Life Matters
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The Age of Reason: Amina Cachalia
A special BBC series, Age of Reason gives us the opportunity to hear stories of remarkable women in their 80s.
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21 years of social change
Life Matters is turning 21, and we’re looking back at our time on air. How has family life, communication, migration and power changed since 1992 and how has that affected who we are today? Join Natasha Mitchell as she delves into these topics with three very special guests from across the generations: Gen Y’er Samah Hadid, Australian Director of the Global Poverty Project, Gen X’er Matt Noffs from Street Universities, and baby boomer Linda Burney, deputy leader of the NSW Opposition.
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Bear is Now Asleep
William and Caroline Verity's three year old daughter India died when a dangerously unsafe soccer goal fell on her during a soccer gala day in the Southern Highlands of NSW in June 2003. Since her death, they have successfully campaigned to make soccer goals safe so this could never happen again in Australia. William has written a memoir about India's death and how the experience has changed him. This interview was first broadcast in 2007.
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Child-friendly cities
The design of cities can encourage children to play and travel independently. Parental attitudes also need to change to reduce the fear of stranger danger so children have greater freedom to explore and experience the world.
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Nature Deficit Disorder
Contemporary children spend more time indoors, in front of a screen, than previous generations and they have less time to roam independently.
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Modern dilemmas: Should I have the baby?
Unplanned pregnancy isn't unusual but if you're not in a relationship, and the potential father doesn't want a child, is it ethical to proceed? The listener "Unsure" is trying to make the best decision for all concerned even though she wants to have the baby.
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Aquarius and Beyond: The Aquarius Festival 40 years on
The original organisers of what's often referred to as Australia's Woodstock -- the 1973 Nimbin Aquarius Festival -- are returning to the birthplace of Australia's counter-culture revolution to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
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Jabbed
Twenty or thirty years ago, it seemed almost no one questioned the science of vaccination -- and generation of parents had first hand memories of children they knew succumbing to polio, or dying of measles or whooping cough to skip their own kid's jabs.
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Friday Talkback: Taking a Punt
So why do you like to gamble, if you do? Do you just have a fun punt every now and then? Is gambling just a normal, healthy part of life in Australia?
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Your feedback
Yvonne wrote in response to Life Matters 21st Birthday Celebration.
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Better Late Than Never Baby
When Serena Kirby found out she was unexpectedly pregnant at 42 she found very little information directed at her age group, this prompted her to write a book she hopes will help others. It’s called Better late than never baby: Becoming a Mother Later in Life; things I wish I’d known. Research has shown the number of Australian women having a baby later in life has tripled in the last thirty years, births to women over forty have doubled in the last decade, and one quarter of these women...
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Budget 2013
The government has outlined its funding strategy for the NDIS and the Gonski school reforms. In the face of a deficit, they have cut and delayed spending in other areas. So who were the winners and losers? How did you fare? Join economics correspondent Peter Martin as we review the budget.
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Crossing Genders: Roberta Perkins
Author, academic, and transgender person Roberta Perkins spoke with Norman Swan in 1997. They discussed how people decide to change their gender, and talked about the results of a study she had done of 146 people who had gone through a transgender operation—how they fared after the operation and how their communities reacted to them.
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Early Childhood Education: has it changed in over 15...
In 1997, Norman Swan spoke with Rosalie Kinson and Collette Tayler about what was happening around the country with kindergartens and early childhood education.
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Frank McCourt and Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt speaks with Norman Swan in 1997 about his life in Ireland and the United States of America, and his memoir Angela's Ashes.
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Modern dilemmas: time to let go?
Mothers are expected to put their own dreams on hold for their children.
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I am eleven grows up
I am Eleven is a film that is a window into the world of eleven-year-olds from fifteen countries across the globe. Their view on everything from love and family to their hopes for the future. Australian filmmaker Genevieve Bailey made the film after reflecting on her favourite age, the age between childhood and teens where anything is possible. Since its cinematic release in 2012 it has won a swag of awards both here in Australia and internationally. The children involved are now in their...
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A fair go
Treasurer Wayne Swan says we're in danger of losing the Australian tradition of a fair go. But what do we mean by a fair go and is it really under threat?
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Friday Talkback: fear
What are you afraid of? What keeps you awake in the dark of the night? Do you use fear to motivate you to great feats, or does it stop you from living your life? Today's talkback is all about what gets your heart pumping.
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The age of reason: Professor Romila Thapar
A special BBC series, Age of Reason talks to six octogenarians on how the world has changed for women in the last eight decades.
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Your feedback
The letter of the week is from Sue reflecting on her favourite Life Matters interview.
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Holy house swap
Imagine an opportunity to swap your faith for a time, to completely immerse yourself in the lifestyle and belief system of another. How confronting might this be? Holy Switch is a series that begins on Compass on ABC1 on May 12th that sees six devout young people live in the shoes and in some cases the robes of another for two weeks, and not know who, or what religion and culture they are taking on. Mobinah Ahmad is of the Muslim faith and Freeman Trebilcock is a Buddhist monk, and each took...
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Making Cents of Super, Part 4: Your Superannuation...
In the final instalment of our superannuation series, Making Cents of Super, we take a close look at your annual superannuation statement.
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Taking the test
The American Urological Society has just announced new protocols for prostate cancer screening. They've moved away from routine testing from the age of 40 and now recommend that men between 50 and 70 should weigh up the risks and benefits with their doctor. We discuss the implications for Australian men.
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Xinran Xue: the good women of China (live interview)
Earlier in this program we heard an excerpt of a 2002 interview with British-Chinese journalist, broadcaster and writer Xinran Xue.
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Terrorism: from 9/11 to home grown terror
In September 2001 Geraldine Doogue was presenting Life Matters when a terrorist attack struck the World Trade Centre in New York City. Back as part of our special programming to mark 21 years on air Geraldine tells Natasha Mitchell about her recollections of that time.
