Aston Brown
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Producer at ABC RN Global Roaming
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Articles by Aston Brown
We want you! ADF recruitment rates are growing, even as the odds of conflict rise. Why are people signing up?
Aston Brown We're herded into a sterile elevator by a woman in navy camouflage fatigues and carried up to the 11th floor, overlooking Parramatta's central business district on a dreary afternoon in Sydney's west. At the front of the room, dressed in a khaki green uniform behind a lectern, stands army corporal Joel Kellner. In the corner, a portrait of King Charles III rests on a wooden easel. “We'll start with a rabble rouser,” Kellner says in a raspy drawl, clicking the projector into gear.
We want you! ADF recruitment rates are growing, even as the odds of conflict rise. Why are people signing up?
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We want you! ADF recruitment rates are growing, even as the odds of conflict rise. Why are people signing up?
Eli Holt at his home in Menai, NSW. Eli, who is considering joining the army gap year program, says the defence forces are a comforting career option in the age of AI. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian We’re herded into a sterile elevator by a woman in navy camouflage fatigues and carried up to the 11th floor, overlooking Parramatta’s central business district on a dreary afternoon in Sydney’s west.
Program: Is Narendra Modi's government trying to rig India’s next election?
ABC Asia editor Karishma Vyas joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald to unpack a week of fast-moving stories across Asia. In India, a youth protest movement – born after the the chief justice of India offhandedly called unemployed graduates “cockroaches and parasites” – has taken to the streets of New Delhi following the government's decision to strike 130 million names from the electoral roll, triggering a police crackdown, mass arrests and detention of the movement's leaders.
Program: Is Narendra Modi trying to rig India’s elections?
ABC Asia editor Karishma Vyas joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald to unpack a week of fast-moving stories across Asia. In India, a youth protest movement – born after the the chief justice of India offhandedly called unemployed graduates “cockroaches and parasites” – has taken to the streets of New Delhi following the government's decision to strike 130 million names from the electoral roll, triggering a police crackdown, mass arrests and detention of the movement's leaders.
Program: Do Trump’s allies now own everything you watch?
Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros is done, handing David Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, control of CBS, CNN, HBO Max, Paramount Plus and more. Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald are joined by international correspondent Anna Fifield to unpack what it means that CBS is now run by Bari Weiss, a former New York Times writer with no television experience, and why insiders are already asking whether the network’s rightward tilt is coming for CNN next.
I hitchhiked from Sydney to Perth, and found comfort in the company of strangers
default I’m alone, hunched over by a dusty road junction, and feeling the bite of the morning sun. I’ve already been waiting here, on the outskirts of Esperance on the south coast of Western Australia, for more than three hours. Another wave of traffic approaches. I smile, stretch out my arm and raise my thumb. Most drivers who pass wave or give me a thumbs up. One gives me the finger. There isn’t much traffic. Someone tosses a water bottle out their window at me.
I hitchhiked from Sydney to Perth, and found comfort in the company of strangers
‘I smile, stretch out my arm and raise my thumb’: Aston Brown hitchhikes west in Australia, attempting to travel from Sydney to Perth. Photograph: Em Jensen I’m alone, hunched over by a dusty road junction, and feeling the bite of the morning sun. I’ve already been waiting here, on the outskirts of Esperance on the south coast of Western Australia, for more than three hours. Another wave of traffic approaches. I smile, stretch out my arm and raise my thumb.
Program: Does Australia overrely on the US? Two experts debate ANZUS and AUKUS
As long-held relationships between the US and traditional allies like Canada and the UK unravel, does Australia need to start eyeing the emergency exit? Does Australia need a plan B? That was the topic at a major United States Studies Centre debate in Sydney held earlier this month between former department of Foreign Affairs secretary Peter Varghese and former Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezullo, hosted by Global Roaming's Geraldine Doogue.
Program: Russia is stealing and indoctrinating Ukraine's children
It's been called the largest mass abduction of children since World War II. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken by Russia since the full-scale invasion began, and many have never returned. ABC Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss joins Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke to explain what investigators, lawyers and Ukrainian officials say is a systematic effort to separate children from their families, erase their Ukrainian identity and absorb them into Russia.
Program: Will Argentina go to war with the UK over the Falklands?
Argentina's President Javier Milei is suffering in the polls. The Falkland Islands may help with that. Javier Milei's radical style of leadership has earned him more than just the nickname 'El Loco', it's engendered a serious turnaround in Argentina's economy, slashing inflation down from triple digits. However, with his approval rating dropping and an election approaching, Milei has returned to a long-standing issue to drum up some support - Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands.
