Life Matters - Separate stories podcast

Epizody

• How to share the mental load before you reach burnout 17.07.2026 41min

  It's time to talk about the mental load — that invisible, unpaid form of labour that keeps a household running.  When it comes to two-parent families, research shows women do 50 per cent more housework than men, and double the amount of caring duties.  But the mental load is about more than juggling the significant burden of daily life admin. So what would it look like if that was equally shared? 
• Ask Aunty: Could sleep divorce be the key to a better sex life? 17.07.2026 10min

  This week, the Aunties share their advice with a listener who wants a sleep divorce — the trick is convincing her partner it'll be better for their sex life. Plenty of couples sleep in separate beds and maintain their intimacy and connection, so how do you get past the stigma?
• Bek Condello on rebuilding a life after leaving a doomsday church 16.07.2026 15min

  Imagine being told, every day, that today could be the day the world ends. That was the message drilled into Bek Condello for as long as she could remember. Raised in a strict doomsday church, Bek has written about her experience growing up, and how leaving her community led her to rebuild her entire life. 
• Will new rules for AI companies shift the needle on public trust? 16.07.2026 21min

  The federal government's setting up an Office of AI to lay out some ground rules for companies that want to build centres in Australia.  In Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's words, it's about "shaping the future, rather than letting the future shape us".  Broadly Australians are getting on board, with more than 13.6 million Australians regularly using AI tools. But there are pockets of resistance too.  So what does this say about our trust in AI, and the global corporations developing these tools? And will the government's new regulations be enough to ensure those overseeing the AI transition are acting in Australians' best interests?
• The Grandparent Trap: Jacqueline Harvey on how grandparenting brought a blended family closer together 16.07.2026 7min

  When children's author Jacqueline Harvey became "Nanny Jac" to her step-daughter's gorgeous son two years ago, it brought a totally new kind of love into her life. 
• Ask Aristotle: Should you own a T-Rex? 16.07.2026 7min

  On Tuesday night in New York one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons sold for $71 million. The skeleton, nicknamed Gus, is from the Late Cretaceous period and is approximately 67 million years old. The buyer of Gus has not yet been disclosed, but it begs the question: should any one person own an item like this?
• Head and Heart: Entering the friend zone 15.07.2026 10min

  No matter how old you are, making friends is tricky business. But at least in your youth, you had the time to get to know someone slowly, at school or university, where a relationship can build naturally. With the daily demands of adult life, even if you have enough in common with people you see at pilates, school drop-off or work, it's hard to find the time to road-test that relationship. So without the luxury of time, how do you get out of the acquaintance zone, and into the friend zone?
• The kids love democracy, just ask Hannah Ferguson 15.07.2026 15min

  If you go by the generational stereotypes of disgruntled and disaffected youth, it's easy to assume that young people don't care about anything, and simply aren't interested in politics or what's happening around them. But you'd be wrong. According to new research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies, it's not that young people are disengaged - they're actually just engaging in different ways than the generations before them. So where does this perception that young people don't care come from? And what are the issues that are driving the to action?
• Finding love off the apps and outside your comfort zone 15.07.2026 21min

  Gayle is looking for love again in her 40s. She spent some time scouring the dating apps, but now she's ditched them in an effort to find someone offline. Well, kind of offline. She's also documenting her journey on social media.  So what is the best way to find a new relationship in mid-life, are people having more success offline than on — or are we just evolving past dating apps?
• David Wenham reflects on the life of his friend Sam Neill 14.07.2026 9min

  News of Sam Neill's sudden death, at the age of 78, has been felt right around the world. He gave so many unforgettable performances, from Jurassic Park and The Piano to Peaky Blinders, but away from the cameras, he found his greatest peace on his beloved farm New Zealand. He's being remembered not just an extraordinary actor, but a beautiful person whose warmth, wit, and talent touched millions.
• Do you need a getting stuff done party? 14.07.2026 14min

  Is there one task on your to-do list that keeps you up at night? It takes up a lot of mental headspace and you could just do it, but for some reason you just… don't. One option for getting through this struggle is holding a "getting stuff done" party, where people get together with their reports, taxes, forms and tick off the collective tasks as a group. But why do we need these and how do they work?
• The co-housing model for older women putting friendship at the centre 14.07.2026 20min

  There's a critical lack of affordable housing options across the board, and data suggests older women — who typically retire with less in savings and superannuation than men — are particularly vulnerable. The number of older women experiencing homelessness has more than doubled in the last eight years. It's a complex problem, and there's no silver bullet. But one potential solution aimed at the "missing middle" involves a co-housing model that puts community front and centre.
• Smart glasses as an accessibility aid 13.07.2026 8min

  Last week on the program, Life Matters discussed the rise of smart glasses and the ethical quandaries they present in terms of privacy.  But for some users, these accessories offer more than convenience or street cred. For people with low or no vision, using smart glasses as an accessibility aid can be life-changing.
• The Grandparent Trap: What Lynne McGranger wants to teach her twin granddaughters 13.07.2026 5min

  What's better — becoming a grandmother or winning a gold Logie? Star of the screen and stage Lynne McGranger has only been a nanna for six weeks, but it's a role she's been hoping to land her whole life.
• Diamonds are forever — so what do you do with it after divorce? 13.07.2026 12min

  When the love of your life is down on one knee, offering you a diamond ring, divorce is probably the last thing on your mind. But it's estimated that around 1 in 3 marriages in Australia will end that way, so what do you do with the ring after the person who gave it to you is no longer in the picture? Consider the divorce ring: take that piece of jewellery and turn it into something new. 
• The Grandparent Trap: When grandparenting stops being optional 13.07.2026 23min

  There are more than 100,000 children currently in some form of kinship care in Australia, and it's estimated more than half of those providing that care are grandparents. It's a family dynamic born out of a stark reality — when a parent can no longer look after their child, either a family member steps up or that child enters the formal out-of-home care system. And so the relationship shifts. In this episode of The Grandparent Trap, we're looking at raising children the second time around, what happens when grandparenting stops being optional.
• Ask Aunty: When dogsitting the grandpups goes horribly wrong 10.07.2026 10min

  It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye … this week the Aunties share some advice for a listener in hot water after a dogsitting disaster.
• How to pull yourself out of a career slump 10.07.2026 41min

  Has the rise of AI got you worried about how secure your job is? Do you feel like you lack the skills to take a leap and chase work you really love? Pulling yourself out of a career slump is hard work, but it's worth looking at the bigger picture. Because chances are your knowledge, experience and human skills could be transferred to any number of meaningful jobs out there. So how do you figure out where you might fit?
• How to bring truth-telling into the classroom 09.07.2026 17min

  When you're shaping the minds of the next generation, how do you bring truth-telling that encompasses 65,000 years of Indigenous people's history into the here and now?
• A different type of share house for older women 09.07.2026 16min

  Women over 55 are the fastest growing cohort experiencing homelessness in Australia. Women have been pushed to seek alternative living arrangements, something like a share house, but with systems in place to help iron out the challenges of living with strangers. The system is called a homeshare, and new research shows how this has worked for women in Queensland, with similar projects popping up in New South Wales and Victoria. But despite having a role to play in preventing homelessness — and addressing the housing crisis — it's a system that doesn't fit neatly into housing laws or homelessness supports. So what is it and could it prevent older women from becoming homeless?