Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
a listener production.
Hey, it's Chris Spear with you. Welcome to The Briefing. This year's midterm elections in the US could be about more than who ends up controlling the Congress, but also could have major consequences for democracy as a whole.
We have never seen gerrymandering push nearly as far as it is at the moment, and the result of that is potentially...
Chapter 2: What recent international events are affecting US-Iran relations?
If they pull it off, one side can rig the election, so it's almost impossible for them to lose, no matter what happens. And that is the end of democracy.
We explain everything you need to know about the US midterm elections, why they matter, and what could happen in the second half of this episode. Firstly, let's get into the headlines with Sacha Barbagat on Tuesday, the 2nd of June.
Thanks, Chris. We're starting overseas today and Iran has reportedly halted negotiations to end the war with the US in protest over Israel's actions in Lebanon. Iranian state media is reporting the regime has stopped exchanging messages through mediator Pakistan, saying it won't negotiate a broader deal until Israel stops its attacks.
Chapter 3: Who is leading the independent inquiry into AUKUS in Australia?
But Donald Trump is telling a very different story. Posting to Truth Social early this morning, he says talks are continuing at a rapid pace and that after a call with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has agreed to halt any attacks against Hezbollah and that no Israeli troop will be entering Beirut and any that already have, have been turned back.
The US president also claims to have spoken with Hezbollah via representatives, saying the group has committed to stopping its attacks on Israel.
So for a bit of context around this, over the weekend, Israel made its deepest push into Lebanon in more than 26 years, capturing Beaufort Castle in the country's south, a historic stronghold it had used as a military base during its occupation between 1982 and 2000.
Fighting continued yesterday with the IDF issuing fresh evacuation warnings while Hezbollah fired volleys of rockets and drones into northern Israel. We are yet to hear from Netanyahu at the time of recording, but the last we did hear from him was yesterday when he said the IDF will be pressing on until Hezbollah strongholds are eliminated and its northern border is secure.
US forces give the nod.
Back home now and former Labor Environment Minister Peter Garrett has been named to head up an independent inquiry into the Orcas Pact. A group of Labor veterans and public figures is behind the move with concerns the $368 billion defence plan is not in Australia's best interest.
Garrett, also the frontman of iconic Aussie band Midnight Oil, will be the lead commissioner on the community-based investigation, which is set to last five months.
So it'll hold public hearings and hand down its final report in October. Now, the pact between Australia, the US and the UK was first announced in 2021 and will see us buy three nuclear submarines and also share intelligence and technology in the interests of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Many, including some current government figures, former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating as well, have expressed that this deal is not in our country's best interests.
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Chapter 4: How has Australia's billionaire count changed recently?
With this probe to examine that, as well as issues around nuclear, the environment and employment consequences. So it's worth noting this is not a parliamentary inquiry, Chris. This is a public community led. It's got trade unions backing it. and it's not going to have teeth. It's not like this is going to finish and then all of a sudden they're going to go, oh, well, Orcus is no longer.
I do think it's interesting, though, because there have been inquiries held within government in the UK and the US. The Pentagon did one in the US. There was another one in the UK. Yeah.
Chapter 5: What does UNSW's ranking say about Australian universities?
And, you know, the decision was eventually made to continue with the pact. But I guess the question is, is it in Australia's best interest, not in the US or UK's?
Yeah, well, I mean, we do know that both Labor and the coalition back AUKUS in all the way. I mean, the circumstances of how we got here, way too storied and complex to get into in these headlines. We know that the coalition are backing this 100%. We know that Labor's backing it 100%. I don't think a community-led review is going to change anyone's mind here.
It will be interesting to see what they find, though.
Australia has just hit its highest number of billionaires on record with their total wealth now exceeding $686 billion. And that's according to new analysis by Oxfam.
Chapter 6: Why are the upcoming US midterm elections significant?
17 more people became billionaires in the last year in Australia. So now we've got 178 of them with the newcomers including property developers, an AI platform founder, mining boss and fashion label founders.
Yeah, the founders of White Fox, which I think you'd be very familiar with those jumpers that all the kids are wearing. Sorry.
The kids are wearing.
The kids are wearing. The wealth of Australia's billionaires increased by $25.67 billion over the last year. Let that sink in. Which according to Oxfam could have lifted nearly a million Australians out of poverty or covered household electricity bills for every single Australian household for well over one year.
Now the charity says the figures highlight the widening gap between Australia's wealthiest people and ordinary households. with the 20 richest Aussies now holding more wealth than the bottom 3 million households. This made me think of Elon Musk, who is on the cusp, literally I think by the middle of this month, is going to become the world's first trillionaire when SpaceX is publicly listed.
Now, his net worth is $835 billion. So that's one man who holds more wealth money more wealth rather it's different to having actual cash but more wealth than all of australia's billionaires combined so there's a lot of money in the world and and you know it's quite gross to see just how much money is out there when so many people are doing it so tough so
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Chapter 7: How does gerrymandering impact the US electoral process?
UNSW has ranked as the best Australian university in a new global list, just one of four to score a spot in the top 100. The Centre for World University Rankings has placed the Sydney Institution at 52nd, the same score it got last year.
The University of Melbourne ranked 64th and the Australian National University at 93 to remain in the top 100, while the University of Sydney slipped from 94 to 100.
The centre ranks the globe's top 500 unis with Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford in the US achieving the top three spots, while Cambridge and Oxford in the UK rounded out the top five. Now, 39 Aussie unis are in the list all up. This year, 14 improved their rank, 21 fell, and four changed year on year.
So this does see a continuation of a trend in recent years, which basically sees our institutions struggling in global rankings. Interestingly, though, a lot of it is around research. So one expert I was reading in the article was saying,
if you're an undergraduate, if you're someone who's looking at unis to go to, don't base your decision on these rankings because it doesn't actually reflect necessarily the undergraduate experience at a university or how good your degree might be. It's more around like the research programs of these unis and how much funding they're getting and how good or interesting what they're doing is.
So while it's great for Australia to rank in these global lists, it's not the be all and end all if you're looking at going to uni.
Music
And it was the moment in the 2024 US presidential race that changed everything.
With the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with, look, if we finally beat Medicare.
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Chapter 8: What role does the war in Iran play in the US midterms?
More border patrol and more asylum officers.
President Trump? I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either.
Yeah, so Joe Biden's disastrous performance against Donald Trump in their first debate sealed his fate and saw him eventually drop out of the race. Well, now his wife is speaking publicly about what happened behind closed doors in the immediate aftermath.
Yes, so while promoting her memoir, View from the East Wing, Dr Jill Biden has told NBC she was worried he was having a stroke at the time.
I'm watching, just like everybody else was, scared to death, like, what is going on? He gets off the stage. I see he appears to be OK. He says to me, Jill, I really, in other words... messed up, didn't I? And I said, yes, you did.
So that was on NBC. And in the book, she actually writes, he said, I really effed up, didn't I? So that's why she danced around it there because she was on TV. She went on to say she had no other choice but to support him publicly and his eventual decision to step down was entirely his own.
Yes, did I see him, you know, slowing down a little bit when he got tired? Did he stutter a little bit at night? Yeah, sure. But he was still doing the job and he was doing a good job. It had to be his decision alone because he had to live with that decision the rest of his life.
Doing a good job is a wild assessment that I don't think anyone at that time was making. Let's be honest, there were a staunch of Democrats who were coming out saying, what are we doing?
But I think that was based on his public. What she's saying is behind closed doors in the White House, he was working late nights, he was doing the jobs that he needed to do. Yes, of course, she's going to try and, you know, protect his legacy at the same time while she's talking about this stuff.
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