The Wait for Gender-Affirming Healthcare

Gender-affirming surgeries can cost tens of thousands of dollars. None of it is covered by Medicare.    This week on The Yarn, reporter August Mikleus shares his investigation into the years-long fight for public funding, and what happens when trans patients are forced to front the costs themselves…

The Hereafter

In this episode of The Yarn, everybody is trying to stay in touch with somebody who has died. A family who turned their house into a hospital, a granddaughter burning money for her grandfather, a woman who says the dead can be booked by the hour, and a stargazer chasing light from stars that no lon…

Craig Silverman: Industrialised Deception and the Truth Crisis

In this episode, we're joined by Craig Silverman, one of the world's leading experts on online disinformation, who says the era of tech companies funding fact-checking is over.  Craig has spent more than two decades reporting on how our information environment gets manipulated, from a blog trackin…

Firsts: Breaking Ground

In this episode of The Yarn, we meet people who broke new ground without setting out to. The team behind Victoria's first golden kelp restoration project, a sailor who raced a yacht through the roughest water on the planet, and the first woman on the fireground in her region.  Stories by Theoné va…

Firsts: Small Beginnings

In this episode of The Yarn, we meet people whose lives turned on a single first. A boy who became a Beyblade champion, a man whose first night at a soccer club became twenty-five years, and a journalist who chased her first byline from Fiji to Melbourne.  Stories by Erielle Sudario, Sihan Ren and…

Somebody's Watching: The Algo Knows

In this episode of The Yarn, the watching comes with a verdict. Cameras keeping guard over a wildlife sanctuary, an app that tracks a delivery rider's every stop, footballers waiting on selection, and women who change how they move through the city just to avoid being watched.  Stories by Alexandr…

Somebody's Watching: Love, & Other Surveillance

This is the second episode in our three-part series, Somebody's Watching - and it's about Love, and Other Surveillance. In this episode, nobody is performing. But they're being watched anyway. And some of the watching arrives dressed as love, fear, or judgement. Sometimes, a chaotic blend of all. W…

Somebody's Watching: Screentime!

This is the first episode in our new three-part series, Somebody's Watching - and it’s about Screentime.  In this episode, we meet people who perform for the screen. But in the economy of attention, both performers and watchers are being surveilled.  We meet a streamer who games in front of thousan…

Posting Against the Patriarchy

On Chinese social media, political influencers risk censorship with every post.   On today’s episode of The Yarn, we speak to feminist content creators from China and Australia about their differing experiences, both online and in real life.     This episode was created by Rachel Liu, Jinghe Huan…

Food for Thought

Food can provide far more than just sustenance. For many, meals are a pivotal link to memory, identity, and belonging.   On today’s episode of The Yarn, our reporters explore the transformative power of food. They speak to a gardener growing Chinese vegetables in Australia, a baker building commun…