Counterpoint - Separate Stories Podcast

Do the shifting demands of climate change, COVID and China mean that we need some new thinking around trade, investment and the economy? Is it time to open our borders and stop being fortress Australia? Did you know that adding rock dust to soil can help get carbon into the ground and the fascinating and cautiously optimistic world of tuna.

Has the US withdrawal from Afghanistan created a power vacuum in the region that will be filled by either China or Russia and what might that mean for the Gulf states? Is there such a thing as the mind and if there is where is it? Indigenous technology could benefit all of society and could help us all connect with Indigenous culture that continues to grow. Is there any future for the fishers and seabirds in Patagonia?

After the seemingly chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan should the United States pivot away from nation-building and toward global governance? Mass vaccinations mean that the end of COVID-19 is coming ever closer. Does the thought of reopening society make you anxious? Are the hand gestures that we use when speaking universal and the fascinating history of a most unlikely bird of prey.

Are we about to see a new kind of globalisation or it already here? Who is ranked first in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Safe City Index of 2021 and did any cities in Australian make the top ten? The dangers of light pollution and how did the Orangutan get its name?

Although a military conflict between China and Australia is highly unlikely, if it did happen would we be prepared? The story of ANZUS and Percy Spender and might you be a Luddite? Should you be one? Can todays woke ideology be compared to Stalinist Russia?

Has civil society become a luxury good? How can you argue well and why do you need to? Did you know that there are still people who believe that the earth is flat and why has the night sky dimmed?

Are there foreign agents working in Australia right now and if so, where are they from? We have a huge supply of rare-earth minerals in this country so why are we exporting them rather than manufacturing them? What happened when the smallpox vaccine was rolled out and what do you think birds use to make their nests nowadays?

Who are the sense-makers today? It used to be the clergy and the educated class including journalists but who is it now? Does society really benefit by acting in your own self interest or are we more connected than we ever thought possible? Are bees and other insects about to die out, never to return and how much do we really know about Neanderthals and their children?

Richard Branson started it, Jeff Bezos went further and Elon Musk wants to better them both. Billionaires in space, is it a vanity project or something more? How accurate are press releases based on abstracts, especially science abstracts? Can birds help preserve languages and cultures at risk of extinction and why has the Pangkarlangu returned?

When did inequality begin and why has it stayed? The Antarctic Treaty is 60 years old but is it still fit for purpose? Why do we think think that Africa didn't have scripts and what has it got to do with the fall of Carthage? There were large numbers of visitors to our shores before the arrival of Europeans. Recently found rock art explains who they were and why they came.