The Front

With a stunning election mandate, re-elected Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi will end Japan’s formal pacifism, create a national intelligence agency and massively grow defence spending. She’s already enraged China - so does she want a war? Our North Asia Correspondent Yoni Bashan is here. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our...

Jeffrey Epstein files reveal an FBI report suggesting he was a Mossad agent, plus extensive communications with former Israeli Labor prime minister Ehud Barak - including Epstein asking Barak to assert he wasn’t an intelligence operative.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Intelligence agency ASIO issues a pre-emptive denial of an ABC Four Corners story on the Bondi massacre. It’s awkward timing for the ABC, with editor-in-chief and managing director Hugh Marks due to appear at a Senate Estimates hearing that will focus on its impartiality. Plus - the on-assignment blowup that's got everyone in commercial TV talking. Media Diary editor Steve Jackson is here.&n...

It’s the reality TV format sweeping the world and we couldn’t resist asking Canberra bureau chief - and Traitors devotee - Richard Ferguson to analyse this wild political moment through a Traitors v Faithfuls lens. Traitors Australia, which flopped a couple of years ago, is coming back to screens, with post-production under way on Season 3.  Find out more about The Front podcast&n...

South Australian police say they’ve identified a suspect in the disappearance of four-year-old Gus Lamont and confirm they’re now treating the case as a major crime. Plus, RBA boss Michele Bullock dismisses the Treasurer’s spending claim and ousted author Randa Abdel-Fattah’s next gig. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Keir Starmer knew Lord Peter Mandelson was closely connected to Jeffrey Epstein, but made him the UK’s ambassador to Washington DC anyway. After the shocking sucking-up of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, could the Epstein scandal destroy a Prime Minister too? Read more about this story at  theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel . This...

“Wholly unsatisfactory”: that’s a coroner’s verdict on the actions of a psychiatrist who took Bondi Junction killer Joel Cauchi off his medications five years before he stabbed six people to death while suffering a psychotic episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  A passionate young woman with strong views about Palestine: Lauren Lancaster is unknown outside student politics, but the former University of Sydney student representative council president, who’s condemned Israel for ‘ethnic cleansing’, is the daughter of Richard Lancaster SC, the senior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Read m...

In new court documents former Prime Minister Scott Morrison faces new accusations he froze out and victimised a senior staffer after the rape of Brittany Higgins. It comes from Fiona Brown - whose career was destroyed by false allegations from Higgins that she tried to cover up the rape. Now Brown says in a statement of claim lodged with the federal Court that the former PM’s top advisers ga...

The Reserve Bank of Australia has put the cash rate up for the first time in two years. As mortgage rates follow suit, we explore the thinking behind the central bank’s unanimous decision.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Treasurer says it’s not his fault. The Reserve Bank has been caught napping. But it’s clear we are spending too much and going too slow on housing - and that’s why the RBA’s under huge pressure to lift the cash rate today. Economics editor Matthew Cranston is here with some straight talk. View an edited transcript of this episode , plus photos, videos and additional rep...

He’s been on the run for six months since allegedly shooting dead two police officers in Victoria’s High Country, and now police are saying the so-called ‘sovereign citizen’ is likely deceased. .  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No honking. No blaring engines. No exhaust. The Chinese government has crushed Beijing’s incredible noise pollution, in response to residents’ despair, with a combination of incentives and strict new rules. North Asia Correspondent Yoni Bashan is here.  Read Yoni’s story - and see the video - by subscribing to our YouTube channel and checking us out at theaustralian.com.au a...

Timothee Chalamet, Gen Z’s only movie superstar, is Oscar-worthy as Marty Mauser - a relentless, charming and often-times horrible hero in a film set in post-WWII Jewish New York.   Find out more about The Front podcast  here . You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. The weekend edition of The Front is co-produced by...

A national crackdown on gun ownership is in jeopardy, with Anthony Albanese struggling to get the states and territories to sign up to his gun buyback, aimed at getting weapons out of the community. Today - what’s the problem?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are we allowed to say in the office these days - if we show up at all? As courts thrash out work-from-home rights, the battleground just got a lot more colourful, with a banker taking Federal Court action to defend his right to f-bomb. This story’s live now at  theaustralian.com.au , along with all Australia’s best journalism.  This episode of The Front is presented and...

Headlines: Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor - plus a phalanx of senior Liberal right figures - held a summit on Thursday to work out who can roll Sussan Ley for the leadership, but couldn’t agree. So - where does that leave Ley ahead of Parliament’s Monday resumption?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump calls it a ‘beautiful armada’: an American aircraft carrier group now pointing its missiles directly at Iran. But will Trump actually strike - and how would Iran’s terror proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis, react? Read more about this story, plus see photos, videos and additional reporting, on the website or on The Australian’s app. This episode of The Front is...

Headlines: A new take on second-amendment rights from Donald Trump, as he dramatically scales back ICE’s immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota. Trump’s move follows ICE agents shooting dead two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who was legally carrying a firearm.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Muslim community must keep the wolves from their flock, says Scott Morrison in a sweeping new proposal to crack down on antisemitic hate speech. We analyse the big new idea from the former Prime Minister - and explore how it fits into his feud with Anthony Albanese.  Read more about this story, plus see photos, videos and additional reporting, on the website or on The Australian’s a...

The Front’s afternoon headlines: A magistrate has denied bail to Sydney man Brandan Koschel, 31, who allegedly made an antisemitic speech at a March for Australia rally on Australia Day, charged under NSW’s new hate speech laws. Plus, police in Western Australia investigate whether a homemade explosive device thrown at a rally was an act of terror, and Queensland Premier David Crisaful...

As Nine baffles its staff by allowing Karl Stefanovic to launch his own rival show, the beancounters are about to become all-powerful at rival network Seven, where the billionaire Stokes family wants out. So what happens when accountants jump in the driver’s seat of media organisations? Media Diary editor Steve Jackson is here. Read more about this story, plus see photos, videos and addition...

Today's afternoon headlines from The Front: at Australia Day rallies across the nation, chants of 'Intifada' and scuffles between rival protestors. Plus, the heat is on Liberal leader Sussan Ley as two senior colleagues, Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor, refuse to offer public support for her leadership amid a party crisis.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sussan Ley says she’s confident she’ll be leader of the Liberal party when parliament resumes next month. Plus, Osaka apologises after heated exchange and Australians sweep Oscar nominations. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Coalition has split again and Sussan Ley’s leadership is hanging by a thread. So, how long has she got – and will she jump or wait to be pushed? Read more about this story, plus see photos, videos and additional reporting, on the website or on The Australian’s app. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our regular ho...