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Paul Keating talks on women in 1992
In June 1992 the then prime minister of Australia appeared for an extended interview with the host Geraldine Doogue.
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Xinran Xue: the good women of China (original interview)
In the late 1980s in China, Xinran Xue began a late night radio program called Words on the Night Breeze. Listeners were invited to call in to her program, and she was shocked by the stories she began to hear. Stories of incest and rape, and poverty.
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Modern dilemmas: Commitment phobia
How do you manage a partner who won't commit? Your partner decides to end your three-year relationship but a few days later you discover that you are pregnant. So should you encourage your partner to stay in touch in the hope that you'll reconcile or is it better to go it alone as a single parent?
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Youth bulge
In Australia, and most of the Western world we talk all the time about our ageing population—and the problems with healthcare, superannuation and pensions.
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It begins today: the Special Commission into child sex...
Australia’s first commission of inquiry into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church begins today in Newcastle. It’s an inquiry that runs separately to both the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse and the broader federal Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to child sex abuse.
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Yours, mine and ours
So many families now are yours, mine and ours. The adult partners have children from previous relationships and then go on to have a child of their own. It's not easy to manage the complexity of roles and networks which come with the territory and these families are at greater risk of breakdown. We'd like to hear about your experiences, as step-parent, step-child or biological parent.. Did you know what to expect when you formed a step-family? What's worked well and what have you struggled...
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Your feedback
Jane sent us this email in response to Elly Varrenti's piece about her week spent at a health retreat.
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BBC Age of Reason: Vigdis Finnbogadottir
A special BBC series, Age of Reason talks to six octogenarians on how the world has changed for women in the last eight decades.
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Engineering a change: Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Men dominate mining and engineering and it can be tough if you’re a single woman in a sea of men. But Yassmin Abdel Magied is used to challenging situations. A recent graduate in mechanical engineering, Sudanese-born Yassmin wears the hijab and loves boxing and car racing. Now working fly-in, fly-out, she writes about negotiating the tough, male work culture on the oil and gas rigs. Yassmin has also been recognised for her community work with the NGO Youth without Borders.
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Making Cents of Super, Part 3: Self Managed Super Funds
Self managed super funds are the fastest growing sector in the superannuation industry, but is it an option only for the wealthy? Why would you set up a self managed super fund and what are the potential pitfalls?
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Environmental justice: mining in the Hunter
Almost every day you can catch a news story about the mining industry in Australia. But on the ground, what's life actually like when you live among the mines?
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Sabour Bradley dives in head first
Head First is a series starting on ABC2 where filmmaker Sabour Bradley takes us inside the lives of ordinary Australians living in extraordinary circumstances.
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Your say on the federal election
Melbourne University has joined forces with the social media group Our Say. They aim to test the power of social media to engage the public in the political process, and to shape the way the media reports politics. Questions from the website will be put to political candidates in a series of town hall meetings two weeks before the federal election.
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Australia's female veterans from Vietnam to Afghanistan
When we hear the term ‘war veteran’ many people think of World War diggers or perhaps a Vietnam Vet. But a veteran is actually any member of the Australian Defence Force who’s been on operational service, and so they can be young, and female.
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What makes a life worth living?
It's a question we often find ourselves asking, ‘What Makes a Life Worth Living?’
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Friday Talkback: what's funny?
What makes you laugh?
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WEIRD people: Jared Diamond
WEIRD people, that's Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic, often assume that they somehow represent the zenith of humanity, the pinnacle, the Mount Everest of our species.
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Anzac Memories
As we head towards the 2015 centenary of Gallipoli, Monash University historians are asking you to contribute your stories to two online projects, '100 Stories' of veterans and their families and 'Anzac Day Remembered', how Anzac Day has changed over the century.
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Elly Varrenti - 'Finds herself' at a health retreat
Elly Varrenti, after a bit of soul searching and salsa dancing 'finds herself' at a health retreat
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Making Cents of Super, Part 2: Freelancers
Are you a freelancer, contractor or self-employed? Do you make regular contributions to your superannuation? In part 2 of our series unpacking super, we look at how the self-employed can manage their finances for a healthy retirement.
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Fists, waves and sexism in sport
Women are competing as elite athletes in the fields of boxing and surfing, yet many still can't get the sponsorship deals that men attract. What is behind the sexism in women's sport?
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Your Feedback
Your feedback from our talkback discussion on where you would send you children to school.
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Purely Practical: Health, let's talk about sex
Having the sex talk, the chat about the birds and the bees as it used to be known, is something that all parents will need to confront as their children grow up. Purely Practical this week looks at how our children are accessing sex education information, and what is the best way for parents and caregivers to have a healthy line of communication with their children about sex.
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Robin Dalton, when did 'dead' become a dirty word?
Robin Dalton likes the idea of a jolly death and she also thinks we need to talk plainly about that which is inevitable: we die. On Life Matters we’ve talked before about what makes a good life and what makes for a good death too, but I’m not sure we’ve considered a ‘jolly’ death before and a jolly death might sound paradoxical to you. Robin has in her lifetime been a writer, a literary agent to greats like Iris Murdoch, George Orwell, Peter Weir and Joan Collins, and a film producer; Oscar...
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Looking back on relationships and public policy
The 1974 Royal Commission on Human Relationships lifted the lid on our private lives. It talked about sexuality and contraception, working mothers, domestic violence, child neglect—issues which are now part of our public conversation but were talked about behind closed doors in 1974. Almost 40 years later, historian Michelle Arrow looks at the legacy of the Royal Commission.
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Modern Dilemmas: Finances
When should parents step back and let their children manage their own finances? A listener is helping her son budget and save, but he can't stick to the plan. Should she let him sink or swim?
