Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

The Year that Made Me: Archbishop Kanishka Raffel, 1986

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Most Reverend Kanishka Raffel is the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. Kanishka was born into the Buddhist faith, but a chance conversation with a ...

Tweet of the week, 5 April 2026

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller likes woodland and open country right across mainland Australia — the Jacky Winter.

Melbourne institution Snuff Puppets could be snuffed out

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For over 30 years, the Snuff Puppets have brought all manner of giant puppets to streets and communities of Melbourne and beyond. But a recent fund...

The Aussie cinema that was ranked the 30th best in the world

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In March, Time Out magazine released its list of the The 100 greatest cinemas in the world right now, and 6 Australian cinemas made the cut.Sun Pict...

Hereditary Peers are getting the axe

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For more than 700 years, the upper house of British parliament, House of Lords, was largely made up of hereditary peers. Seats in the House of Lords ...

Is Viktor Orbán's rule in Hungary about to end?

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hungarians will go to the polls on April 12 in what is shaping up to be a historic election.Incumbent president, Viktor Orbán, Europe’s most right...

60 years of the National Folk Festival

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Held every Easter long weekend at Exhibition Park in Canberra, the National Folk Festival is still going strong for it's 60th year running. To mark t...

How North Korea deploys forced labour in Russia

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

North Korean workers in Russia work up to 16 hours a day with no day off and earn as little as 10 USD per month, according to a report titled A Day i...

40 years of Adelaide's "Frankenstein bus-rail hybrid"

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Adelaide's O-Bahn was the second guided bus railway in the world, and is now one of only four on the planet. But it has been an enormous success, and...

Tweet of the week, 29 March 2026

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller occupies wooded habitats across the south and up the east – the Golden Whistler.

The Year that Made Me: Emily Strasser, 2009

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Strasser was in her late teens before she began to realise the depth of her family's secret. Her grandfather, George, whom she had never met, h...

Slavery and sex trafficking: uncovering the secrets of Australia's first Hollywood icon

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Much has been written about Errol Flynn, whose extraordinary life took him from Hobart, to Papua New Guinea, to Hollywood's Golden Age where he becam...

The cost of living too long

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Is the longevity of Australians in the 21st century actually a curse for future generations? Government spending on the elderly is predicted to grow ...

Is it OK to drink in front of your kids?

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Are refugees still welcome in regional Australia?

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

With the rise of popularity of One Nation with rural and regional Australians, what is the effect on refugees who have settled in regional areas? Do ...

The growing health burden of type 5 diabetes

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Type 5 diabetes is fast becoming a significant public health issue in parts of sub-saharan Africa, rivalling infectious diseases like Malaria and HIV...

Why aren't China and Russia helping Iran?

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why have Russia and China offered only tepid support to Iran in the form of statements criticising the US and Israel, and might that change if the Ir...

What's on at the Africa Film Fest?

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

After two years of sold-out shows in Sydney, in 2026 the Africa Film Fest is making its Melbourne debut. From Friday March 27 until the 29th, films f...

The Year that Made Me: Dr Olivia Ong, 2008

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Early in her medical career, Dr Olivia Ong decided that instead of becoming a neurosurgeon, she would go into rehabilitation medicine. Little could ...

All aboard the Freedom Plane for America's 250th birthday

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The United States National Archives is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of America with a lofty, high-altitude initiative called the...

What would you pay to visit the Twleve Apostles?

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The State government of Victoria has announced that later this year, a fee will be introduced for tourists visiting the Twelve Apostles along the Gre...

Seeking the elusive ghost elephant

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Werner Herzog's documentary Ghost Elephants takes us deep into the remote Angolan Highlands, following conservationist Dr Steve Boyes and a team of I...

Why spies still use WW1-era encrypted radio broadcasts

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Short-wave radio enthusiasts have eagerly reported the appearance of Farsi-language encoded messages being broadcast out of Western Europe. The messa...

Medicinal Cannabis no better than placebo for some mental health conditions

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A major new study from the University of Sydney, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, has found medicinal cannabis is no more effective than a placebo...

Unpacking the Tillies v Japan Asia Cup final

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Julian speaks with former Matildas vice captain Moya Dodd about the outcome of the Matildas Asia Cup final against Japan.Guest: Moya Dodd, former Mat...

A South Australian election result with 'massive national implications'

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“A political earthquake” with “massive national implications”: that was the verdict of ABC Election Analyst Casey Briggs on the outcome of Sa...

