Rn Drive - Separate Stories Podcast

The Australian Energy Market Operator has unveiled its 30-year roadmap for securing energy supply while moving to renewables, requiring more than $320m of investment and creating 25,000 jobs.

Real progress by March. That's the deadline Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has given for the next stage of EU Free Trade negotiations.

The worlds of classical music and urban culture very rarely rub shoulders. However, KLASSIK underground, aims to bring these worlds together by combining classical music with other art forms such as dance, street art, poetry and video installations - to create innovative music events. In the Drawing Room, Australian violist and creative producer, Tahlia Petrosian, talks about how she's bringing together laser artistry with Shostakovich.

Earlier this month, Jason Clare visited his primary school teacher as he embarked on his new role as the federal education minister and today the foreign affairs minister Penny Wong is in Malaysia where she's visiting her home town and the very school she went to until she was eight years of age. But sentiments aside, the trip has also been marked as a reset of Malaysia and Australia relations.

The recent discovery in Newcastle of a parasite called varroa mite, has resulted in the destruction of thousands of hives in New South Wales and closed the borders to surrounding states. The almond industry is at particular risk because pollination starts earlier than in other crops and the race is on to contain the virus.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government's more ambitious action on climate change will help to resume stalled trade negotiations with the European Union.

Melbourne has retained its place as one of the world’s most liveable cities ranking 10th. But besides the laneways and the lattes, what makes Victoria's capital so captivating?

The Queensland Government will make cabinet papers and submissions public within 30 days of decisions, parting with the existing 20 to 30-year waiting period before documents are released from the state archives.

The Federal Court has ordered Origin Energy to pay $17 million in penalties for failing to comply with their obligations to protect customers experiencing hardship and payment difficulties. It's the largest amount ever imposed for breaches of the National Energy Retail Law and Rules.

Our Blood Runs in the Street is a visceral and raw examination of the violence and persecution experienced by the LGBTQI community in Australia. Blending physical theatre with verbatim text, the production looks at a spate of brutal bashings and murders in Sydney that brought terror to the LGBTQI community for decades. In the Drawing Room, award-winning director, Shane Anthony, talks about how he went about bringing these challenging and important stories to the stage.

This week, 14 million people in Tokyo are being told to minimise their power use as Japan endures an unusually intense heat wave.

Experts are warning that Australia could see a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalisation as the new BA.5 variant looks set to become the dominant strain in Australia. That news comes as Queensland's Chief Health Officer warns of a likely increase in his state and the ACT records their highest hospitalisation levels to date.

As of next week, Workforce Australia will be the new way to find a job and claim unemployment benefits. The difference is, it will use a ‘points system’ to ensure welfare payments but a new ACOSS report has shown that the current government job-seeking program isn't working and there are some elements that need to change.

With state and territory borders shut during the pandemic, it shouldn't be a surprise that the latest census reported only 58,155 Australians own a caravan. That's compared to 67,015 in the 2016 census. But the census was taken in August. Since then, the price of almost everything has gone up and there's also been a spike in rental stress. So how is this affecting caravan parks at the moment?

Thirty-five new MPs have spent their first day in Parliament House, learning the ropes of parliamentary procedure and navigating one of the largest buildings in the southern hemisphere.

Leaders from the world's seven richest nations have vowed to sustain and intensify sanctions against Russia and support Ukraine for "as long as it takes" during the G7 leaders meeting in Germany.

Il Trovatore is perhaps Verdi's most complicated opera, with betrayals, abductions, revenge and hidden identities. The character of Leonora is led by her heart and lacks reason. For singer, Leah Crocetto, who is taking on the role in Opera Australia's latest production, it's not a character she easily identifies with. In the Drawing Room, Leah talk about how she's learnt to channel her inner teenager for the role and shares how a rejection from the Met Chorus changed the trajectory of her career.

The massive earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan highlights the ongoing challenges of aid groups delivering aid since the Taliban took power in 2021.  

Coastal wetlands are seen as crucial for carbon storage. As efforts kick off to rehabilitate them, corporations show an eagerness to buy official 'blue carbon' credits to offset their emissions.

They've been described as an untapped resource, with a renewed push for pensioners to fill workforce shortages across the economy, but first there needs to be a rule change.