Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald ABC listen

Treasurer Jim Chalmers touched a nerve when he suggested Australians should start having more kids, but does he actually have a point? Fertility rates are falling dramatically across the world and it's stoking all sorts of fears.  

Guest: Dr Jennifer Sciubba - one of the foremost experts in the field of political demography & the author of 8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World

Recommendations:

Geraldine: Reading - You can’t even pay people to have more kids by Anna North, Vox.

Hamish: Reading - China's high stakes struggle to avoid demographics disaster by The Economist. 

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Some Europeans certainly think so, with polls predicting a swing to the hard-right in upcoming EU elections. So, what would a more conservative Europe mean for us? 

Geraldine and Hamish travelled to Canberra to ask the EU Ambassador to Australia in person, and to find out whether a free trade deal between the EU and Australia really is dead. 

Guest: His Excellency Mr. Gabriele Visentin, the EU Ambassador to Australia. 

Recommendations:




Hamish: Watching - The 2022 Schuman Lecture: Strengthening Relationships in Challenging Times

Geraldine: Watching - Freud's Last Session (2023 drama film)

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Australia is buddying up to India and Modi as a counter-weight to China, but what kind of country - and leader - are we really befriending?

Guests:

Avani Dias - ABC's South Asia Bureau Chief.

Ravi Agrawal - editor in chief of Foreign Policy and host of the podcast and video channel FP Live.

Recommendations:

Hamish: Listening - Looking For Modi ABC News podcast

Geraldine: Listening - India is transforming. But into what? episode of the Ezra Klein podcast.

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Not only has the war of words between Prime Minister Albanese and Elon Musk grabbed global headlines, its prompted debates about whether the unelected leaders of multinational tech companies have more power than democratically elected leaders. Tech governance expert Dr Alexis Wichowski says other world leaders will be watching how this plays out, closely.

Guest: Dr Alexis Wichowski – Professor at Columbia University and author of The Information Trade: How Tech Companies Act Like Countries

Recommendations:

Geraldine - reading/watching: Salman Rushdie’s memoir is horrific, upsetting – and a masterpiece by Erica Wagner / Salman Rushdie interview ABC 7:30

Hamish - reading/listening: What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise by Lachlan Cartwright in the New York Times and on 'The Daily' podcast. 

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

As the first ever criminal trial of a former US president gets underway in New York, we speak to ‘The Mooch’ - Anthony Scaramucci – who famously served as White House Communications Director in the Trump Administration for 11 days. He now warns that Donald Trump is a ‘lunatic’ and that a second Trump term would be disastrous for America, and the world.  

Guest: Anthony Scaramucci - American financier who served as the White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017. He has a new book coming out: “From Wall Street to the White House and Back: The Scaramucci Guide to Unbreakable Resilience”. 

Recommendations:

Geraldine - reading: Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts' response to The Economist calling the flat white "Australia's greatest culinary export" 

Hamish - watching: The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson on ABC iview

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has hinted that Australia might recognise Palestinian statehood. It's a significant move, politically, but will it have any impact on what's happening on the ground in Gaza?

Hamish and Geraldine sit down with Tirana Hassan, the Australian who has just become head of Human Rights Watch, to discuss this, and whether we'll ever see Nuremberg-style justice for the war crimes being perpetrated around the world today.

Guest: Tirana Hassan - Executive Director, Human Rights Watch

Note: The Israeli Embassy has been contacted for comment.

Recommendations:

Geraldine - watching: The Cold War of Spies, docuseries on SBS on Demand

Hamish - reading: Tonnes of food is stuck on Gaza’s border while the enclave nears famine FT Visual Story

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au