Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 1: Bunjelung Kalkotin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily Os. It's Friday,
Speaker 2: the twenty second of December. I'm Sam, I'm Zara. It's
Speaker 2: been a big year of news in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: and the Daily ODS has been there every step of
Speaker 2: the way, following the big stories, explaining the big ideas
Speaker 2: and introducing you to the main characters. On today's podcast,
Speaker 2: Zara and I are going to reflect on the year
Speaker 2: that was, break down some of our biggest moments, the
Speaker 2: ones that we'll happily remember and the ones we'd rather forget,
Speaker 2: and look into the crystal ball and give you some
Speaker 2: predictions for the year ahead. We're going to get to
Speaker 2: that little prophecy session later, but first, Aurah, what's making
Speaker 2: headlines this morning?
Speaker 3: The Bruce Lehman defamation trial will finish today, with closing
Speaker 3: arguments heard this week. The defamation case was brought by
Speaker 3: Lerman against Network ten and its journalist Lisa Wilkinson over
Speaker 3: an interview with former Liberal staffer Britney Higgins, who alleged
Speaker 3: Lehman sexually assaulted her in Parliament House in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: Lehman denies those allegations and brought the case against Network ten,
Speaker 3: News Corp. And ABC before settling with the latter two outlets.
Speaker 3: A final decision in the case will be made by
Speaker 3: Federal Court Justice Michael Lee.
Speaker 2: Bushfires continue to burn northeast of Perth, with total firebands
Speaker 2: declared for the area and emergency warnings in place. Firefighters
Speaker 2: remain on the scene with aerial support assisting crew on
Speaker 2: the ground. An evacuation center has been set up and
Speaker 2: homes and businesses in the area are left without power.
Speaker 3: Warner Brothers could be looking to merge with Paramount, That's
Speaker 3: according to US outlet Axios. According to that report, the
Speaker 3: chief executives of both companies met this week to discuss
Speaker 3: a pertent merger. The market value of Warner Brothers currently
Speaker 3: sits at around forty three billion Australian dollars, while paramount
Speaker 3: is around fifteen billion Australian dollars.
Speaker 2: And today's good news they simply cannot be stopped. The
Speaker 2: Matildas have sold out their twelfth consecutive home match. The
Speaker 2: upcoming round three of the Asian qualifiers for the Paris
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four Olympics has sold out after the pre
Speaker 2: sale on Mondays or twenty five thousand tickets sell in
Speaker 2: four hours. The game in Melbourne will see over fifty
Speaker 2: thousand people watch the Matilda's play on the twenty eighth
Speaker 2: of February against Uzbekistan.
Speaker 3: Okay, So, Sam, I've prepared a couple of questions to
Speaker 3: prompt us on our reflections of the year.
Speaker 2: What a year. It's been a big one.
Speaker 3: It has been a big one. But I also feel
Speaker 3: like by the end of the year, you forget what
Speaker 3: happened at the beginning of the year, You forget what
Speaker 3: happened in the middle of the year, and then suddenly
Speaker 3: you're consumed by the events of the last month or
Speaker 3: something and it kind of outweighs everything else. So I've
Speaker 3: got a couple of ideas, and I'm going to tell
Speaker 3: you the first one because I want to start on
Speaker 3: a high, love it, and go backwards from there and
Speaker 3: hopefully also on a high. Okay, Sam, yeh, what was
Speaker 3: your best good news story of twenty twenty three?
Speaker 2: I think if I am to think about the moments
Speaker 2: where I felt the best about the news, it would
Speaker 2: be watching the Matilda's go as far as they dealt well.
Speaker 2: So expected from you, I know, but I think it
Speaker 2: needs to be put in content. Also, sorry, can I
Speaker 2: interrupt you?
Speaker 3: We did this podcast a year ago, actually on someone
Speaker 3: else's podcast, and your prediction for twenty twenty three was
Speaker 3: that the Matildas would be the big good news story
Speaker 3: for the year.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I hate to say on the profit, but no,
Speaker 2: I think it really was the moment of twenty twenty
Speaker 2: three that unified the country the most, and for us
Speaker 2: as news publishers, it was just a joy. I mean,
Speaker 2: we were doing these amazing live score updates on Instagram. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Sometimes people think we're professional and other times times it's
Speaker 3: you and I at a pub after Courtney Vine has
Speaker 3: kicked the winning penalty for the Matildas, jumping around while
Speaker 3: also trying to work out canvas so that we can
Speaker 3: post something.
