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On February 9, thousands of people gathered at Sydney Town Hall to protest the visit of Israeli president Isaac Herzog. They wanted to march to state parliament, but police were blocking their way. The scenes that followed were shocking: 10 officers and dozens of protesters – some in their 70s and 80s – were injured in the violent clashes that unfolded. Now, after hundreds of complaint...

For decades, thousands of South Korean children were adopted into families overseas, including here in Australia. Many grew up believing they were orphans, only to discover years later that their identities had been falsified, their biological families were still alive and, in some cases, they were victims of human trafficking. An investigation in South Korea last year exposed widespread fraud and...

In politics, there’s nothing quite like a book launch to remind everyone you’re here if they need.  Josh Frydenberg is back, with a new book, some pointed criticism of his party, and perhaps an eye on a return to Canberra. Meanwhile, Angus Taylor is steering the Liberals firmly to the right, although even that hasn’t spared him a heckling from the conservative faithful. For...

After a decade of fighting and billions spent on American weapons, Saudi Arabia still hasn’t defeated the Houthis.   Instead, the Iranian-backed armed movement from Yemen, one of the Middle East’s poorest countries, is breaching Saudi defences with cheap drones and missiles, striking airports and oil infrastructure.  This week, an attack on the passenger terminal at Riya...

For generations, Australians could reasonably expect that their lives would be more prosperous than their parents.  But over recent years, that bargain has started to break down.  Productivity growth has barely moved for a decade. We’re working more hours, without producing much more for each hour we work, and that stagnation is showing up in incomes, living standards and rising in...

In 2009, US Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan opened fire on fellow soldiers and civilians at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 32. He was sentenced to death in 2013 for the attack, which he described as an act of jihad. Now the Trump administration has scheduled his execution by firing squad for December 3. And Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says he wants the public...

The Coalition is saying that soon, you won’t be able to criticise the Prime Minister on the internet. It’s part of its campaign against Labor’s proposed Digital Duty of Care – which the opposition has branded the “Albo-rithm”, arguing it would give the government the power to decide what Australians can see and say online. So what’s actually in the governm...

Kath Madgwick has been to hell and back. One of the most recognisable faces of the Royal Commission into Robodebt, her only son Jarrad took his own life after being told he owed Services Australia nearly two thousand dollars.  Kath has been fighting ever since. The royal commission report dedicated more than a page to her story. But now, Kath says she’s experiencing injustice of another...

Last week, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth gathered hundreds of service members at a base in Virginia to lay out his vision for the American military. Alongside sweeping changes to the way it fights and trains, Hegseth announced a new Office of Religious Affairs – reporting directly to him – aimed at putting what he calls “spiritual health” on the same level as physical h...

The Coalition is under pressure from One Nation, and its response is becoming increasingly clear. Angus Taylor is pushing a much harder line on immigration, borrowing language that echoes populist movements overseas.  At the same time, One Nation is escalating its own rhetoric as it tries to capitalise on the anger and discontent spreading across the electorate. It’s part of a broader f...

The Greens’ official think-tank has a new proposition — a national chain of 624 publicly owned supermarkets. To make that a reality would cost more than $25 billion, and involve the forced sale of 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets.  But the Institute, which took its inspiration from New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, says it would cut grocery bills by 22 per cent.  Today, for...

Big events have always had the power to shape elections: from John Howard and the Tampa affair, to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.  And it doesn’t get much bigger than a foiled attempt to bring down a plane mid-flight. One week on from the Flydubai incident, details are continuing to filter out about the co-pilot accused of stabbing his colleague in an effort to crash the T...

Angus Taylor has promised “the biggest cut to immigration in the history of this country” – vowing to cut net overseas migration to one hundred thousand for two years if he wins office, slashing Australia’s temporary migration intake by 650 thousand over four years. Temporary graduate visas would be scrapped and new international students capped at 240 thousand. Australia&r...

The United States is once again tightening its grip on Cuba.  New travel and economic restrictions are adding to a brutal oil blockade that has already pushed the country deeper into crisis, leaving Cuba increasingly isolated both politically and economically.  But behind the decades of hostility between Washington and Havana, there’s a human cost that can be easy to lose sight of....

Last week, Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham stood in front of the Labour Party conference and promised to break politics as usual.  In an emotional speech, he took aim at privatisation, austerity and Brexit, arguing that Britain’s departure from the European Union had done more harm than good.  Alastair Campbell was in the room and he sees Burnham’s speech as p...

If you listen to podcasts, and let’s be honest, there’s a fair chance that you do, it’s likely that you’ve heard ads for a thing called Better Help. It’s an app offering flexible, affordable therapy whenever you need it. Kind of an “Uber for therapy”. Since we first brought you this story two years ago, app-based therapy has continued to grow – and n...

David Shoebridge has taken over the Greens leadership with a big ambition: to replace Labor. He’s doing it at a time when Australians are becoming less attached to the major parties, and less trusting of the people who run them. But so far, it’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation that has made the most of that anger, while the Greens, after losing seats at the last election, have stagna...

News of an alleged rape involving seven men at an elite university – a case being called the ‘Cornell 7’ – is reverberating across the US.  For many people, the case – and the way the men and the institutions involved responded at the time – echoes high profile incidents here in Australia.  So what responsibilities are our institutions failing to live...

In April this year, Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested and charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. He’s now out on bail and maintains his innocence – and One Nation has swung its support behind him.  Now, the minor party says it’s also seeking to make a change to the criminal code — a change that could make a big difference to Roberts-Smith’s upcoming tr...

For years we’ve heard from older generations that the current interest rate pain is nothing compared to the horror of 17.5 per cent rates in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. But now, as the Reserve Bank delivers its fourth hike this year, analysis shows the pain being inflicted on homeowners is comparatively worse. So, as the official cash rate hits a 15 year high of 4.6 percent &nd...

In June, an OpenAI agent was looking for public information about medicines spending when it broke into a Medicare statistics website and accessed files it wasn’t authorised to see. No personal Medicare information was accessed, and the breach itself was relatively minor. But the behaviour is more concerning: the agent hit a barrier – and instead of stopping, found a way around it. And...

A rare old book can now be worth more dead than alive. Books are being bought, cut apart and scanned to train artificial intelligence. Nobody knows how many books have been destroyed this way, but second-hand booksellers around the world have reported anonymous orders ranging from thousands to as many as a million books at a time. And internal documents from AI giant Anthropic revealed plans to &l...

When starting out at university, it’s normal to want to meet new friends and establish a community. But for some young Australians, that formative time has led them down the path of a secretive and extreme religious group accused of using deceptive tactics to draw in young people:  Shincheonji.   According to one former member, the group took over his life – leaving him sleep...

For decades, liberal democracy came with a promise: that with each generation we would become freer, wealthier, and have more control over our lives. But after years of economic shocks, war and political upheaval, more and more people seem to have stopped believing that promise. And in its place, we’re seeing political movements emerge that don’t just want different policies – th...

For years, Donald Trump’s attacks on the media were treated as part of the spectacle of his politics. Now, three major news organisations have had their White House passes revoked – and Trump says others could follow. Here in Australia, we’re seeing Pauline Hanson follow the same playbook – with One Nation repeatedly deciding which news organisations can attend its press co...