Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald

Trump, the Kushners and the rise of the US oligarchy 16.09.2026 28мин

Much has been made of Trump dispatching his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for high-stakes diplomatic missions to solve conflicts across the world, but what do we know of the rest of the Kushner family? Jared's father, Charles Kushner, is now ambassador to France, pardoned by Trump after a criminal conviction that included tax violations and witness tampering. And his younger brother, Josh Kushner, quietly bought an NBA team after a bruising, aborted deal to sell off pieces of the World Cup earlier this year. Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke go roaming through the Kushner story with investigative journalist and author Andrea Bernstein. She traces it from the family's escape from the Nazis in Poland, through Charles Kushner's spectacular fall, to Jared's current role as a "special government employee" operating with none of the disclosure obligations that usually apply in Washington. Bernstein's verdict: the US isn't drifting toward oligarchy anymore. It already is one. Guest: Andrew Bernstein, investigative journalist and author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Will Japan's weak yen trigger a global debt crisis? 15.09.2026 28мин

Global debt has passed 300 per cent of world GDP, bond yields are climbing across the world, and the U.S. war with Iran is putting pressure on households. Could we be facing the beginning of another global financial crisis? Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke sit down with the Financial Times Asia and Australia editor Robin Harding to explain how the bond market works, why it has such an impact on the economy, and why U.S. interventions have been lambasted by high-profile economists. Plus - how Australia passing one trillion dollars in debt might actually put us in a pretty safe spot, and how AI companies creating their own funding system could blow up in their faces. Guest: Robin Harding, Asia editor at the Financial Times Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Britain accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank 14.09.2026 29мин

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament the UK will ban trade with unlawful Israeli settlements days after publicly thanking Israel for sheltering his grandmother from the Nazis. Israel has shut the British consulate in East Jerusalem in response. Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue are joined by former diplomat and Managing Editor of International Intrigue Jeremy Dicker to unpack the fallout. Plus, a bombshell Haaretz report claiming Netanyahu was warned five days before October 7 (a claim his office denies), Javier Milei's revived push on the Falklands, and the funeral for war criminal Ratko Mladic that's put Serbia's EU bid in jeopardy. Guest: Jeremy Dicker, former diplomat and Managing Editor International Intrigue Mentioned in this episode: Revealed: Netanyahu Received an Explicit Warning Days Before Oct. 7. He Didn't Brief Israel's Security Chiefs - Haaretz Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

25 years since 9/11, has AUKUS made Australia stronger? 11.09.2026 29мин

In the five years since the AUKUS agreement was announced, can we still rely on our British and American allies? While most debate on AUKUS focuses on the United States and the promised Virginia-class submarines, the ultimate goal is the British-designed vessels. So how confident should Australia be that the UK can actually deliver? Acting British High Commissioner to Australia Dr Brian Jones joins Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly to discuss defence budgets, shipyard capacity, and the timetable for Australia's most ambitious military acquisition. They also discuss Britain's new prime minister, and whether Andy Burnham can finally bring the UK into its post-Brexit place in the world. Plus - how does the UK feel about China's increasing forays into the Pacific? Guest: Dr Brian Jones, Acting British High Commissioner to Australia. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

As Myanmar's civil war intensifies, Rohingya Muslims face violence once again 10.09.2026 29мин

Nine years after more than a million Rohingya fled Myanmar, Bangladesh wants them to return. But return to what? As Myanmar's civil war intensifies, the Rohingya are caught between the military that drove them from their homes and the powerful Arakan Army now reshaping the battlefield in Rakhine State. Award-winning filmmaker and investigative journalist Ali Fowle joins Latika Bourke and Laura Tingle to unpack her new Al Jazeera documentary, Bloodshed on the Border. She explains how the Rohingya are being drawn into the conflict, why villages are being destroyed once again, and how a forgotten crisis has become even more dangerous. Plus: who is the Arakan Army, how did it become one of Myanmar's most effective rebel forces, and why does Bangladesh still hope to repatriate refugees despite the continuing war? Guest: Ali Fowle, documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist. You can watch Bloodshed on the Border here Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

How Giorgia Meloni built Italy's most stable government since Mussolini 09.09.2026 29мин

Giorgia Meloni has become Italy's longest continuously serving prime minister since Mussolini - no small feat in a country that usually burns through leaders in under a year. Once written off as a fringe far-right risk, she's since charmed Brussels and shared a book preface with Donald Trump. That was until Trump attacked the Pope and made a demeaning remark about her at the G7, and the honeymoon soured. At home, she's just lost a referendum, wages are among the lowest in Europe, and a more radical challenger, retired general Roberto Vannacci, polling at eight per cent and rising, is squeezing her from the right. Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello joins Global Roaming to unpack the split between Meloni's international and domestic image. Guest: Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello, senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and senior research fellow at the European University Institute. Mentioned in this episode: Giorgia Meloni Cuts the Hard Right a Path to Power, New York Times Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The AfD are winning elections: Is the German far-right back? 08.09.2026 29мин