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Now Hear This: Four ex-boyfriends
At a Now Hear This storytelling night, Kiki Skountzos tells the story of her four very different ex-boyfriends.
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To move, or not to move as you get older?
A report published last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed 90 per cent of older Australians wished to remain living in their current home, rather than downsizing or moving into aged care.
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Friday talkback - school choice
As the Council of Australian Governments sits down to hammer out the Gonski funding deal, we ask, what makes a good school? What’s on your checklist when choosing the school for your child? Is it about facilities, curriculum, academic record and teachers? Or is it about values and social contacts? Would a public school be your first choice or are you convinced that private schools offer the best education?
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Getting grubby in the garden with Dirt Girl
Dirt Girl grows tomatoes, drives a tractor, knows the names of clouds, loves going outside and getting grubby and she lives in dirtgirlworld.
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Fractured parents, damaged child: how to protect...
Separation and divorce can evoke feelings of anger, grief and pain—add children to the mix and you have a whole other set of worries. How do parents who can't stand the sight of each other negotiate a good outcome for their children?
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The Other Son: switched at birth
What if all of what you thought formed your identity—your ethnicity, religion, political beliefs—was virtually stripped from you in an instant? The Other Son is a film about two young men—one Israeli and the other Palestinian—who discover they were switched at birth. It’s a revelation that turns the lives of the two families upside-down, forcing them to reassess their values and their own identities.
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A strategy to deal with antibiotic resistance
We looked briefly at antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs' like Golden Staph during our hand-washing and hygiene talkback last Friday, but what about prevention and protection at the policy level?
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Your feedback
The letter of the week is from Jeffrey, in response to our segment on sex and ageing.
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Purely Practical: Under fives, baby talk
It's all baby talk. Purely Practical looks at baby and toddler speech and language development with child and family health nurse, Robin Barker
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Finding your voice: World Voice Day
World Voice Day is about celebrating the voice and understanding how we need to care for it. Many of us, in our lives, work and relationships, depend on the ability to communicate through speech. Helen Sjardin, speech pathologist and chair of The Australian Voice Association and Nicole Free, also a speech pathologist and clinical educator speak with Natasha about the human voice and how the day is being celebrated across the world.
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University cutbacks to fund schools
Over $2 billion has been trimmed from the university sector and redirected to schools funding in the federal government's response to the Gonski Review. We speak to an education analyst about the impact of the cuts on universities and students.
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Modern dilemmas: family events
When planning family celebrations, do you feel pressured to invite everyone in your extended family? In this case, relatives not invited to a young child's birthday party are so offended they're threatening to cut off ties with the parents. So how do you balance your own needs and desires with your family's expectations?
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Gaining respect in the sex industry
Project Respect is a service offering support to sex workers in Victoria. Through empowering and supporting women in the industry and lobbying government for better conditions and reforms, Project Respect is working with the aim of making the sex industry free of exploitation. Recently the group was awarded the Social Impact Award at The HESTA Community Sector Awards for an outstanding contribution to social justice. Kelly Hinton is the executive director of Project Respect.
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Biophilia
It's an evocative idea, biophilia. The concept was coined by the great Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson, and it implies that we are nature-loving because we are of nature; our brains, our bodies evolved in nature, and as biological beings we need it to sustain our physical and emotional health.
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The dirt on getting clean
Flu season is fast approaching, and another deadly bird flu virus has already broken out in Asia. In today’s talkback we look at your frontline defence for avoiding infections: hand washing.
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Bringing up Baby
What can psychoanalysis tell us about infancy and how the experiences of that time of our life can shape us into adulthood?
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Health impacts of the fly-in, fly-out lifestyle
A recent parliamentary inquiry pointed to the need for comprehensive research on the health impacts of FIFO and DIDO lifestyles. Given the growth in the number of people working in this way, do we need targetted health services for this workforce and their families?
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Witness: Can a video change human rights?
Video footage of a young man, Jamie Reed, allegedly being assaulted by police during the Sydney Mardi Gras this year went viral within hours of being posted. The video has now been viewed by over 1.8 million people, with some outraged by what they saw, others questioned the authenticity of the footage.
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Cool education
Cool Australia is a website which delivers free environmental education for teachers and students from K-10. Founder Jason Kimberley wants to develop a 'generation of solutionaries' to tackle environmental problems.
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Fat on film: how are 'fatties' represented by the media?
The 'obesity epidemic' is constantly in news reports, on the television, internet and papers. Cat Pause says that the discussion around obesity and the way fat people are portrayed in the media translates into discrimination against them in the real world.
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Superannuation: What's going on
Do you know your 'Super' situation?
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Purely Practical: Food, beneath the sugar coating
Sugar has been much maligned over the years, especiallyas we become more aware of just what is good for our health and best for our nutritional needs.
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Editing the Queen
After Queen Victoria's death two men edited her multitude of letters, in the process changing the way the queen would be remembered. What kind of woman would the public have known if what they omitted was included in the final book?
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Sex and Ageing
There are a lot of assumptions, taboos and stereotypes when it comes to older people and sex. It’s a topic many are embarrassed to talk about—including GPs, who are often the front line in dealing with sexual issues for older Australians. Ageing throws up many issues—some libidos increase, others wane. Then there are health issues to deal with—arthritis, pain, diabetes, and even dementia. Each of which throws up its own set of challenges. Sexologist Elaine George has counselled many older...
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Modern Dilemmas: The school lunchbox
The series, Modern Dilemmas, returns—and Lotti has this dilemma:
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Helen Sage, a flower between the cracks
One winter’s day in 1999 Helen Sage's daughter Jane was late returning home. As it happened, Jane had been involved in an horrific car accident that left her with a severe brain injury.