Program: Can the centre hold? Lord Andrew Roberts on extremism and antisemitism
Historian Lord Andrew Roberts, biographer of Churchill and Napoleon, sits down with Geraldine Doogue fresh from visiting the site of the Bondi Beach massacre, a visit he links directly to his work chairing the 7 October Parliamentary Commission Report, produced by the UK-Israel All-Party Parliamentary Group.
Program: AI tech bros are warning AI will destroy us. Are they right?
Tech giants from OpenAI, Anthropic, and X have all warned in the same week that AI could threaten humanity itself, as former employees go public with their concerns. Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald ask foreign correspondent Anna Fifield if calls for regulation are credible, and if Donald Trump is even listening. Plus, how does China feel about AI?
Program: The Alliance | Your questions answered
After The Alliance mini-series drew a flood of listener mail, Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue open the mailbag and bring in Guardian Australia's Ben Doherty to answer the hardest question listeners asked: how much control does Australia actually have over the US military presence on its own soil?
Program: Trump, the Kushners and the rise of the US oligarchy
Much has been made of Trump dispatching his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for high-stakes diplomatic missions to solve conflicts across the world, but what do we know of the rest of the Kushner family? Jared's father, Charles Kushner, is now ambassador to France, pardoned by Trump after a criminal conviction that included tax violations and witness tampering.
Program: Will Japan's weak yen trigger a global debt crisis?
Global debt has passed 300 per cent of world GDP, bond yields are climbing across the world, and the U.S. war with Iran is putting pressure on households. Could we be facing the beginning of another global financial crisis? Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke sit down with the Financial Times Asia and Australia editor Robin Harding to explain how the bond market works, why it has such an impact on the economy, and why U.S. interventions have been lambasted by high-profile economists.
Program: Britain accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament the UK will ban trade with unlawful Israeli settlements days after publicly thanking Israel for sheltering his grandmother from the Nazis. Israel has shut the British consulate in East Jerusalem in response. Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue are joined by former diplomat and Managing Editor of International Intrigue Jeremy Dicker to unpack the fallout.
Program: How Giorgia Meloni built Italy's most stable government since Mussolini
Giorgia Meloni has become Italy's longest continuously serving prime minister since Mussolini - no small feat in a country that usually burns through leaders in under a year. Once written off as a fringe far-right risk, she's since charmed Brussels and shared a book preface with Donald Trump. That was until Trump attacked the Pope and made a demeaning remark about her at the G7, and the honeymoon soured.
Program: The AfD are winning elections: Is the German far-right back?
A far-right party is on the verge of forming a German state government for the first time since World War II. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has surged in Saxony-Anhalt, raising questions that extend well beyond one regional election. Is this the latest chapter in a political shift that has been building across Europe for more than a decade? Or could it mark a deeper break with the post-war order that shaped modern Germany, the European Union and NATO?
Program: Is China gutting Germany's car industry while Trump grades NATO on loyalty?
China shock 2.0 has arrived and this time it's not the US rust belt in the firing line, it's Germany's beating industrial heart. Geraldine Doogue and Nick Bryant are joined by Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council on Foreign Relations to unpack how a flood of Chinese exports is hollowing out the car industry that Germany built its post-war identity on.
Program: The Alliance | Does the US value Australia?
After a week examining the history, logic and limits of the ANZUS alliance, Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue turn to the American perspective. Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci joins the podcast to discuss how alliances are viewed in Washington, whether America's partners should trust Donald Trump, and why he believes the next few years could test the West's security architecture.
Program: The Alliance | Has Australia sold its sovereignty to the US?
Andrew Hastie, the Liberal MP for Canning and Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability, joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald for the fourth instalment of The Alliance, marking 75 years of ANZUS.
Program: The Alliance | If the US and China go to war, whose side are we on?
Fear of China and Japan has long defined Australia's foreign policy. Could there be a new way forward? In the third episode of The Alliance, Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue put that question to Kevin Rudd: former prime minister, former foreign minister, and, until recently, Australia's ambassador to the United States.
Program: The Alliance | Why did we ally with the U.S. in the first place?
The ANZUS treaty might be based more on cynical self-interest than a shared system of democratic values. In this episode of The Alliance mini-series, Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue trace the origins of Australia's most important strategic partnership and examine how it has evolved through the Cold War, Vietnam, the War on Terror and the rise of China.
Program: The Alliance | Does Australia Still Need America? John Howard on Trump, ANZUS and AUKUS
In a special series this week, Global Roaming is checking the use-by date on our relationship with the U.S. Signed on 1st September 1951, the ANZUS treaty has been the lynch-pin of Australia's security and foreign policy. As we approach the 75th anniversary of the alliance, it is perhaps more challenged and questioned than ever before; Can Australia trust the U.S? Is the U.S a good ally? Are our interests and values aligned?
