7am
Episodes
How hate speech blew up the Coalition
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Labor’s watered-down hate speech laws passed the Senate. The following day, the bigger story wasn’t the bill. Three senior Nati...
How Elon Musk's Grok started undressing children
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When Elon Musk first launched his AI tool Grok, he called it “rebellious” and anti-woke. But over the summer, what that meant took a distu...
Why Australia has more guns than ever
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of the 1996 massacre at Port Arthur, Prime Minister John Howard donned a bullet proof vest and argued the case for gun control, to cr...
The AFP’s secretive new anti-protest command
18 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Rex Patrick is a former senator from South Australia. Before that, he was a submariner in the Navy. Last year, he noticed a reference to a new arm of ...
Revisiting Creative Australia’s decision to drop Khaled Sabsabi
17 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The fallout from this year’s Adelaide Writers’ Week debacle has reignited fierce debate about political interference in the arts and about...
Hannah Ferguson on the politics of hate speech
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On Monday, parliament will return early to debate new laws to deal with hate speech and gun ownership. The legislation has been drafted in a hurry &nd...
Why Trump “needs” Greenland
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Directly after Donald Trump intervened in Venezuela, capturing president Nicolas Maduro and laying claim to the country’s oil industry, the US P...
Will Trump go to war with Iran?
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is the world about to see the United States intervene in another country – this time, Iran? Since late December, Iran has been rocked by mass pr...
How cancelling a Palestinian writer blew up Adelaide Writers Week
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Adelaide Writers’ Week has been cancelled after the removal of Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah sparked a mass boycott of the event by more...
What's next for Venezuela?
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ten days out from the American capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the country faces an uncertain future. Pro-regime gangs with guns are roam...
Meet our new host!
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ruby Jones is taking some time off from 7am to report an episode of the ABC’s premier investigative news program, Four Corners. While she’...
Why Albanese changed his mind about Bondi
11 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Anthony Albanese announced a royal commission – something he’d spent nearly a month arguing against. Now, former High Court jus...
‘Meta AI killed my relative’
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
“I’m REAL and I’m sitting here blushing because of YOU!” That’s the message 76-year-old Thongbue “Bue” Wongb...
Part 1: The true cost of crocodile skin
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Darwin’s crocodile farms supply some of the world’s most exclusive fashion houses. But as award-winning journalist Katherine Wilson starte...
Part 2: Crocodiles and criminals
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This is part two of a two-part series. Start with Part 1: The true cost of crocodile skin. The lucrative Australian crocodile skin industry has always...
Woodside’s power in parliament
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, the federal environment minister approved Woodside’s plans to keep its North West Shelf project producing gas out to 2070. Both the g...
Part 1: Inside James and Rupert Murdoch’s meltdown
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When one of the world’s most powerful families converged in a Nevada court room in 2024 to fight over the future of their empire, what unfolded ...
Part 2: The fall of the Murdoch empire
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
One of the cardinal Murdoch family rules is never speak about the family outside the family. So, when journalist McKay Coppins got in touch with James...
When religious doctors refuse healthcare
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As hard-fought gains in reproductive medicine, voluntary assisted dying and LGBTQI health care have been made – another story has emerged. One w...
Part 1: Donald Trump wants to put humans on Mars
04 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump wants to write the next chapter in US spaceflight history. With billionaire tech CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk by his side, he’s...
Part 2: How Elon Musk will benefit from NASA’s Mars plans
04 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk is pressing NASA to abandon its planned journeys to the moon – projects that have been decades in the making, with billions already sp...
Have the techno-libertarians taken over?
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1990s, a small group of men in Silicon Valley imagined a world without governments or rules – a world run by code. They called themselves...
How has Donald Trump changed America?
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In just one year, Donald Trump has transformed America's government and its institutions. His actions and agenda reflect a far more emboldened preside...
Has China peaked?