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Sibling talkback
Our brothers and sisters can be a source of great love and support or conflict and competition. This is the paradox of a relationship which will probably last longer than the time spent with parents or partners. So what are the causes of sibling rivalry and its remedies?
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Psychs on Bikes
Motorcycles, leather jackets and outback pubs might not be what you picture when thinking of psychiatrists. Dr Joe Dunn and his Psychs on Bikes are undertaking yet another road trip around rural Australia to raise awareness of mental health issues.
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Adoptive parents: the forgotten ones?
The recent apology to those affected by the forced adoption policies of the 1950s to the 1970s was welcomed by many as an overdue recognition of the harm this caused to mothers, fathers and their children.
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Pornography and the young
Where did you learn about sex? Was it from the ubiquitous "Where Did I Come From?" illustrated book from the late 70s? Or from a stolen Playboy magazine on your school's back oval? Today, young people are more likely to come across explicit sex on the internet. How is this proliferation of pornography online shaping the sexual lives of the young?
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Creating room to read: John Wood
John Wood quit his job as a Microsoft executive to 'change the world.'
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Male mentors
Psychologist Agi O'Hara believes that men need positive role models. Famous and everyday Australian men tell their stories in a series of videos designed to inspire, educate and encourage other men to talk about their problems and search out solutions.
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The critical decade: extreme weather
The Australian Climate Commission has released its latest report titled The Critical Decade: Extreme Weather. The report provides a detailed account of how climate change is already influencing the frequency of extreme weather events in Australia and it looks at the possible consequences for the future.
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Purely Practical: Finance, love and money
Love may be blind but when it comes to mixing love and money it pays to go in with your eyes wide open. Research has shown financial stress is one of the top reasons a relationship may run into trouble. In Purely Practical this week we are talking relationships and money with Robert Drake, Senior Executive Leader of Financial Literacy at ASIC's MoneySmart.
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Now Hear This: A migrant's tale
The next in our series of live storytelling, Now Hear This. Marg Wade tells a story that might ring true for anyone who has moved to another country and begun a new life.
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Building a museum to women
Next time you visit one of the world’s museums or galleries, take note of how many of the exhibits are by women artists or are commemorating women from history—not very many, it seems. At New York’s Museum of Modern Art only 5 per cent of the permanent collection is by women artists.
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Death of a Soldier: A Mother's Story
Lieutenant Mark Evison, an officer in the Welsh Guards, was fatally shot while leading a patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. His mother writes of her grief and loss, the impact of her son's death on public perceptions of the war and her experience of the situation in Afghanistan.
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7 myths about women and work
According to journalist Catherine Fox, women working in the business and corporate world are likely to encounter a particular set of myths on a pretty regular basis. In 2012 she decided to name these falsehoods in her book 7 Myths about women and work, and she outlined all seven at a recent Macquarie University event.
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Anne Deveson: A remarkable life
'If everyone colludes in believing that war is the norm, nobody will recognize the imperative of peace.' Those are the words of Anne Deveson in her new memoir, Waging Peace. Anne is a celebrated writer, journalist and activist for the disadvantaged—she spent many years advocating for the mentally ill. Her 1991 book, Tell Me I'm Here, told the story of her son Jonathan who died with schizophrenia at just 24. Now Anne Deveson is 82 and she reflects on her beliefs and her remarkable life.
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Your feedback
The letter of the week is from Angela in response to our interview on deciding the fate of frozen embryos:
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Dying online
Have you ever been online, perhaps on facebook, scrolling through to see what people had got up to on the weekend, when you’ve come across a post announcing someone’s death? It may have been a friend of a friend, someone you met at a party once or it might be someone you knew well. And as more of us live our lives online, we are also dying online and leaving 'digital ghosts' of ourselves through our casual updates and party snaps of the days before.
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Social Benefit Bonds
The NSW State Government has just announced Australia’s first ever pilot of a Social Benefit Bond scheme. A social benefit bond is a new financial instrument in which private investors provide up-front funding to help community organisations to deliver improved social outcomes, with the objective of providing cost savings to government and returns to investors.
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Boomer and me: A story of motherhood and Asperger's
As other kids in his class are sounding out the alphabet, seven-year-old Leo is leafing through the pages of a Horrid Henry novel. Leo possesses an incredible memory and his encyclopaedic knowledge of sport statistics often astounds the people he meets. But Leo also finds it hard to make friends and Jo, Leo’s mother, feels something is not quite right.
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Boy, Lost
A family memoir of a baby taken from his mother by an estranged husband. Kristina Olsson has written the story of her mother and older brother Peter, unknown to her until the fateful day he knocked on his mother's door, three decades later. Domestic violence, loss and the punishment of women who step outside of conventional marriage are themes which connect this book to the experience of millions of women.
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A quality university experience
The university sector is welcoming a new minister for higher education, Craig Emerson. He takes over the portfolio as staff and student unions protest at continued underfunding and the threat of HECS increases. According to the unions, class sizes, a reliance on casual teaching staff and online course delivery are chipping away at the quality of learning in our universities.
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Purely Practical: Health, cracking open the Easter egg
What is Easter to you? For some it is a time of worship, for some holidays, but no matter how you spend it, chocolate in all shapes and sizes is often part and parcel of the celebration. In Purely Practical this week we get inside the shiny foil wrapper of the Easter Egg and find out the effects of chocolate on our health. Can chocolate actually be good for you? ABC Health Journalist Claudine Ryan is here with some healthy advice on all things chocolate.
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Edible Pets: The Farewell Tour
Matt Dyktynski and Bang Mango Cools are the Edible Pets. After 25 years of not making it in the music industry they are calling it a day, after never becoming the rock gods they aspired to be.
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Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading is one of the most celebrated musicians of her generation.
