Show Notes
Every year, 49,000 Australians are reported missing — most are found within weeks. 2,800 are not. True-crime author and Australian Missing Persons Register founder Nicole Morris sits down with Luke Bona to tell the stories behind the numbers: a crossbow murder on Sydney's northern beaches, the still-unsolved 2001 disappearance of Janine Vaughan, the 1978 case of Trudy Adams that stopped a generation of girls hitchhiking, and the hundreds of unidentified bodies still sitting in Australian morgues today.
Channel Seven's UK bureau chief Ben Downie joins live from London to unpack the tragic academic scandal dominating British headlines — a Cambridge professor's resignation, and his death days later, and the very real question of who's to blame. Former National Party leader David Littleproud breaks down NSW's sweeping new gun laws in the wake of the Bondi attack, and weighs in on Pauline Hanson's latest Mardi Gras comments.
Then it's Truckie Tuesday with Rod Hanafi: a national truckers' apprenticeship push, the extraordinary story of driver-advocate Sharon Horne, and a live legal fight with Hughes Law over a trucking company shut down overnight.
Guests: Nicole Morris (author, Australian Missing Persons Register) · Ben Downie (Channel Seven, UK) · David Littleproud MP · Rod Hannifey (Truckie Tuesday) · Sharon Horne · Belinda Hughes (Hughes Law)
⚠ Content warning: this episode discusses real missing-persons cases, murder and abduction (non-graphic, historical), a recent death by suicide, and gun violence in a policy context. Listener discretion advised.
00:00:00 Welcome to episode 134 00:01:43 Luke's off to Vietnam 00:05:09 Coming up this episode 00:11:49 Pauline Hanson wants to scrap compulsory super 00:16:20 Sam Pang wins the Gold Logie 00:17:13 NSW's gun buyback begins 00:18:33 Listener mail 00:24:23 Ben Downie live from London 00:44:28 Nicole Morris — Australia's missing 00:45:06 49,000 go missing a year. 2,800 stay missing 00:45:33 Peter Rolfe and the murder of Stephen Dempsey 00:51:22 Janine Vaughan — missing since 2001 00:55:49 Trudy Adams — the disappearance that ended a generation's hitchhiking 01:00:59 Hundreds of unidentified bodies in Australian morgues 01:04:24 Christopher "Mr Rentokil" Flannery and Australia's hitmen 01:17:58 David Littleproud on NSW's new gun laws 01:28:44 Pauline Hanson on Mardi Gras 01:37:39 Truckie Tuesday begins 01:45:20 An angry driver's voicemail 01:50:06 Sharon Horne — trucking's mental health advocate 01:51:12 The crash that changed everything 02:15:08 Belinda Hughes — a trucking company shut down overnight 02:23:19 Rod's rant of the week 02:26:02 Sign-off
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