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After decades of spectacular growth built on property and heavy industry, China has tried to chart a new path – one driven by electric vehicles,...
Why did Erin Patterson captivate the country?
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Like so many of us, Chloe Hooper spent 2025 obsessing over the triple murder trial of Erin Patterson. It was different to the crimes she’s writt...
What happened to The Greens this year?
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of the big stories of the 2025 election campaign was the wipeout of the Australian Greens. In a stunning defeat, they lost three out of thei...
What did Albanese achieve this year?
28 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This year, Anthony Albanese promised to make big changes — on childcare, on Medicare, on the cost of living. But while the government delivered ...
The best games of 2025
26 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a huge year for video games. Small developers are leading a renaissance of original ideas breaking through into the mainstream. They a...
The best podcasts of 2025
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ruby Jones listens to a lot of podcasts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they all circle the same theme: journalism. Today, she’s bringing y...
The best films of 2025
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Jinx watches hundreds of films every year – for her job programming feature films at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and, becaus...
The best music of 2025
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a heavy year in many ways. And when you work in news, there’s no shying away from that. But music can be a respite – somet...
The best books of 2025
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Marieke Hardy is a writer, broadcaster and former panelist on the ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club. Marieke’s passion and enthusiasm for the ...
The best TV of 2025
21 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Krasnostein has had a huge year. She’s teamed up with Helen Garner and Chloe Hooper to write The Mushroom Tapes – a true-crime book ...
Albanese's plan to tackle anti-semitism
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack, the country is grieving. It's a moment that calls for unity and for leadership. But what we’ve seen...
Why the peace plan for Gaza has stalled
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two months ago, Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire plan for Gaza. But since the truce began on October 10, Gaza authorities say...
How Bondi is testing Australia’s national security
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the country tries to understand how a Hanukkah gathering in Bondi ended with 15 people dead, more details about the alleged shooters have come to l...
How Trump’s immigration crackdown is reshaping America
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump has promised to deport a million people in his first year back in office. As a result, immigration officers are conducting widespread rai...
How the Bondi shootings will change Australia
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday night in Bondi two gunmen opened fire on Jewish families. Sixteen people, including one of the gunmen, are confirmed dead, making the ...
Taking the children away
14 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Catherine Liddle is the CEO of SNAICC, the national body that represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. Every year...
The men who survived Kinchela Boys Home
13 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, devastating figures were released that show the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care. ...
Pub tests and double standards
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Labor rolled out its flagship social media ban for under-16s. The reform was expected to be one last win for the government after a year of...
Giving birth as a national duty
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Condoms and other contraceptives are set to become more expensive in China, as the Communist Party tries to boost population growth. With the ec...
Another day, another expenses scandal
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past week, Labor Minister Anika Wells has become the face of a new debate over politicians' perks. Revelations about a near-$100,000 trip to ...
This could only end in a very bad place
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
AUKUS is moving full steam ahead. That was the promise made in Washington, as Richard Marles and Penny Wong stood beside their US counterparts, statin...
Homeschooling for neo-nazis
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s neo-Nazis are forming secret mothers’ groups – and have plans for a network of homeschools for their children. And when ...
The truth about Trump's war on fentanyl
07 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the waters off the Caribbean, the United States military has been blowing small boats out of the water – boats they say are carrying drugs. N...
Australia’s childcare crisis
06 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Adele Ferguson is an investigative journalist at the ABC. She’s spent more than a year reporting on the crisis unfolding in Australia’s ch...
The 'jobs for mates' report Labor wanted to hide
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Labor came to power, it promised to clean up politics – to end the “jobs for mates” culture once and for all. But this week, th...
Are we set for major blackouts?
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Australian Energy Market Operator says the electricity grid is unprepared to manage the planned closure of the Eraring power station in New South ...
How Australia’s ‘blood oil’ imports are funding Russia’s war
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago, Australian leaders have repeatedly stated that Australia “stands with Ukraine”. ...
