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Having wiped out millions of birds worldwide and devastated wildlife populations around the globe, Australia has watched as the H5N1 strain of bird flu crept ever closer. And now it’s here, on the last continent to be hit. Birds have been discovered on beaches in Western Australia and tested positive for the virus. Reged Ahmad speaks to Graham Readfearn about how governments and wildlife experts a...

Keir Starmer has announced he will stand down as prime minister less than two years after his election victory, kickstarting the race for who will be the next Labour leader. And with MPs nervous about the growing threat from Nigel Farage’s Reform, many are speculating that the ‘King of the North’, Andy Burnham, could be next in the top job after a thumping victory in a local byelection last weeken...

Last week, the Reserve Bank kept interest rates on hold but the decision was followed by a warning that a future rate rise was on the table because prices are still rising too fast. It came as the US and Iran signed an initial agreement to end more than three months of war, which had sent global supply chains into chaos. Meanwhile, Australians are feeling the pinch and deepening economic disaffect...

Socceroo Nestory Irankunda is part of a new generation of players who have renewed hopes for Australia’s chances in the Fifa World Cup. Multimedia journalist Bertin Huynh says as One Nation surges in the polls, those who represent us deserve celebration

Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry dissect Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club appearance this week and ask: is the leader of One Nation treated differently to other political leaders by the media? They also give their take on Hanson’s attacks on minorities, her pledge to dismantle public broadcasting and they meditate on whether appealing to people’s prejudices will backfire. And also: will the gover...

Pauline Hanson’s ascendancy in Australian politics was underscored this week by her first address to the National Press Club. In a lengthy speech, the leader of the rightwing party railed against multiculturalism and Islam in particular, pledged to slash public broadcasting and asserted the so-called ‘hoax’ of global warming was the driving factor behind poverty in Australia. Josephine Tovey speak...

Mason Jet Lee died at 22 months old after his stepfather punched him so hard his bowel ruptured. An exclusive Guardian Australia investigation has found that repeated warnings about his killer were ignored. Could an unpublished submission to the inquest of his death hold evidence of police failings? Nour Haydar and Queensland correspondent Ben Smee discuss what the violent death of Mason Jet Lee r...

Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer on Vladimir Putin’s increasing isolation – and seeming paranoia – as ordinary Russians become more restive over the toll of the war in Ukraine and a struggling economy at home

More than four months since the launch of Operation Epic Fury, Donald Trump and Iranian officials have announced an end to the war. News of the deal came as the president celebrated his 80th birthday by hosting a UFC match. Nour Haydar speaks to Washington DC bureau chief David Smith about whether the agreement can hold, when the strait of Hormuz is expected to reopen and how the the oldest electe...

The Australian music industry is in crisis, but it wasn’t always that way. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a healthy number of Aussie artists were making it to the charts. Now, local musicians are struggling to get air time and to earn a living making music. Nour Haydar speaks to culture editor Steph Harmon and data journalist Josh Nicholas about why Australian music is disappearing from the charts...

A truck-mounted billboard featuring AI-generated images of Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, which has been travelling around Melbourne for several weeks now, has attracted a lot of scrutiny. It shows Allan wearing a black pointed hat alongside the phrase ‘ditch the witch’. Victorian upper house MP for the Animal Justice party Georgie Purcell, who faces sexist abuse every day as a female MP, argu...

Tony Barry and Barrie Cassidy discuss One Nation’s successful fundraising drive which raised nearly $3m this week. They look at how the major parties are handling the rise of the rightwing party and where they agree the prime minister made a missstep. Also in this episode: the return of the ‘Ditch the Witch’ slogan in politics and the likelihood of a Liberal win in the upcoming Victorian election

Guardian reporter Hannah Al-Othman on the anti-immigrant rioting in Northern Ireland and the residents afraid for their lives

One Nation’s predicted primary vote is ahead of both the Labor government and Coalition opposition for the first time, marking a new level of popularity for a party that has sat at the fringe of Australian politics for decades and sparking a flurry of questions about whether Pauline Hanson could actually become prime minister. Josephine Tovey speaks with Mike Ticher, Patrick Keneally and Dan Jervi...

Kick-off is just hours away in what is already shaping up to be one of the most controversial and complex Fifa World Cups as geopolitical disputes and allegations of corporate greed cast a shadow over the tournament. Football journalist Samantha Lewis speaks to Nour Haydar about why she is more nervous than ever on the eve of the cup about the impact the many problems could have on the world’s mos...

Australia is set to experience its first El Niño weather event since spring 2023, according to the Bureau of Meteorology and other agencies. The phenomenon historically signals the arrival of hotter, drier conditions for the east coast and can have devastating impacts on the environment as well as the farming of crops and livestock. Nour Haydar speaks to climate and environment correspondent Graha...

Allegations of rape and sexual assault on the UK’s Married at First Sight have brought a fresh focus on the Australian version. Former Mafs contestants and political figures, such as Tanya Plibersek, have spoken out calling for a broader reckoning around the show. Reged Ahmad speaks with reporter Caitlin Cassidy about safety concerns on set and whether the show still has a place on our screens

Australia is facing the largest outbreak of diphtheria, dubbed a ‘disease of poverty’, in living memory. For decades, the highly contagious and life-threatening bacterial disease was almost eradicated, but now it is spreading in remote Indigenous communities around the country. Nour Haydar speaks with Indigenous affairs correspondent Sarah Collard and Indigenous affairs reporter Douglas Smith on w...

When news broke that Australia will buy only secondhand nuclear submarines from the US, it signalled a major shift in the Aukus deal. It’s made Emma Shortis, the director of international and security affairs at the Australia Institute, ask: what’s a few secondhand subs between friends?

Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry break down the new Redbridge polling that shows One Nation with the highest primary vote in the country, a result unprecedented in Australian politics. They also discuss Peter Garrett’s appointment to head a new public inquiry into Aukus and whether Anthony Albanese has enough political capital to afford it

Josephine Tovey speaks with Gabrielle Jackson, Patrick Keneally and Jonathan Barrett about why Labor is damned if they do and damned if they don’t when it comes to the diabolical political conundrum of trying to solve the housing affordability crisis without bringing down house prices

When Australia’s high court ruled indefinite immigration detention unlawful in 2023, Sara’s* father returned home to Australia’s east coast after years in onshore immigration detention. He is just one of the more than 350 people who make up what’s known as the NZYQ cohort, which includes individuals who have had their visas cancelled on character grounds but cannot be deported to their country of...

Co-hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy ask where it all went wrong for the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations as artists pull out of a scheduled concert series and celebrations. Also: the California governor primary race, why it matters and which candidate has a character based on him in Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It

Support for Pauline Hanson’s populist party has given fresh impetus to a loose network of activists trying to chip away at reproductive rights. Reged Ahmad speaks with Tory Shepherd about whether this brewing movement will mirror the culture war in the US

Former environment minister Peter Garrett will lead an independent inquiry into the Aukus defence pact, launched by a group of Labor veterans and public figures concerned proper scrutiny has never been applied to the $368bn defence plan. The group argues there has never been a more critical time to examine the cost and potential risk associated with our increasingly close ties with the United Stat...