David Cook

1 month ago | abc.net.au | David Cook

In the 2021 WA ballot, Labor won a record 53 of the 59 seats in the lower house. Four years later, the Leader of the WA Nationals and the Leader of the Opposition Shane Love believes he can turn that massive majority around. Guest: Shane Love, Leader of the Nationals in WA and Leader of the Opposition

Aug 15, 2023 | abc.net.au | Mayeta Clark |Dunja Karagic |Ingrid Wagner |Leila Shunnar |Simon Branthwaite |David Cook | +1 more

ALEX MANN: Hi there, welcome to Background Briefing. I'm Alex Mann. Across Australia -- there are growing concerns about a shortage of teachers in public schools. And those concerns go beyond the usual complaints about teachers' pay and working conditions. In NSW - there are stories of schools with dozens of merged classes a day, and even classes being run without teachersIt's just after 9am on a cool, crisp Tuesday morning and this high school in rural New South Wales is already in a crisis.

Aug 15, 2023 | abc.net.au | Mario Christodoulou |Cathy Beale |Dunja Karagic |Ingrid Wagner |Leila Shunnar |Emrys Cronin | +2 more

ALEX MANN: Hey, Alex Mann here with Background Briefing. This episode -- we're going to be doing something slightly different. We're kicking off a big two-part investigation that we're calling Kidnapping the Gods. For around five months now one of our reporters has been looking into how precious artefacts from Cambodia and Thailand made their way into prominent collections here in Australia, and around the world.

Aug 15, 2023 | abc.net.au | Mahmood Fazal |Benjamin Sveen |Ingrid Wagner |Leila Shunnar |Ann-Marie de Bettencor |David Cook | +2 more

ALEX MANN: Hey Alex Mann here with Background Briefing -- filling in as host for the next few weeks. In parts of Australia, sex work has been slowly decriminalised. Most forms of sex work are now legal in NSW, the ACT and the NT. Just in the last few months , Victoria has joined in, removing some restrictions they had on street based sex work. But in Queensland large parts of the industry remain criminalised.

Aug 15, 2023 | abc.net.au | Mario Christodoulou |Benjamin Sveen |Dunja Karagic |Ingrid Wagner |Leila Shunnar |Emrys Cronin | +2 more

MARIO CHRISTODOULOU: I'm about to do something really dumb. Do you mind if I grab the Buddha head as well and bring it out? So, I'm in the dusty garage of a house on the NSW North Coast. Yeah, I'll carry it if you can carry your microphone to the potentially priceless piece of art. I'm going to try and pick up an ancient sandstone statue. Let me take this out first and let's... At the moment it's on the floor, on a black plinth, propping up some firewood. Am I able to lift this up? Take it out.