A rare bystander's view of the 1965 coup where neighbours, including soon to be President Suharto, were key players. Tari Lang's family were radical intellectuals, working for the Sukarno Government. Sukarno was ousted, and their lives would never be the same.

• Guest: Tari Lang, author of 'My neighbour, the dictator' (Published by Monsoon, distributed by Simon & Schuster)
• Producer: Ann Arnold

Veteran Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad surveys Iraq's uncertain future, as the US makes its final withdrawal of personnel, and the Iraqi government unleashes a familiar 'crackdown' on corruption. 

• Guest: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, journalist for the Guardian
• Producer: Ali Benton

500 years ago, the Incas ruled the western half of South America with the help of a unique form of writing based on coloured and knotted strings. Researchers think they're getting closer to deciphering these strings, known as khipus. 

• Guest: Professor Sabine Hyland, anthropologist from the University of St Andrews
• Producer: Sarah Allely

Originally broadcast in June 2025.

With two weeks to go before the midterms, Bruce Shapiro runs through which states to watch for changing seats, and why many of them are former Republican strongholds. And he examines President Trump's strange diesel deal with Russia - will it win him any votes? 

• Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. 
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

The current Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest and most lethal in that country’s history, with 4536 deaths so far from 9415 cases, and it continues to spread at an alarming rate in communities already facing violent conflict, food insecurity, and other health emergencies. The latest outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a different strain from the one responsible for the devastating 2014–2016 West African epidemic. During the first 100 days of the outbreak, the DRC recorded nearly six times as many infections as were reported during the early stages of the previous epidemic. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) has been there from the beginning,  providing patient care and treatment. Dr Rupa Narra is a paediatrician who has undertaken three deployments to care for people with Ebola, and she says children are the most vulnerable, but are being left behind in the Ebola response.

• Guest: Dr Rupa Narra, Paediatric Medical Expert Officer with Médecins Sans Frontières
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Hordes of yabbies are trashing rivers in southern Africa - an Australian native crayfish that has rapidly become a devastating pest. Can the crustaceans be curtailed, or is this an unstoppable invasion? 

The youth movement known as the Cockroach Janta Party is testing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's iron grip on power in India. Our guest, a global democracy expert, believes it's the most important challenge to Modi yet, and that the Cockroaches may represent a renewed prioritising of democratic ideals in that country.

• Guest: Maya Tudor, Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
• Producer: Ann Arnold

SBS Chief political correspondent Anna Henderson on the attack on Independent MP for Indi, Helen Haines. Plus tensions between the PM and Treasurer Jim Chalmers over credit card payments, and why the Nationals won't support the EU trade agreement. 

Guest: 

• Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

For thirty years reporter Amy Goodman has been dogging presidents, politicians, oil companies, and tyrants of all kinds for her radio and television show Democracy Now ! that’s syndicated to over 1000 public television and radio stations around the world. 

 “I deeply believe it’s our job to go to where the silence is,” she says. “ … and you know it’s not quiet there. It’s raucous, it’s rowdy, people are organising. It just doesn’t hit the corporate radar screen. And that’s were Democracy Now! lives. I really do think independent media will save us   …it’s dissent that will save us.”  

 Now Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin have turned the cameras on her for their documentary Steal This Story, Please!  which is showing at the Adelaide Film Festival on 18 and 24 October and opens in select cinemas in Australia from 22 October, 2026. 

• Guest: Amy Goodman, journalist, co-host of Democracy Now!  Star of the new documentary film Steal this story, Please!
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

In 1988 developers Tom and Wendy Chapman decided to expand their marina on Hindmarsh Island in the mouth of the Murray river which people usually accessed by ferry. But to get the development approved they needed to build a bridge from the mainland. Opposing them were the Ngarrindjeri women on the basis of what became known as ‘secret women’s business’.  

The island, which they call Kumarangk, was for them a place of birth, burial and sacred ceremonies. The Hindmarsh Island bridge affair would go on to become of the most controversial disputes over Aboriginal heritage in modern Australian history.   Premiering at the Adelaide Film Festival this weekend is a new documentary about the scheme which would embroil the developers, the women, a lot of lawyers, both the state and federal governments and the media, in protracted battles spanning decades.   

• Guests:  Tracey Rigney, writer/director KUMARANGK: Sacred Women’s Business and Steve Kenny, one the lawyers who represented the Ngarrindjeri people.
• Producer:  Catherine Zengerer

Author of multiple books, and longstanding writer for The New Yorker magazine, Susan Orlean is passionate about telling the stories of ordinary people, and showing why they are interesting. She is in Australia this week on a speaking tour.

• Guest: Susan Orlean. Most recent book 'Joyride: a memoir' (Allen & Unwin) One of her better known books is The Orchid Thief, later made into the Academy Award winning film Adaptation, starring Meryl Streep as Susan.
• Producer: Ann Arnold