Speaker 2: And the funny thing about that pub was that that
Speaker 2: pub didn't have any phone reception, so we had to
Speaker 2: sprint out to the road.
Speaker 3: It got hit by a car on the way, but
Speaker 3: it was It was truly the best our country has
Speaker 3: been in a long time, I'd say, and I.
Speaker 2: Don't think we'll ever go back from where we are
Speaker 2: in women's football, but women's sport more broadly. I mean,
Speaker 2: you think it changed the game? Yeah, I mean the
Speaker 2: Matildas have now sold out another Olympics qualifier that's happening
Speaker 2: in a couple of months.
Speaker 3: I think that's a good point because I think everyone,
Speaker 3: maybe not everyone, the skeptics and the critics at the
Speaker 3: time said I not you, but said it'll die down,
Speaker 3: people will get over it, and then no one will
Speaker 3: ever go back to it. Obviously that's proven wrong, and
Speaker 3: there seems to be sustained interest and sustained support for
Speaker 3: the Matildas and all women's sport of that manner.
Speaker 2: The game has changed. The commercial dollars are now there.
Speaker 2: It's going to work. What was the moment for you?
Speaker 2: Your good news story?
Speaker 3: I know I started this by saying that when we
Speaker 3: reflect on the year, we just think about the last month.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to do just that my best story
Speaker 3: of the year is actually about someone we interviewed on
Speaker 3: this podcast, Kirsty Bryant, and she was a woman who,
Speaker 3: after giving birth to her first child, had to undergo
Speaker 3: emergency surgery that ultimately meant that she was never going
Speaker 3: to be able to carry a child again. She desperately
Speaker 3: wanted more children, and she became the first woman in
Speaker 3: Australia to undergo a successful uterus transplant, and then this
Speaker 3: week also became the first person to undergo a successful
Speaker 3: uterus transplant and give birth to said child. And I
Speaker 3: think the reason that this story excited me so much,
Speaker 3: I think there are a couple elements. Firstly, science is amazing,
Speaker 3: and I just think that this shows so much progress.
Speaker 3: And I also feel like we were all on the
Speaker 3: journey that we yeah. Like Nina, our podcast producer, first
Speaker 3: told us about the story when she joined TDA, and
Speaker 3: then I personally took great interest in it and the
Speaker 3: fact that it has ended in a successful, healthy birth
Speaker 3: is amazing. I also think that we very rarely, and
Speaker 3: this is a problem not just of the media but
Speaker 3: of many professions, we don't really focus on women's health
Speaker 3: and science that relates to women's bodies, and I just
Speaker 3: think it's such a breath of fresh air to have
Speaker 3: followed a story like this and for it to have
Speaker 3: been good news.
Speaker 2: Interesting.
Speaker 3: Okay, So second question, it is inescapable that working in
Speaker 3: the news, stories stick with us. And I think the
Speaker 3: most common question I get is how do you switch
Speaker 3: off from the news? How do you know stop thinking
Speaker 3: about it? And the reality is is you basically don't.
Speaker 3: You perhaps become a bit desensitized to some elements, but
Speaker 3: stories stick with you. What is the story from twenty
Speaker 3: twenty three that will stick with you?
Speaker 2: It has to be Israel and Gaza and it has
Speaker 2: been the most diabolical personal professional challenge we've ever faced,
Speaker 2: and I have seen not just at TDA but in
Speaker 2: the entire global media landscape. Every news organization grapple with
Speaker 2: how to cover this story properly. And I think a
Speaker 2: really important part of why this story has stuck with
Speaker 2: me so much is the amount of vision and photography
Speaker 2: that we have seen from Israel and Gaza and just
Speaker 2: how accessible it is. I mean, we kind of saw
Speaker 2: a bit of that at the beginning of the Russia
Speaker 2: Ukraine crisis. You know, this tik this was the first
Speaker 2: time a conflict was playing out on TikTok, I only
Speaker 2: think it has become more sophisticated of a landscape since then.
Speaker 3: I agree. I have wanted to talk to an expert
Speaker 3: about what watching this play out on our phones has
Speaker 3: actually done to our brains, because you're right, it's horrific.
