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As consequential elections around the world make global headlines, another election closer to home is flying under the radar. New Zealand’s election on 7 November could define the hopes of a country desperate to change its future, where young citizens are crossing the Tasman in droves due to dwindling opportunities in their home country. The Guardian’s New Zealand correspondent, Eva Corlett, speak...

Back in 2017 the then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced an ambitious expansion of Australia’s towering public infrastructure project, Snowy Hydro 2.0. Estimated at a cost of about $2bn, Turnbull had made the decision after the closure of a number of coal-fired power plants and a political fight over major blackouts in South Australia. But nearly 10 years later, the project is still not f...

Israeli citizens are about to vote in what’s being seen as elections that are almost existential when it comes to the future identity of the country. That’s because since the October 7 attack by Hamas in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed, and the resulting war in Gaza that a UN commission of inquiry has described as a genocide, some say the country’s politics and views have shifted profoundly...

Tony Barry and George Megalogenis (filling in for Barrie) examine the response to the horrific alleged attack on independent MP Helen Haines this week. While the prime minister pleaded for all to ‘turn the temperature’ down, it didn’t take long for many to dial it right up, particularly online. So can politicians from all sides tell their tribes to tone down the rhetoric? And what lessons can we l...

The mother of the youngest complainant wept on the stand after being presented with a note written by her son alleging ‘something happened’ at Alan Jones’s property at Fitzroy Falls. As the prosecution questioned the mother, she told the court she had ‘trusted’ Jones with her then teenage son. She was also asked why she stayed in contact with the broadcaster after her son told her about the allege...

One year ago, Sanae Takaichi became Japan’s first female prime minister, taking over a party in crisis. Since then, she’s defied the doubters, not just surviving as leader in a country that struggles with its gender politics – but winning convincingly at an election in February. She has faced President Trump, fraught relations with China over Taiwan and was even the subject of one of Anthony Alban...

In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad look at how Katie Zacharia broke the record for shortest tenure as White House press secretary. They then examine the pattern of how women in the Trump administration are treated when they’re perceived to have made mistakes – versus how men seem to survive their missteps. They also look at how...

The bestselling author says her novels will no longer be supplied to British bookshops due to fears of prosecution. Zoe Williams and Haroon Siddique report

Helen Haines, the independent federal MP for the Victorian seat of Indi, is in a critical condition and has lost a leg after an alleged attack outside her electorate office in Wangaratta on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday the alleged attacker and driver of the car was named by police as 43-year-old Brendan Nugent. A major investigation is under way into the incident, with Victoria police, the Austral...

Greens senator for Western Australia, Jordon Steele-John, has blamed ‘nasty political games’ for the timing of allegations of misconduct towards women spanning nearly a decade. Steele-John has denied all allegations, but the scandal, and it’s subsequent handling, is fast becoming a test for Greens leader, David Shoebridge, just three weeks into his new role. Political reporter Sarah Basford Canale...

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor on their new film interviewing Israeli military insiders on the vast, AI-assisted systems their sources say are being used to kill civilians in Gaza. They also talk about the political backlash against their documentary

From his remote property in rural Texas, the millionaire businessman Michael Samadi is plotting a new kind of civil rights movement – for the welfare and protection of AI systems. Guardian journalist Michael Safi spends an afternoon at the Double Six ranch, meeting Samadi’s AI chatbots and catching a glimpse of a possible vision of the future

Tony Barry and Niki Savva (filling in for Barrie Cassidy) examine the ‘festival of Josh’ that played out in the media this week as the former treasurer spruiked his new memoir. The two former Liberal party advisers weigh in on whether Josh Frydenberg should run again for Kooyong and whether he can live his dream of one day becoming PM. They also discuss what they see as the Labor government’s fail...

Former comedian Russell Brand is on trial facing multiple charges of rape and sexual assault against six women, spanning a decade from 1999 to 2009. On Thursday the court heard evidence from a woman who alleged Brand told her “it’s just fun” as he raped her at the 1999 Labour party conference. He denies all the allegations against him. Lucy Hough speaks to senior national news editor Aaron Sharp

After the youngest complainant began giving evidence, Judge Glenn Walsh placed a non-publication order on much of this week’s testimony. In this episode, Guardian Australia media correspondent Amanda Meade and host Nour Haydar answer your questions about the Alan Jones trial. They unpack why court reporters have to withhold certain details about complainants, and discuss the challenges of a high-p...

In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, co-hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy take a special look at the midterms which are coming up in early November. All 435 House seats are up in this election as representatives only serve fixed two-year terms. In the Senate, 35 of 100 seats are up for grabs too as senators serve six-year terms. There are many predictions of a blue...

It was supposed to be an Australian business success story. Just over a week ago local AI company Firmus was preparing to hit the market with a value that would put the startup in the same league as Woolworths. But last Friday, everything fell apart. At the centre was Firmus co-founder Oliver Curtis, an entrepreneur trying to rebuild his reputation after spending time in prison for insider trading...

Are we really living through ‘end times fascism’? The authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor think so. In a new series from the Guardian, the pair speak to Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty in an extended interview. From Trump 2.0 and the rise of the tech billionaire to Gaza and the ongoing climate emergency, Klein and Taylor argue we are not just lurching from crisis to crisis, but are in a...

It’s been nearly 100 years since the last public execution in the US, but on 3 December this year, that could change. The US secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, said last week that the execution of Nidal Hasan, the man who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, will be a public event – a claim that was later confirmed by a defence department official. On Saturday, the US president, Donald Trump, said he had y...

Using evidence from family and friends, analysis of cemetery registries, and aerial and satellite imagery, a special investigation by Guardian Australia has found that ‘persons without means’ are being buried in bare patches of earth between walkways and old headstones. The vast majority of the graves do not have a plaque or tombstone. The investigation has prompted an immediate apology from NSW H...

Five stories that feel like five answers to one important question: in a world where AI chatbots can help us through a breakup, listen like a friend, be a life coach, draft a difficult text message and do our work, where do we draw the line? Listen to Black Box: The Chatbots series

Tony Barry and Jessie McCrone examine the latest Redbridge poll (‘the poll that stops the nation’) that shows a slump in support for the prime minister and weaker support for Labor. Tony asks Jessie – a former senior Labor advisor – how she would counsel Anthony Albanese and what she thinks could improve Labor’s chances against Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. The two former sparring partners also loo...

The fifth and final complainant has taken the stand to detail his allegations against Alan Jones. He is also the youngest of the alleged victims, telling the court he accepted an invitation to visit the former broadcaster’s rural home when he was 17. Media correspondent Amanda Meade joins host Nour Haydar to unpack the latest developments from the courtroom

Angelique Chrisafis on the pupils and students who are taking to the streets and closing down schools in France

With a pledge to slash net overseas migration to just 100,000 people, with incremental increases in the years following, the Coalition have promised history-making immigration cuts as a solution to the housing crisis. But behind the steep figures is a strategy of luring voters from One Nation by out-doing their centrepiece policies. Political editor Tom McIlroy joins Matilda Boseley to discuss whe...