that Timor-Leste has opened against the Myanmar military regime for crimes against humanity. 

This week there has been a fresh development - Myanmar has responded by withdrawing their diplomatic representative from Timor-Leste.

Guest: Salai Za Uk, executive director of the Chin Human Rights Organisation who personally delivered the complaint of Myanmar’s crimes to the Timor-Leste Public Prosecutor’s Office on the 12th of January.

Listen to our previous episode on Timor-Leste's unprecedented legal case against...

The e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant on growing up in a single parent household, her connection to Ted Bundy, rejecting an offer from the CIA and implementing the world’s first social media band for children.

In August 2024, astrophysicists from Swinburne University sent vials full of the mycelium of edible mushrooms to the International Space Station. 

They made it there on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and lived in space - where no mushroom has lived before - for a month, before returning to Earth, and finally to a frying pan in Melbourne, where they were cooked in a cheesy sauce.

Guest: Doctor Sara Webb, program lead and astrophysicist at Swinburne University.

A fascinating new study observing the effects of the psychedelic drug DMT - or dimethyltryptamine - on people who have already tried two other forms of treatment for depression has recorded “significant and lasting reductions” in depressive symptoms after a single dose.

This study, led by David Erritzoe from the Imperial College in London, shows the potential DMT could bring to the burgeoning psychedelic assisted therapy space. In 2023, The Therapeutic Goods Administration approved authorised psychiatrists to prescribe psilocybin for depression, and MDMA for PTSD. 

Guest: David Erritzoe, psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the Imperial College London, and the...

The legendary publisher and one half of McPhee Gribble has re-published her memoir Other People's Words with a new afterword.

The testing that identified the poison that killed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was carried out at Porton Down, a British government chemical defence laboratory with a long and secretive history.

Geopolitical analyst and president of the Eurasia group, Ian Bremmer has a new avenue for explaining the big news in international politics: Muppets-style satirical YouTube videos.

A political debate has erupted in New Zealand over whether or not to retain special Maori electorates in the New Zealand parliament. 

Steven Scherer has written about his unexpected journey from career high to just trying to make ends meet and provide for his family in a touching essay in which he reflects on the nature of fragility and desperation. 

This week's tweeter has a soft, high-pitched call, and can be found around dense undergrowth in forest, scrub, heath and along creeklines. It's the Red-browed Finch, known to some as the Red-browed Firetail.

Dr Marianne Jauncey works with people many in society dismiss as “lost causes” — drug users in Kings Cross, in inner-city Sydney. But far from acting the martyr, she approaches her work and her clients with optimism, passion and genuine respect. She is the first to admit how much she has learned from the people who come through the doors of the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre each day.

Guest: Dr Marianne Jauncey, Medical Director at Uniting's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that the following program contains names of people who have died.

“It seems certain some human voices can work magic, and I don’t know whether it’s their timbre, their range, or the way they harmonise and surprise… It’s a gift they’re given and, if all goes for the best and we are lucky, pass on to the rest of us.” These are the words of Kim Scott, from the introduction of Rivers Flow: Reflections on the songs of Archie Roach & Ruby Hunter that was recently published by Fre...

In what is perhaps the biggest news in TV comedy of the year - maybe in forty years - earlier this month, a brand new episode of The Muppet Show was released. 

The Muppet Show was Jim Henson’s star-studded vaudeville variety TV show that ran for 5 seasons over 120 episodes from 1976 to 1981. 

Now, forty years later, The Muppet Show is back, streaming on Disney Plus, with Seth Rogan as Executive Producer. 

Revivals are a fraught undertaking though … so was the new Muppet Show any good?  

Guest: Craig Shemin, TV show writer, Henson his...

In this episode of Household Names we delve into the history of Breville, a company that many of us are familiar with because of their iconic jaffle makers. The company started out in radios and even produced mine detectors during the Second World War because moving into home goods.

A scientific breakthrough by Colossal Bioscience has seen the 'resurrection' of the dire wolf, a megafauna-hunting wolf species that died out around 10,000 years ago. 

But is the science being used really the same as 'de-extinction'? 

And does the very concept of 'de-extinction' undermine efforts to prevent species extinction in the first place?

Guest: Dr Christopher Lean, Research Fellow with the Department of Philosophy at Macquarie University, working with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology

Queensland software developer Fraser Tweedale made a Freedom of Information request for the MyGov Code Generator app's code so he could review it, but the government refused. 

Services Australia said that releasing the code would leave it open to attack. Fraser argues that cybersecurity requires transparency. 

Having exhausted other avenues, Fraser has crowdfunded legal fees to take Services Australia to the Administrative Review Tribunal, to argue that government applications for punters should be open-source, as 'security by obscurity' has potential to be misused.

Guest: Software engineer Fraser Tweedale

Timor Leste has appointed prosecutors to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military junta against members of the Chin ethnic group, in a test for Timor Leste's commitment to universal jurisdiction.

In the 1960s independent magazine OZ became a cause célèbre when its editors were charged, in the UK and Australia, with obscenity.

Edition 4 of OZ magazine is a rare collectors item, valued at $700 by collectors online. One of the founders of OZ himself, Richard Walsh, had been searching for edition 4 far and wide.

This missing piece of Richard's collection was finally returned when Jill Bowen read about his search in The Australian … and it just so happened she still had her copy from over 60 years ago.

Guest: Jill Bowen, retired journalist

Abraham Kuol spent the first seven years of his life in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. His family came to Australia as refugees, and this year he is Victoria’s Young Australian of the Year. 

Abraham is an Associate Research Fellow in Criminology at Deakin University, where his research focuses on the post-settlement challenges faced by African Australians, particularly regarding interactions with the justice system. His work with the 2025 Westpac Social Change Fellowship has seen Abraham travel to countries in Europe and the UK to compare their justice responses to those in Victoria.

