Life Matters - Full program podcast

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Helping you figure out all the big stuff in life: relationships, health, money, work and the world. Let's talk! With trusted experts and your stories, Life Matters is all about what matters to you.

-17 H

Dropping the shame around debt and phasing out a stale friendship

Debt can bring up a lot of emotions — stress, shame, embarrassment — but it's a reality for most of us. Almost half of Australians with debt struggled to make some repayments in 2025. National debt helpline coordinator Vicki Staff and psychologist Luke Martin share how to shift some of the difficult feelings around our relationship with money. Ask Aunty delves into the tricky territory of ending a friendship. When an age-gap friendship starts to feel a little tiring, is it time to break up? And how do you manage phasing someone out if you're worried about their health?

54 min
-1 J

Talking about Tourette's and what universal child care could look like

In the aftermath of the BAFTA awards, one moment has eclipsed the stories behind any of the films that were recognised. A Tourette Syndrome advocate who'd been invited to celebrate a film about his life shouted a racial slur while two Black actors were presenting an award on stage. It was an involuntary tic that he had no control over, but the impact was shocking, sparking heated debate. Mandy Maysey and Seamus Evans from Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia discuss how we can make these spaces genuinely accessible and inclusive — for everyone. Australia is having a reckoning moment for the 1.5 million children enrolled in child care. At the Senate inquiry into quality and safety of Australia's early childhood system, some groups are pushing for more flexible choice for subsidised care outside of the existing daycare system, while others want to re-imagine the system entirely. One of the options put forward is universal child care. Parenting advocate Georgie Dent breaks down what that could look like and just how achievable it would be. In our regular segment My Two Cents, veteran rock and roller Mick Thomas of Weddings, Parties, Anything and The Roving Commission, shares how he makes his money decisions. And for Ask Aristotle, resident philosopher Patrick Stokes delves into what it means to be human. If your head was placed on a new body, would you still be you? Where does our consciousness truly reside? And even if such a transplant was possible, should we do it?

55 min
-2 J

The Tricketts on taking sport beyond the scoreboard and reviving native languages

Australia's love of sport runs deep. We idolise the scoreboard, pack out stadiums, and beam with pride when our athletes bring home gold. But for some, the sideline isn't such a welcoming space. So how do we shift our relationship with sport to hold onto the good, and call out the bad? Olympic medallist Libby Trickett and Sportish podcast co-host Georgie Trickett share why they want to shift the way we talk about sport. The language you speak is so much more than the words that come out of your mouth, and for many holding onto those words is a symbol of a fight hard won. So how is the revival of languages, once on the brink of extinction, changing the next generation of speakers? Clark Webb, founder of the first Aboriginal bilingual school in NSW, and Irish language coach Eamon Corcoran explain how helping people rediscover language connects them with culture and community. Less than a month after the Launceston City Council announced it was considering a four-day work week, the proposal has been shelved. So what went wrong? This Working Life host Lisa Leong explores the questions this raises about our attitudes to work, and whether Australia will ever be ready to embrace the four-day week.

54 min
-3 J

Rebuilding trust in the medical system and the key to feeling like you belong

Endometriosis affects around one in seven girls and women in Australia, and getting a diagnosis can take, on average, six to eight years. QENDO chief executive Jessica Taylor and endometriosis patient Helene Hill discuss how the Four Corners investigation into a prominent Melbourne gynaecologist has affected trust in the medical system for those who have fought to have their voices heard. A new report into multiculturalism shows that for migrants, a sense of belonging in the postcode where you live is key. But rising rents and gentrification are reshaping communities, sometimes pushing out the very cultural identities that made them vibrant in the first place. Researcher Trish Prentice, Maribyrnong mayor Mohamed Semra and Pakistan Australian Cultural Association president Syed Naqvi shed light on the path forward for new migrants. Resident psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones joins Life Matters for Head and Heart, to chat through just how far you should go to pressure test a new romantic relationship.

