Fathers and Daughters – Father’s Day Special
Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
- Madonna King
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The word “daughter” with its silent letters points to something going on beneath the surface. To find out exactly what is going on between daughters and their Dads calls for a type of explorer who is prepared to investigate widely and give a voice to their thoughts and feelings.
Our guest today is Madonna King one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists. In her book Fathers and Daughters: Helping girls and their dads build unbreakable bonds Madonna with her typical thoroughness has interviewed no fewer than 1300 girls and 400 Dads along with a host of school principals, psychologists, researchers and even neuroscientists to give us some answers.
Sometimes the natural instinct of Dads to “fix things” is not what is required. Being a good listener is what his daughter is looking for. Sometimes a practical approach rather than an emotional response is the way to go. Sometimes Dad does not need to do anything, his daughter can learn a lot by modelling and by watching how he relates to others. Dad may show his care by actions rather than words but if that is the case Dad needs to remember just how important he is in his daughter’s life.
One of Madonna’s experts told her that there is not a positive narrative about maleness at the moment which makes Fathers and Daughters such a topical and important work. The most important message is that Dads must never give up and withdraw from the relationship with their daughters no matter how hard it may get.
The bond between fathers and daughters has to change when daddy’s little girl becomes a young woman, then later when she is out in the big wide world, but the bond has to remain and it may even get stronger. Madonna draws from her extensive investigation to come up with 10 tips to help rekindle or never lose that bond between daughters and their Dads. Everyone will come away with something new to think about after listening to Madonna in this program.
Madonna King
Madonna King is an award-winning journalist, author and seasoned speaker across the nation’s conference stages. She has covered dozens of elections and budgets, headed the top-rating current affairs program on the ABC in Queensland, and won several national awards for her journalism.
The author of 16 books — including biographies of former federal treasurer Joe Hockey and Australian of the Year Professor Ian Frazer — her focus on the nation’s tweens and teens has come from interviewing thousands of them for books like Being 14, Fathers and Daughters, Ten-Ager and Screen Wise.
Madonna is also a parent of two daughters.
Song selection by our guest: Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran
Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 11 October 2018.