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 history of direct action and democracy
Proponents of direct action say it’s part of democratic life. It’s detractors say it's a threat to safety, a violation of majority rule and rule of law. What…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastData breach affects 275 million students
Approximately 9,000 educational institutions and 275 million of their students have been affected by a data breach involving the 'learning management system'…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastChina's influence suspected after Zambia cancels human rights conference
The major human rights conference RightsCon was due to convene in Zambia this week but was cancelled at the last minute, with some suggestion the government…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastHow One Nation triumphed in Farrer
ABC election analyst Casey Briggs not only called the seat for One Nation at 8pm, he also called Farrer as now a safe seat for One Nation.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
High Court hears goat slaughter footage case with implications for press freedom
The Human Rights Legal Centre and the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom have intervened in a case being heard in the High Court to raise what they describe as…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastTweet of the week, 3 May 2026
Can you guess this week's tweeter?
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year That Made Me: Kon Karapanagiotidis, 2000
Kon Karapanagiotidis struggled to belong as a Greek-Australian kid in a town of Smiths and Jones. It wasn’t until he began volunteering as a young adult that…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Translators gear up for slam event at MWF
There is a new form of cultural event appearing at writers festivals and literary gatherings: the translation slam. The quiet mental task of translating a text…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastSaplings: humour and tragedy in a play about youth social justice
Saplings is a play highlighting the experience of the youth justice system, based on conversations with young indigenous people who have been through the cycle…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastCan chimpanzees at war find a path to peace?
It is a well known fact that chimpanzees can be aggressive and even violent, but a new research article published in Science Journal last month has documented…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Prepare for the sulphur shock
On May 1, China halted all exports of sulphuric acid, a rarely discussed but critical chemical, used in industrial processes in mining, agriculture and…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastWhat does Palantir do, and who is its unusual CEO?
The controversial American software and data analytics company Palantir is becoming an increasingly consequential fixture in governments and companies across…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
World Press Freedom Day
May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, the date harks back to a gathering of 63 people from 38 African countries in 1991 in Windhoek, capital of the newly…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastTweet of the week, 26 April 2026
This week's mystery caller is a uniquely colourful inhabitant of Western Australia's southwest – the Red-capped Parrot.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year That Made Me: Deborah Lawrie, 1979
1979 was the year Captain Deborah Lawrie fought for her wings. When her application to become a commercial pilot with Ansett Airlines was unsuccessful, she…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The "beautiful secret" Oliver Sacks left scribbled in the margins of his library
After his death, Oliver Sacks left his partner Bill Hayes an unexpected gift: a library filled with his marginal notes, revealing his inner thoughts…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Is Shaddap You Face Australia's best novelty song, or a poor ethnic stereotype?
When Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce was named Australia’s best novelty song, it revived an old tension: in a comedy culture steeped in racial stereotypes, where…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastWayback Machine: The internet's archive in peril
Thirty years ago the Internet Archive was created to digitally preserve content published on the internet. It claims to hold copies of 1 trillion web pages…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Will a landmark ruling end corporate complicity in atrocity crimes?
A landmark ruling in a case involving a French concrete company that operated in Syria during the height of Islamic State may clear the way for national courts…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastWorking in the Exclusion Zone 40 years after the Chernobyl disaster
40 years since the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, a team from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine are researching the effect of nuclear…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Why some female veterans don't feel recognised on Anzac Day
While there has been greater recognition of the challenges faced by women during their service, women veterans report being “under-recognised…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Tweet of the week, 19 April 2026
This week's mystery caller hunts insects in Tasmanian woodland, farmland and heath – the Dusky Robin.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year that Made Me: Yann Martel, 1990
Yann Martel might have found fame and fortune when his novel Life of Pi won the Booker Prize in 2002, but the year that shaped his path as a writer came much…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
On pedantry *or being pedantic
From ancient Greece to today’s culture wars, a new book explains why pretentious and punctilious people have always annoyed us.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
A history of typos across five centuries
“Beauties of My Style: Errata and the Printed Mistake” explores the history of typos across five centuries.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Vasili Mitrokhin: The Spy in the KGB Archive
Vasili Mitrokhin was sent to work in the KGB archives after failing as an intelligence operative. His disgust with the Soviet spy agency led him to steal…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The complex web behind Frida Kahlo's most famous paintings
Frida Kahlo’s works are so revered in Mexico that, in 1984, they were declared “artistic monuments” — protected as national treasures by the Mexican…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastJeff Bezos and the decline of the Washington Post
When the billionaire Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013, he was billed as its ‘saviour’, and for a while, it seemed like he was. But across his…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
UAE struggling to navigate Hormuz crisis
This week, Pakistan’s Prime Minister crossed the Middle East, meeting with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Türkiye about a second round of peace talks between Iran and…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Year that Made Me: Omar Musa, 2023
Queanbeyan raised, Bornean-Australian poet, visual artist, and award-winning author Omar Musa says his "hyperactive mind" keeps him looking for the next…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Tweet of the week, 12 April 2026
This week's common, conspicuous and colourful caller inhabits the east and the south-east – the Crimson Rosella.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
'Reds under the bed' - 75 years on from the Communist Party case
In 1951 the High Court witnessed one of Australia's most high profile legal battles: the Communist Party case. The case saw future Chief Justice of Australia…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastTrust, betrayal and family - the Framing by Fernanda Dahlstrom
In her new book The Framing, lawyer Fernanda Dahlstrom unpacks her past and the crime that sent her mother to jail when she was eight years-old.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast48 down: America's largest crossword puzzle tournament turns 48
The oldest and largest crossword event in the United States, The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is celebrating its largest attendance ever this year. It…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
What's in the Children’s Online Privacy Code?