Program: Her father fled the Taliban by boat. She became the first Afghan woman in the Australian army
At age nine, Kbora Ali arrived in Australia as an Afghan refugee after her family fled Taliban rule. Less than a decade later, she became the first Afghan woman to join the Australian Army. In this deeply personal conversation, Kbora reflects on her journey from Afghanistan and Pakistan to suburban Adelaide, the challenges of growing up Hazara, and her determination to serve the country that gave her family safety and a future.
Program: How big tech is creating the next Donald Trump
Nobel Peace laureate and Rappler founder Maria Ressa sits down with Hamish McDonald at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney to make the case that the algorithms in your pocket, not any one leader, are manufacturing the conditions for authoritarian rule worldwide. Ressa says 74 per cent of the world now lives under authoritarian rule, that only a quarter of the open web is still open, and that most internet traffic is now non-human.
Program: Helen Clark defends Fauci pleading the fifth and says Trump's vaccine cuts could cost lives
Helen Clark led New Zealand as Prime Minister for nearly nine years and she hasn't slowed down since. Now the Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Clark spoke to Global Roaming at a moment when vaccines have become a genuine political battleground.
Program: As Israel rejects a criminal investigation into Zomi Frankcom's death, is international law dead?
In April 2024, an Israeli strike hit a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza, killing Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and and six of her colleagues. Two years later, on World Humanitarian Day, the Israeli military said that its commanders' decisions did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct and said it would not pursue a criminal case. In a joint statement, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom called the announcement "shameful".
Program: The Taliban's rule over Afghanistan is starting to crack
As rebel forces grow in strength, and tensions rise their once-friendly neighbour Pakistan, how long can the Taliban rule? The Australian's Asia-Pacific correspondent Amanda Hodge joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald to assess the Taliban's record in the 5 years since the last U.S. troop left Afghanistan. Plus, a so-called 'super El Niño' weather pattern is on its way.
Program: Is a unified Korea a lost cause? Justice Michael Kirby has hope
How do you begin mending one of the most destructive political divides in modern history? That is the challenge that former High Court of Australia justice Michael Kirby faced when he led a UN inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea in 2013.
Program: Are American Democrats having their own MAGA moment?
What happens when a party's own voters start to rebel against the establishment? The victories of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and Democratic senate nominee for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed have brought a lot of attention to progressive candidates, but some in the centre are warning about 'insurgents' that may never reach mainstream electability.
Program: New Zealand's leadership challenge and the mystery of Kim Jong Un's heir
China fired a nuclear-capable missile into the South Pacific. Then its neighbours couldn't agree to condemn it. The missile came down in waters close to Tuvalu's exclusive economic zone a month before foreign ministers met at the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji. Australia's Penny Wong and New Zealand's Winston Peters pushed for a joint statement. Nauru and Kiribati refused to sign even the weakest version. Both have taken Chinese money and built closer ties with Beijing, and it showed.
Program: Peter Garrett puts AUKUS on trial: is it a rip-off?
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has labelled AUKUS a bipartisan mistake. Is he right? Peter Garrett, former Labor minister and rock superstar, is now leading a public inquiry into Australia's submarine pact with the U.S. and UK to answer a number of essential questions. Are the promised submarines likely to arrive? Why is Australia paying billions into US and UK submarine production?
Program: From deepfakes to rape threats: AI is supercharging abuse of women in public life
Is the abuse worth it? A growing body of research suggests women in public life are facing a wave of online harassment that has been amplified by artificial intelligence, deepfakes and coordinated misinformation campaigns. In this episode of Global Roaming, Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke examine the implications for democracy. If women are increasingly targeted with sexualised abuse, fake images and threats of violence, will fewer choose to enter public life?
Program: Is the Iranian regime more afraid of peace than war?
Arash Azizi says Iran's rulers may be more afraid of peace than war. While the world watches Donald Trump, the American-Iranian historian argues the real story is the stasis inside Tehran. A collective leadership built around a 13-member National Security Council, with parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf the strongest figure, now calling the shots.
Program: Is Israel driving Palestinians off the occupied West Bank for good?
Antony Loewenstein says Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has turned "almost apocalyptic". The independent Australian journalist has reported from the territory for more than 20 years. On a trip to the area last month, Loewenstein says he witnessed near-daily attacks on a Palestinian family. It comes as the United Nations says Israeli settler violence has reached unprecedented levels.
Program: Could a US tech giant switch Australia off with one click?
