Extra - Full Program Podcast

After 15 years at the helm of AustralianSuper and a career in superannuation going back to 1994, Ian Silk reflects on what the incredible growth of industry super funds might mean for the future of the sector and for Australia's economy as a whole.

Plus, recommendations for reading, watching and listening this month.

Founded in 1921 by 13 men inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party now has 92 million members and is undoubtedly the most powerful political party in the world. Leading Sinologists Kerry Brown, Director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London; Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and Linda Jaivin, the author of The Shortest History of China discuss the extraordinary rise of Chinese Communist Party, the philosophy that underpins it, and where it might lead China next.

Latin America is one of the parts of the world that has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and with 11 Latin countries holding elections this year, the region is plagued by insecurity and instability. Latin American experts Maria Victoria Murillo of Columbia University, and Kenneth Roberts of Cornell University discuss the transformative changes taking place in Colombia, Peru and Chile. Plus, it's been 18 months since Australia's devastating Black Summer of bushfires. We revisit one of the worst affected areas with ecologist Mark Graham, for an update on how its recovering. And, in his latest book, the bestselling author of A Very English Scandal, John Preston looks at the extraordinary rise and scandalous fall of the notorious media mogul and former MP, Robert Maxwell.

Plus, the perils of being a PhD student at the moment, and women walking through history

Leading Australian strategist Alan Dupont and space law specialist Dr Cassandra Steer argue that Australia has the potential to be a much bigger player in the new space age, but at the moment we’re being left behind.

RenewEconomy's Giles Parkinson and CSIRO Principal Research Scientist Dr Adam Best join us to discuss the latest in batteries - big and small; then former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk on diplomacy, political developments in Israel and Palestine, and the 'master of the game' - US diplomat Henry Kissinger; And, Alex Oliver director of research at the Lowy Institute and Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Crawford School of Public Policy give us their pick of books, shows, podcasts and music this month.

Two Republicans who walked away from their party, despite illustrious careers within it, speak out about the failure of the GOP to snap back to its pre-Trump position, the continued rise of far-right firebrands as moderates lose traction, and what this means about the trajectory of the Republican Party and American democracy as we know it.

Australian manufacturing has been steadily declining, but there are renewed efforts to 'make Australia make again'. Sue Boyd on her career as a successful diplomat, and her struggle for equal opportunity in Canberra. And author Tom Vanderbilt rediscovers the joy of learning new skills and debunks the myth that 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'.

Militaristic rhetoric about 'drums of war', regarding China, raises questions about what can be achieved with that sort of language, and what's brought it on. Does it strengthen our position with China, or create a whole new set of problems.

Journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Freedland on the possibility that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister for the last 12 years, is about to lose his post.

India has spent decades reinventing itself as a rising superpower in the world, but as the Modi government is facing increasing criticism over its handling of a deadly second wave of COVID-19 that is seeing hundreds dying every hour, and record breaking case numbers - where does this crisis leave India's international reputation?

There are big political shifts happening in Europe that go to heart of national identity, and have been somewhat obscured by the pandemic. Our international panel discusses the changes happening in Germany ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's departure, whether Emmanuel Macron is moving further to the right, and an anti-immigrant push that's gathered renewed momentum in Denmark.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has stated that there was a surge of US five trillion dollars in the wealth of the world’s richest in this past year. Most of that comes from large corporations, and some of those corporations, pay minimal tax thanks to various loopholes and tax havens. The OECD has been working on an international tax project and it just received the thumbs up from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who said they were behind a minimum corporate global tax.

The Australian Government's decision to not use the AstraZeneca job on most Australians under 50 because of a likely link to a small risk of blood clots raises broader questions about how we ought to think about medical risk, and the factors that can affect or influence our ability to make rational decisions when it comes to our health.

The story of the Sassoons and the Kadoories, two Baghdadi Jewish families that established rival dynasties in Shanghai but came together in the 1930s to help European Jews fleeing the Nazis. By this time, the Sassoons had lived in Shanghai for a century, the Kadoories arriving in the 1890s, and both had amassed huge fortunes, owning vast swathes of real estate and were on boards of the city’s council and its most important companies. So how did they survive with the establishment of the Communist Party of China? A fascinating part of the story of modern China.

Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick has served as Deputy Secretary of State, US Trade Representative and President of the World Bank. In his new book America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy he looks at the twists and turns of American foreign policy since its inception, and the lessons that the past might hold for the US and its allies today.

The statistics of how many victims even report sexual abuse, let alone get a conviction in the courts, are depressingly low. But how to improve the system? The Victorian Law Reform Commission is currently reviewing the process and will make its recommendations to the Victorian A-G in August, but there are other examples both in Australia and overseas that we can look to in order to give victims a supported space to tell their stories as well as making structural changes to institutions.

Twenty years after its humble beginnings, Wikipedia has become an indispensable tool. In a world of misinformation, it has been described as the ‘last bastion of idealism’ on the Internet. How did Wikipedia come to realise such unlikely success, and what are the challenges it faces as it enters the next phase of its life?

Since the Menzies era, home ownership has been the cornerstone of the ‘Australian dream', but for many it’s becoming just that – a dream. It’s a social issue, but also an economic one, so how can we bring housing back to the centre of economic policy-making, particularly at a federal level?