A far-right party is on the verge of forming a German state government for the first time since World War II. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has surged in Saxony-Anhalt, raising questions that extend well beyond one regional election. Is this the latest chapter in a political shift that has been building across Europe for more than a decade? Or could it mark a deeper break with the post-war order that shaped modern Germany, the European Union and NATO? Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly examine the rise of the AfD, why eastern Germany has become its strongest base, and what reunification left unresolved. They trace the broader populist wave from the global financial crisis to Orbán, Brexit, Meloni, Le Pen and Trump, and ask whether Germany's political "firewall" against the far right is beginning to crack. Plus: Waleed reflects on the arguments behind his new Quarterly Essay, What Future for Liberalism? and why he believes the challenge facing liberal democracy runs deeper than any single election result. You can find Waleed's Quarterly Essay here Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Is China gutting Germany's car industry while Trump grades NATO on loyalty? 07.09.2026 29мин

China shock 2.0 has arrived and this time it's not the US rust belt in the firing line, it's Germany's beating industrial heart. Geraldine Doogue and Nick Bryant are joined by Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council on Foreign Relations to unpack how a flood of Chinese exports is hollowing out the car industry that Germany built its post-war identity on. With up to 1.1 million jobs exposed and the far-right AfD looking increasingly competitive, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is clinging to the lowest approval rating of any German leader in memory. Plus, the Pentagon has sent a leaked questionnaire asking NATO allies to prove their loyalty to Washington, including whether they backed the recent strikes on Iran, and Shapiro makes the contrarian case that Obama's much-mocked Syria "red line" retreat wasn't weakness at all, but one of the smartest diplomatic wins in modern US history. Guest: Jeremy Shapiro, European Council on Foreign Relations Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Alliance | Does the US value Australia? 04.09.2026 29мин

After a week examining the history, logic and limits of the ANZUS alliance, Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue turn to the American perspective. Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci joins the podcast to discuss how alliances are viewed in Washington, whether America's partners should trust Donald Trump, and why he believes the next few years could test the West's security architecture. Along the way, Hamish and Geraldine reflect on what they've learned from former prime ministers, historians and defence thinkers: Was ANZUS always driven more by interests than values? Is Australia more strategically important to the US than we realise? And in an increasingly uncertain world, can Canberra say no to Washington and still rely on the alliance when it matters most? It's the final chapter of The Alliance series and a conversation about the question at the heart of Australia's foreign policy: if the old assumptions no longer hold, where do we go from here? Guest: Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

The Alliance | Has Australia sold its sovereignty to the US? 03.09.2026 29мин

Andrew Hastie, the Liberal MP for Canning and Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability, joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald for the fourth instalment of The Alliance, marking 75 years of ANZUS. A former SAS soldier who deployed to Afghanistan and Middle East, Hastie traces his own path into the military back to a family story from World War II, and argues that Australia's deepening reliance on the US, from Pine Gap to AUKUS, has come at the cost of diminishing Australia's sovereignty. He makes the case for Australia investing in its own drone and AI capability, questions whether the public is being prepared for what the alliance might demand of them in a future conflict, and reflects on why he still sees the US as indispensable to Australia's security despite his reservations about the Trump administration. Guest: MP and former military officer, Andrew Hastie. Coming up on The Alliance: former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Alliance | If the US and China go to war, whose side are we on? Kevin Rudd answers 02.09.2026 40мин

Fear of China and Japan has long defined Australia's foreign policy. Could there be a new way forward? In the third episode of The Alliance, Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue put that question to Kevin Rudd: former prime minister, former foreign minister, and, until recently, Australia's ambassador to the United States. Rudd makes the case for what he calls "ANZUS Plus": not a straight bet on Washington, but a widening web of security arrangements layered on top of the US alliance rather than instead of it. He defends the joint facilities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia as genuinely different from US sovereign bases, arguing Australia retains the right to say no, as it did over Iraq. On China, Rudd draws on the doctorate he completed on Xi Jinping's worldview, arguing Xi has deliberately shifted Chinese politics further left on ideology, further left on economics, and further nationalist on foreign policy and warns against ever underestimating him. He also lays out the numbers behind the region's naval build-up: China's submarine fleet, its expanding surface fleet, and how the US calculates the "pacing challenge" against it. Plus, why Rudd calls Japan's military future 'a work in progress.' Guest: Kevin Rudd, former Australian prime minister, former foreign minister, former Ambassador to the U.S. Coming up on The Alliance: MP and former military officer Andrew Hastie; and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Alliance | Why did we ally with the US in the first place? 01.09.2026 29мин

