Conversations

Anna Dombkins was 25 years old, when she and her husband happened on a television program about adoption which would completely change their lives. CW: this episode of Conversations discusses adoption.
It was a documentary investigating the unimaginable conditions of some orphanages in China.
The newly married couple felt compelled to adopt, but because they already had biological children, it was near impossible to adopt in Australia.
The newly married couple felt compelled to adopt children who had no other family support, but because they already had biological children, it was near impossible to adopt in Australia.
While living in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro for a number of years, Anna saw how many children were coming into local orphanages not because they were unwanted or because their biological parents had died, but because their families simply couldn't afford to take care of them.
So, since returning to Australia and becoming a mother to her sixth child, Anna became the founding director of Forever Projects, a charity supporting Tanzanian women in poverty, so they can live independently, care for and keep their babies without having to resort to adoption.
Forever Projects has since helped more than 3,000 babies remain with their families.
Home Forever: Adoption, hope and the mountains we’re all climbing is published by Pepper Press, Fair Play Publishing.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
It explores families, motherhood, fostering, overseas adoption, fatherhood, siblings, blended families, cultural awareness, Australian adoption policy, faith, religion, Christianity, serving the community, marriage, love, intergenerational, grandparents, grief, cancer, Moshi, Forever Angels Baby Home, five under five, lawyers, legal system.

Country music artist Kasey Chambers has spent her life making music and connecting with audiences.  It’s what she believes she was put on the earth to do.
Growing up Kasey and her family spent much of the year camping and roaming the Nullabor Plain where her dad would hunt for foxes and rabbits.
She started singing around the campfire as a little girl and went to sleep to the sound of her father’s rifle as he worked through the night.
Singing came naturally to Kasey, and she loved all the old country classics, as well as some Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen.
The title of Kasey’s memoir is a tribute to her father and the most important piece of advice she’s ever received.
This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2024.
Further Information 
Just Don't Be A D**khead is published by Hardie Grant.
You can learn more about Kasey's music here
This episode of Conversations explores family, childhood, growing up in rural Australia, music, singing, country music, camping, hunting foxes and rabbits, fathers, guitar, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, ARIA Hall of Fame, eating disorders, motherhood.
To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

James O'Loghlin had only just reconnected with one of his best and oldest friends, Jum Wallner, when Jum received some terrible news. What began next was a high stakes race with a fatal deadline.
The two men had grown up in Canberra, where thousands of homes had been filled with asbestos, which was often carelessly installed and removed.
Jum himself had grown up in one of these so-called "Mr Fluffy" homes, named after the local company that had installed the carcinogenic insulation.
When Jum felt a pain in his side, it wasn't long before the father of two and husband was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given months to live.
Jum had discovered that if you got sick from being exposed to asbestos in your workplace you were entitled to compensation, but if it came from your home, you got nothing.
So Jum asked his old friend James for some help to petition the powers that be to help asbestos victims like himself and their families.
James began a race against time, trying to convince both the ACT and Federal governments to help Jum and others, in the middle of a pandemic, before it was too late.
Along the way, James and Jum reconnected deeply as friends who desperately wished they had more time together.
The Missing Piece is published by Echo Publishing.
More information about the Loose-Fill Asbestos Disease Support Scheme can be found at the ACT Government's website. 
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
It explores friendship, male friendship, university days, terminal disease, James Hardie, cancer, terminal diagnosis, how to grieve a friend, activism, petition governments, Covid, pandemic, Greg Hunt, Angus Taylor, compensation, accidental activist, dying friends, mourning, funerals, Andrew Barr, ALP, Labor party, Liberals, bipartisan, Albanese, politics, Auspol, burnout, diagnosis.
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Peter Hoysted, AKA Jack the Insider is back with a look at the humorous and bizarre stories of the newspaper founded in 1979 by a former CIA officer.
“174 MPH SNEEZE BLOWS OFF WOMAN’S HAIR”, “BABY BORN WITH TATTOO”, “GARDEN OF EDEN FOUND!”
These were some of the fantastical headlines that led the comedic black and white US tabloid, Weekly World News (WWN).
Peter Hoysted, AKA Jack the Insider is a true crime writer and a columnist for The Australian. 
He was a fan of the nonsensical reporting during its hard copy days, and even started his own journal along similar lines in Australia.
Peter tells the story of Generoso Pope Jr, the ex-CIA officer who founded WWN in 1979 and entertained readers with fictional news stories, often with a paranormal slant.
Further information
You can read Weekly World News online.
Listen to previous Conversations interviews with Jack the Insider: Chow Hayes, Australia's first gangster (2017), the Fine Cotton affair (2019) and the disgraced former police detective Roger Rogerson (2024).
This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The Executive Producer was Eliza Kirsch.
This episode covers aliens, alien love child, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, satirical news, fake news, comedy, giggle, Elvis, newspapers, newsgathering, bigfoot, mermaids, man-fish, CIA, conspiracy theory, David Icke, lizard people.
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Darren Hayes rose to fame in the 1990s as part of the musical duo Savage Garden but the scars of his violent childhood nearly ended everything.
The band ended up selling 35 million albums and won numerous awards with hits like 'Truly Madly Deeply'.
On the surface, Darren had achieved wealth, adoration and stardom —everything he dreamt of as a kid growing up in Logan, on the outskirts of Brisbane.
This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2024
Further information
Unlovable is published by Penguin 
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