Cut Through

How did Karl Stefanovic rise to the pinnacle of TV stardom, and what does his move to even smaller screens say about the current state of Australian media? Tina Quinn joins the podcast to go behind-the-scenes of her latest article for Crikey , which saw her speak to a long list of sources who worked alongside Stefanovic — from junior producers all the way up to senior management — about how he rea...

There was a flurry of activity in parliament as politicians tried to make the last sitting fortnight before the winter break really count. So it’s the perfect time to bring Cut Through back from our mid-year break – re-energised and ready to call it as we see it!  Crikey ’s politics writer Rachel Withers joins readers’ editor Crystal Andrews and reporter-at-large Charlie Lewis to discuss the...

The 2026 federal budget was one of the more “memorable” in recent history. Despite the vast majority of measures having already been aired in the media weeks prior, Jim Chalmers kept one major reveal for budget night: a three-part tax reform, winding back the favourable settings of capital gains tax, negative gearing and private trusts. The mainstream media has been bleating about “broken promises...

There are just three days until the Farrer by-election and – for the first time ever – it looks like voters won’t be electing a National or Liberal MP to represent them in Sussan Ley’s old seat.. Instead, the frustration with establishment politics has seen independent Michelle Milthorpe and One Nation’s David Farly emerge as the frontrunners in a fierce and unpredictable campaign To help you foll...

Health Minister Mark Butler’s “major overhaul” of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will reduce the total cost of the scheme by $15 billion over the next four years. The majority of the savings will come from the 160,000 people who will be kicked off the scheme – a brutal decision given that the NDIS only supports a fraction of the 2 million Australians with a severe disability. The justifi...

Is “free speech” an Australian value? We examine the latest developments concerning two state laws attempting to restrict political expression, and how the people are pushing back. First, the verdict is in on the protest-restricting laws introduced by the Minns government ahead of the divisive visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog: the changes are unconstitutional. Grata Fund founder Isabelle Re...

If it walks, talks and quacks like a duck… is it insider trading? Journalist Lachlan Keller joins the podcast to explain the suspicious pattern of behaviour that has lead experts and analysts to believe people within the Trump administration are using insider trading to make huge, lucrative bets on global news events. We discuss the major oil commodities trades made just hours before Trump announc...

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a surprise announcement before the Easter long weekend – the government’s long-awaited proposal for gambling advertising reform was finally ready and intended to come into effect from January 1, 2027. So, where will gambling ads be banned, and how? Crikey media reporter Daanyal Saeed joins the podcast to unpack the proposed gambling ad reforms, including three...

Originally labels for a person’s economic perspective, “left” and “right” have been transformed into social markers that are not only wielded as weapons in political discourse, but actually tell us very little about how someone will vote. In fact, most Australians prefer to call themselves “centrist” regardless of their beliefs. So does the left-right political spectrum still apply to Australian p...

It’s been one month since the US began its war on Iran, which means one month that the critical oil passageway the Strait of Hormuz has been closed. As a result, the price of crude oil has shot up, taking the price of fuel with it. At petrol stations across Australia diesel is more than $3 per litre, with unleaded creeping up to $2.50 in metro areas and well beyond that in regional areas. Economic...

After 10 years, more than 470,000 wrongly-issued debts, six separate investigations and $2.4 billion in compensation to victims, the National Anti-Corruption Commission handed down its final report into the unlawful debt recovery scheme known as robodebt. Two public servants were found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct, but will not face criminal investigation. The other four individuals...

Can “good people” make change in Australia’s political system, or will power always corrupt? That’s the question that Jo Tarnawsky — former diplomat and chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles — is answering with her series exploring how power protects itself. Tarnawsky joins the podcast to discuss what it’s like to be “in the room” when big decisions are made, how power is maintain...

On February 28 the US and Israel launched an unprovoked missile strike on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several Islamic Republic officials and sparking further strikes across the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz, the pivotal oil shipping route, is closed. Washington’s claim of attacking to provoke “regime change” in Iran is dubious at best. But the Iranian people have been largely...

Campaigning has officially begun for the South Australia state election set for March 21. Peter Malinauskas’ already-dominant Labor government will be returned and increase their representation – the only question is how many more seats will they win? Jo Dyer joins the podcast to give the political background to the election, including how the SA Liberals collapse differs from the federal Libs, an...

Palantir is in the business of data and surveillance. It is run by key members of the “tech right”, builds the technology that has powered violent and illegal ICE raids in the US, and is accused of providing the AI-assisted autonomous weapons the Israeli military deployed on Palestinians in Gaza. So why does the Australian Future Fund hold a $100 million stake in Palantir? And how has the company...

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese continued to maintain this week that Israeli President Isaac Herzog was formally invited to Australia by the federal government to help foster “a greater sense of unity” and as a comfort to the Jewish community, still reeling from the Bondi Beach terrorist attack. But it was clear from the outset that there was also real anger from people — including Jewish people —...

The latest drop of Epstein files totalled a whopping 3.5 million documents. Buried within it were remnants of conversations Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted paedophile and sex trafficker, had about Australian politics — and attempts to destabilise democratic elections made by people in his orbit. Crystal Andrews and reporter-at-large Charlie Lewis discuss why Kevin Rudd and Clive Palmer appear in th...

Bonus episode: Our previous episode scrutinising One Nation’s surge upset made many of the party’s supporters. They took issue with describing what the data says about the archetypal One Nation voter: they tend to be older, live in regional Australia, and have lower levels of education and income. Crystal Andrews and Bernard Keane return to debate whether it’s patronising to describe voters this w...

One Nation’s surge in the polls can no longer be denied, now neck-and-neck with the Liberal party at around 20% of the primary voting intention. Combined with a tense social environment and a high-profile joiner in Barnaby Joyce, is “Opposition Leader Pauline Hanson” a real possibility? Party supporters and detractors say the polls are a sign we must take the party seriously. So politics editor Be...

The government has unveiled its National AI Plan, laying out a roadmap to scale up AI infrastructure and adoption that Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres claims will help “create a fairer, stronger Australia where every person benefits from this technological change”. But the plan did not include the mandatory guardrails that many expected would serve as proactive regulations for tech comp...

A big year in politics and policy ended with a bang — Labor and the Greens worked out a deal to pass the long overdue reforms to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. What have we learned about how the 48th Parliament does the work of legislating? Politics editor Bernard and political columnist Rachel Withers join the podcast to conduct a “Parliamentary Year in Review”. W...

A new poll has found Australians support the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, despite critics’ warnings of the huge price tag and concerns about US stability. The consistent message from politicians and sections of the media is that China’s “threat” to national security makes the deal essential. But is that threat real? Wanning Sun, Crikey columnist and deputy director of the UTS Australia-China Rela...

So the Coalition has (again) decided to ditch net zero. How much should you care? Very little, according to Crikey climate contributor Ketan Joshi. Far more pressing is the state of climate, environment and energy policy-making by the Labor government — which could pass world-leading legislations with the help of a supportive Senate, but is instead pursuing its own form of climate denialism. ...

Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, just became the mayor of New York City. He energised the working class over material issues including cost of living, housing and wealth inequalities, and overcame opposition from the ‘old school’ Democratic elite to show the party how to really scare Donald Trump. Will Mamadani’s win inspire (or force) the Democrats to pick up the pace in the fi...

On November 11, 1975, Governor General John Kerr dismissed Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam — creating the biggest scandal in modern Australian history. The dismissal offered plenty of lessons for the nation about political secrecy, the manipulation of democratic rules, how power hungry figureheads can override public will, and Australia’s ultimate deference to the British monarchy. How many hav...