This is one of the big questions when it comes to the government's new app, but is there a simple answer? Plus, how an entire country in the South Pacific managed to lose their domain to Sweden. And Facebook launches their Zoom competitor, but is it really necessary? Guests: Ariel Bogle, online technology reporter, ABC Science @arielbogle + Nic Healey, Breakfast presenter, ABC Western Plains @dr_nic

Find out how match fixing works. It's ubiquitous and now recognised as the biggest threat to sport integrity.

The dire predictions for Africa are all in place, but so far they haven't come true.

How should Australia proceed in its relationship with China and what are the risks involved?

With the help of 15,000 festival goers at the weekend's triple j One Night Stand donating more than $22,000, Lucindale's pool is now weeks away from opening.

For a time in the 1960s, a natural spring at the foot of the Great Dividing Range was home to Australia's largest swimming pool and legendary "mini-Woodstock" rock concerts.

It was the big idea that could have been a huge success or an expensive disaster, but more than 20 years later this little community is still reaping the benefits of a bold decision.

Low lying areas are swamped, millions of people have hours to evacuate and destruction on a mass scale is predicted by scientists who have mapped the worst-case scenarios for how Queensland's coastline would be impacted if a one-in-10,000-year tsunami hit.

Video released by Queensland police shows the efforts of some officers helping to evacuate the Peregian area during wild bushfires on the Sunshine Coast on Monday.

Bourke, outback NSW, has not seen meaningful rain in seven years and while its 2,500 residents prepare for unprecedented water restrictions, their dire plight has helped propel environmental concerns into NSW's political spotlight.

As a federal election and what should be the southern wet season approach, attention is returning to the drought. So where are we at?

From veterans to millennials, two-up is a celebrated pastime on Anzac Day. But why do we play it?

Locals are worried for the future of the small NSW town of Ivanhoe, but a colourful truck and tractor show brought in crowds about three times the size of its population.

There appear to be further fish kills in the Menindee Lakes on the Darling River, with drone footage showing thousands of fish carcasses.

A group of photographers in Albany are taking the town by storm.

The latest survey of the cost of living in regional WA has shown a significant drop in living costs in the state's north. The State Government assesses the cost of 500 goods and services in 27 regional centres as part of the Regional Price Index every second year.

Pledging to quit smoking, lose weight and get fit is pretty popular on New Years' Eve, so why do many people fail?

The Masters Builders Association (MBA) says it is highly encouraged by improving demand for commercial and housing developments in Albany.

A Western Australian Government survey has found the Great Southern has one of the state's lowest rates of people looking to relocate to another region.

New data has identified a substantial jump in housing sales in Albany but an increase in the time properties are taking to sell.

A Denmark man has been charged with attempting to use a hidden camera to film his teenage stepdaughter while she showered.

Coronavirus is changing the way the entire human race lives. Emergency workers are scrambling together contingency plans, fearing hospitals could soon be overwhelmed. Scientists are racing to invent a faster, cheaper Covid-19 test kit available for us all. Restaurants are reinventing themselves as delivery services, artists are turning to live-streaming to make a living. This week, the entire Background Briefing team investigates how each of us are finding new ways to get by.

People experiencing homelessness are being moved from the street and shelters into four-star hotels. The radical plan is meant to protect them from the pandemic and it's temporary. But as Hagar Cohen discovers, there are questions about what happens once the virus crisis is over.

How the Wiradjuri people, indigenous to the Central West of New South Wales, survived European settlement.

The Federal Writers' Project, established by President Roosevelt in July 1935 as part of the New Deal, provided jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. Australian authors Jeff Sparrow and James Bradley discuss whether a similar literary stimulus package could work today.

Why might the court intervene when a devout Jehovah Witness parent refuses a life-saving blood transfer to their child? What about cultural and traditional beliefs that clash with new ‘norms’ of society? More specific descriptions of what make a family of defines gender for example. Has the law has kept up with the changing society it regulates?

Writing about 'place' is more than parachuting into an unfamiliar location, meeting a few people, rehashing well-worn clichés, then flying out again. Three writers discuss the places they written about, and how to capture the essence of people and place.

Can the world achieve zero emissions by 2050? We need to put our foot on the accelerator if we’re to meet our Paris target. That’s the view of a former UN climate negotiator who was a key figure in the 2015 Paris Climate Talks. She warns that the time for action is now. And can citizens assemblies produce action on climate change?

A hundred years from now, will you be taking a pill or using your own cells to cure disease? This is just one of the predictions from four futurists who imagine how some of our biggest challenges will play out. Can we save species from the effects of climate change or protect our privacy from the prying eyes of governments and corporations? Perhaps surveillance technology might prove to be our friend by keeping us accountable for our actions.

It’s 250 years since the arrival of Captain James Cook. In maritime circles he’s celebrated as a great navigator and map-maker. But for First Nations people, Cook is the symbol of the European invasion which decimated their communities. So how should Cook be remembered today? Author Peter Fitzsimons and historian Professor John Maynard discuss the man and the myth.

Despite encouraging signs of a slowdown in infection rates, we’re still in the middle of a global pandemic. The economic and social effects of Covid-19 will be far-reaching. On the other side of this pandemic will there be a new world order? How is the virus affecting the US-China relationship, South-East Asia and the global balance of power?  

The accused triple-murderer tells police "you gotta be joking" during previously unseen footage of his arrest at his Perth home back in 2016 for the Claremont serial killings.

India and England's Twenty20 World Cup semi-final was washed out and Australia's clash with South Africa almost was too, all without a backup plan in place. How was this allowed to happen?

From a scattering of fans to stadiums at near-capacity, women's cricket has come a long way in the last decade since Australia won its first women's T20 World Cup.

Last night's T20 women's cricket match was more than just a game — its impact on gender equality in sport will reverberate for years to come, writes Kate O'Halloran.

A recent inquiry finds first responders have PTSD at a rate more than double that of the general population. So how are those who care for us caring for themselves?

Flames fanned by strong winds caused extensive damage to the resort site, destroying the heritage-listed wooden lodge building that had stood since the 1930s.

Many parents across the country are helping their children learn from home for the first time ever, but one man who has been home educating for years warns some parents might not like what they see.

Queensland Cotton regional manager Rick Jones opens gin doors to explain how cotton is processed and what it means to the Emerald community.

Like all zoos and wildlife parks around the country Townsville's Billabong Sanctuary is closed because of the coronavirus lockdown, but the important business of caring for the residents never stops.

What have flash floods, bushfires and a pandemic taught the Gold Coast about its relationship with its beaches?

Friends, cake, presents and games are all essential experiences for a kid's birthday party, but in recent times these celebrations have been a casualty. One mum shares how she's throwing her son a virtual birthday party.

I may be still flushed with enthusiasm after seeing Neil Diamond at Perth Oval last night but I saw what, in the cold light of day, still feels like the best concert I've ever been to.

Public figures have posted heartfelt and supportive messages for teachers on Twitter as Term 2 begins in NSW.

It started with a "scratchy throat", but now almost every day at Newmarch House brings another death — here's what we know about the nursing home at the centre of a massive coronavirus outbreak.

On March 31, the Premier enacted stricter social-distancing measures "for our own good" — here's how people in Australia's worst-affected coronavirus state survived, and thrived amid the lockdown.