Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

Former Liberal leader John Hewson says after two years the National Anti-Corruption Commission has failed in its mission to properly investigate allegations of systemic corruption. Hewson takes issue with the lack of action over things like procurement contracts and political pork-barrelling.  He says we need an integrity commission which is prepared to have public meetings and that without that it can't be effective. GUEST: John Hewson, professor at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and former Liberal opposition leader.PRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer

During the 1920s, dozens of expeditions scoured the Chinese and Tibetan wilderness in search of the panda bear, a beast that many believed did not exist.  When the two eldest sons of President Theodore Roosevelt sought the bear in 1928, they had little hope of success. But they ultimately introduced the panda to the West Guest: Nathalia Holt, author of ‘The beast in the clouds: the Roosevelt brothers’ deadly quest to find the mythical giant panda’ (Simon & Schuster) Producer: Ann Arnold

In 2023, the disgraced chief of the mercenary Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin, took off in his private jet from Moscow airport. The flight did not last long. Nine people died with him when the plane – it seems – blew up in midair. A few weeks earlier, Prigozhin had led his mercenaries fighting in Ukraine on a march towards Moscow. Vladimir Putin did not pretend to mourn his death. So what’s been the fate of the Wagner Group?GUEST: Candace Rondeaux, Senior Director for the Future Frontlines program at New America, and author, “Putin's Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia's Collapse into Mercenary Chaos”. PRODUCER: Ali Benton

In China, more wind turbines and solar panels were installed last year than in the rest of the world combined.  Chinese companies are building electric vehicle and battery factories in Brazil, Thailand, Morocco, Hungary and beyond. The superpower is well on its way to world energy dominance. Guest: Jennifer Turner, former director of the Washington-based Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum. Non-resident Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub Producer: Ann Arnold

“Everything around people at the moment is death, whether it’s bombs or strikes, children wasting away in front of their eyes from malnourishment, from dehydration, and dying.” Reports from aid workers in Gaza describe a horror show, with the UN warning that deadly malnutrition among children is reaching catastrophic levels. The entire population is facing acute food insecurity, and nearly half a million are in the catastrophic phase of malnutrition since Israel began its blockade on March 2.  Médecins Sans Frontières says a sustained flow of food and medical supplies must be urgently allowed into Gaza.GUEST: Dr Emmanuel Berbain, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) nutrition specialistPRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer

The United Status has terminated the temporary protected status for Afghanistan, stripping protection from deportation from 11,700 Afghans already in the States. They have also closed the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts office, citing improved security conditions in Afghanistan. But refugee advocates and former US Afghanistan veterans say this will put these people in danger, especially those who aided US forces against the Taliban. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has become one of the most unsafe places in the world for women and millions of people are facing food and water shortages due to climate change. GUEST: Dr Erin McFee, Founder and President, the Corioli Institute, a US-based not-for-profit working with confronting the legacies of armed conflictPRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer

Australia will phase out cheque payments and processing by 2030, but most banks and consumers moved on long ago. Cheques have been used for cashless payment around the world for some 350 years. Should we mourn or welcome their inevitable demise? Guest: Ross Buckley, Scientia Professor of Law at UNSWProducer: Jack Schmidt

It started in 2020 as a small activist group, and is now banned under UK terrorism laws. Palestine Action’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, is challenging the British government’s decision in court, calling the ban "an authoritarian power grab". And at the next general election, the UK will lower the age of eligible voters from 18 to 16 — a reform that will give an additional 1.6 million British citizens the right to vote. Guest: Ian Dunt, columnist with i-news; co-host of the Origin Story podcastProducer: Ali Benton

The price of rice in Japan has doubled in the past year, and the nation's emergency stockpile is dwindling. A poor harvest in 2023 is partly to blame, but Japan is reckoning with much deeper structural problems in its domestic rice market. Decades of rigid protectionism have created an artificial scarcity, and consumers are feeling the pinch. Guest: Ethan Wu, Asia business and finance editor at The EconomistProducer: Jack Schmidt

A new report by Amnesty International shows a startling surge in drug-related executions in Saudi Arabia since they abandoned their moratorium on capital punishment in 2022. And most of them are foreigners. GUEST: Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty's Deputy Regional Director for Amnesty International Middle-East and North AfricaPRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer