For Bob Carr, former Australian foreign minister, the conclusion is stark: the postwar liberal order that America built and profited from for eight decades is being dismantled by the very nation that created it.

In a wide-ranging conversation on The Discussion, Carr assesses the Iran war's strategic failures, the fracturing of the Western alliance, and what a rising China is quietly learning from all of it. He also turns his attention to Taiwan – and asks whether a world without American moral authority is a world anybody should want.

But the evidence tells a different story. Children in solitary confinement. Aboriginal kids caught in a justice system stacked against them from the start. Young people sentenced under laws designed for adults. A childcare system rocked by sexual abuse. And a political class reaching for tougher penalties when the research points the other way.

Into this landscape steps Deb Tsorbaris – Australia's new National Children's Commissioner – with a mandate to listen to children, speak uncomfortable truths to power, and push back against the tide of punitive politics with something more powerful: evidence.

She says we are not in a youth crime crisis. So why does it feel like one? And what would it take to build a country where every child's rights are genuinely upheld – not just promised?

Rev. Bill Crews sits down with Deb Tsorbaris for a conversation about justice, family, and what Australia owes its children.

The Discussion. Available now.

But this renewal has coincided with something darker. Acts of violence committed in religion's name – like the Bondi Beach shootings – have forced an uncomfortable reckoning. When faith becomes potent in fractured societies, does it risk becoming a weapon?

Throughout history, religion has inspired both extraordinary compassion and devastating cruelty. So as Australia grapples with religious violence, we must ask: Is the problem religion itself? Or how faith is exploited by those seeking power or redemption through violence?

Should we implement 'faith guard rails'? Where does religious freedom end and public safety begin?

Rev. Bill Crews sits down with Simon Smart from the Centre for Public Christianity – one of Australia's most thoughtful voices on faith in public life.

A conversation about belief, violence, and whether our diverse society can withstand the strains of religious division.

The Discussion. Available now.

Now survivors report devastating health impacts – cancers, birth defects, generational disabilities – yet their medical records remain classified or missing. 

In this episode of The Discussion, investigative journalist Susie Boniface discusses allegations of a decades-long cover-up, reclassified blood samples, and sanitised archives. With veterans now in their 80s and 90s, she examines why the truth about Britain's nuclear testing programme remains one of the state's most closely guarded secrets.

Julian Cribb delivers a confronting message: the collapse of modern civilization isn't a question of if, but when. Throughout history, 90 civilizations have fallen, and ours shows all the warning signs – resource depletion, climate catastrophe, overpopulation, and a dangerous faith that growth can continue forever on a finite planet.

But the greatest threat isn't climate change or nuclear war. It's delusion – our collective inability to face hard truths about the world we've created.

With no government prepared and time running out, Cribb argues we have perhaps a few years to act before the slide becomes irreversible. The evidence is overwhelming, yet most of humanity remains indifferent, content to sacrifice the future for the comfort of today.

In this urgent conversation, I explore the 10 interconnected megathreats facing humanity, why our political systems are structurally incapable of responding, and whether anything can still be done to save what remains.

Are we witnessing the twilight of modern civilization? And if we are, why can't we bring ourselves to believe it?

Listen now.

The podcast considers how the UN might be reformed to reflect today's geopolitical realities and improved operational effectiveness across its peacekeeping, humanitarian, and development programs. We also assess the UN's capacity to handle 21st-century issues like climate change, cyber warfare, and artificial intelligence, while questioning whether a universal multilateral institution remains necessary in an increasingly multipolar world dominated by regional organisations.

The crisis encompasses destroyed healthcare systems, compromised water supplies, educational collapse, and widespread psychological trauma. 

Famine conditions now exist in multiple locations across Darfur and beyond. International funding shortfalls are crippling response efforts. The conflict has created a perfect storm of displacement, disease, and deprivation that threatens to devastate an entire generation of Sudanese children with consequences lasting decades.

In this episode of The Discussion I speak with international aid advocate, Tim Costello.

In this episode of The Discussion I speak with a Tony Stuart, the CEO of UNICEF Australia about the urgent food crisis affecting thousands of children, the challenges of delivering aid in an active conflict zone, and what immediate action is needed to prevent famine. 

This episode examines the human cost of the crisis and explores how international support can make a difference for Gaza's most vulnerable residents.

In this episode of The Discussion host Bill Crews examines what’s driving the rise of religious intolerance and what the solutions might be, with Simon Smart from the Centre for Public Christianity?

Some countries permit advance directives for dementia cases, and AI is being developed to replace psychiatrist in the assisted dying process.

While some jurisdictions focus on terminal illness with strict safeguards, others expand access to mental illness. 

In this episode of The Discussion, host Bill Crews examines these complex ethical, medical, and legal issues with Dr. Philip Nitschke, a prominent advocate who offers insights into global approaches and lessons from this evolution in human autonomy.

Residents in certain communities don’t feel safe.

It’s led to rising rates of youth detention. In some places, governments have even adopted so-called ‘adult crime, adult time’ policies. 

Will it work, or does locking up young offenders only create bigger social problems?

My guest on this episode of The Discussion is Anne Hollonds, the National Children's Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission. 

As is so often the case, civilians are caught in the cross-fire.

So is peace possible in the Middle East? Might the road to peace run through Belfast.

In this edition of The Discussion I talk with Eddie Jackson,  a policy maker who was part of the peace process that ended the bloody feud between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.