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The 91-year-old midwife
Since retiring from work as a midwife in 1987, Rhodanthe Lipsett has had anything but a quiet retirement.
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Frozen embryos: how to decide their fate
Each year tens of thousands of Australians access IVF in an effort to start a family. This process can often lead to unused, and unneeded, embryos.
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Attack of the theocrats: Sean Faircloth
Here in Australia the Lord’s Prayer is read at the beginning of each sitting of the federal parliament. For some this breaches the secular principle that state and religion should be kept separate, while others see it as an appropriate tradition.
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A little respect talkback
The prime minister, Julia Gillard, has survived another leadership challenge but can the office of prime minister survive the corrosive effects of lack of respect and civility?Have we lost the ability to separate the person from the position so we no longer accord the position the respect that it’s due? Is respect something that should come with the job or do you have to earn respect?
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The great race: A Pool mini-feature
Have you ever visited or contributed to the ABC Pool site? Pool falls right into the Life Matters bailiwick because it features stories from listeners. Last year Emma de Campo uploaded onto Pool a great mini-feature called 'The Great Race'. It's the story of Peter Stringer, a man who just had to keep running to stay away from the grog.
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Retiring late is good for you
How do you feel about retirement? Some people see it as well-deserved break from the daily grind of long-term employment. For others it’s an opportunity to do all those things that a full-time job just wouldn’t allow, like a trip around Australia or further afield. You might, however, be one of the growing number of older Australians that plan never to retire
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Women of the Arab World
In Australia we do tend to have stereotypical views of Arab women—and we in the media are part of the problem, so often focussing our stories on the oppressed and downtrodden, that it is easy to forget that there are many thriving, successful and empowered women in the region.
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Bhutan and International Day of Happiness
March 20th 2013 is the very first UN International Day of Happiness. There’s been much discussion about happiness over recent years and what does and doesn’t make us happy. The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has attracted attention since it decided that GNP and GDP weren’t helpful as the sole measures of wellbeing and they introduced GNH, or Gross National Happiness. And one of the ways a society might measure happiness is through the wellbeing of its children, so on International Day of...
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Is Facebook becoming more friendly?
Facebook has collaborated with experts in the field of emotional intelligence to create tools for tackling online conflict amongst users. The system, called social resolution, is designed to help teenage users better communicate their feelings and handle conflicts between friends, should material be uploaded that a person might not agree with.
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Forced adoption: How social reform changed the lives of...
The Prime Minister will make a formal national apology to those affected by the forced adoption practice in Australia during the 1950s through to the 1970s.
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Purely Practical: Under fives, toddlers and food
Stop playing with your food! When you have a toddler in the house meal times can be a testing time. Visions of peas all over the floor, old biscuits stuck to the soles of your shoes, spaghetti in the hair.
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Alzheimer's and the euthanasia debate
Alzheimer's Australia says that by 2050 three million Australians will be living with dementia. Professor Megan-Jane Johnstone says that different interest groups and the media are steering the discussion into dangerous territory.
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Model United Nations
Two thousand university students are meeting in Melbourne this week to solve the world's problems. They are part of a 20-year project, initiated by Harvard University, to mimic the structure of the United Nations as a tool for discussing and debating international issues. Students will be representing countries, and making resolutions, at their own version of the General Assembly and the specialist agencies of the United Nations such as the World Health Organization and the International...
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Your feedback
Steve wrote in response to our talkback on violence and aggression:
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Drive around the world
After a year driving around the world with two children and writing a book about their journey, a Melbourne couple are planning their next exciting adventure.
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Sharing the housework
Women still do the lion’s share of the housework, according to time use surveys, and find it difficult to share the load even when children become teenagers or young adults. If they're still living in the family home, very little changes. So how do we encourage a fair division of household labour? Is outsourcing domestic tasks the answer?
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Talkback: Violence and aggression
The news headlines seem to be full of reports of gang shootings and late night drunken assaults. Is public violence on the rise, or is that just the impression we get from the media?
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Living with Cystic Fibrosis, Jennifer Symonds
Jennifer Symonds lives with Cystic Fibrosis, a genetically acquired condition that primarily affects the lungs and digestive system. In Australia, one in 2,500 babies are born with this debilitating condition. For Jennifer, who is on oxygen every minute of the day, a lung transplant was a hope of a better quality of life. The option of a transplant has became no longer available to her due to a related health problem. She wishes to raise awareness not only of the plight of those living with...
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Women Leaving Jail
How much support is there for a woman leaving prison?
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Caring for carers
Caring for someone with chronic poor health, dementia or a disability is a demanding job and carers struggle to fulfil their own needs. A British sociologist discusses innovative carer support programs and schemes which allow greater choice and flexibility in the delivery of care.
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Your feedback
The letter of the week is from 'share house' veteran Damien in response to our talkback on living in share houses.
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Now hear this - Spooked
Jenny Blake is a mother of five, marketing manager and story teller and this is a tale of a little boy called Patrick who started to spook Jenny and her family.
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Pink and blue - a history of colour coding kids
Historian Jo Paoletti asks: 'When and why did we start dressing our girls in pink and boys in blue?'
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Children and guns
Did you play with a toy gun as a child? These days it’s not just toy guns—TV, films, computer games, the internet—images of guns and gun violence are so much more prevalent than the shoot-'em-up scenes of cowboy movies of old.
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Purely Practical - gardening, talking compost, crap and...
Get your gardening gloves on because Millie Ross is here to give us some purely practical tips on how to make our soil nutrient rich: the how-to of compost, manure and nutrients for your garden bed. Millie is a horticulturalist, part of the ABC Gardening Australia team and author of The Thrifty Gardener.
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Nanoparticles and the regulatory regime - is it adequate?