The ANZUS treaty might be based more on cynical self-interest than a shared system of democratic values. In this episode of The Alliance mini-series, Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue trace the origins of Australia's most important strategic partnership and examine how it has evolved through the Cold War, Vietnam, the War on Terror and the rise of China. Historian Michael Wesley and U.S. politics scholar Timothy Lynch explore why ANZUS was created, why Washington wanted the deal in the first place, and whether the alliance has always been far less certain than Australians assume. They also examine the key tension between Australia's fear of being abandoned in a time of conflict, and the United States' fear of being entangled in a war it doesn't want or need. As Donald Trump forces allies around the world to question old assumptions, the discussion turns to whether Australia still needs to prove its value to Washington, or whether its geography, intelligence facilities and strategic position make it more important to the United States than many Australians realise. At 75, ANZUS remains a cornerstone of Australian foreign policy. But is the alliance stronger, more flexible and more durable than we think? Or is it time to rethink what it was designed to do in the first place? Guest: Prof. Michael Wesley & Prof. Timothy J. Lynch, University of Melbourne. Coming up on The Alliance: Former prime minister and US ambassador Kevin Rudd; MP and former military officer Andrew Hastie; and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

The Alliance | Does Australia Still Need America? John Howard on Trump, ANZUS and AUKUS 31.08.2026 29мин

In a special series this week, Global Roaming is checking the use-by date on our relationship with the U.S. Signed on 1st September 1951, the ANZUS treaty has been the lynch-pin of Australia's security and foreign policy. As we approach the 75th anniversary of the alliance, it is perhaps more challenged and questioned than ever before; Can Australia trust the U.S? Is the U.S a good ally? Are our interests and values aligned? In the first episode of The Alliance, Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue put these questions to John Howard, the only Australian prime minister ever to invoke it. Howard explains how the decision to invoke ANZUS after the September 11 terror attacks came together on the flight home from Washington, defends AUKUS as a direct outgrowth of that loyalty, and repeats his on-the-record criticism of Donald Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election. Plus, how much of the ANZUS treaty is based on fear of China? John Howard weighs in, comparing the China of Jiang Zemin with what he calls the more "aggressive and disruptive" China of Xi Jinping. Guest: former Australian prime minister John Howard Coming up on The Alliance: Former prime minister and US ambassador Kevin Rudd; historians Timothy Lynch and Michael Wesley; MP and former military officer Andrew Hastie; and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Her father fled the Taliban by boat. She became the first Afghan woman in the Australian army 28.08.2026 29мин

At age nine, Kbora Ali arrived in Australia as an Afghan refugee after her family fled Taliban rule. Less than a decade later, she became the first Afghan woman to join the Australian Army. In this deeply personal conversation, Kbora reflects on her journey from Afghanistan and Pakistan to suburban Adelaide, the challenges of growing up Hazara, and her determination to serve the country that gave her family safety and a future. She speaks to Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly candidly about belonging, identity, military life, and the deeply difficult choice she made to remove her headscarf when she first arrived at Kapooka. Now an Air Force flying officer, and co-author, along with her sister, of her new memoir First of Her Kind, Kabora shares a story that sits at the intersection of migration, service, multicultural Australia and the enduring consequences of war. Guest: Kbora Ali, Air Force flying officer and co-author of First of Her Kind. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

How big tech is creating the next Donald Trump 27.08.2026 29мин

Nobel Peace laureate and Rappler founder Maria Ressa sits down with Hamish McDonald at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney to make the case that the algorithms in your pocket, not any one leader, are manufacturing the conditions for authoritarian rule worldwide. Ressa says 74 per cent of the world now lives under authoritarian rule, that only a quarter of the open web is still open, and that most internet traffic is now non-human. She lays out an "authoritarian stack": Peter Thiel bankrolling Donald Trump and JD Vance, Palantir winning a US $10 billion military contract, and Silicon Valley firms wiring themselves into state power. Closer to home, Ressa questions Australia's push for so-called sovereign artificial intelligence, and asks whether the ABC should feed its audio archive to Anthropic to train American models, a deal she calls a "Faustian bargain". She also talks to press freedom, big tech starving newsrooms of revenue, and on whether journalism can survive at all. Guest: Maria Ressa, Rappler founder, Nobel Laureate and journalist Mentioned in this Episode: Is a unified Korea a lost cause? Justice Michael Kirby has hope, Global Roaming Helen Clark defends Fauci pleading the fifth and says Trump's vaccine cuts could cost lives, Global Roaming Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Helen Clark defends Fauci pleading the fifth and says Trump's vaccine cuts could cost lives 26.08.2026 29мин

