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In 2019, Scott Morrison’s government managed to narrowly win a third term, despite polling placing them behind Labor for almost three years. At the heart of the victory was a change in the way they campaigned, bringing in a pair of New Zealand election strategists armed with a new weapon: low-quality memes. Since then, the duo known as Topham Guerin have brought their political tricks to bigger ba...

ABC chair Kim Williams has been slammed for recent comments made about broadcasters like Joe Rogan, as the national broadcaster undergoes a wave of structural changes. During his first Press Club address, Kim Williams took aim at the podcaster, saying commentators such as Rogan “prey on fear”. Mr Williams was there to deliver a speech calling for greater investment in the ABC, which he said had lo...

Professor Clare Wright is the author of five works of history, including the best-selling The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka and You Daughters of Freedom , which comprise the first two instalments of her Democracy trilogy. On this episode of Read This , Clare sits down with Michael Williams to discuss the final instalment of the trilogy, Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions , which was released in October....

Australian politics is changing in ways it seems the Labor party and the Coalition haven’t yet come to terms with. And as the electorate splinters, it’s becoming harder for governments to last more than three years. Just months from an election where the outcome of a minority government looks likely, scare campaigns about “unholy alliances” have begun. It’s a sign that the two major parties are ra...

In 2007, future United States president Donald Trump stepped into the wrestling ring for a showdown with Vince McMahon, then head of World Wrestling Entertainment and Trump’s close friend. Trump played the villain perfectly. For decades now, Trump has been shaped by a love affair with professional wrestling. It taught him how to control and manipulate a crowd, how to speak, and how to respond to c...

What happens when you have a democratically elected leader who takes it upon themselves to prosecute their political opponents – as US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to do? The Philippines is a far more corrupt system, but its former president Rodrigo Duterte is someone who did exactly that. One such opponent was Leila de Lima – lawyer, politician and human rights activist who opposed Dute...

Anthony Albanese was triumphant on Friday, as he talked up the government’s passing of dozens of bills through the parliament. But there was one key piece of environmental legislation that didn’t make it. Albanese personally stopped the bill, right at the last moment and without warning Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. The decision by the prime minister puts mining interests – and the hope of...

In Anthony Albanese’s political universe, personal relationships are everything. High on the list for Albanese is his bond with Peter V'landys, the chair of the Australian Rugby League Commission and chief executive of Racing NSW. That relationship has been central to the government’s decision to again delay reforms of gambling advertising, which V’Landys strongly opposes. Today, special correspon...

The Robodobt scheme is considered by many to be one of the Australian government’s worst scandals. Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper and Walkley Award-winning journalist Rick Morton followed the case closely and he documents the crisis and its devastating effects in his new book. On this episode of Read This , we bring you Michael and Rick’s conversation about Mean Streak from Canberra Writer...

Two years ago, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled 6 News , a streaming news channel founded by then 14-year-old Leonardo Puglisi, a “fantastic initiative”. Now, under Labor’s very own legislation, currently working its way through parliament, every child under 16 – like Leo was then – will be banned from using almost every social media platform. The government is defending the proposed ban,...

On Nauru, there are close to 100 asylum seekers who have been released from detention but are currently living hand-to-mouth. They are forbidden to work on the island, and are surviving on a stipend of $230 a fortnight – which they say is not even enough for three meals a day. The Australian government has mostly succeeded in keeping offshore processing off the front pages, but as boat arrivals co...

Crypto is skyrocketing, ever since Donald Trump won the US election. Trump is set to lead the most pro-crypto administration ever, promising a crypto advisory council and appointing a prominent pro-crypto hedge fund manager as his pick for Treasury secretary.  His campaign received considerable donations from the crypto industry, who hope he’ll come good on his promise to create a national bitcoin...

The night Donald Trump claimed victory, he celebrated with his closest friends.  Among them was Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart. Rinehart, who describes herself as a “long standing member of the Trump support group ‘the Trumpettes’”, is not only cultivating her ties among America’s right-wing political elite. She also remains a highly influential figure in Australian politics.  And with...