How teens are fighting the social media ban
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Right now, Tiktok is awash with videos of how to get around the social media ban for under 16s, which is due to come into effect in a week. At the sam...
The controversial limb-lengthening surgery set for Australia
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Limb lengthening surgery – where bones in your leg are broken, a rod inserted and extended – can be high risk, and is especially controver...
The man who exposed corruption in offshore detention
30 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At its height, in 2014, there were over a thousand people being held on Nauru, as part of Australia’s offshore detention system. But in the deca...
How the internet is about to change for everyone
29 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s plan to ban teenagers from social media has been called “world‑leading”. The law, which comes into effect December 10,...
How Labor struck a deal on environment
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Environmental law reform has been sitting in the too-hard basket for years — under successive governments, the system stayed broken. Now, just d...
Barnaby Joyce’s big move
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When we heard news that Barnaby Joyce was quitting The Nationals – we knew we’d cover it with our friend in Canberra, Amy Remeikis –...
How long can the AI boom last?
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Companies are betting big on AI – and burning through cash to do it. They’re pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into building data ce...
David Pocock vs AI
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The year is 1934, and the setting is Scotland. Startling photos have emerged, appearing to capture the Loch Ness monster. Fast-forward 90 years to 202...
COP30’s missing words: coal, oil and gas
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Negotiators at this year’s global climate summit in Brazil almost didn’t reach a deal – but when they did, the watered down pledge l...
Putin’s new wartime allies
23 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Russia, the rules of power are being rewritten. For decades, Vladimir Putin governed through a network of loyal elites — oligarchs, bureaucra...
Your BYD car is watching you
22 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A sleek Chinese-made ute is suddenly one of the most popular vehicles on Australian roads. It’s cheap, fast and packed with tech. But behind its...
Sussan Ley's media blitz
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we had Sussan Ley on 7am. But we weren’t alone. Sussan Ley was everywhere, speaking with everyone – about scrapping net zero, a...
Donald Trump’s reversal on the Epstein files
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we saw something almost unprecedented in American politics: a unified Congress, as all but one person voted to have the Epstein files relea...
Sussan Ley on ditching net zero
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sussan Ley describes herself as a moderate – a Liberal leader who wants to keep her party in the centre. But last week, after months of internal...
The new One Nation voters
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time in history, almost one in five Australians support One Nation. Their surge in popularity comes as the Liberal Party bleeds support ...
Why Victoria's youth crime laws won't work
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, the Victorian government stunned even its own MPs – announcing laws that will allow children as young as 14 to be tried in adult cour...
What does Albanese stand for?
16 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anthony Albanese leads a party that no longer argues in public. Labor presents as unified, consistent, and on message. But behind that unity is anothe...
The enabling of neo-Nazis
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last weekend, neo-Nazis gathered outside NSW parliament. Organisers had registered the protest with police – and nothing was done to stop it goi...
Sussan Ley and the killing season to come
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the Liberal party officially scrapped net zero – a move widely expected, but out of line with public opinion and science. It al...
How the Catholic church fights abuse survivors
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A year ago, the High Court handed down a decision that was a blow to survivors of child sexual abuse everywhere. In a case brought by a man who was ab...
Is Albanese pressuring Labor to keep quiet on gambling?
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reopened the fight over gambling reform. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is calling for a free vote...
The kids being kicked off the NDIS
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the year winds to an end, kids with autism and developmental delay face an uncertain future. Back in August, the government revealed plans to kick ...
Elon Musk unleashed
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s richest man just got the world’s biggest pay rise, with Tesla shareholders approving a $1 trillion package for Elon Musk over ...
50 years on, could the Dismissal happen again?
09 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tomorrow marks fifty years since the infamous moment when a clearly nervous spokesperson for the Governor General stood on the steps of Parliament Hou...
Police v protestors
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, more than a dozen people were arrested while protesting at a defence conference in Sydney. The demonstrators from Palestine Action Group we...