Labor MP Ed Husic has a blunt warning: a handful of US tech firms could switch off the AI tools Australia runs on. On 15 July the Prime Minister used a national address to label artificial intelligence (AI) a national interest, announcing a new Office of AI inside his department, mandatory rules for large data centres, and a digital duty of care for big tech.
Program: What's behind the global rise of far-right populism?
Pauline Hanson sat down with Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's most notorious far-right figures. So why did the interview happen, and what does it say about the rise of right-wing populism globally? From Luton to Moscow, the money behind the far right has gone global.
Program: Is FIFA selling the World Cup? The revolt against Gianni Infantino
Should the FIFA World Cup be sold to private investors? That was the proposal by FIFA president Gianni Infantino that shocked the world and FIFA council members. Though the proposal has been abandoned after a swift backlash, Infantino now faces a leadership crisis that could see him booted from the top position, with others already vying to take his place. But bigger questions remain. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the most profitable in history and generated over $15 billion in revenue.
Program: Is Australia about to blow its one shot at space?
Australia has been offered a seat in space, but time is running out. The European Space Agency has invited Australia to send its first government astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, to the International Space Station (ISS). The catch? The ticket likely costs about $100 million and the ISS is set to deorbit around 2030. The offer stands for a few months longer, at most.
Program: Should Israel remain a Jewish state? A look at Gaza's future.
What does the war in Gaza mean for the future of Israel, Zionism and Jewish identity? Peter Beinart has become one of the most prominent and controversial Jewish voices challenging Israel's political direction. Once a supporter of a two-state solution, he now argues that lasting peace can only come through equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Program: Is Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey conservative, woke, or something else entirely?
Christopher Nolan's blockbuster adaptation of The Odyssey has become far more than a film. It's sparked fierce arguments about race, masculinity, Western civilisation, Christianity, leadership, and the culture wars. Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald are joined by Quillette founder Claire Lehmann to unpack why Nolan's retelling has generated such intense debate.
Program: Farage vs Binface: the by-election Britain can't ignore
Reform party leader Nigel Farage has survived scandals, electoral defeats, and years of attacks from Britain's political establishment. But could he be unseated by a man dressed as a Darth Vader rip-off, in a by-election he called himself? Michael Crick is a veteran UK broadcaster, and author of One Party After Another: The Disruptive Life of Nigel Farage. He claims that even a Farage victory doesn't leave the Reform party in an enviable position.
Program: AI is a bubble, not a revolution. Cory Doctorow explains why
AI is everywhere. Governments are racing to regulate it, companies are pouring hundreds of billions into it, and workers are wondering what it means for their jobs. But what if the AI revolution isn't inevitable? Technology commentator and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow joins Global Roaming to argue that today's AI boom looks a lot like a financial bubble, and the world could look very different once it pops.
Program: Russia in revolt: Is Putin a failing tsar?
A prominent Russian billionaire has publicly raised concerns about the direction of the war in Ukraine. Some observers see it as evidence that support for Vladimir Putin is beginning to crack. But the West is misreading the situation, according to veteran Russian journalist and political analyst Konstantin von Eggert.
Program: Daniel Ortega is cancelling elections. Is Nicaragua's democracy dead?
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega has declared there will be no more elections. The frail 80 year-old former Sandinista guerrilla seized power in 1979, was voted out, clawed his way back in 2006, then jailed opponents, banned parties and had security forces shoot dead hundreds of protesters. He has since installed his wife Rosario as co-president and moved to scrap the vote for good.
Program: Can Andy Burnham govern an ungovernable Britain?
Britain is on its seventh prime minister in a decade, and the new one has inherited a fractured union. Can Andy Burnham govern a country many now call ungovernable? Burnham replaces Keir Starmer, who resigned in June after barely two years, worn down by policy reversals, poor local election results, and slipping public confidence. He arrives promising a "circuit breaker": a new economic model, reindustrialisation, and the kind of regional devolution he championed as mayor of Greater Manchester.
Program: Nowhere is safe: Sudan's drone war on its own people
Sudan's war has entered its fourth year. Drones are now striking schools, hospitals and fuel stations, and the world's largest humanitarian crisis keeps falling off the radar. More than 13 million people have been displaced since fighting broke out between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Last year the RSF was accused of genocidal violence in the city of El Fasher. Now it is encircling El Obeid in North Kordofan, and aid workers fear a repeat.
Program: The Democrats are a 'total mess' and leaderless. Can they stop Trump?
For decades, there were some things Democrats and Republicans agreed on. America should lead the world, NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) matters, and the US-Israel alliance is untouchable. As Trump rips up international alliances, inside the Democratic Party anger over Israel's war in Gaza has ruptured the old pro-Israel consensus. Last week 103 House Democrats, nearly half the caucus, voted to end military aid to Israel.
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