The Briefing LiSTNR

Social media has gone into meltdown after a video from a US college commencement speech went viral.

The footage shows NFL player and Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker addressing the female graduates in the crowd, telling them that ultimately, their main and most valuable vocation in life is being a wife and mother.

Butker has sparked a storm of criticism, the NFL even coming out to distance itself from his comments.

In the post #MeToo world and amidst a spike in violence against women in Australia, we’re breaking down and debunking Butker’s comments and why they are so dangerous.''

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This week Chat GPT revealed the next steps in the way their AI interacts with humans. Now the interface can recognise emotions and have more nuanced conversations with the user.

Meanwhile Google has revealed its new AI assistant “Astra” and their plans to scrabble back searches previously lost to Chat GPT by integrating more AI into Google search.

But what is the cost of greater humanising of AI? And is it safe? Tech entrepreneur Ashi Bhat joins The Briefing to unpack the AI rat race.

Headlines:

Peter Dutton wants to slash immigration 

Company at the centre of major data hack revealed 

ANU and Deakin University move to shut down pro-Palestine encampments

Namatjira responds to Rinehart portrait controversy 

 

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Australia is in the grip of a teacher shortage that is a decade in the making.  

New research by McCrindle has revealed more than half of educators are considering leaving the profession.

On top of that, teaching is increasingly becoming an aging profession, with 20% of the workforce to reach retirement age over the next decade.

On today’s briefing, we speak with social researcher and demographer, Mark McCrindle, to explore why this is happening and what’s being done to attract more people to study teaching.

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For over half a century, the US and Australia have operated Pine Gap - a joint top-secret spy base at Alice Springs in the heart of outback Australia

Today, concern is mounting that spies at Pine Gap may be eavesdropping on the Middle East and passing critical information on to the Israeli Defence Force.

This would mean Australia is playing a role in the conflict, raising serious questions about the public’s right to know how our land, resources and geographical advantage is being deployed, especially when it makes us a nuclear target for foreign powers.

Today we’re joined by Alice Springs journalist Alexandra Barwick, host of new ABC podcast Spies in the Outback, to assess the evidence and get a local perspective.

Headlines:

Sydney council reverses same sex parent book ban

Slovakia PM shot in assassination attempt 

Labor senator breaks ranks to label Israel’s war in Gaza genocide

Gina Rinehart has demanded the National Gallery of Australia remove a portrait of her

 

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When you take a gulp of bottled Mt Franklin spring water, you might imagine it comes from a pristine and abundant water source in an exotic wilderness location.  But In reality, Coca-Cola has been legally pumping groundwater for free out of a bore on the outskirts of Perth in WA to sell as bottled water for 32 years.  And now residents have had enough. They’re worried about the amount of water being extracted without obvious oversight in a region that’s drying out and prone to fire. WA Water Minister Simone McGurk talks to Simon Beaton about what she's doing to hold Coca-Cola to account.

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Last night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the Budget, aka the economic plan for the next four years and beyond. 

On the positive side, he delivered his second consecutive surplus and a bunch of cost of living sweeteners – including a new $300 payment in energy bill relief for every Australian household, which he reckons will help put downward pressure on inflation. 

We saw more detail on Treasury’s optimistic new forecast showing inflation will drop below 3% by Christmas, plus the things we knew already about like Stage 3 tax cuts and $3 billion in student debt being wiped. 

But on the negative side: critics have described it as a “band aid” budget that relies on a lot of variables for its economic outlook, benefits billionaires and multinationals and could actually make inflation worse. 

And while the Treasurer can pat himself on the back for this year’s surplus of $9.3 billion, looks like we’re heading deep into the red next year with a $28.3 billion deficit, followed by a $42.8 per cent deficit in 2025-26. 

With an election looming, the year ahead will be critical in determining if he hit the right note between bringing inflation under control without hurting the economy. 

 

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