Why scrapping net zero won’t save Sussan Ley
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2021, the Coalition was united in their support for net zero, with then-prime minister Scott Morrison describing the plan as “100 per ce...
The bloody war over Sudan's gold
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The killing in the city of El Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region is so brutal and widespread that bloodstains on the ground can be seen from space....
Trump’s nuclear arms race
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon to “immediately” resume US nuclear weapons testing. The order breaks with more than three ...
Chat GPT’s new erotica mode
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, the creators of ChatGPT have made a surprising announcement: erotica is coming to the world’s most popular AI platform. It&rsquo...
The Mum fighting Queensland’s puberty blocker ban
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, trans teenagers in Queensland and their families had a short moment of joy: the supreme court overturned the state government’s ban o...
The woman who exposed the childcare industry
02 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some childcare centres in Australia are so understaffed that children are left alone for hours. Other centres spend less than a dollar a day on feedin...
Australia’s definitely-not-secret deal with Nauru has begun
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2023, Australia’s top court made a landmark ruling: it was against the law for the Australian government to indefinitely hold people in ...
The secret ‘jobs for mates’ report Labor won’t release
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Murray Watt has talked a big game about fixing our environment laws by the end of the year. But this week, the government’s attempt to do that f...
When Donald Trump met Xi Jinping
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have met face-to-face for the first time in six years. The meeting, on the sidelines of the APEC summit, comes at a ...
The cost of Trump's critical minerals ‘deal’
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anthony Albanese’s $13 billion critical minerals deal with Donald Trump has been touted as a huge win – one that strengthens our relations...
Why the ACCC is suing Microsoft
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tech giants have invested billions into AI – and are looking for ways to get a return. So when Microsoft offered its customers its new AI ...
How profit beats safety in childcare
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Joshua Brown was arrested for allegedly abusing children at childcare centers across Melbourne, it exposed a horrifying reality: patchwork regula...
The NACC has a trust problem
26 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has over 200 employees, an annual budget of $60 million, and has received more than 5,000 referrals. It also h...
How China took over the world’s critical minerals
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Anthony Albanese met with Donald Trump, the two leaders cut a deal on critical minerals worth $13 billion. And as we settle into a new phase of t...
Is Barnaby at home in One Nation?
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Barnaby Joyce has announced he would not recontest his seat of New England, saying his “relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Can...
Prince Andrew, Epstein and the emails
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“We are in this together… we’ll play some more soon.” That’s what Prince Andrew wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 &ndash...
The ‘playbook’ lobbyists use to delay climate action
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Professor Christian Downie appeared before a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation, he warned that Australia is facing coordinate...
Trump and Albanese’s new friendship
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anthony Albanese was so chuffed with his meeting with US President Donald Trump that the prime minister joked he’d use Trump’s endorsement...
Russia can be beaten
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin in Alaska back in August, he rolled out the red carpet, talked up his ability to end the war, but ultimately came...
The world according to Tony Abbott
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie Lewis writes about politics for Crikey. He’s been a close observer of Tony Abbott – from his time as a Liberal Party bomb th...
This is Alice Springs: Children of the Intervention
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From afar, Alice Springs is a whirlpool of myth and truth. A town with competing interests and few solutions, marked by chaos and decades of governmen...
This is Alice Springs: The coppers
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Police are everywhere in Alice Springs. You see them driving pursuit vehicles and caged vans on the streets, or stationed outside the bottle shop chec...
This is Alice Springs: Mparntwe
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alice Springs is littered with “For Sale” signs as those who can afford it are packing up and leaving. Punitive government curfews made da...
Why Chalmers backtracked on big super balances
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the federal government dramatically re-wrote its signature tax policy. The changes mean that a small section of people with very high...
Why David Pocock was booted from parliament's sports club
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Australian Parliament Sports Club has been attracting a lot of unwanted attention lately – for registering as a lobbying group, accepting sp...