For the third year in a row, ABS figures show an increasing number of Australians are taking on two or more jobs as the cost of living rises. Lessleen Makoni is working two jobs to get by in Sydney, Isaac Koomson is a senior research fellow the University of Queensland's Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, and Dr Isaac Gross is a senior lecturer in Economics at Monash University and former RBA economist. For many of us who work, this time of year is a countdown until much-needed holidays over Christmas and the New Year. But a large number of people will push through with no break from work... not even on Christmas Day. Now, a new legal ruling has enforced the concept that employers must "request not require" staff to work on public holidays. Andrew Stewart is a Professor of Work and Regulation at the Queensland University of Technology and Sarah McCann-Bartlett is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Australian HR Institute. Women's teams are breaking records and hearts, with the Matildas selling out stadiums and record attendance for the women's Ashes earlier this year. But at the grassroots, the gap is real: data shows that nearly 30% more boys aged 0–14 participate in club or association sport than girls. Nikhil Kulkarni is the author of My Summer of Cricket, James Kay is a PhD Candidate at Flinders University's College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, and Dr Rochelle Eime is a Professor of Exercise and Sport Science at Federation University.

According to the last census, there were 2.6 million Aussie couples without children...  and projections that couple-only families are set to increase in the country. Not only that, there's also been a cultural shift:  People without children have a growing visibility... they're more likely to share and celebrate their lives. Tanya Williams is the author of A Childfree Happily Ever After and Dr Imogene Smith is a Clinical Psychologist at the Cairnmillar Institute. Today's Ask Aunty letter-writer is in a reflective mood about the way he treated a classmate many years ago. Should he try to make amends? Today's aunties are James Findlay, ABC broadcaster and journalist, and Monica Dux, writer, commentator, and columnist.   

Pill testing was available at Schoolies on the Gold Coast in 2024, but this year the Queensland government has taken a firm stance against the practice. So what conversations do parents need to have with their kids to stay safe this summer? Jennie Ross-King became a drug harm prevention advocate after her daughter's overdose death in 2019, Cameron Francis is the CEO of national drug-checking service The Loop, and Sophia, 19, plans on using drug-checking services at Strawberry Fields music festival. A new report from the Australian Human Rights Commission details the how older people too often feel unseen, unheard, or undervalued in the healthcare system. It found that perceptions of ageism are widespread across all levels of the health system, from how older people are treated by staff to broader systemic and policy issues. So how does ageism impact quality of care for older Australians, and how can we stamp it out? Val Fell is an Aged Care Council of Elders member, Robert Fitzgerald is Age Discrimination Commissioner and Patricia Sparrow is CEO of Council on the Ageing. The swear words that used to shock us… don't anymore. They've lost their sting. Researchers have unpacked the words Aussies really cringe at in 2025 - and it turns out slurs are now much more taboo than curse words. Our outrage has moved on to a whole new set of offensive words. Dr Joshua Wedlock is a researcher at Macquarie University's Department of Linguistics.

Schoolies travel has been a rite of passage for Aussie teenagers since the 1970s, but the event that was synonymous with getting sauced on the sandy shores of the Gold Coast is changing. Many young people are heading overseas to places like South-East Asia, Fiji, or Vanuatu. So, is it a good thing that today's school leavers are rewriting the script, ditching the binge-drinking and redefining what makes this milestone meaningful in the first place? Grace Richards is Growth and Marketing Manager at Schoolies.com and Dan Woodman is a Professor in Sociology at the University of Melbourne. The average Australian worker does 3.6 hours of unpaid overtime a week. National Right to Disconnect Laws, which were supposed to tackle work-life imbalance, were phased in last August. So, has anything changed? Fiona Macdonald is the Director of the Centre for Future Work and Dr Ben Searle is an organisational psychologist. The trailer for the The Devil Wears Prada sequel has dropped - and viewers immediately noticed a huge change in the dynamic between the two main characters. In the original film, magazine editor Miranda Priestly famously terrorised her staff, but also served as an unconventional mentor to Anne Hathaway's character. In the sequel's trailer, the pair look to be on even footing. So, who shapes our careers? And how big a difference can a mentor make? Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths is an astrophysicist whose two mentors helped guide her career and Norah Breekveldt is the author of Me and my Mentor.