The rich history of Australian artworks about Antarctica

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Antarctica has long captured the imaginations of artists and poets, as well as explorers and scientists.Since 2023, The University of Tasmania has be...

The Year that Made Me: Adam Elliot, 2004

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Adam Elliot is an auteur writer and director of animated films, who has carved his own path in the Australian film industry with his idiosyncratic fi...

30 years since Port Arthur, a meditation on the aftermath returns to the stage

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Australia will mark the 30th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre in April 2026. The process of dealing with the grief and its ongoing effects are...

Have human emotions changed through history?

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wondered what your ancestors were feeling decades or centuries ago? Rob Boddice is an historian who argues that differences in our cont...

How the global economy is used as a weapon of war

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As an official in the US State Department, Edward Fishman worked on imposing sanctions on Russia. Eddie discusses his latest book Chokepoints, which...

Deep Impact averted by a shove in the right direction

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in 2022, hoping the kinetic impact would nudge it off its orbit. The mission was called the Double Asteroi...

Iraq's hard-won stability threatened by Iran conflict

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As the conflict in the Middle East enters its third week, Iran continues to launch attacks against US allies in the Gulf. Iraq, which borders Iran, i...

Tooba Khan Sawari: A sporting chance in Australia

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This week seven members of the Iranian women’s soccer delegation were given humanitarian visas to stay in Australia rather than returning to Iran a...

India through Indigenous eyes

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Julie Janson is a Burruberongal woman, novelist, playwright and poet. In her new book, Letters from India, she writes about the profoundly moving exp...

The Year that Made Me: Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, 2023

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO is a soprano and composer whose extensive CV includes Artistic Director of Short Black Opera and Dhungala Children's Cho...

Gatz is a play worth the numb backside

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gatz is a six-hour theatrical reimagining of The Great Gatsby (eight and a half hours with intervals), which The New York Times called “the most re...

Dr. Bot - The future of AI in medicine

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As doctors are weighed down by increased demands, reduced support and the fast pace of change in medical research, could AI help save the health syst...

Getting deep: the fascinating infrastructure of subsea cables

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Roughly 98% of all global internet traffic travels not via phone towers or even satellites, but underwater, along a vast network of fiber optic cabl...

Nepal elects rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah has been elected Nepal's new Prime Minister. The 35 year-old was the mayor of Kathmandu before he ran against for...

The Pahlavi Shahs of Iran

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, is pitching himself as a democratic future leader of Iran, claiming to have broad support in Iran. Wh...

The underestimated power of the chokepoint

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz highlights how vulnerable global trade routes can be to disruption — and how easily strategic choke points...

Iran's Supreme Leader is dead... what happens next?

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Trump has confirmed the death of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from an attack launched by Israel and the United States. Julian speaks...

The Year that Made Me: Bob Brown, 1976

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bob Brown is a giant of the environmental movement and Australian politics.A former doctor, Bob is the co-founder of the Australian Greens, served a...

The People's Guide to the Australian Constitution

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As Constitutions go, America’s is the most famous and revered document. By contrast, the Australian constitution doesn’t inspire as much interest...

The award winning documentary about an Italian fascist poet

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Fiume o Morte! Has been praised as “the funniest and most unorthodox history lesson of the year”. In January, it was awarded Best Documentary at ...

Preserving LGBTQIA+ history at the State Library of NSW

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

100 word including guest & book

Why Václav Havel's 1978 essay is "eerily relevant today"

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney gave his rousing speech on middle powers at Davos, he quoted Václav Havel - the Czech dissident, and later ...

Forty years on from the fall of Ferdinand Marcos

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Forty years ago this week, events in the Philippines were underway that would lead to the fall of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who had served as Pr...

Israel seeks to revive the death penalty

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In November 2025 a bill was introduced to Israel's Knesset by the Jewish Power Party that would re-establish the use of capital punishment in the cou...

An ex-Pentagon official on US and Israel's strikes on Iran

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The world is coming to grips with the joint American and Israeli strikes across Iran, and Iran retaliatory missile and drone strikes in Israel and in...

Australian journalist Murray Hunter is a free man again

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Last October, we covered the story of Australian writer and resident of Thailand Murray Hunter, who was arrested in Thailand for articles he had writ...