We continue our focus on risk, nanomaterials and regulation. Some believe Australia should tighten the regulatory framework, but Brian Priestly argues that the regulation of nanomaterials is adequate and it is working.
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Negative gearing: making houses unaffordable?
Property investors gain a substantial tax benefit from negative gearing but is it squeezing potential home-buyers out of the market? Critics say it pushes up the cost of houses and rents and we lose billions of dollars in tax revenue. Supporters warn that a change to the rules will lead to fewer rental properties if investors abandon the property market. So what are the pros and cons of negative gearing?
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Amazing Babes
How can we teach our very young children about women who’ve left their mark on the world—through politics, social reform or the arts?
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Living Colour: the biological and social meaning of skin...
Nina Jablonski explores skin colour from the evolutionary relationship between the intensity of ultraviolent radiation and colour to social meanings and how skin pigmentation has also come to influence our societies in profound and complex ways.
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Nanoparticles: miracle or minefield?
Nanotechnology, this is engineering with materials at the atomic or nano-scale, a billionth of a metre just a fraction of the size of a human hair. At this scale materials often have uniquely useful properties different from their bulk form. The science is fairly remarkable and the potential applications vary from exciting to mundane, in medicine for more targeted drug delivery, in microelectronics, in textiles, in paints and coatings. Environmental technologies like water filters and fuel...
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Talkback: share houses
Many young adults move into share houses with the expectation that, at a different age and stage, they'll move on to set up their own household. For others, communal living becomes a way of life into middle age and beyond. We'd like to hear your experiences of living in a share house. Is it something you do now, or you'd do again? Perhaps you have a plan to live with a group of friends in old age? We'd also like to hear about sharing space in the family home, when it becomes more like a...
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Sundowner: Families dealing with dementia
Memory is a mysterious thing, it can transport us to another place and time.
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Things I didn't expect when I was expecting
Author Monica Dux has written a tell-all book about the tough physical and emotional aspects of pregnancy and childbirth, the embarrassing and confronting moments we prefer to gloss over. She argues that women struggle to live up to new social expectations of the perfect pregnant woman, effortlessly glamorous, whose life doesn't miss a beat.
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Au Pairs
Are au pairs a new option for working families looking for quality childcare?
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Your feedback
The letter of the week is from Sophie who wrote in response to our talkback on 'judgement'.
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Elly Varrenti - Scream Time
Elly Varrenti reflects on her son's addiction to computer games, and finds that a difficult week of 'detox' has an unexpectedly happy ending.
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The Genius of Dogs
A husband and wife team apply science to dogs and discover that they are more than just 'man's best friend.'
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Moving to the urban fringe- making housing affordable in...
Housing affordability is an issue that hasn't yet appeared on the election campaign agenda. Economist Brian Haratsis thinks it should be front and centre, and he has an idea for the federal government.
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Purely Practical - Finance, teaching children about money
Money doesn’t grow on trees you know! You might well remember hearing this as a child or maybe you’ve used the line with your own children. When you were growing up you might have had a piggy bank, or a school bank account, but when it came to the understanding of money that’s probably where the buck stopped. In Purely Practical this week we tackle teaching our children about money with Robert Drake, Senior Executive leader of Financial Literacy at ASIC’s Moneysmart.
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Dollars and Sex
What’s the economy of your relationship? Is there a constant weighing up of cost, risk and benefits, when entering and then maintaining a partnership with another person?
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NZ children living in poverty
Around one quarter of children in New Zealand are living in poverty, but Dr Airini says there are straight forward solutions to reducing that startling statistic.
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Ghost wife
For same-sex couple Michelle Dicinoski and Heather, it is only in one part of the world they can truly be wives in the eyes of the law and it’s in a country where neither of them hail from.
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Aged parents and sibling warfare
We’re living longer and healthier lives with many Australians aged over 85 still living well and independently. But what happens when the first signs of dementia appear and the family feels it should step in? Sibling battles can ensue over parental care and who should control the purse strings.
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Will the Gonski reforms succeed?
Unless the states sign up, we may not see a new school funding model in 2014. Queensland and Victoria have alternative plans to the Gonski reforms proposed by the federal government. The federal opposition is also sticking to its view that we don't need a new funding scheme. So where to now for the long-awaited Gonski plan?
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Friday talkback- Judgement
'Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.' Was Carl Jung right? Do you have that self-awareness when you judge others? Or have you judged rashly and lived to regret it? Call us after 9 on 1300 225 576 or 1300callrn.
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A Bite of the Big Apple, my food adventure in New York
When you think of New York City you might see it as a place where people go to follow their dreams, to 'get discovered'. For mother and daughter, Monica Trapaga and Lil Tulloch, time spent in NYC was more about discovery of the culinary kind. You may know Monica as a jazz singer and former Playschool presenter. Her daughter Lil is a trapeze artist, with circus in her soul. It is through a mutual love of food and cooking they have created a story book of recipes called A Bite of the Big...
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Reinvention society
Are we obsessed with reinvention and a desire to change our bodies and minds? Anthony Elliott charts a preoccupation with redesigning who we are.
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Car Park City
America, like Australia, is a place where the car rules supreme.How many shots of the LA freeways have you seen, and how often have you yourself cursed at the traffic jams as you drive to work?We discuss how the coming of the cars has impacted on 14 small American cities, how Zurich is a model of public transport and car parking controls, and how best to plan for the future.
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Love with a chance of drowning
You meet the man of your dreams and it looks like smooth sailing, in more ways than one. He wants to sail across the Pacific and you have a morbid dread of the ocean. Torre de Roche tells us how she overcame her fears to build an adventurous life with her partner, Ivan.
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Your feedback
The letter of the week is from Maria, in response to our talkback on managing tablets and touch screens for children.
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The Creativity Project
How do we encourage creative, flexible thinking? The role of the arts in our education system is the focus of an upcoming conference. We hear about creative writing from two speakers: children's author John Marsden and health promotion academic Sandra Jones.