In the United States, there's a new proposal to address their nation's housing crisis. The Trump Administration is working to introduce 50-year mortgage terms for home buyers. Here in Australia, some lenders have recently started offering 40-year mortgages. One-third of Aussie adults polled said they'd take out a 40-year home loan if it reduced their monthly repayments to a more affordable level. So what are the pros and cons of longer mortgage terms? Eliza Owen is Head of research at Cotality, formerly CoreLogic Australia and Molly Benjamin is the founder of Ladies Finance Club. Australia is on the cusp of welcoming its one millionth refugee visa since the second world war. Behind that statistic are so many stories of upheaval and hardship, but also resilience and hope in starting a new life. Ogy Simic is the Head of Refugee Leadership and Advocacy at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Daniel Ghezelbash is Professor and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW. There's a growing trend of adding supplements and vitamins to every meal and snack. Between vitamin gummies and drinks fortified with this or that, we're constantly being sold "extras" ... even as headlines warn of inconsistent dosages and questionable efficacy. So, what's the consumer psychology behind their appeal? Paul Harrison is the Chair of Consumer Behaviour at Deakin University's Business School.

It's sales season and Black Friday takes place on the last Friday of every November. But it's no longer just a day. It's more like a month-long retail extravaganza. So, how did Black Friday evolve from a US phenomenon... to our biggest sales event? And what impact is this having on our year-round spending? Gary Mortimer is a professor of consumer behaviour and retail marketing at QUT Business School and Fleur Brown is Chief Industry Affairs Officer at the Australian Retailers Association. If you've got adult kids in 2025, you'll know that reaching independence looks a lot different now than it did in your day. New research confirms what lots of us already know - the intensive phase of parenting doesn't end on your child's 18th birthday anymore. Dr Susie O'Brien is a journalist and the National Education Editor with News Corp. She has three children living at home with her - including two young adults. And Dr Julia Cook is a youth sociologist at the University of Newcastle. In My Two Cents, we ask those questions you'd rather not answer about money. Today hear how actor, artist and author Ione Skye makes and spends her money. As the school year winds down, many teenagers are about to start the next chapter of their lives – and potential careers. Whether it's a bit of summer work experience or a mandatory placement for a university degree, unpaid work can often feel like the only way for young people to get a foot in the door. So how did working for free become the norm? What supports are available? And when does an internship stop being experience, and start looking like exploitation? Andrew Stewart is a professor of Work and Regulation at the Queensland University of Technology and James Sherriff is a third-year teaching student and co-founder of Students Against Placement Poverty.

It’s the time of year when you can't wait for time away from your job.  But, as you reset for 2026, workplace researcher Dr Michelle McQuaid says there are lots of changes you can make to how you "do work" and how you "do life" so you feel re-energised in both these domains.  And when it comes to complicated relationship dynamics … what happens when your marriage ends but your best friend and his wife remain close to your ex? Today's aunties work out who gets what in this potentially very messy split. Bridie Jabour is a journalist, author and associate editor at Guardian Australia and Lachie Mackintosh is Life Matters executive producer.

Across Australia, the laws around begging vary from state to state. In Victoria - where begging is illegal - its become an issue of public debate, following an inquest into the death of a Melbourne woman who was forced by her abusive partner to beg for food, cigarettes, and money. A Victorian coroner didn't criticise police, but said officers responding to complaints about her begging seemed to treat it as an individual issue rather than considering it in a broader context. And that's really the heart of it. Begging isn't just about someone asking for spare change ... it's a visible symptom of much deeper social problems. Thalia Anthony is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at University of Technology Sydney and Deborah Di Natale is CEO of the Council to Homeless Persons and a director on the board of Homelessness Australia. The federal government is pushing local content quotas, forcing big streaming platforms to invest in Australian-made shows. Yet fewer Year 12 students are choosing creative arts subjects like drama, music, dance and visual arts. Can you blame them? For years, it’s been all about STEM, with arts degrees now costing nearly $55,000 and many universities making cuts to creative programs. So, are we doing enough to support the next wave of artists and performers? And what do we lose — as a country and a culture — if we don’t? Dr John Nicholas Saunders is a Lecturer in Education at Australian Catholic University and Chair of the National Advocates for Arts Education and Madeleine Dyer is a writer-director behind Colin From Accounts, Ghosts Australia and Austin. Throughout 2025, ethicist Patrick Stokes has been unpacking the thorny topics for us in the segment Ask Aristotle. "Is it ok to lie in a memoir?", "Am I evil for not wanting to be around children?", "Is it ethical to create AI clones of people who've died?" This week, we take an opportunity to get back to basics. What sort of lessons did Aristotle actually espouse?  What are some golden rules of philosophy we can apply to our lives in 2025?