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has published a draft of the Children’s Online Privacy Code. It contains new rules to create better…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
New Gang Suppression Force arrives in Haiti
A new UN-backed Gang Suppression Force, led by Chad, has begun its deployment into Haiti. The new force hopes to succeed where its predecessor — the Kenyan-led…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Canada's secularism law tested in the Supreme Court
A constitutional brouhaha is brewing in Canada as the Supreme Court weighs legal arguments presented in a landmark case known as English Montreal School Board…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The Year that Made Me: Archbishop Kanishka Raffel, 1986
The Most Reverend Kanishka Raffel is the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. Kanishka was born into the Buddhist faith, but a chance conversation with a Christian…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Tweet of the week, 5 April 2026
This week's mystery caller likes woodland and open country right across mainland Australia — the Jacky Winter.
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastMelbourne institution Snuff Puppets could be snuffed out
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 funding cut…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastThe Aussie cinema that was ranked the 30th best in the world
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 Pictures in…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Is Viktor Orbán's rule in Hungary about to end?
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 wing…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast60 years of the National Folk Festival
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 the…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Hereditary Peers are getting the axe
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 were…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
How North Korea deploys forced labour in Russia
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 in the Life…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
40 years of Adelaide's "Frankenstein bus-rail hybrid"
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 remains…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Tweet of the week, 29 March 2026
This week's mystery caller occupies wooded habitats across the south and up the east – the Golden Whistler.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The Year that Made Me: Emily Strasser, 2009
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, had been a…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastSlavery and sex trafficking: uncovering the secrets of Australia's first Hollywood icon
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 became an icon…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The cost of living too long
Is the longevity of Australians in the 21st century actually a curse for future generations? Government spending on the elderly is predicted to grow…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Is it OK to drink in front of your kids?
As the negative effects of long-term alcohol use become clearer, it's a question that worries most modern parents: Is it OK to drink in front of your kids?…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Are refugees still welcome in regional Australia?
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 they feel…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The growing health burden of type 5 diabetes
Type 5 diabetes is fast becoming a significant public health issue in parts of sub-saharan Africa, rivalling infectious diseases like Malaria and HIV.
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Why aren't China and Russia helping Iran?
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 Iranian…
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastWhat's on at the Africa Film Fest?
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 from Ghana…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
The Year that Made Me: Dr Olivia Ong, 2008
Early in her medical career, Dr Olivia Ong decided that instead of becoming a neurosurgeon, she would go into rehabilitation medicine. Little could she know…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
All aboard the Freedom Plane for America's 250th birthday
The United States National Archives is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of America with a lofty, high-altitude initiative called the Freedom…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
What would you pay to visit the Twelve Apostles?
The state government of Victoria has announced that later this year a fee will be introduced for tourists visiting the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Seeking the elusive ghost elephant
Werner Herzog's documentary Ghost Elephants takes us deep into the remote Angolan Highlands, following conservationist Dr Steve Boyes and a team of Indigenous…
- Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast
Why spies still use WW1-era encrypted radio broadcasts
Short-wave radio enthusiasts have eagerly reported the appearance of Farsi-language encoded messages being broadcast out of Western Europe. The messages are…