Speaker 3: The fact that there are journalists on the ground who
Speaker 3: are taking an iPhone and just filming around them, and
Speaker 3: that we are seeing those unfiltered images. It has changed everything.
Speaker 3: It's changed how the global community responds to violence. It's
Speaker 3: changed how the media has a duty to report, and
Speaker 3: I just think on a human level, it's just catastrophic.
Speaker 2: And I think the other part to this story that
Speaker 2: we cannot ignore is the rise of anti Semitism and
Speaker 2: Islamophobia in places like Australia, but I'd say most countries
Speaker 2: around the world at this point, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: people outside of the Middle East who are experiencing this
Speaker 2: conflicts and hurting in another way and really hurting. If
Speaker 2: we park that global conflict, what was the story that
Speaker 2: stayed with you this year?
Speaker 3: I think that domestically, it would have to be the referendum.
Speaker 3: I think that we did a series during the year
Speaker 3: about understanding the Voice, and during that we had Tom
Speaker 3: speak to so many First Nations voices in so many
Speaker 3: parts of the country. And I'm not casting judgment on
Speaker 3: the results of the referendum, but what we heard about
Speaker 3: the need for change and the need for betterment of
Speaker 3: the outcomes of First Nations people in this country.
Speaker 2: How we get there.
Speaker 3: Obviously the Voice wasn't supported by the country, but I
Speaker 3: think it was a recognition that something had to be done.
Speaker 3: And I think the stories that we heard from First
Speaker 3: Nations people about the need for change will probably be
Speaker 3: the thing that sticks with me when I think about
Speaker 3: Australia in twenty twenty three. Okay, so now moving into
Speaker 3: the future. As I said last year, you predicted that
Speaker 3: the Matilda's would be this big news moment. Turns out
Speaker 3: you're right. I actually hate you a bit when we
Speaker 3: do these things, because you're much better at thinking about
Speaker 3: the future than I am.
Speaker 2: Must be hard. What is your twenty twenty four prediction.
Speaker 2: I just don't know if Donald Trump's going to be
Speaker 2: the candidate for the Republican Party, and I think we've
Speaker 2: all kind of accepted it as that's what's going to happen,
Speaker 2: and that is what the polls say, and that's why
Speaker 2: I think I can kind of justify this as a
Speaker 2: bit of a dark horse prediction. But I think he
Speaker 2: has a real challenge in overcoming this decision from the
Speaker 2: Colorado Supreme Court. I think it is going to be
Speaker 2: copied by states around the US, and I think it
Speaker 2: is going to mount a serious, you know, barrier for
Speaker 2: his team to overcome. I also think that there's some
Speaker 2: really strong competitors in the Republican race, and the one
Speaker 2: that I'm particularly keeping an eye on is Nikki Haley. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I think that she is running a really efficient,
Speaker 2: well oiled campaign and I wouldn't be surprised if, you know,
Speaker 2: a couple of rogue comments from the former president and
Speaker 2: he never does that, no, no, no, be out of character,
Speaker 2: but if he did, a couple of rogue comments could
Speaker 2: lead to her strengthening her run and then at the primaries,
Speaker 2: anything can happen.
Speaker 3: I don't know though, Like I don't know that there
Speaker 3: is that much overlap between those that are looking for
Speaker 3: a President Trump and those that are looking for a
Speaker 3: President Hailey. Yeah, you're probably right, Like, I don't know
Speaker 3: that voters who might have been Trump. Voters would then
Speaker 3: turn to Nicki Haley. She's far more moderate than he is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I just wonder at what point does the
Speaker 2: Republican Party see it to be unrealistic to back another
Speaker 2: run from President Trump.
Speaker 3: I know, I said you were good at that, But
Speaker 3: I think he'll win the nomination and he'll win the president.
Speaker 2: So you think he's going to be the president in I.
Speaker 3: Think this time next year we'll be talking about President Trump. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: well we'll come back in twelve months and sex Yes,
Speaker 3: So what's going on? Hello, Futures Area talked to you.
