The Radio National Hour

The Radio National Hour

Fran Kelly brings you compelling conversations on issues that challenge,entertain and inspire us.

Sam Altman says Australia could be the data centre capital of the world, but do we want to be?

A dedicated show to the debate that’s raging here and across the world over data centres, the vast digital warehouses that process, store and manage the information required to run our websites, apps, our google searches our cloud services and crucially Artificial Intelligence. The backlash to these digital factories in the US has prompted AI companies to look elsewhere, like Australia where there are more than 90 new facilities in the pipeline.  Michael Bommarito is president of the non-profit research group -  Institute for the Advancement of Legal and Ethical AI and one of the leading researchers tracking this phenomenon. He's the author of Why Communities Fight Data Centers and has documented the rapid rise of opposition movements across the United States. Sasha Titchkosky is a member of the Lane Cove Responsible Planning Group, which has been fighting against a proposal for five data centres for the northern Sydney suburb. Dr Dylan McConnell is an energy systems researcher at the University of NSW and Dr Bronwyn Cumbo is a Lecturer in the Trans-disciplinary School at UTS where she’s focusing on sustainable AI futures. Belinda Dennett is the CEO of the peak body, Data Centres Australia.

Gabriel Zucman's radical plan to tax billionaires

Hamas has announced the dissolution of its governing body in Gaza, in an effort, it says, to advance Donald Trump's peace plan. But Israel insists it's all a ruse to avoid giving us its weapons. The billionaire class is booming and most of them are paying less tax than you or I, sometimes close to zero. In his new book We Need To Tax Billionaires acclaimed French economist Gabriel Zucman argues this legalised swindle is the greatest threat to democracy in the 21st century.   She first picked up the violin as a three year old, more than four decades on virtuoso Leila Josefowicz still finds her chosen instrument endlessly fascinating.

It's one of the deadliest terror attacks in modern history, but chances are you've never heard of it

When the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in 2021 Hamida Samar thought her life was over. But now with the support of Rural Australians for Refugees and volunteer Marie Sellstrom she’s not only been given protection here, she's dedicated herself to helping other Afghan women. In 2021 Islamic Jihadists went on a rampage at a French gas project in Northern Mozambique, slaughtering more than 14 hundred people over four days. In his new book, Blood Will Flow, writer and journalist Alex Perry tells how the promise of striking it rich in a faraway African nation, blinded a multi-billion dollar French energy company to a catastrophe foretold.

Why decriminalisation of sex work is the unlikely response to Thai teen murder

A Thai family is grieving the loss of a teenage daughter, allegedly murdered by an Australian man in the tourist city of Pattaya - one of Southeast Asia’s most notorious sex tourism hubs. Should this trade, which supports millions of impoverished families, be decriminalised in Thailand? Sociologist and author of Sex Tourism in Thailand: Inside Asia’s Premier Erotic Playground, professor Ronald Weitzer says there are powerful forces at play in the industry. America’s once unconditional support for Israel is declining, with some politicians, including the nation’s Vice President openly hostile towards its leadership … is this a permanent rupture or just a spat between staunch allies? Israeli American pollster and political scientist Dahlia Scheindlin says Israelis are concerned but remain deeply divided over its warmongering leadership.  An allegation of inappropriate behaviour is made, without evidence, about a popular priest at a Catholic school. Is suspicion alone enough to condemn him? That’s the premise of the cult classic play Doubt: A Parable which is currently being staged at the Sydney Theatre Company, starring actors Pamela Rabe and Sam Reid.