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Obesity - which direction next?
Our guest today discusses the two options we have, as a society, for handling the rising incidence of obesity.
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Purely Practical: Health, quenching your thirst for...
In the summer months there is nothing quite like downing an ice-cold soft drink, juice or energy drink to quench your thirst. But what lurks beyond the refreshment? How do these sugary drinks affect our wellbeing?
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Tourism and cosmetic surgery
Would you ever think about going on holiday and fitting in some cosmetic surgery between sightseeing? It might not appeal to you, but each year thousands of Australians are doing just that. What are the risks and motivations?
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Ela Gandhi: peace activist
Her grandfather is a household name in India, the man who helped to win independence with non-violent protest. Ela Gandhi is in Australia to talk about the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and its relevance to contemporary social problems.
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Landmarks, a history of Australia in 33 places
How do a set of opera glasses, Phar Lap’s heart, a pair of'punishment shoes' and a brick making machine tie us, as a nation, together?
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International adoption
The Queensland parents of a daughter, legally adopted from India, are now being challenged by her birth mother to return the girl to India. The mother says that the girl was kidnapped near her home and sold to an adoption agency. Adoptive parents fear that there are many more of these cases where children have been trafficked.
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How Australian alcohol is marketed and regulated
While the cigarette industry in Australia has been set back by plain packaging legislation, alcohol is a free-for-all, with only voluntary codes of practice in marketing and taxation regimes that favour cheap wine. We look at Australian and UK public health industry attempts to reduce alcohol marketing to children and availability to the vulnerable and addicted.
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How much is too much? Managing tablets and touch screens...
Tablets and touch screens are ubiquitous in many Australian households, and seem purpose built for little hands to swipe and play with. But how much is too much when it comes to these forms of media?
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Now hear this - working at the MCG
At a Now Hear This storytelling night, Rod Saclier tells the story of one his first jobs, as a ground announcer at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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Grief: how mental illness complicates family grieving
We tend to think that grief is a uniform emotion, and certainly it might look that way from the outside.
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Gene patents
Should companies be able to patent our genes? An Australian court last week confirmed that a bio-tech company holds a patent to the breast cancer gene BRCA1. Cancer Voices, an advocacy group who took the case to court, has now launched a petition to change the law.
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The hardest conversation of all – how to acknowledge...
Westerners don’t do ‘death’ well generally. They don’t know how to approach it - we don't know how to honour it, and ignoring it seems easiest. But the conversations around imminent death are the perhaps the most important of all - with our families and our doctors. It's something we should prepare for.
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Ruin to recovery
The story of problem gambling told by the people who know it best—the gamblers themselves. From Ruin to Recovery is a collection of personal stories about a love affair with gambling. The stories grew out of a writing workshop conducted by Melbourne author Arnold Zable. We speak to Arnold and one of the contributors, reformed gambler Anna Bardsley.
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Purely Practical, under fives - what to think about...
Expecting a baby? Along with the bundle of joy comes a multitude of changes, many you can't anticipate, but there are practical considerations that may be helpful to know before the birth. Parentcraft nurse Robin Barker presents a purely practical guide to what to think about before your baby arrives.
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For better, for worse
Do you want to be part of a Life Matters series? 'For Better, for Worse' will explore long lasting marriages and partnerships and how these have worked in all their variations. And if you think your relationship fits this description, we're interested in hearing from you. You can email us or call 02-8333 1430.
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Your feedback
The letter of the week is from John in response to our segment on teenage violence in the home.
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Can exercise can help severe mental illness?
Antipsychotic medication can often lead to rapid weight gain, leading to poor physical health outcomes later down the track (not to mention the further negative impact weight gain can have on mental health). Is physical exercise the answer? Can it do enough to help people on medication lose weight?
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Exercising the old-fashioned way
There’s a growing worldwide phenomenon of keen exercisers who are eschewing the gym and the personal trainer, instead hooking up with complete strangers to run, yoga, ocean swim, you name it—together and for free.Meeting regularly, they encourage and learn from each other, form new friendships, and even marriages!
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Jane Whiteley, Body of Work
Do you have a garment which belonged to someone in your family that you cherish? Or maybe you have held onto a special dress from your childhood that evokes a memory of a time or place? Artist Jane Whiteley believes memories are held in fabric, cloth and garments. Jane’s meticulously hand-stitched work explores human relationships, rites of passage and complex family histories through the use of cloth. Her work, interwoven with poetic texts is showcased in a book called Body of Work...
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Your feedback
Annie responded to our talkback on skin with this email.
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Teenage violence at home
Parents are in a difficult position when the person assaulting them or smashing family property is their teenage son or daughter. Can they stop the offending without involving the police and the courts? A new program aims to connect all the services dealing with family violence to reduce teenage domestic violence.
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Love the skin you're in
Perhaps your skin itches from eczema or maybe you try to hide your face covered with acne? Does your skin burn the moment it feels the sun or are you, with your dark skin, no stranger to racist abuse? Skin—itshealth and itscolour—candetermineour identityandhowwelive ourlives.
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Making Couples Happy
Would you be brave enough to bare your relationship troubles for all to see? Making Couples Happy is a series that starts tonight on ABC 1 where four couples in crisis subject themselves, in front of the cameras, to an opportunity to reinvigorate their relationship over the course of eight weeks.
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The Psychology of Belief
What we believe is a background to almost everything we do, say and feel—politically, socially, morally and religiously, spiritually.
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The Story of Solutions - Annie Leonard
Global sustainability expert Annie Leonard is in Australia to talk about The Story of Change, the latest instalment in her series of films on global consumption and waste.
