Life Matters - Full program podcast

From its beginnings as a protest march in Sydney's inner city, Mardi Gras has become an internationally renowned celebration of LGBTQIA+ life. But this year festival organisers  have announced the huge post-parade party has been cancelled. Historian Scott McKinnon and queer club owner Tim Brown ponder the question: how important is the party?
Family businesses are often treated like heirlooms — they carry a legacy and an expectation that they'll be passed down through generations. But when it's time for the founders to step back, things get complicated. Ombudsman Bruce Billson and Gina Dang, who runs a strawberry empire alongside her six siblings, chat through all the challenges that come with succession planning.
Psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones explains how to say now without hurting people's feelings or damaging relationships, and what we can learn from letting someone down gently.

As the national skills shortage bites, the trades are attracting more people looking for a new career. Australia's jobs and skills commissioner Barney Glover AO and Melbourne carpenter Tristan Santoro discuss what it takes to make a long-term career in the trades. 
Whether it's lofi beats, hard rock or classical, research suggests that listening to music while we work can improve productivity. Professor of music Emery Schubert and AFLW footballer Darcy Vescio chat through their optimal performance-enhancing playlists.
More and more Australians are choosing cycling for their daily commute, skipping the traffic congestion and squeezing in some exercise. But the way our cities are designed shapes how we get around, and research shows there's a gender imbalance when it comes to cycling accessibility.

When you think of your home, what springs to mind? For some, home is their happy place, a sanctuary of comfort and calm. But for others, it's complicated. Psychologist Chris Cheers discusses what it means to feel at home in our space, mind and body. 
And Ask Aunty delves into pet politics — Denise Eriksen and James Colley discuss how to deal with a mate's four-legged friend if you're not that enamoured by a slobbery extra guest under the dinner table.

School is back and across the ditch there's a new subject in the New Zealand curriculum: financial education will be taught in classrooms from year 1 to 10. The Barefoot Investor author Scott Pape discusses how Australia could incorporate financial lessons into our own curriculum.
There's a turf war in Melbourne right now over who's responsible for maintaining the nature strip on either side of the road. But could there be a better way to make use of these public pockets of land?
Giving your child a name that suits them can feel like an impossible task, and we turn to our own cultural touchpoints for inspiration. So what does it say about our cultural references when Charlotte, Oliver, Amelia and Noah top the charts every year?

Australia is a world leader in cancer survival, with more than 1.6 million people now living with and beyond cancer. But survival alone doesn't tell the whole story. Cancer survivor and researcher Professor Phoebe Phillips and Professor Bogda Koczwara from the Australian Research Centre for Cancer Survivorship discuss how to support people not just during the early stages of care, but for the long run. 
What age did you consider yourself "too old" to wear certain outfits? Playwright Peta Murray and author David Carlin share what they learned about the complexities of aging through caring for their elderly parents and reflecting on their experience in a new memoir, How to Dress for Old Age.
Around one in seven Australians lives with tinnitus, a debilitating condition that can affect our social lives, our work and even how we get to sleep. As part of Tinnitus Awareness Week, a group of researchers from around the world have joined forces to push sound-based therapies designed to help people reduce the noise.