Helen Clark led New Zealand as Prime Minister for nearly nine years and she hasn't slowed down since. Now the Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Clark spoke to Global Roaming at a moment when vaccines have become a genuine political battleground. Clark talks to Hamish Macdonald about Trump's executive order to cut the recommended childhood vaccine schedule, RFK Jr.'s rise at the top of US health policy, and why she thinks Anthony Fauci pleading the Fifth before a Senate committee isn't necessarily what it looks like. She also raises a crisis that's had almost no attention: a fast-growing HIV outbreak in Fiji, driven by drug use and a lack of harm-reduction infrastructure. Plus: the misogyny and threats faced by women in politics - including, she says, threats to Jacinda Ardern far beyond what she or Julia Gillard ever experienced - and the story of the Tampa refugees New Zealand took in, and the search to reunite them with their families. Guest: Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand & Board Chair, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

As Israel rejects a criminal investigation into Zomi Frankcom's death, is international law dead? 25.08.2026 29мин

In April 2024, an Israeli strike hit a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza, killing Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and and six of her colleagues. Two years later, on World Humanitarian Day, the Israeli military said that its commanders' decisions did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct and said it would not pursue a criminal case. In a joint statement, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom called the announcement "shameful". It comes as the United States sanctions International Criminal Court (ICC) judges and Secretary of State Marco Rubio vows to dismantle the court "brick by brick", in retaliation for its arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Laura Tingle and Latika Bourke ask whether international law is collapsing, and what middle powers like Australia can still do about it. Their guest, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Philippe Bolopion, warns that impunity is back as democracy slides to its lowest levels since the late 1970s. He makes his case for a coalition of middle power democracies, including Australia, to push back. Guest: Philippe Bolopion, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Taliban's rule over Afghanistan is starting to crack 24.08.2026 29мин

As rebel forces grow in strength, and tensions rise their once-friendly neighbour Pakistan, how long can the Taliban rule? The Australian's Asia-Pacific correspondent Amanda Hodge joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald to assess the Taliban's record in the 5 years since the last U.S. troop left Afghanistan. Plus, a so-called 'super El Niño' weather pattern is on its way. In Australia it's likely to bring dry conditions and a higher risk of fire, but across South-East Asia, the effects could be even more catastrophic. What are the consequences of weather that could serious slow or even reverse the explosive economic growth in the region? And a running club in Bali has come under fire for prioritising digital nomads and ex-pats over Indonesian residents, reviving debate on Indonesian's colonial past, and how to balance Bali's status as a tourist destination with the dignity of the local citizens. Plus, Amanda, Geraldine, and Hamish share what they've been reading and watching recently. Guest: Amanda Hodge, Asia-Pacific corresondent with The Australian Recommendations: Amanda – Joe Strummer and the Legend of The Clash by Kris Needs Geraldine – Greg Bearup's article on the death of Kumantjayi Tjapaltjarri Hamish - Tampa: The Turning Point available on ABC iview Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

The case for optimism: Michael Kirby looks beyond the dire headlines 21.08.2026 29мин

Has the world taken a wrong turn, or are we simply losing sight of how much progress has already been made? In the second part of this conversation, former Justice of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby reveals why, after years of working in the courts and in international aid, he is convinced that the world is moving in the right direction. Pointing to progress made in the treatment of AIDS and other world pandemics, the growing acceptance and visibility of LGBTQIA+ people, and the spread of universal education, Michael Kirby says that there are reasons to be hopeful. But, he adds, we cannot remain complacent against threats of fascism, climate change, and allowing irrationality to return to the forefront. In this expansive chat, Hamish Macdoanld and Waleed Aly ask Michael Kirby whether public trust in law and experts has been irreparably harmed, and whether political upheavals across the world are a sign of temporary unrest, or a symptom of something much deeper. Plus - what role does the media have in fostering a sense of pessimism or fatalism in the public? Guest: Michael Kirby AC, former justice of the High Court of Australia Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Is a unified Korea a lost cause? Justice Michael Kirby has hope 20.08.2026 29мин

How do you begin mending one of the most destructive political divides in modern history? That is the challenge that former High Court of Australia justice Michael Kirby faced when he led a UN inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea in 2013. Despite being confronted with brutal repression and repeated failures of negotiation, Kirby remains hopeful that progress can be made, and that the United Nations has an irreplaceable role in facilitating communication between either side of the Korean DMZ. In this first part of an expansive two-part episode, Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly join Justice Michael Kirby to discuss his history in international governance, his impressions of leaders like Donald Trump and George W. Bush, and how nuclear weapons have completely changed the future of the region. Plus: how a very stern teacher and his cane gave Michael his first taste of injustice. Guest: Michael Kirby AC, former justice of the High Court of Australia Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]