A special live event with our national chief correspondent Hedley Thomas, creator of The Teacher’s Pet and Shandee’s Story.

Find out more about The Front podcast here and read about this story and more on The Australian's website or search for The Australian in your app store.

This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Kristen Amiet, and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our regular host is Claire Harvey. The multimedia editor is Lia Tsamoglou, and original music composed by Jasper Leak.