Shows / Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Sunday Extra presents a lively mix of national and international affairs, analysis and investigation, as well as a lighter touch.
Episodes
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe incredible physics behind football design
A deep-dive into the incredible engineering of the football used in the 2026 men's world cup and the history of football design.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastMarcia Langton on the "existential challenge" for Indigenous Australians
Professor Marcia Langton explores "the challenges to distinctive Aboriginal ways of being and knowing" in advance of her inaugural Rechnitz Memorial…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastMeet Jordan Bardella, the 30 year old who could be France's next president
On Tuesday July 7, a French court of appeal will decide whether Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party can run for president for a fourth time in…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastFighting Food Waste in Uganda
Shifra Ainomugisha grew up on a tomato farm in western Uganda and saw first hand the enormous amount of food waste that kept her family in poverty. Now she…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastDeath of Strine? How the Aussie vernacular has changed
Why do we still "have a crack", but don't "give it a burl"?
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Mozart lovers rejoice! New compositions discovered in French library
A notebook has been discovered in the National Library of France that contains compositions part-written by Mozart. Julian speaks with one of the people who…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year that Made Me: Irina Berezina, 1997
Irina Berezina is one of the few women in the world in chess to become an International Master. She started out as a child chess prodigy in the former Soviet…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastWorld-first universal basic income scheme underway in the Marshall Islands
In 2025, the Republic of the Marshall Islands rolled out the world’s first nationwide universal basic income scheme.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastVenezuela's missing oil money
When the US captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and backed his deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, Trump promised a new era of prosperity was ahead for…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Virgin flight credits expire on June 30: everything you need to know
$90 million worth of flight credits with Virgin Australia are set to expire on June 30. The credits date back to the COVID period, but the equivalent credits…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastCan science save the insects?
While attention focuses on saving the bees, what is happening to the wider insect world that underpins global ecosystems?Entomologist Jonathan Finch explores…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year that Made Me: Anna Funder, 1988
In 1988 Anna Funder was a student in Berlin, unaware that the East German dissidents she had befriended were about to have their lives changed by the fall of…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastHow scientists celebrate midwinter in Antarctica
For the small communities of scientists, researchers and support staff who live in Antarctica, Midwinter means a day spent in almost total darkness, and, in…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastArthur Boyd's monumental tapestries
A lesser known artistic project of Arthur Boyd is on display at the National Gallery of Australia. Arthur Boyd: TapestriesThe 20 tapestries, commissioned by…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastColombia's first left-wing government threatened by Trump's ally "The Tiger"
It's “perhaps the most polarised choice of any election in the world in recent memory”. Increasing gang violence related to the cocaine trade is front of mind…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastHow long will it take for Andy Burnham to become the UK's next PM?
Former Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is about to be sworn in as an MP for Makerfield at Westminster, but the biggest question in UK politics now is…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastTaiwan's first International Booker Prize
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, and its English translation by Lin King has been awarded the 2026 International Booker Prize. It is the first time the…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The Year That Made Me: Sophie Cape, 2010
Sophie Cape was forced to give up a promising career as an elite athlete, first as a downhill skier, and then as a track cyclist, after a series of…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Why was a fragment of Homer's Iliad inside an Egyptian mummy
Archaeologists in Egypt were amazed to find a fragment of Homer's epic poem the Iliad stuffed inside a 1,600 year-old mummy. The discovery prompted questions…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Audio play about four teens in an Irish cemetery wins prestigious BBC Award
Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer has won the prestigious BBC World Service International Audio Drama Competition for an audio play about four…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Why is bird watching so hot right now?
Research commissioned by the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds shows a tenfold increase in birding by Gen Zs since 2018, within a 47% rise in…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastProminient Miskito Indigenous rights activist dies of "enforced disappearance"
Brooklyn Rivera spent his life fighting for the rights of the Indigenous Miskito people of Nicaragua's resource-rich Caribbean coast. He died in state custody…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Russia and the Taliban cozy up
There is a developing bilateral relationship between Russia and the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. The two nations recently signed an as-yet…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Is a 13-year-old girl being positioned as North Korea's future leader?
Since 2022, Kim Jong Un’s daughter has become a regular fixture at formal events with her father, leading many to speculate that North Korea's Supreme Leader…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Newly discovered document sheds light on sick leave during the Black Death
Despite taking place more that 500 years ago, the Black Death plague still fascinates us, and historians are still unearthing new facts about the medieval…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year That Made Me: Chris Wilson, 1976
Chris Wilson was the first woman to work in an underground mine in Tasmania. She is also a visual artist, a tour guide, and lives in a colourful Romani-style…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast"When people ask me about the ‘situation’ in Iran"
Marjon Mossammaparast is an Iranian poet and English teacher. Now based in Melbourne, she was born in Iran in 1979, the year of the Islamic Revolution.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastCane: the complex story of South Sea Islander history and culture
An exhibition called Cane at the Rockhampton Museum of Art is giving voice to the little discussed stories of the South Sea Islander community in Central…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastFilm about healing after genocide wins Rwanda's first Camera d'Or
Ben’Imana is set in Rwanda in 2012, during the Gacaca people’s court trials that sought justice and community reconciliation after the 1994 Rwandan genocide…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastCommunism, corruption and parental expectations: why China fails at football: why China fails at football
Why is the world’s most populous country, which is rapidly advancing in so many arenas, failing to live up to its dreams of glory on the pitch?