54 min
-4 J

Breathing new life into the main drag and the website that lets you rate your neighbours

The main street is the heart of a country town, and it can often give you a quick picture of how the place is faring. With new data showing more than 5.3 million metropolitan Australians would consider a move to the regions, that first impression can be make or break. Sheep farmer turned property investor Max Jones, regional Queensland mayor Shaun 'Zoro' Radnedge and Professor Andrew Beer discuss what it takes to breathe new life into these communities. We've all had at least one run-in with a neighbour before. But if you knew they could leave you a review, would you think twice about chucking your overflowing rubbish in their bin? Rowan Thambar explains why he created a website called Rate Thy Neighbour, and the unspoken social rules it's revealed. The concept is simple: a rotary phone, disconnected from any network, offering a quiet place to sit and chat with someone who's died. The wind phone began as one man's way to say goodbye, but the idea has now spread around the world, opening up space for conversations about death, loss and grief. And author, academic and activist Bri Lee shares the book that awakened her feminist rage, and ultimately, changed her life.

55 min
19 FÉVR.

Hitting the reset button on everyday overwhelm and navigating neighbourly disputes

Many of us feel overwhelmed by the demands of everyday life — hustling to make ends meet, managing never-ending life admin, staying fit and healthy, caring for the people around us, and worrying about the state of the world. So if you're feeling stuck, how do you regain a sense of hopefulness? Writers Jodi Wilson and Andrew Sloane share the practical changes you can make to your daily life to bring things back into balance. And for Ask Aunty, Fiona Harris and Joe Sullivan help navigate a neighbourly dispute over street trees on the nature strip.

53 min
18 FÉVR.

Saving your local pool and how to embrace friction in your life

After the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, Australia built thousands of public pools, which are now reaching the end of their lives. Royal Surf Life Saving Australia estimates about 40 per cent of public pools will be obsolete by 2030. So what do we lose if our pools start closing, and why are they so important that locals are lobbying to save them? In an age where people are writing entire novels using ChatGPT, author Bri Lee chose to write her latest work completely by hand. It's a small act of resistance pushing back against the relentless quest for convenience, but Bri's not alone. Columnist for New York magazine The Cut, Kathryn Jezer-Morton, coined the term 'friction-maxxing' while investigating this trend, pushing back against the mindless optimisation of all facets of modern life. Do you ever catch up with your grandkids for a good old-fashioned yap, only to find you're barely speaking the same language? Don't worry, that won't last. The American Dialect Society has named its words of the year for 2025 and it appears that old-school gems like 'yap', 'skedaddle', even 'diabolical' are making a comeback.

55 min
17 FÉVR.

The libraries that shaped us and withering takes on Wuthering Heights

One of the oldest libraries in Australia, the State Library of New South Wales, is marking its 200th anniversary this year, and as part of the celebrations it's collated a collection of stories about how libraries have changed us. Editor Phillipa McGuinness and teacher-librarian Megan Daley discuss their favourite stories from the library. Research shows our average focus time on one task has dropped from about 2.5 minutes in the early 2000s to around 40 seconds today. So what would happen if you took away all the distractions? No screens. No notifications. No artificial light. No outside world. Scientist Kiana Aran reflects on spending five days in a cave-like sensory deprivation chamber, hooked up to sensors to measure what total isolation does to the body and mind. Wuthering Heights has inspired dozens of screen adaptations, but it feels like no-one can agree on whether this latest version starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi is the best or the worst ever. We love to argue over authenticity and the limits of creative licence, so why do we get caught up when characters from a book jump off the page and onto the screen?

54 min

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Hilary Harper

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Michael Mackenzie

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Tegan Taylor

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Scott McKinnon

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Tim Brown

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Bruce Billson

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Christine Bagley-Jones

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Darcy Vescio

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Chris Cheers

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Denise Eriksen

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Helping you figure out all the big stuff in life: relationships, health, money, work and the world. Let's talk! With trusted experts and your stories, Life Matters is all about what matters to you.