
Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald
A war breaks out, a leader emerges, a revolution unfolds. How did it happen, and what are the implications for you?
Two award-winning journalists with decades of experience reporting on major world events, Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald join forces for a fresh conversation about global news and how to make sense of it.
Along with expert guests, they take a single topic and examine it with Australian eyes. Challenging, thoughtful and fun, Global Roaming is your user's guide to what the world is talking about.
Latest episodes

Mar 1, 2025 • 0sec
🚨🚨🚨 WTF just happened in the White House? Trump vs Zelenskyy
Hamish and Geraldine react to the showdown in Washington DC as Donald Trump seemingly all but abandons support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. Guest: Nick Bryant - Host of Saturday Extra and former Washington correspondent for the BBC.Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Feb 28, 2025 • 33min
Australia's spy chief Mike Burgess
Australia's top spy sits down for a candid conversation with Hamish and Geraldine about the modern art of spycraft and the current threats - foreign and domestic - facing Australia.Guest: Mike Burgess - Director-General of Security in charge of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.Recommendations:Geraldine: The Rest is Politics: Leading - The new President of SyriaHamish: There's a term for what Trump and Musk are doing - Anne ApplebaumGet in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Feb 24, 2025 • 0sec
AUKUS INVESTIGATED 02: Bang for buck?
The plan for us to acquire nuclear submarines has been dubbed the 'Optimal Pathway', but achieving it will be no mean feat. In this episode we explore what the scheme involves, what the key challenges are to making it work, and we get some cold hard facts about what it is really going to cost us. NOTE: This podcast was first released on 20 December 2024.GUESTS:Jennifer Parker - expert associate at the national security college ANU, an adjunct fellow at UNSW, and associate fellow at the Council on Geostrategy.Vice Admiral Peter Jones - a retired senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), who served as the Chief Capability Development Group (CCDG) from 2011 until his retirement in October 2014.Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead - the inaugural Director-General of the Australian Submarine Agency.GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Feb 21, 2025 • 29min
Germany’s triple threat: the Far Right, Russia and Trump
If you think political shifts in Germany don't effect the rest of the world, think again. The country has been rocked by the interference of American Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, who are openly backing the far-right, and the security of Europe may hang on whoever takes power next. Guest: Dr Constanze Stelzenmüller - Director of the Center on the United States and Europe and the inaugural holder of the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and trans-Atlantic Relations at Brookings.Recommendations:Geraldine: Who will defend Europe? Keir Giles, FT.Hamish: German Election Campaign Flooded with Fake News and Videos Spiegel International.Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Feb 17, 2025 • 30min
AUKUS INVESTIGATED 01: That Fella Down Under
In a special mini-series, Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald get the answers to all your burning questions about AUKUS. In this first episode, we investigate how AUKUS came about - who spoke to who, what the true motivation was for going nuclear and whether the total secrecy around the deal was justified. NOTE: This podcast was first released on 20 December 2024.GUESTS: Andrew Fowler - investigative journalist and author of Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty (MUP), which won the 2024 Walkley Book Award.Scott Morrison - 30th Prime Minister of Australia, now Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the US-headquartered advisory and consulting firm American Global Strategies LLC and member of several advisory boards, including the DYNE Strategic Advisory Board.GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Feb 14, 2025 • 36min
AUKUS: Your questions answered
We've handed over $798 million to the US, but can we really be sure that President Trump is as 'supportive' of AUKUS as we've been told? It's just one of the burning questions you've been sending us about AUKUS, that we'll be answering in this special Q&A episode of Global Roaming. Guests: Jennifer Parker - Expert Associate at ANU’s National Security College, wo has over 20 years of service with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).Rex Patrick - former Senator for South Australia and earlier a submariner in the armed forces. Rex is running for the Senate on the Lambie Network ticket this year. Recommendations:Jennifer: The Hunt for Red OctoberRex: Down PeriscopeGet in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Feb 7, 2025 • 32min
With friends like Trump: Canada's perfect storm
Canada has a lot going on right now. It's facing a potential trade war with the United States, President Trump wants it to become the 51st US state and its long-standing leader Justin Trudeau is set to depart in March, ahead of a general election where a Conservative victory looks likely. Former leader of Canada's Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff joins Geraldine and Hamish to discuss why he is taking President Trump's threats very seriously, and why he thinks we should too. Guest: Michael Ignatieff - former leader of the Liberal party of Canada. He teaches history at Central European University, Vienna. Audio grab courtesy of Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.Recommendations:Geraldine: Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics, by Michael IgnatieffHamish: Syria's new Islamist president consolidates power, Financial TimesGet in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Jan 31, 2025 • 29min
Is China winning the AI arms race?
A scrappy Chinese startup turned the tech world on its head this week, when news broke that DeepSeek had developed a competitive AI model much faster and cheaper than anyone thought possible. Does this mean China has pulled ahead in the arms race that could define our time? And what's really at stake in the battle for AI supremacy?Guest: Alice Han - an expert in Chinese macroeconomics, political economy, and global fintech and the Director of China at Greenmantle.Recommendations:Geraldine: Rogue Russia: nuclear poker - Slow Newscast podcast by Tortoise Media Hamish: A bushwalkGet in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Jan 24, 2025 • 30min
'Be warned': John Bolton on Trump 2.0
Geraldine and Hamish ask Donald Trump’s longest serving national security advisor whether there is method to what seems like madness in President Trump’s foreign policy announcements, and they get a message for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Guest: Ambassador John Bolton - served as national security adviser under US President Donald Trump for 17 months and is the author of "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir". Recommendations:Geraldine: Canada, Trump and the new world order by Michael IgnatieffHamish: Freedom by Angela MerkelGet in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

12 snips
Dec 20, 2024 • 30min
AUKUS Investigated 06: Premier Peter Malinauskas
In this discussion, Peter Malinauskas, the Premier of South Australia since March 2022, dives into the AUKUS deal's profound impacts on his state. He emphasizes the massive potential for job creation, estimating 20,000 new roles from the program. The conversation also tackles the complex challenges of nuclear waste management, economic viability of civil nuclear power, and the crucial need for skilled labor. Malinauskas advocates for cohesive national leadership to harness AUKUS’s benefits while ensuring community support and strategic security.