The Religion and Ethics Report - Separate stories podcast

Australia has played host to Israeli President Isaac Herzog this week. Herzog addressed a gathering in Sydney this week that included the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, outside a large demonstration against his visit became violent with multiple arrests and accusations of police brutality.
Was this visit a good idea? Would it provide the Jewish community with a sense of security? Or ignite the already febrile political atmosphere?
On the ABC Religion & Ethics website, two prominent lawyers have been jousting over the issue. We’re bringing that exchange to the airwaves.
Josh Bornstein is a prominent lawyer, free speech advocate and Jewish Australian. He argues the visit to Australia by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has deepened divisions in Australia over the Gaza war.

Australia has played host to Israeli President Isaac Herzog this week. Herzog addressed a gathering in Sydney this week that included the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, outside a large demonstration against his visit became violent with multiple arrests and accusations of police brutality.
Was this visit a good idea? Would it provide the Jewish community with a sense of security? Or ignite the already febrile political atmosphere?
On the ABC Religion & Ethics website, two prominent lawyers have been jousting over the issue. We’re bringing that exchange to the airwaves.
GUEST:
Jeremy Leibler, also a lawyer and president of the Zionist Council of Australia, says the Herzog visit comes after Australia’s worst terrorist attack, motivated by anti-Semitic hatred and brings comfort to a grieving Jewish community.

Australia has played host to Israeli President Isaac Herzog this week. Herzog addressed a gathering in Sydney this week that included the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, outside a large demonstration against his visit became violent with multiple arrests and accusations of police brutality.
Was this visit a good idea? Would it provide the Jewish community with a sense of security? Or ignite the already febrile political atmosphere?
GUESTS:
Josh Bornstein is a prominent lawyer, free speech advocate and Jewish Australian. He argues the visit to Australia by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has deepened divisions in Australia over the Gaza war. Meanwhile, Jeremy Leibler, also a lawyer and president of the Zionist Council of Australia, says the Herzog visit comes after Australia’s worst terrorist attack, motivated by anti-Semitic hatred and brings comfort to a grieving Jewish community.

The Islamic Republic of Iran finds itself, again, on the brink of conflict with the West, with the United States sending an armada to the region. 
The latest tension follows mass demonstrations – and the mass killings of protesters – across Iran and raises the question of just how long the 47-year-old theocratic regime can survive. 
Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert of Macquarie University specialises in Iran and the Middle East and spent almost three years as a political prisoner in the regime’s jails.
The world’s 85 million Anglicans have a new spiritual leader, as Dame Sarah Mullally officially begins her term as Archbishop of Canterbury. She’s first woman to hold the position. But her historic appointment has highlighted divisions in the Anglican world, including in Australia, where some conservatives have rejected her leadership. 
Bishop Mark Short of the Canberra-Goulburn diocese is the new primate of the Anglican Church of Australia. It’s his job to try to reconcile a fractious church.
John Allen Jr., a longtime Vaticanista and editor-in-chief of the Catholic publication Crux, died Jan. 22, 2026, at age 61.
GUESTS: 
Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert -  Research Fellow in Security Studies at Macquarie University. Kylie is a political scientist specialising in the Middle East
Bishop Mark Short of the Canberra-Goulburn diocese is the new primate of the Anglican Church of Australia.

The world’s 85 million Anglicans have a new spiritual leader, as Dame Sarah Mullally officially begins her term as Archbishop of Canterbury. 
She’s first woman to hold the position. 
But her historic appointment has highlighted divisions in the Anglican world, including in Australia, where some conservatives have rejected her leadership.
GUEST: 
Bishop Mark Short of the Canberra-Goulburn diocese is the new primate of the Anglican Church of Australia. It’s his job to try to reconcile a fractious church.