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For so many, Noni Hazlehurst is the patron saint of early childhood nostalgia, known for her magnetic presence on  Play School.  But Noni has had a long and storied career on stage and screen in Australia – from hosting  Better Homes & Gardens  to starring in the award-winning one-woman play  Mother . On this episode of  Read This , Noni chats with Michael a...

This Sunday, Israel and Hamas are due to start a 42-day ceasefire in Gaza as part of a deal that could end the war. The announcement has prompted thousands of Palestinians to celebrate on the streets of Gaza, where residents have had no reprieve from bombardments and ground battles since 2023.  If the agreement holds, desperately needed humanitarian aid will reach the people of Gaza, many of...

Outgoing Labor minister Bill Shorten has said he’s leaving politics at the end of the month confident with the state of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. As Minister for the NDIS, Shorten has been focused on making reforms to the scheme in an effort to reduce costs and ensure its sustainability. But despite claims the government’s reform of the NDIS is focused on fraud crackdow...

When Cathy McGowan won the seat of Indi as an independent in 2013, it sent shockwaves through the political establishment. The Liberal Party had lost what was supposed to be one of their safe seats. At the time, McGowan was one of only two independents in the House of Representatives.  In 2022, the Liberals lost six seats to independents, and at least 51 electorates across the country are cur...

In the past few weeks, Elon Musk has posted thousands of times on his social media platform X about British politics, the far-right activist Tommy Robinson and conspiracy theories over a decades-old sex abuse scandal. Now, the British government’s agenda has stalled as the prime minister faces questions about the theories Musk has elevated.  It’s a stark example of how the world&r...

The 2025 federal election campaign has already begun, even if unofficially. While most Australians are still enjoying their summer, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton are already in fight mode. For Labor, the stakes are high. To secure a second term, they’re hoping to reverse their losses in Queensland and regain popularity with an apathetic electorate. For th...

From afar, Alice Springs/Mparntwe is a whirlpool of myth and truth. It’s a town with competing interests and few solutions, marked by chaos and decades of government overreach.  Today, Yorta Yorta man and host of 7am Daniel James traces the origins of the so-called crime crisis in Alice Springs and reflects on all the interventions, big and small, that have led to this point.  Plea...

Tucked away in a Sydney suburb is one of Australia’s largest landfill sites. Here lies a stark reminder of the millions of tonnes of waste that form the collateral of our modern lives.  Author and critic James Bradley visited the landfill to reflect on our relationship with private consumption and investigate why there is so little accountability for the damage caused by our waste.  Please enjoy “...

Indonesia’s recently sworn in President Prabowo Subianto is many things. To millions of young Indonesians, he is a daggy dancer on TikTok. But to a cohort of voters with longer memories, he is a veteran of a brutal and oppressive military force. Today, principal fellow of the Indo-Pacific Research Centre at Murdoch University Jacqui Baker charts Prabowo Subianto’s extraordinary climb to the presid...

This year, Andrea Robin Skinner, the daughter of the late Nobel Prize-winning Canadian author Alice Munro, revealed something about her mother that had stayed hidden throughout Munro’s entire life. When Skinner was nine years old, Munro’s husband – who was also Andrea's stepfather – had assaulted her.  Today, art critic and author Sebastian Smee reads his piece on the author Alice Munro. It’s an i...

Peter Dutton’s first major promise when he became opposition leader was to build nuclear power plants. It was a curious idea with no cost attached, and polling suggested it had little community support. Today, journalist Marian Wilkinson joins with her investigation into the conservative charity group figures driving the opposition leader’s pivot to nuclear energy.   Marian’s sharp reporting on th...

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist whose work has been translated into fifty-five languages. In this episode, from Schwartz Media’s podcast Read This , Michael chats with Elif about her latest novel, There are Rivers in the Sky, which follows a single drop of water across millennia. Reading list: The Bastard of Istanbul , Elif Shafak, 2006 The Forty Rules of Love , Elif Shafa...