Would you give up Christmas presents? Or are you like many of us and associate what you spend, with how much you care? There's been a backlash against over-consumption, so why do we still go wild at Christmas? And how can we untangle ourselves from the cycle of holiday spending? Steph Thompson went on a no-buy challenge, Daniel Kiely is an economist at Curtin University and Dr Paul Harrison is head of consumer behaviour at Deakin University. Picture your favourite Australian beach. Imagine a headland, the fish & chip shop, sun-worshippers, beach flags snapping in the wind ... and that surf club standing guard by the shore. That view - that classic image of the Australian coast - is in trouble. Eroding dunes. Crumbling cliffs. Clubhouses teetering on the edge. Coastal erosion is quickly reshaping Australia's iconic coastline. So what can be done? Glenn Arnold is the President of Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club, Steven Pearce is the CEO of Surf Life Saving New South Wales, and  Prof. David Kennedy is a coastal geomorphologist at the University of Melbourne. You've probably seen BMX dirt jumps popping up in parks or empty lots ... built by the riders themselves, for the riders. It's creative, social, and physical… but it's also what gets them into trouble, as councils across the country crack down on these DIY tracks. New research shows that it's this activity that takes place outside of organised sport that can be really beneficial. So if we're pushing teens off their screens, don't we owe them real-world spaces where they can actually build something ... together?  Julie Ritchey is a Brisbane mum who spearheaded a local protest to protect DIY BMX jumps in her neighbourhood and Dr Dave Camilleri is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Melbourne.

Last week police and health inspectors shut down two illicit tobacco stores in Sydney... the first to be closed under new state laws targeting illegal tobacco. Which is big business -- organised crime is making about $10 billion a year from it, and it comprises half of the products sold to the country's 2.7 million smokers. Meanwhile, the legal sale of cigarettes has slowed. So what impact is this having on Australia's smoking rates... and your local community? And if the goal is fewer smokers and a healthier population... are we still on the right track. Anita Dessaix is the Chair of Cancer Council Australia's Public Health Committee, Dr Raglan Maddox is an Associate Professor at the Tobacco Free team at Australian National University, and Theo Foukkare is CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores. Tesla shareholders have approved a record-breaking pay package for Elon Musk, a deal that could make the world's richest man the first person in history to become a trillionaire. So how did we get to a place where one person can accumulate so much wealth? And why is the gap widening between the world's richest and the rest of us? Carl Rhodes, Professor of Business and Society at the University of Technology Sydney and author of Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire. When you're stuck in a lift ... or waiting for a meeting to start, what's your go-to "small talk" opener? "Wow, it's hot today." "How was the traffic on the way here?" "Did you find somewhere to park?" Why do we even make small talk? And what happens if you just ... stop? Psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones offers a deep-dive on small talk.

What would it take for home owners to let go of the idea of their house as a financial asset, and to re-think what owning a home means? One Australian capital city is bucking the trend of skyrocketing house prices. While investors groan, should we actually be celebrating this? How can we share the wealth around? Michael Fotheringham is CEO of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and Gavin Jackman is a Homes for Homes adviser. Keeping track of your subscriptions can feel like a full-time job.From streaming services to gym memberships, toilet paper deliveries and even cars that come with in-app purchases just to turn on heated seats — it's starting to feel like we're subscribed to everything, but actually own nothing.So how do we steer clear of subscription traps? Are consumer protections keeping up? And are we heading towards a future where ownership is a thing of the past? Chandni Gupta is Deputy CEO and Digital Policy Director at the Consumer Policy Research Centre and Kirsten Drysdale is an independent journalist and host of YouTube channel The Internet, Reviewed. Many schools don't offer swimming lessons. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they were cancelled altogether - and lots of kids never went back. Now advocates say teenagers need a refresher course. They are calling for older children to get back to swimming lessons - amid a spike in downing deaths in people between 10 and 20 years of age. Dr Justin Scarr is the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Life Saving and Julie Zancanaro is a swimming instructor.

