7am

A channel to the right of Sky News has launched in Australia, with powerful and cashed-up backers. ADH TV has all the hallmarks of far right American platforms, but with a very well known Australian at its centre: Alan Jones. It marks something of a comeback for the 82-year-old shock jock, who was dropped by mainstream media outlets. Today, associate editor for The Saturday Paper Martin McKenzie-M...

If someone in an aged care facility is hurt or mistreated, there’s a system in place that’s supposed to make sure incidents are flagged and followed up. But instead of reviewing all these cases, the regulator has been “bulk closing” them in the thousands, sometimes without even the most basic assessment. Staff say this is leading to further neglect, abuse and even preventable death, as major risks...

Asylum seekers in the UK may face a new fate once they arrive: being loaded onto an enormous 10,000-ton barge, floating in a port on the south coast of England. It’s part of a new hardline-migration policy being rolled out by the British government, and it’s being sold to the public with a slogan that will sound familiar to Australians: ‘Stop the boats’. Today, lawyer Madeline Gleeson from the Kal...

To this day, a war is still being waged against Indigenous Australians by a colonial state. That is the vision sketched out by Senator Lidia Thorpe this week in a landmark speech. She says a Voice to Parliament would simply be “window dressing” and an “insult” to the intelligence of Indigenous Australians still living under violent colonisation. So is a Voice to Parliament really an extension of A...

After the axing of the illegal robo-debt scheme, there were promises of reform in the welfare system to make it lawful, fair and transparent. It’s since been revealed that the same type of bad maths that underpinned robo-debt has been used elsewhere at Centrelink. More than 100,000 welfare recipients have been affected, with some even facing prosecution for inaccurate debts. The revelations point...

For the first time ever, Australia has reached the final four of a World Cup. Tonight, the Matildas face some familiar foes when they go up against England in Sydney. Many in the Matildas squad play club football in England, and in some cases they’ll be going toe-to-toe with their club teammates. So, will close knowledge and home advantage give Australia the edge to defeat the European champions?...

The teacher shortage across Australia has left public school educators feeling burnt out and undervalued – that’s if they haven’t already quit.  In NSW, a plan to make the state’s teachers among the highest paid in the country helped Labor win the election this year.  But months after entering into pay negotiations, and on the verge of announcing a historic deal, the union is accusing the NSW gove...

What if solving the climate crisis was as easy as dumping and burying our carbon emissions in the ocean?  Capturing carbon and storing it under the seabed is an idea that the Labor government is trying to legislate in parliament — and they’ll likely have enough support to get it up. If it seems like it’s too good to be true, climate experts say, that’s because it is.  Why is Labor supporting the c...

Today on the show, author Christos Tsiolkas with a recent piece from The Monthly . “The Past is a foreign country: they do things differently there” – is the memorable opening line of L.P. Hartley’s 1953 novel, The Go-Between. It’s a line that has stuck with Christos Tsiolkas since he read it in high school - and a sentiment that has made him reflect on his life, his migrant parents’ lives, and th...

When Anthony Albanese became prime minister he imagined an optimistic future for his government. Sensible reform in the first year that the public would warmly welcome, followed by boldly winning the first referendum since 1977. But the reality is far from that. A win in the referendum is looking less assured than ever, while the cost of living crisis has almost everyone feeling miserable.  Today,...

As rent prices continue to spiral and many tenants finding themselves at breaking point, the rental crisis shows no sign of slowing. The Greens are calling for a national freeze on rents, which they say would save households thousands of dollars per year. But in a country where renters have been overlooked, is there political will to address rising rents? And would capping rents even work? Today,...

It was an inquiry meant to get to the bottom of why the trial of Bruce Lehrmann had to be abandoned. Its goal was to improve the justice system and how it handles sexual assault cases. Instead, the inquiry itself has ended in a complete shambles. The man who brought on the report, Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, has resigned.  The head of the inquiry, Walter Sofronoff, KC, was talk...

