Australia Is Changing Fast. Even Alexander Downer Is Sounding the Alarm

He was a Brisbane mechanic who mortgaged the house for a race car he built in his garage, then crashed it on live TV. Australia loved him so much it paid for him to go again. Dick Johnson is a dying breed. A bloke who fixed his own car, paid his own way, and became one of the most loved sporting figures this country has produced. At 81, he’s still at it. His team won Bathurst this month. In 1980, Dick mortgaged the family home to chase the biggest race in the country. He was leading when a rock rolled onto the track and ended it all on live TV. Then the phones lit up. Families and kids sent in their hard-earned cash and pocket money, Ford matched every dollar, and twelve months later Dick won the whole thing in a car the public paid for. He still has every letter. Karl sits down with an Australian icon. Driving the family Holden to swim training at eight. National Service a few huts from Peter Brock. His first race in an $80 ex-taxi. Getting pulled over at 134km/h by a cop who’d chipped in for his comeback. The truth about who really put that rock on the track. And 56 years with Jill, because “if something was broke, we didn’t throw it out. We used to fix it.” Plus his mum’s best advice: “Tell the truth always, you won’t have to remember a thing.” 00:00 Cold open 00:00 Bathurst 2026 and the fuel drama 05:02 “Before I fall off my perch” 06:43 Microwave pasta after winning Bathurst 09:46 Driving the family car at eight 13:39 National Service with Peter Brock 14:52 First race in an $80 ex-taxi 20:15 His first Bathurst 25:59 Mortgaging the house 28:14 The rock 33:17 Australia crowdfunds a comeback 40:02 Pulled over at 134km/h 44:06 Dick on Peter Brock 48:28 The Sierra years 53:38 Beating the factory teams at Silverstone 56:35 Roger Penske’s lifeline 58:56 A letter from Edsel Ford 61:24 56 years with Jill 62:20 Quickfire questions This episode is brought to you by Tanda. Tanda makes it easier to be an employer. Check them out at tanda.com.au. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all podcast apps. #DickJohnson #Bathurst #KarlStefanovic

Insurance went up again? Shocker. An ex-insider says call their bluff.Luke Dugdell spent a decade policing insurers from the inside. Now he takes them on for a living. And shares some take-home hacks you can use today. His words: “they’ll charge you every dollar they can.”Ever called your insurer and watched the price drop? Tell us by how much.#insurancepremiums #karlstefanovic #costofliving

They lived at home until they got married. Before 40, they’d built more than $1 billion in assets. Karl Stefanovic sits down with self-made Sydney property developers Charbel Hazzouri and Anthony El-Hazouri, second-generation Australians whose fathers arrived from Lebanon with nothing. Karl visits the cousins at the new harbourside headquarters of Revelop, the property group they started in 2008 while still at uni. Charbel’s dad arrived at 18, rented a room from a woman with 30 cats and worked nights in a factory. Anthony’s dad sorted mail at Australia Post before finishing a PhD.From selling shower screens in the Trading Post and washing cars for $7 at nine years old, to marking out their first slab in Bronte (badly), the cousins explain how they built a property business from nothing: options, cash flow, doing more for free than for money, representing themselves in the Land and Environment Court, and buying shopping centres on gut feel, including a Big W they kept open with Liquorland vouchers.They finish on why they don’t think they’ve made it yet, what success looks like now, and their advice for a generation who have it even tougher.

Academy Award-nominated producer Lawrence Bender joins Karl Stefanovic for a revealing conversation about Hollywood, filmmaking and the extraordinary stories behind some of the biggest movies of the past four decades. Bender takes Karl behind the scenes of his career, from meeting Quentin Tarantino and bringing Reservoir Dogs to life to the making of Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Inglourious Basterds and An Inconvenient Truth. He reveals how he and Tarantino first met, how Reservoir Dogs came together when they were broke, the lessons he learned from Harvey Keitel, and the story of Christoph Waltz walking into a casting room and landing the role of Hans Landa after Bender and Tarantino had almost given up searching. He also shares stories of working with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, the extraordinary pressure of making Inglourious Basterds on an impossible schedule, and the lesson he learned after almost 40 years in Hollywood. He also discusses Red Alert, the four-part drama he produced about the experiences of families caught up in the events of October 7. He reveals what it was like filming in Israel while missiles were being fired, working with cast and crew who had lived through the events themselves, and why he considers the project one of the most important things he has ever done. After decades working with some of Hollywood's biggest directors, actors and writers, Bender shares the lessons, risks and moments that have shaped one of the industry's most remarkable careers. Subscribe to The Karl Stefanovic Show for more interviews, debate and conversations with some of the biggest names in Australia and around the world.

Dr Nick Norwitz MD PhD joins Karl for a fascinating conversation spanning cholesterol, statins, GLP-1s, peptides and the rapidly changing science of human health. Norwitz reveals how his LDL cholesterol reached an extraordinary 574 after adopting a ketogenic diet – despite previously having normal cholesterol – and why he decided to spend seven years without treating it. He then underwent an advanced heart scan that found zero detectable plaque. He explains why he believes cholesterol needs to be considered in the context of a person's overall metabolic health, challenges the idea that ‘lower is always better’, and discusses what he sees as major problems with the incentives driving medical research. Norwitz also takes Karl inside the emerging world of GLP-1 drugs, peptides and human bioengineering – including his own controversial self-experiments with compounds such as retatrutide and MOT-C. He reveals the astonishing effects he experienced from retatrutide, explains why he believes peptides could eventually transform how we approach muscle, fat, ageing and disease, and argues that the ‘super soldier serum’ may not be as far away as it sounds. Plus, Norwitz explains why he believes the traditional model of large randomised trials may eventually give way to much more personalised approaches to medicine – and why he thinks we are entering an extraordinary new era of human biology. Subscribe to The Karl Stefanovic Show for more interviews, debate and conversations. A huge thanks to our sponsors at TANDA. If you employ people in this country, you need to check them out. You can do everything from onboarding, training and paying team members to off-boarding and more. Go to https://www.tanda.com.au/