We often think about consent as something related to sex, but consent plays a role in many everyday encounters. Talking to your kids about consent can be anxiety-inducing. What can be even harder is having that conversation with your parents, in-laws, uncles and aunts. But, with consent education becoming mandatory around the country, there are strategies parents can learn if they want to bring those lessons back to home-base. Jane Gilmore is a journalist, researcher and author of It Takes A Village To Teach Your Children About Consent and Vanessa Hamilton is a sexuality educator, registered sexual health nurse and author of Talking Sex: A Conversation Guide For Parents.

Around the country, it's getting more expensive to get rid of rubbish... and there are fewer places to dump it. It is a warning the waste industry has voiced for a decade, but for many councils, the reality is about to hit. On the Gold Coast, rubbish tips will be exhausted within a decade ... it's a similar story across Australia. So ... when the landfill runs out ... what do we do with all our waste? And how do we reduce the amount we produce in the first place? Rick Ralph is CEO of the Australian Resources Recovery Council and Professor John Thwaites is the Chair of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute and Former Chair of the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group. At any given time there are 1,850 people waiting for a life changing organ transplant in Australia. What's it like to navigate the donation process? And what does it take to convince someone to make a donation that not only changes someone else's life, but theirs as well Rechelle Coombes is on waitlist for a pancreas and kidney transplant and Chris Thomas is CEO of Transplant Australia. The Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, especially for Chris Martin's family. The Coldplay frontman's daughter recently sung at a gig in Nashville - and reviews have been mixed.  So, is this an example of privilege and nepotism, or is Apple just following a time-honoured tradition ... and inheriting the family trade? Dan Woodman is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Melbourne.

If you don't own your home or if you live in an apartment and can't put panels on the roof, you've largely been locked out of the benefits of rooftop solar energy. In a small way, that changed this week when the government announced plans to give households access to free electricity for three hours every day ... in an effort to encourage energy use when excess solar power is being fed into the grid. Dr Saul Griffith is Chief Scientist at Rewiring Australia and Davood Dehestani is CEO and founder of energy start-up Smartizer. We're told it's getting harder to raise kids, amid a cost of living crunch. But that isn't what the numbers show. New research shows having kids is no more costly than it was a few decades ago ... so why does it feel that way?  And if you need to be frugal - where should you put your pennies? What's the best thing you can invest in Associate Professor Ben Phillips is a Principal Research Fellow at the ANU's Centre for Social Research and Methods and Robyn Titmus is the mother of Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus. A new report out of Europe has shown that a few big name companies are creating children's toys that have harmful levels of chemicals on them. It's obviously not good news, but at this point is it even possible to avoid nasty chemicals that are already out there in the world, for us and our kids? Dr Rachael Wakefield-Rann is research principal at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at Univeristy of Technology Sydney 

There are plenty of benefits to power-assisted pedal bikes, or "e-bikes", they're great for commuting or touring a new town. But not all e-bikes are created equal, some are so heavily modified they're basically motorbikes. One of the hardest things for parents to navigate is exactly what kind of e-bike might be safe for your child, and understanding the risks to their safety and others around them. If you've been diagnosed with coeliac disease, skipping gluten isn't a trend – it's a medical must. But for everyone else who swears they're "gluten sensitive" or "intolerant", is gluten really the villain it's made out to be? According to a new research review published in The Lancet, your gluten sensitivity could actually be something else entirely. Was your most picture-perfect holiday actually your best holiday? Science says we tend to conflate the two. So, why do perfect holiday photos make us feel we had a perfect holiday?  And the book that changed Formula 1 engineer turned baking icon Kate Reid's life. 

The rise of apps linked to childcare centres gives crucial reassurance to worried parents that children are safe and happy at daycare. Throughout the day, educators snap pictures of activities and upload them to the app.But what happens to the pictures and sensitive documents accumulated over the years on these apps? Some parents, like Niels Wouters, are finding out that when your child graduates to big school, their data doesn't automatically go with them. Luci Pangrazio is an Associate Professor at Deakin University and Chief Investigator at the Centre for the Digital Child and Nesha Hutchinson is Vice President of the Australian Childcare Alliance. Four years after the Aged Care Royal Commission's final report, one of the cornerstone reforms came into effect on Saturday: a new federal Aged Care Act. So do these changes bring us closer to a system we can trust to care for our parents ... and ourselves? Debra Nicholl is CEO of Elder Rights Australia and  Lisa Backhouse has been advocating for aged care reforms and gave evidence to Royal Commission about the substandard level of care her mother experienced. In Australian primary schools, many tuckshops are struggling, teachers are paying for kids' lunches out of their own pockets, and some public primary schools are hiring chefs. And yet, many kids are still going to school hungry and without lunch. So, why is lunch a growing challenge for Australian schools? Bec Spink is the principal of Wirrigirri Primary School in Victoria and Rebecca Golley is Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Flinders University.