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ATYP 50th anniversary
In 1963 a theatre outfit was born – Australian Theatre for Young People, or ATYP. Since then it's put on hundreds of productions and tens of thousands of young people have been through its workshop doors. The theatre group has inspired young Australians from all over, and a list of their theatrical alumni is impressive – including good ol' Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrmann, Michael Gow, Rose Byrne, Rebel Wilson and Aden Young.
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Men in early child care
Look around at your local child care centre and see if there are many men. Most likely there will be none, perhaps if you're lucky one or two. Should there be more men looking after our young children? And if there should be more, why aren't there?
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NZ and the special category visa
Since 2001 New Zealanders have been able to live and work in Australia under a special category visa. The visa, however, restricts their access to social welfare payments such as unemployment benefits or HECS. Ex-pat communities in Australia have campaigned for changes to this visa system, but in a visit to New Zealand at the beginning of the week, Prime Minister Julia Gillard ruled out any changes to the status quo. Critics warn that we are creating an underclass of migrants excluded from...
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Purely Practical: Food, what to look for in a breakfast...
We are all told how important eating breakfast is for kick starting your day, but when it comes to breakfast cereals, especially for children, choosing one can be a battlefield between the marketing and the nutritional value. Nutritionist Catherine Saxleby takes us behind the rolled, popped and crunchy coatings to give us a purely practical guide to how to find a healthy breakfast cereal.
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One Billion Rising
Violence against women is an age-old problem, across cultures and classes, and the amount of violence against women has not diminished, despite revolutions of many kinds, from industrial, to sexual. One out of every three women can still expect to experience some kind of violence against her, and that equates to one billion women living today.
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Flexible work
The government wants more workers to be able to request flexible work arrangements. They're extending eligibility to include all workers with caring responsibilities, those over 55 and victims of domestic violence. The critics argue that, without the right of appeal, these provisions won't deliver greater flexibility for workers.
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Adults taking up team sport
What motivates people to take up team sports in their forties and beyond?
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To Sell is Human.
What comes to mind when you think of a salesperson? Perhaps salespeople don't have the best reputation for truth but author and journalist Daniel Pink believes there is a salesperson is in all of us, that, in fact, much of what we do in our working and personal lives involves an act of moving others to respond. Daniel has written To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Persuading, Convincing and Influencing Others.
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Faster, stronger,higher: drugs in sport
The Australian Crime Commission has reported that there is widespread use of banned substances in professional sport. So what are the health effects of these drugs and what more can be done to reduce their use?
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Telling little lies - talkback
It’s something every one of us does, and probably several times a day. But few of us would admit it ...and this shameful act? Is Lying.
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To make up, or not?
Makeup is one of those apparently superficial subjects that has hidden depths.
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Dementia
In our ageing society, we're seeing a sharp rise in the number of people with dementia; yet a recent survey confirms that we don't have a good understanding of the disease or how we can reduce our risk.
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Forged with Flames: Surviving Ash Wednesday
It is 30 years this month since the Ash Wednesday bushfires. On 16 February 1983, 180 fires destroyed hundreds of properties in Victoria and South Australia and 75 people lost their lives.
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Your posts for profit
There are millions upon millions of Twitter posts every day, a vast source of information for businesses and marketers. Access to this massive stream of data is sold by Twitter to those that can afford to buy it. But should it also be available to non-profit organisations for research purposes, and what will be the ultimate cost if these types of organisations are shut off from the data stream?
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Pelvic pain
Imagine not being able to sit down, go to work or look after your kids because of an overwhelming pain in your pelvis. One of our guests, Vanessa Watson, experienced excruciating pelvic pain for several years and it's radically altered her life. Vanessa's story is not uncommon but as the causes for pelvic pain are complex; some women don't receive adequate medical treatment. So what is known about the causes and could medical treatment and services improve?
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Purely Practical - Finance, setting a financial goal
We explore purely practical ways to set financial goals. Zoe Lamont is the founder of 10thousand girl, a not-for-profit financial empowerment program for women and co-founder of Future Map, a financial literacy program for workplaces.
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Your feedback
Email from Fay following our segment on creationism in Queensland schools
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Susanna Freymark on love, sex and longing
What happens when a poem written on a tea towel brings two people together after two decades? For Susanna Freymark it meant an illicit though chaste love affair that would at first make then break her heart and catapult her into the world of internet sex. Losing February is a work of fiction based on Susanna's own experiences.
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Between the devil and the deep blue sea
Melbourne barrister and refugee advocate Jessie Taylor travelled to Indonesia to meet with asylum seekers and she tells their stories in a documentary which is now on a national tour. She hopes these personal stories will change negative attitudes and, ultimately, government policy.
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Monarchy—The Great Survivors
In Europe there are at least ten families whose members are heads of state by right of birth alone. So how have monarchies managed to survive across the centuries?
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Sleep Deprived Art
Insomnia is one of those dread experiences that the sleep-deprived barely dare to name—and it’s rarely welcomed with open arms.And it is not what you’d imagine as conducive to creative practice. Yet it often goes hand in hand with the artistic temperament.
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Creationism in Queensland schools
The issue of religion being taught in Australian state public schools is a controversial one.In primary schools around the country, the State Education Acts allow for Religious Instruction, or Religious Education, to be taught for an hour a week by representatives of the church—who do not need a qualification in education to do so.
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Friday talkback: Childless by choice
More people are choosing not to have children. So why are they making that decision and how do friends and family react?
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Art of Conversation
How do you rate yourself as a conversationalist? And what makes a good conversation? The beginning of the answer lies with listening—but there's more to it than there first appears.
Recommended Shows
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- Sydney, NSW
- Interviews, Culture, Current Affairs, Public Radio
- ABC (Australia)
- English
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Life Matters
GPO Box 9994
Sydney, NSW
Australia 20011300 22 55 76 -
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