Winner of both the Miles Franklin Award and the Stella Prize, author Evie Wyld writes dark and often trauma-informed books, but she also has a remarkable capacity to capture the tenderness of memory. In this episode, from Schwartz Media’s podcast Read This , Michael is joined by Evie for a conversation about her latest book The Echoes , which explores how we tell stories around and into the absenc...

Writer Leslie Jamison is celebrated for her ability to link the personal to the cultural to the critical in ways that resonate and move and connect with readers. In this episode, from Schwartz Media’s podcast Read This, Michael sits down with Leslie to discuss her latest book, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, a memoir about rebuilding a life after the end of a marriage Reading list: The Gin...

Rumaan Alam is a best-selling author who made a splash in 2020 with his critically acclaimed novel Leave the World Behind . In this episode, from Schwartz Media’s podcast Read This , Rumaan joins Michael for a conversation about his latest novel, Entitlement , and they discuss class, desire, and the influence of Sylvia Plath. Reading list: Rich and Pretty , Rumaan Alam, 2016  That Kind of Mother ,...

Musician and writer Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay woman from freshwater country in north-west New South Wales. Her debut novel was 2020’s critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning Song of the Crocodile . In this episode, from Schwartz Media’s podcast Read This, Michael sits down with Nardi for a wide ranging conversation about her new book, The Belburd . Reading list: Song of the Crocodile , N...

Every day this week, critics from The Saturday Paper and beyond are bringing you their top picks of the year.  From the partying Russian oligarchs to grave robbing in an Italian fishing village, writer/curator Kate Jinx’s best film picks of 2024 will take you on a cinematic journey. Socials: Stay in touch with us on Twitter and Instagram Guest: Kate Jinx is a writer and film curator, director of G...

Every day this week, critics from The Saturday Paper and beyond are bringing you their top picks of the year. From the adventure of a lifetime to a family torn apart by murder, senior producer for 7am Cheyne Anderson brings you a collection of gripping podcasts perfect for your summer road trip.  Socials: Stay in touch with us on Twitter and Instagram Guest: Senior producer for 7am Cheyne Anderson...

Every day this week, critics from The Saturday Paper and beyond are bringing you their top picks of the year.  2024 was a blockbuster year in music: Beyonce went country, Taylor Swift went everywhere, and we all went Brat.  Today, with The Saturday Paper ’s music critic Shaad D’Souza, we’re exploring the albums that defined the year.  That includes Charli XCX of course, but also a surprising new a...

Every day this week, critics from The Saturday Paper and beyond are bringing you their top picks of the year.  From the saddest comedy on our screens to a queer reality show – The Saturday Pape r’s television critic Sarah Krasnostein looks back at the highlights of 2024. Socials: Stay in touch with us on Twitter and Instagram Guest: The Saturday Paper ’s television critic Sarah Krasnostein See omn...

Every day this week, critics from The Saturday Paper and beyond are bringing you their top picks of the year.  From a reimagining of a classic to the sidelines of footy practice, editor of The Monthly and host of Read This Michael Williams has your beach reads covered.  Socials: Stay in touch with us on Twitter and Instagram Guest: Editor of The Monthly and host of Read This Michael Williams See o...

For  Read This ’s last episode of 2024, host Michael Williams heads to Fitzroy Pool to find out what people are reading as the weather warms up. Plus, a handful of previous  Read This  guests offer book recommendations for the summer holidays. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anthony Albanese has finished the year with his lowest approval rating yet. The prime minister’s popularity has been crumbling ever since his party was elected to government in 2022, with some polling suggesting that he is now as unpopular as Scott Morrison was heading into that election. His image has been damaged by the purchase of a $4.3 million mansion during a housing crisis, as well as recei...

Like coming up for air after 50 years. That’s how one man described the current moment in Syria. Since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, thousands of Syrians have been celebrating in the streets and wandering through Assad’s abandoned palace. But many more are searching through the massive network of prisons that underpinned Assad’s repressive regime, hoping to find out the fate of lost loved...

Alice Springs is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Violent crimes committed by young people, including a recent attack on a woman and her two-month-old baby, have left the town shaken.  The baby has suffered a brain bleed and a fractured skull, and there are now big questions about how to keep the community safe, what justice should look like and why crimes like this happen at all. Today...