Rn Drive - Separate Stories Podcast

Nyadol Nyuon has fought for everything in her life, from basic survival at refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya to starting a brand new life a world away in Australia at the tender age of 18.  Since then, she has become a well-respected lawyer, commentator and advocate for the displaced and disenfranchised.  Now she has another title to add to her impressive list of accomplishments - Medal for the Order of Australia - for her service to human rights and refugee women.

A face-to-face meeting between Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore marked an end to the two-year diplomatic freeze. Guest: David Olsson, Australia China Business Council National President

The Jezabels were catapulted into the spotlight a decade ago when their debut album, Prisoner, won the 2011 Australian Music Prize and reached number two on the ARIA chart. A lot has happened over those ten years, but the band have come back together for a national tour to celebrate the album and the chance to perform together again. In the Drawing Room, Hayley Mary revisits those days in the studio and shares the ups and downs of a life in the music industry.

This study has flown under the radar for a while, but its certainly creating a buzz in academic circles - honeybees possess maths skills?

This week we're asking the tough questions on political pelotons, contentious statues and having tea with the Queen. Comedians Geraldine Hickey and Brett Blake face off in this instalment of Let's Get Quizzical to see who knows more about the news, politics and popular culture that unfolded this week.

It’s been a big week in politics Jacinda Ardern has swapped vinyls with DJ Albo, details surrounding Australia’s subs deal have resurfaced and there’s been so much hot air about the energy crisis talk you could power Tasmania's wind turbines.

It's something you would never have expected from a powerful nation that prides itself in its democracy and rule of law. But the January 6 riots on the Capitol in Washington shook the core of many Americans and left many of you asking here, how did it get to this point and what is going to happen next? The first of many House Committee hearings into the Capitol riots began this morning.

The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people have, for centuries, lived deep in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. First contact with the Brazilian state came in 1981, and it came with a great cost: disease and illness killed off half the tribe. Their territory is meant to be protected, but instead they’re facing invasion, with settlers moving into the forest and claiming the land as their own, with chainsaws and with fire. A new documentary, The Territory, filmed in part by the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau themselves, captures the struggle between the two groups.

New research from the CSIRO has shown coastal plastic pollution in Australia has decreased by 29 percent in 6 years. The discovery was made during a broader project assessing the most effective local government waste reduction strategies.

Ngunnawal traditional owners have used the 30th anniversary of the Mabo decision to announce their intention to lodge a native title claim over the entire ACT and parts of NSW. Several native title claims have been made in the ACT and parts of NSW in the past, but for various reasons, all those claims have either been withdrawn, discontinued, dismissed or rejected, not always relating to the merits of the claim. But could this be the time be different?

When you think about those special moments in history that have come to define Australian culture, society and even the Australian psyche, you most likely witnessed these moments as you watched the television or listened to the radio. A lot of these precious moments are often stored in the ABC Archives. But there are changes afoot with the ABC announcing 58 staff from the Archives team might be made redundant, with 30 new roles created.

As the majority of the south east watches as prices soar, residents in the national capital are reaping the benefits of a decade of changes to support a shift to renewable energy. Last night the country's energy ministers agreed to speed up the development of a capacity mechanism, requiring energy retailers to pay electricity generators for spare energy capacity in case it's needed. The mechanism has previously lacked support as it was seen to prop up coal and gas. The A-C-T's Attorney-General and Energy Minister Shane Rattenbury was one of those with his reservations Guest: Shane Rattenbury, ACT Attorney-General and Energy Minister

As the Federal and State Government energy ministers try to find solutions to east coast energy crisis, many Australians will continue to face rising power bills. EnergyAustralia Managing Director Mark Collette speaks to RN Drive about the proposals at hand and what it'll mean for your bill.

On streets and in halls around Australia, remarkable dancers are coming together in battle. This is the world of competitive street dance, where the challengers break and pop their way to the top. A new documentary, Keep Stepping, follows two dancers in Sydney as they prepare for one of the year's biggest competitions. In the Drawing Room, the director, Luke Cornish, introduces us to the scene and explores the community at its heart.

The Commonwealth's robust terror laws have been dealt a blow by the High Court today, after an Australian man, suspected of joining Islamic state, has effectively had his citizenship reinstated.

20 per cent of Australians will experience a mental health condition in a 12 month period. One of the biggest challenges is finding support. One in three psychologists are now so busy they've had to close their books (compared to one in 100 before the pandemic). A new digital and telephone service launched this week, designed to help bridge the gap. SANE will provide ongoing support to people with complex mental health needs via a team of qualified counsellors and qualified peer support workers. 

Right now the battle for the thermostat is raging across Australia at the moment, with clear battlelines drawn. But why is it that women feel the cold more, often wanting the heating turned up?

You went to bed last night digesting the news of the largest interest rate rise in 22 years and you woke to a warning from the World Bank that many countries might not be able to avoid sliding into recession as the global economy grapples with Russia's war against Ukraine, stagflation risks, and potential widespread food shortages. But despite this, the Federal Treasurer is downplaying talk of a recession here.

State and Territory Energy Ministers have met with the Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen this afternoon agreeing to eleven actions, including giving the market operator the ability to procure a reserve gas supply to use when supply is limited and prices soar.

Are we doing enough to protect our children’s mental and physical wellbeing?  It’s the tough question being tackled in a recent UNICEF report - Places and Spaces: Environments and children’s well-being. Professor Fiona Stanley has long been a vocal advocate for the needs of children and their families and in 2003 she was named Australian of the Year in recognition of her public health work. In The Drawing Room, Fiona talks about the report's findings and how over-consumption in some of the world’s richest countries is damaging our children’s environments.