Author of the international bestseller The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living, Dr Russ Harris says ruminating, over-thinking and worrying can all be kinds of "suffering."  Dr Harris says evidence shows that with practice, anyone can rewire their neural paths and dramatically shift their thinking patterns.   And in Ask Aunty, a letter-writer asks, can I set the rules when my grandkids visit?  This is a dilemma about a clash of parenting and grandparenting and the issue at play is screen-time. Aunties Denise Eriksen, Screen Careers Training Manager, I’m a Celeb Get Me Out of Here (UK), and Joe Sullivan, Radio National producer, offer their insights on the drama. 

The Bureau of Meteorology has revamped its website and to say that people have strong opinions is an understatement. Whether you like or loathe it, the flood of reactions shows how the weather means so much more to us than small talk. So what is it about the weather... why are we so obsessed? Nate Byrne is ABC News Breakfast weather presenter and meteorologist and Lawrie Zion is professor of journalism at La Trobe University and author of The Weather Obsession. Commercial operators are using national parks for lodges, glamping, and private accommodation.New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service has called for expressions of interest from businesses to provide "supported camping" in 16 national parks and reserves across the state. So, is this a valuable source of revenue? Does it make our national parks more accessible? Or is this just privatising public space? Jessie Burke is President of Bushwalking NSW and Sonya Underdahl is Professor of Environmental Sociology, Edogawa University in Japan. Suzanne Somers was one of the biggest TV stars of the 1980s and 1990s... starring on sitcoms like Three's Company and Step by Step. She also made a name for herself marketing the iconic fitness gadget - the ThighMaster. Sadly, Suzanne died of cancer in 2023... but now her husband of 46 years has brought her back... kind of. Somers' widower Alan Hamel has created an AI clone of her and plans to upload it on her website, to be a 24/7 AI chatbot for her fans. So, is this ethical? Patrick Stokes is Associate Professor of philosophy at Deakin University.

In 2003, Courtney Act made a splash as a contestant on the first season of Australian Idol. And since then Australia's most famous drag queen has a string of achievements under her heels. But for many, Courtney made a more significant impact by educating people on queer issues such as gender fluidity and sexuality. Now the man behind Courtney - Shane Jenek - is stepping into the spotlight. And he's just released his first children's book titled Confetti and the Rainbow Garden. For many people, their bedtime involves tech... wearable sleep trackers like rings and watches... even gadgets for under the mattress. Sleep monitoring is a booming industry. People who are deep into analysing their shut-eye have even been labelled "sleep data nerds." But is all this extra data helping people get a more restful night's sleep? Dr Donald Lee is a respiratory and sleep physician at Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and  Dr Dean Miller is a sleep and circadian scientist at CQ University. It might be hard to believe but one of the biggest social media platforms Instagram turned 15 years old this month. From the carefree days of grainy filters and photos of Sunday brunch to influencers and doomscrolling, social media has shaped our lives in so many ways. So are our lives better or worse with social media? And with the growth of AI, what does the future look like on these platforms? Jean Burgess is a distinguished professor of digital media at Queensland University of Technology and Konrad Benjamin is a former teacher and founder of Punter's Politics.

Jimmy Wales might not have the name recognition of Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, but his invention has been just as influential to the history of the modern internet. He co-founded a website you might have open in another tab on the device you're looking at right now: Wikipedia. He has written a new book called The Seven Rules of Trust: Why it is Today's Most Essential Superpower.  Did you have a Facebook account around 2013? If you did... you may be eligible for compensation from its parent company Meta as part of a landmark $50m privacy breach payout here in Australia. The payments stem from Facebook's involvement in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a massive data breach in the 2010s. Dr Katharine Kemp is an Associate professor at the faculty of law and justice at UNSW.