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Armenia votes, but don't call it a choice between Russia and the West
Armenia heads to the polls on Sunday in what has been described as “one of its most pivotal elections since regaining independence in 1991.” Just don't…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Burmese artist Sai Redacted wins prize for creative dissent
At the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum, Burmese artist Sai Redacted was one of the recipients of the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Pakistani Field Marshall Between Washington and Tehran
Who is Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Pakistani military leader balancing negotiations between the US and Iran? How did he win the trust of Iran and become…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Power and Punishment of Competitive Chess
Chess may not look physically gruelling, but at the elite level it is one of the world's most intense competitive pursuits. Journalist and author Jordan…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastTweet of the week, 26 May 2026
This week's mystery caller of the north was spotted tapping at the door of a Sunday Extra listener – the Yellow Oriole.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The Year That Made Me: Jason Gillespie, 1995
Jason "Dizzy" Gillespie is one of cricket's greats, not just because of his career on the field, but also his second career, fostering a new generation of…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The historians turned spies who saved Greece's treasures from the Nazis
During World War II, a motley crew of US historians and archaeologists were drawn into a covert mission to protect Greece's the ancient treasures from the…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastCatching the Bigfoot Hunters
Being a Bigfooter is an identity in the US, complete with conferences, research organisations and online social groups. They believe Bigfoot is real, and they…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastHappy home: The UK's first housing cooperative for older women
Britain’s first housing cooperative for women over 50 opened its doors 10 years ago. The New Ground housing project houses 26 women, almost all of whom…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
China lifts regulation on internal migration but not everyone benefits
China's hukou system, which has long restricted the rights of internal migrant workers is undergoing significant reform. What might these changes mean for…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastRenewing an old theory of the New Zealand accent
Why do New Zealanders say “fush and chups”, and “hair” like “here”? A new theory about the origins of the distinctive NZ accent is being explored by…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Melbournian running for parliament in Cyprus
Costa Constanti, who was born and bred in Melbourne - is running for parliament in Cyprus with the Volt Party, which calls itself “the first Pan-European…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Nightline wants to hear your late-night thoughts
The Nightline is an instalment work coming to the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, and the creators are calling on night owls, shift workers, insomniacs and…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastTweet of the week, 24 May 2026
This week's colourful wetland caller is found across the north and down the east — the Azure Kingfisher.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The Year That Made Me: Sheila Fitzpatrick, 1989
Acclaimed Soviet historian Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick reflects on the experiences and historical and personal events of 1989 that shaped her life and career.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastRediscovering Australian fantasy novel The Land Behind The World - and its intriguing author
Australian author Anne Spencer Parry's debut 1976 fantasy novel The Land Behind the World was described by the Sydney Morning Herald as "weird, complex…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe library that no one alive will read
Future Library is a long-term literary project based in Norway. It currently holds 11 unpublished manuscripts and a growing forest of spruce trees, planted to…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The bizarre story of Honduras-gate
A strange international scandal known as “Honduras-gate” has raised allegations of a covert disinformation campaign targeting left-wing Latin American…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Ukraine's new Minister for Defence goes all in on killer drones
A bitter disagreement has emerged between Ukraine's Ministry of Defence and military leadership over the use of autonomous weapons. Ukraine is emerging as a…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastWelsh Labour defeated for first time in over a century
The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru - which translates to the Party of Wales - is forming government for the first time after an historic electoral…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The Year That Made Me: Warren Entsch, 1996
Warren Entsch was the Federal member for the seat of Leichhardt in far north Queensland from 1996 to 2025 with a gap between 2010 and 2013. He was instrumental…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastFashion, art and the body in between
Behind the Met Gala's red carpet "Fashion is Art" theme this year is a more nuanced interpretation of how fashion and art collide. The Met's Costume Institute…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Sisters Under Fire: The extraordinary courage of two Australian nurses at war
The heroic accounts of Australian Army Nursing Sisters Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney who survived the perilous evacuation of Singapore in 1942.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Dreaming Inside: poetry by inmates and young people in the justice system
In 2012, a group of writers organised a workshop in Junee Correctional Centre with funding from the South Coast Writers Centre. The collection of writing by…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The case for being reasonable
In her new book Being Reasonable: the case for a misunderstood virtue, Professor Krista Lawlor describes reasonableness as 'one of the essential fluids in our…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Is this the end of the Thaksin era in Thai politics?
The release of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra after eight months in jail has prompted debate over whether Thailand's long-dominant 'Thaksin era'…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
“Indiana Jones of the art world” recovers painting looted by Nazis
A painting looted by the Nazis has been discovered hanging in the home of a Dutch SS-Commander's descendants. Portrait of a Young Girl, a modernist painting by…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year That Made Me: Frances Rings, 1988
Dancing was always part of Frances Rings' childhood, helping her make sense of the world around her in a small country town. But when, at just 17, she boarded…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The neuroscience of awe, and why it's good for us
A growing body of research suggests that experiencing awe has positive effects for our sense of wellbeing - an idea that might make intuitive sense, but which…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe seven personalities who led Australia's "era of dramatic political flux"
How did the formative experiences, personality traits, world views and leadership styles of Australia's last seven Prime Ministers influence the instability of…