Abraham is also...

The Magna Carta is one of the world's most famous documents, and Australia has it's own copy from 1297. Libby Melzer recently completed a 10 year project to analyse and conserve this copy of the Great Charter, touching the 700 year old document with the scalpel herself.

Libby is the Head of Collection Care at State Library Victoria, and she is giving a talk about the Conservation of the Australian copy of the Magna Carta at the National Library of Australia at 6pm on Tuesday, February 10.

Guest: Libby Melzer, Head of Collection Care at State Library Victoria

Straight from Sydney Festival to Melbourne's Art House, Opera for the Dead is a striking contemporary Chinese cyber-opera that blurs ritual, music and technology. Co-creator Mindy Meng Wang reflects on how her personal experience of grief and funeral rites shaped the immersive visual and musical work she developed with sound designer Monica Lim.

Guest:Mindy Meng Wang, world-leading guzheng player, composer and co-creator of Opera for the Dead

Excerpts from Opera For The Dead rehearsal audio courtesy Mindy Meng Wang and Monica Lim

Mary Penfold was the driving force behind Penfolds wines, which grew from a small vineyard outside Adelaide in the 1850s to the wine-producing powerhouse that we know today.

Being a woman in the agriculture sector in the mid-1800s meant that Mary didn't get much recognition for her contribution to running Penfolds. But following the death of her husband she continued to direct production and expansion of the business.

Guest: Dr Julie McIntyre, associate professor at the University of Newcastle, specialising in the history of wine production in Australia.

The number of countries planning to relocate their capital cities now also includes Mongolia, where building works are underway on a new capital.

'Good character' as a mitigating factor of sentencing is poised to be abolished in NSW courts. The proposed new bill in NSW parliament relies on the recommendations in the report from the NSW Sentencing Council, but not all members of the council were in agreement. 

Barrister Felicity Graham explains why she dissented from the council's recommendations and what the unintended consequences of the change might mean for vulnerable defendants. 

Guest: Felicity Graham, Barrister at Black Chambers

17 months after the revolution that ended the 15 year rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League, Bangladesh goes to a general election on February 12.

Have you ever heard of water cremation? It sounds like a misnomer but it is an increasingly popular way of cremating the dead, which its proponents choose for it's gentle effect on their loved ones, and the environment. 

The death industry in Australia mostly consists of funeral homes as we’ve known them, but business owners like Luke Cripps have begun to offer new options for grieving Australians.

Guest: Luke Cripps is a Director of Alluvium Water Cremations in Tasmania: one of the few businesses in Australia offering the service of water cremation.

This week's mystery caller is a common, aerobatic predator of small insects – the Welcome Swallow.

John Birmingham is perhaps best known for his documentation of the "horror and madness" of Australian share-house living in his 1994 book He Died With A Felafel In His Hand.

His book Leviathan: An Unauthorised Biography of Sydney won the Australian National Prize for Non Fiction Award in 2002, and his (self-called) “airport novels” including The Axis of Time series are loved across the world.

1989 was an eventful year for John, which set him up for the Felafel book and the successful writing career he has today. He reflects on life in Bjelke-Petersen Queensland, the amount of couc...

A group of researchers have been (gently) scouring works of art and objects connected to the great Renaissance painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci in a search for his DNA. 

Tyree Barnette arrived in Australia in 2012 with rose-coloured glasses for the laid-back, multicultural, egalitarian nation. But he soon found that being African-American on stolen land was more complex than he could imagine.

Guest: Tyree Barnette, author of Stolen Man on Stolen Land.

You know the jingle but do you know the story of the family behind Australia's iconic hardware retailer and sausage sizzle fundraiser?

Thailand will be heading into a snap general election on February 8. Will the reformist party leading the polls make it first across the finish line? And what are the issues resonating with Thailand's voters?

Guest: Aim Sinpeng, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics and International Relations at the University of Sydney

Amid escalating tension between the US and Iran, how does Iraq navigate the election of a new Prime Minister that will satisfy both sides?

Guest: Dr Marsin Alshamary, assistant professor of political science at Boston College

The trial is likely to see CEOs including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg take the witness stand to testify about what they knew of the potential dangers of their platforms. 

Summer is the season for flies, and while some species may be an annoyance, flies also perform an import role in natural ecosystems. 

This week's mystery caller is common, widespread and definitely not a Magpie! – it's the Magpie-Lark.

L-FRESH The Lion is one of the luminaries of the vibrant cultural scene of Sydney’s western suburbs. Hip-hop artist, music producer, and creative director of the Conscious program at Campbelltown Arts Centre, which mentors and platforms the next generation of Western Sydney's hip-hop and RnB artists.

Born and raised in South West Sydney into a Sikh family who migrated from Punjab, India, L-FRESH has been at the forefront of change in the Australian hip hop scene for almost two decades.

A powerful experience in 2006 changed his life, and started him on the path that ha...

When we think about the universe, how to we conceptualise numbers so large they are beyond our imagination? Mathematician Ian Le shares the mysteries of a vigintillion, a googolplex, and nameless numbers gigantic proportions. 

Guest: Ian Le, Senior Lecturer at ANU’s Mathematical Sciences Institute

One of the people in the running — literally and figuratively — for this year's Young Australian of the Year award is Nedd Brockmann.

In 2022, Nedd was a 23-year-old sparkie from Forbes who decided to run across the continent to raise money for people experiencing homelessness.

He started in Perth and was greeted by thousands at Bondi Beach 46 days later, having raised over $2 million for homelessness charity We Are Mobilise.

Since then Nedd has pushed himself further, by completing an excruciating 1,609km run in 10 consecutive days, and encourages others to push themselves, and raise money to h...