Why Myanmar removed it's representative from Timor-Leste

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Last week we spoke with Christopher Gunness from the Myanmar Accountability Project about the universal jurisdiction legal case that Timor-Leste has ...

The Year that Made Me: Julie Inman Grant, 1995

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Cooking the first mushrooms sent to space

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

How one DMT trip could treat depression

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A fascinating new study observing the effects of the psychedelic drug DMT - or dimethyltryptamine - on people who have already tried two other forms ...

Hillary McPhee on other people’s words - again

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

The UK chemical research facility that identified Navalny poison

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The testing that identified the poison that killed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was carried out at Porton Down, a British government chemical def...

Ian Bremmer's Puppet Regime

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Winston Peters proposes referendum on Maori seats

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

From foreign correspondent to Uber driver

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 es...

Tweet of the week, 15 February 2026

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Year that Made Me: Marianne Jauncey, 1998

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Rivers Flow: Reflections on the songs of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

The return of The Muppet Show!

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Household Names: Breville

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The dilemma of de-extinction

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

The cybersecurity expert taking Services Australia to court

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Timor Leste takes on Myanmar crimes against humanity

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Timor Leste has appointed prosecutors to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military junta against members of the Chin ethn...

The missing edition of OZ Magazine

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Year that Made Me: Abraham Kuol, 2010

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 V...

The Aussie Magna Carta

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 pro...

The uncanny rituals of Opera for the Dead

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Straight from Sydney Festival to Melbourne's Art House, Opera for the Dead is a striking contemporary Chinese cyber-opera that blurs ritual, music an...

Household names: Mary Penfold

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Ulanbaatar, another capital on the move

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Does 'good character' still belong in sentencing?

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'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 ...

Bangladesh's first post-Hasina election

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 electio...

How water cremations work

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 c...

Tweet of the week, 1 February 2026

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

The Year that Made Me: John Birmingham, 1989

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 Wit...

Searching for the real da Vinci code: Leonardo's DNA

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Stolen Man on Stolen Land

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Tyree Barnette arrived in Australia in 2012 with rose-coloured glasses for the laid-back, multicultural, egalitarian nation. But he soon found that b...

Mr Bunning, the man behind Australia’s hardware heavyweight

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Will reformist secure victory in Thailand's election

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The minefield of choosing Iraq's new Prime Minister

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 M...

Tech giants on trial for social media addiction

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

A very stinky search for rare flies

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Tweet of the week, 25 January 2026

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

The Year that Made Me: L-FRESH The Lion, 2006

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 d...

How to understand big numbers

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When we think about the universe, how to we conceptualise numbers so large they are beyond our imagination? Mathematician Ian Le shares the mysteries...

Nedd Brockmann: The mulleted ultramarathon runner for charity

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

A global Address to the Haggis: 225 years of the Burns Supper

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Each 25th of January marks the night of the Burns Supper, celebrated in Scotland and across the globe to honour the birthday, life and legacy of Scot...

Doctors, lawyers, journalists and the duty to warn

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2022, investigative journalist Charlotte Grieve was sued for defamation by renowned surgeon Dr Munjed al Muderis, a celebrity doctor from Iraq who...

How Australia Mourns

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As Australians continue to reel from the grief of the Bondi Massacre an important questions emerge:When do begin to memorialise the site?Who gets a s...

What do you get if you cross a polar bear and a grizzly?

24 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Yes, polar and grizzly bears can breed, and their offspring are called pizzly or grolar bears. But what does science have to say about these odd hyb...

Sunday Extra 18 January 2026

17 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Meet North Korean Seongmin Lee who defected to the West and he now smuggles USB sticks containing Korean soap operas into North Korea. Intrepid inves...

Sunday Extra 11 January 2026

10 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Author and broadcaster Tim Ross reveals some of the Australian designs you have never heard of. Sally Gould take us behind the scenes of life as a ne...

Sunday Extra 4 January 2026

03 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Ann Curthoys takes us on Paul Robeson's tour of Australia back in 1960. What happened to the platypus called Winston Churchill that was sen...

Sunday Extra 28 December 2025

27 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bagpipes have a long history that doesn't all take place in Scotland. How much truth is there in the CIA's use of George Orwell's book Animal Farm. A...

Sunday Extra 21 December 2025

20 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

2005 was a big year for Marcus Zusak and Gill Hicks. For Markus Zusak his best seller The Book Thief was published. For Gill Hicks, 2005 was the year...