The iconic words of Martin Luther King Jr are now being used to promote the exact causes that the civil rights activist would have opposed.  In the United States, conservatives quoted him to celebrate the supreme court’s ban on affirmative action based on race in university admissions. Here, people like Peter Dutton are invoking MLK to rally opponents of the Voice to Parliament. Today, writer, law...

David Pocock admits that sometimes he's had to vote for policy he doesn’t fully agree with. The first-term senator came into parliament with the best intentions to avert the climate crisis, but has sometimes found himself having to work to make legislation he thinks is bad, a little bit better. Now, he’s trying to put forward a solution he does actually believe in: a private senator’s bill that wo...

Parliament is back – and it ain’t pretty! The government is pushing ahead with its contentious housing bill and finds itself, once again, sparring with the Greens. Meanwhile, the Coalition has a new strategy for encouraging a ‘No’ vote in the Voice referendum. So will the combative nature of this parliament stop Labor from being productive in government and could they lose key bills in the senate?...

The royal commission into robo-debt found Scott Morrison to have allowed cabinet to be misled.  Commissioner Cathrine Holmes also found he provided untrue evidence to the commission and that he pressured departmental officials over the scheme. It took a few weeks, but the former prime minister this week addressed those findings head-on: denying it all. Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper...

Australia’s offshore processing facility on Nauru now sits empty.  The detention centre has been a feature of Nauru’s identity for over a decade, but now we’re learning extraordinary details about how millions of Australian taxpayer dollars were spent in questionable deals to keep the facility running. Last week, the focus turned to the then-Home Affairs minister, Peter Dutton, who awarded a lucra...

Australians love to heat their homes and cook their meals with gas, but its future in our households has a limit.  Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews has taken a big step in phasing out gas by banning it in new homes from January 1, 2024. But the announcement provoked anger and outrage among conservative commentators, and some members of the public, who insist gas is best. So, does Australia have a...

Australian housing is in crisis – the country doesn’t have enough affordable homes for the growing number of people who need them. This week, the Albanese government will begin its second attempt to pass its key housing policy. The bill is being reintroduced to parliament unchanged, but will need the Greens’ support. All signs point to a political stalemate. Today, contributing editor of The Polit...

Today, author Don Watson will be reading his piece from the June issue of The Monthly , reflecting on WW2 ace pilot Sir Douglas Bader. Bader was a remarkable Royal Air Force pilot in the second world war. Brazen and courageous, he managed to escape death countless times, scored dozens of victories, and was even redeployed as a pilot after having both legs amputated. However, in the words of Don Wa...

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has a new pet project. He is reinventing, and possibly destroying, the site formerly known as Twitter. Now known simply as X, the iconic blue bird logo is no more. But Musk’s rebrand isn’t purely for aesthetics. It's the beginning of the billionaire’s vision to create a ubiquitous ‘everything app’ of the future.  Could this ambitious plan to centralise communica...

Environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund and the Australian Conservation Foundation are some of the biggest recipients of donations from Australians who want to make a difference for the planet. But increasingly the biggest groups are working with the government and corporate Australia – instead of resisting them. What does that shift mean? Will it help or hinder the fight against clim...

Who would axe a campaign to promote consent on university campuses? We know that sexual assault of students is an enormous problem, and a national campaign designed by experts is exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to be part of the solution. Well, not if you’re one of the university vice-chancellors who put a stop to it. Today, journalist and contributor to The Saturday Paper Kristine Ziwica r...

In recent days, there has been speculation over whether the government should abandon the referendum and instead legislate the Voice through parliament. Campaigners say legislating the Voice – rather than enshrining it in the constitution – would weaken its standing and risks repeating mistakes of the past.  Today, business leader and author of the new book ‘ On The Voice to Parliament ’, Nyikina...

It started with PwC, but now accusations are being levelled at the other big consultancy firms in Australia. Over the last 10 years, more and more government decision-making has been outsourced to multi-billion dollar firms in lucrative contracts.  Now, the firms’ relationships with government and their level of influence are under close scrutiny in Canberra.  Today, chief political correspondent...