The call for Treaty in this country stems as far back as European settlement.  Now, the Victorian government has started negotiations in what will be the first time a state or federal government in Australia has sat down with Aboriginal people on equal footing to reach Treaty. But in the wake of the failed referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the Victorian opposition has withdrawn supp...

Rachel Kushner always seemed destined to become a writer. At just five years old, her unconventional parents had her working in a feminist bookstore. Now, several decades and three award-winning novels later, she is back with a new book that follows a spy-for-hire who infiltrates a commune of eco-activists in rural France. On this episode of Read This , Rachel joins host Michael Williams for a con...

Hundreds of climate activists, aboard rafts and kayaks, have paddled out into the Port of Newcastle for a so-called “protestival”, to disrupt the world’s largest coal port. The activists behind the protest, Rising Tide, are defying a police-sought court order that tried to have the protest stopped due to safety concerns. It means the demonstration will run in the presence of a police force that ha...

There’s a group of people who felt completely abandoned during our most recent public health crisis: those who suffered Covid-19 vaccine injuries.  It is a rare event, but it happens. During the pandemic those who experienced side effects from Covid-19 vaccinations say they felt deserted by their friends, health services and ultimately, the government, which they believe failed to deliver its prom...

Just a few days after the US presidential election, Prospect Park, located in the middle of Brooklyn, burst into flames.  For Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks, who has long called America home, an autumn bushfire in the dense urban heart of Brooklyn was a scary sign of what’s to come under Donald Trump’s second term as US president. Today, Geraldine Brooks on Trump’s America – and...

Alan Jones was at his luxury Circular Quay apartment yesterday morning when Child Abuse Squad detectives arrived to arrest him. For nine months, police had been conducting a top secret investigation. Now, they’ve charged Jones with 24 offences, involving eight victims. Among the charges are 11 of aggravated indecent assault where the victim was under the authority of the offender.  His arrest is t...

In deciding not to probe robodebt, the National Anti-Corruption Commission seemingly failed its first big test. But the NACC has been given a second chance to reconsider an investigation into the unlawful scheme and six people referred for possible corruption by a royal commission. Former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson was approached to review the decision, but the offer was withdrawn over conce...

Santilla Chingaipe has always been a storyteller. The Zambian-born filmmaker, historian and author spent her career exploring settler colonialism, slavery, and contemporary migration in Australia and she has just released her first book of non-fiction. On this episode of Read This , host Michael Williams is joined in the studio by Santilla to discuss Black Convicts , which offers a fresh understan...

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s ambassador to the United States, does not appear to like Donald Trump – and the feeling is mutual. Speculation about Rudd's ability to work with the incoming Trump administration has flared, as Rudd’s historical criticisms of Donald Trump have caught the eye of some in the US president-elect’s inner-circle. This week, speculation peaked when a senior adviser to Trump repost...

When US President-elect Donald Trump claimed victory last week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the first to congratulate him. Trump and Netanyahu have a close relationship and Netanyahu’s far-right national security minister has said he’s sure Trump would see “eye-to-eye” with Israel. Meanwhile, president-elect Trump claims he will end the war in the Middle East, but has not...

The Albanese government has been accused of pork-barrelling after an analysis of $1.35 billion in grants found almost 90 per cent of seats that Labor held or gained at the election received a grant. Labor has defended the grants, saying they were campaign commitments that had to be met. Today, independent MP Helen Haines on pork-barrelling by the major parties and how the Albanese government rates...

The re-election of Donald Trump is likely to have alarming consequences for the climate. He was, after all, elected on a promise to “drill, baby, drill”. Trump is already preparing to pull out of the Paris Agreement, again. But this time he could also withdraw from the underlying convention, making it much harder for any successor to change course.  Climate diplomat Thom Woodroofe was there when t...