Late Night Live — Full program podcast

The Public Service Commission is very sorry on behalf of the public service. Journalist Rick Morton updates on the Robodebt findings of the commission, plus more of what he has unearthed. Plus tea - with our without opium - has played a big role in the history and geopolitics of Iran. 

Political analyst Niki Savva says if it doesn't change course, Labor is set to lose its majority and become the first one term government since 1931. Two year's on from Mahsa Amini's killing for not wearing her hijab correctly, a new book argues the feminist uprising it sparked in Iran speaks of a significant cultural and generational shift in acceptance of the theocratic state. Plus the precarious world of outback opal mining. 

Eric Beecher looks back at some of the media dynasties through history including the Murdochs, how they use and abuse their power. And on Flinders Island in the Bass Strait, restoration work on the Aboriginal settlement Wybalenna has stalled. It is a significant cultural site where many Tasmanian Aboriginal people were sent in 1831. Only 47 survived.

Bruce Shapiro dissects the US presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. And art critic Sebastian Smee on how the dazzling light of Impressionism emerged from the darkness of 1870s France. 

A six year long inquiry has found that the reasons for London's Grenfell Tower block fire were developing over a 25 year period. Analyst Anatol Lieven argues that recent attacks by both Russia and Ukraine have achieved little. And it's 100 years since the birth of New Zealand writer Janet Frame..

Political correspondent Laura Tingle on Australia's slow economic growth. Journalist Paola Totaro asks why those convicted of financial crimes in the Vatican are not yet behind bars. And Benjamin Law on the power and politics of portrait painting.  

Alfred Dreyfus was an officer in the French Army when he was arrested 130 years ago for treason, convicted and sent to Devils Island for 5 years in solitary confinement.  His battle for justice divided the population of France and fascinated people across the globe.  How much of his persecution can be put down to antisemitism and why is this case still so relevant?Guest: Maurice Samuels, author of Alfred Dreyfus: The man at the centre of the affair (Yale University Press)

Mass protests in Israel indicate a clear dissatisfaction with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the hostage situation, but polls show support for the war on Gaza remains high. Plus the Aussie women who fell in love with America and the freedom it offered them, a century ago. 

For more than 1000 years, India was a trading powerhouse across the globe - not only of spices, wild animals and gemstones but also of language, philosophy, religion, mathematics and astronomy. But why is this part of India's history not so well known, and why did its dominance wane about 1200 AD?Guest: William Dalrymple, historian, podcaster and author of The Golden Road How Ancient India Transformed the World (Bloomsbury)For information about WIlliam Dalrymple's tour to Australia in October please click here.

Analysis of current events to the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and culture.