Speaker 3: Then mine's a bit rogue. Okay, it's actually well, every
Speaker 3: time I thought about what would happen, I don't know
Speaker 3: if this is a reflection on me as a human,
Speaker 3: but I just kept thinking about like who was going
Speaker 3: to die? And that felt morbid. So I've shifted mine
Speaker 3: to be industry specific. I think that in twenty twenty
Speaker 3: four we are going to see a major disruption in
Speaker 3: the audio space.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Interesting, I've been saying this for so long and no
Speaker 3: one listens to me. But in the video space, we
Speaker 3: had TikTok. It changed everything. It changed the way we
Speaker 3: consume video. It changed our attention spans. It changed what
Speaker 3: we're looking for on social media. We haven't had that
Speaker 3: in the audio space. Like in the podcasting space, podcasts
Speaker 3: have ranged supreme for so long, and there's I mean
Speaker 3: now streaming platforms have them on there. But like other
Speaker 3: than that, there's been no real huge innovation in a while.
Speaker 3: And I think given how many of us listened to posts,
Speaker 3: there has to be something coming. There has to be
Speaker 3: some new technology coming. I don't know what it is,
Speaker 3: don't have that answer, but I think there's something interesting.
Speaker 2: I like the facts that we're going to be around
Speaker 2: to write that, and maybe we should do some innovating ourselves.
Speaker 3: Perhaps we should all, right, Sam, take a home for us.
Speaker 3: What is your recommendation for people over the summer break?
Speaker 2: So I think we all need to take the opportunity
Speaker 2: over this break to decompress. It's been a huge year.
Speaker 2: Let's find a way to get some just mindless joy.
Speaker 3: Yes, but you know, I hate telling people to turn
Speaker 3: off the news, not suggesting.
Speaker 2: That, not about that. It's about turning on other things.
Speaker 2: And I think everyone should go and watch somebody feed
Speaker 2: Phil on Netflix. So Phil Rosenthal, he's one of the
Speaker 2: writers for Everybody Loves Raymond. And here's this like Daggy,
Speaker 2: sixty ish year old man who travels the world, eating
Speaker 2: delicious food and exploring cultures.
Speaker 3: Amazing.
Speaker 2: But the condition on this show is that every single
Speaker 2: thing the guy eats, he thinks is the best thing
Speaker 2: he's ever had, and he's just so excited to be
Speaker 2: where he is. Far from a critic show, and it's
Speaker 2: just joy and it makes you remember how big the
Speaker 2: world is.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 2: Ask me about Sorry, what about You?
Speaker 3: Mine is a podcast episode. So I went through a
Speaker 3: stage where I thought I was an influencer and asked
Speaker 3: people to on Instagram give me podcast recommend nations, expecting
Speaker 3: to get like thousands of responses from my one hundred followers.
Speaker 3: And I got a few responses, and funnily enough, I
Speaker 3: had like eight people recommend the same podcast episode. And
Speaker 3: it was a podcast called The Case of the Missing
Speaker 3: hit by reply All, And it's not new, but it
Speaker 3: is one of the most interesting podcast episodes I've ever
Speaker 3: listened to.
Speaker 2: Give Me the TLDR.
Speaker 3: It is about someone who has a song stuck in
Speaker 3: their head and they can sing the they know where
Speaker 3: the harmonies lie, and they like they have the song
Speaker 3: in their head, but it doesn't exist, and so they
Speaker 3: go on this investigation to understand why they have this
Speaker 3: very clear tune in their mind of a song and
Speaker 3: like they know everything about it but it doesn't exist.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a good road trip podcast, it is.
Speaker 3: And I know it doesn't sound interesting, but it's so
Speaker 3: interesting and it's such a good investigation and it's so
Speaker 3: out of my realm of like caring.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll put a link to this because that's a
Speaker 2: good one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it was just it was super interesting.
Speaker 2: So it's been a big year and I do want
Speaker 2: to thank everybody for listening along. Now, this is not
Speaker 2: the last episode of the Daily Oz for twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: We're going to continue all the way through the summer
Speaker 2: period with a summer series. Summer series, we sat down
Speaker 2: looked at all the episodes that we did of the
Speaker 2: last year and decided these are the ones that we
Speaker 2: think you should listen to on the beach, or when
Speaker 2: you're on a road trip, driving to a music festival,
Speaker 2: driving the family lunch, or importantly even if you are
Speaker 2: still working over this Christmas period, to get you feeling
Speaker 2: good on the work commute and bring some interesting stories
Speaker 2: to your ears.
Speaker 3: We'll be back on January eighth to cover the biggest
Speaker 3: stories of the day. Until then, have a wonderful new year.
Speaker 3: Thank you for all your support, and we look forward
Speaker 3: to another big year ahead.
Speaker 2: See ya.