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Episodes
What convinced Albanese to tackle superannuation
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A week ago, superannuation reform was just an idea, a national conversation — the prime minister certainly wasn’t proposing anything.But the conve...
Abortion is legal in Australia, but is it accessible?
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's being called the most important case for reproductive rights in the United States since Roe vs Wade was overturned.A judgement in a court case in...
How corporate profits are making inflation worse
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Australia has seen a series of record corporate profits posted in the last few weeks.They come as millions of average Australians are being squeezed. ...
Exposing robo-debt: Why Rhys Cauzzo’s mother never gave up
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rhys Cauzzo was one of hundreds of thousands of Australians who received unlawful and false debt notices under robodebt.The 28 year old died by suicid...
‘My existence is not temporary’: The refugees who are finally allowed to stay
26 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Zaki Haidari is one of 19,000 people who Australia has kept in limbo, but will now get the certainty of a permanent place in Australia.Temporary prote...
Weekend Read: Erin O’Dwyer on how to design housing for happiness
25 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As housing becomes less affordable and the search for adequate accommodation more desperate, Erin O’Dwyer investigates how we can escape from the ur...
Superannuation: Is the government breaking a promise?
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the last 30 years, Australian retirements have been tied to superannuation. It’s the nest egg that most of us spend decades building up.While it...
Balloons attack!
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Once the United States military started looking for them, they couldn’t stop finding them. Unidentified balloons were everywhere.The military and Pr...
Chris Minns' recipe for a vanilla victory
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, Labor governments have swept into power in most states across the country… with the exceptions of NSW and Tasmania.But that might b...
What's really happening in Alice Springs
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Violence and vandalism in Alice Springs became a national fascination this year.First Peter Dutton, then Anthony Albanese flew into town, after rates ...
The day the Reserve Bank got grilled
19 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Philip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, has already had to apologise for his forecast that interest rates were unlikely to rise un...
The by-election that will define Dutton’s opposition
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The announcement that former Liberal minister Alan Tudge will resign from the parliament marks the end of a controversial political career, but it's a...
Has Rupert Murdoch actually given up on his legacy deal?
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is cutting 5% of its jobs around the world, with over a thousand employees in the newspaper business about to be l...
‘I complained about abuse and the governor-general vilified me…’
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He was one of the most senior members of the Anglican Church, then became the governor-general of Australia.But last week, Peter Hollingworth sat in s...
What’s behind the youth crime blame game?
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Youth crime has become a national issue once again – front page stories from Queensland, to the Northern Territory, to Western Australia are all rai...
How the Adani empire keeps critics silenced
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He’s reportedly the world’s third richest man. But perhaps not for much longer.Indian businessman Gautam Adani is best known here for the controve...
Weekend Read: Clem Bastow on borrowing life lessons from Dolly, Girlfriend and Seventeen
11 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Clem Bastow reads her piece about borrowing teen magazines from the library.As a kid, Clem couldn’t afford the monthly price of Girlfriend Magazine,...
‘We can change 500,000 lives’: Jordon Steele-John’s ADHD mission
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you think you might have ADHD, it can take months, maybe even a year to get a diagnosis.A public conversation about the condition, led by advocates...
Lidia Thorpe and the Greens: How did it come to this?
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tension in the Greens over the Voice to Parliament has culminated this week in the abrupt defection of high-profile Senator Lidia Thorpe.Publicly, Gre...
Can artists finally eat?
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Making a living in Australia as a writer, musician, or artist has become an increasingly tenuous proposition. In recent years the arts sector has bee...
Robo-debt: Minister leaked dead man’s data
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You would expect that when you give your personal data to the government, that data remains safe.But that’s not how it was for some people who were ...
The war on drugs’ worst slaughter is going underground
05 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On Australia’s doorstep, one country has taken the global war on drugs to the extreme.When Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines in 20...
Thought the climate wars were over? A sequel’s out next week
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Australia is supposed to be reducing its emissions at a rapid pace, and last year, the Albanese government put a new target into law.Now, we will fina...
Why it’s so expensive to see a doctor
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More and more people have to pay to see a doctor, GPs are leaving the profession, and the cost of seeing a specialist is rising at an alarming rate.Th...
'Catholic Mafia': How George Pell won over Murdoch
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Between his death, two weeks ago, and his burial tomorrow, a furious battle has raged over George Pell’s legacy.If you happen to read The Australian...
The attorney-general on ditching outdated and “deliberately cruel” policy
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Australian law is far from perfect.Not only can it be unjust, it’s sometimes simply no longer fit to do what it was intended to.The person responsib...
‘Politicians are naturally weak’: Tony Windsor versus the gas industry
29 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tony Windsor was a politician and, as an independent, he helped hand minority government and the prime ministership to Julia Gillard.He says that at t...
Alice Springs: The crisis that shouldn’t have happened
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A crime wave in Alice Springs grew into a national crisis this week, with politicians jumping on planes in a last-ditch effort to listen to a communit...
The case for returning crown land
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been over 30 years since the high court acknowledged that terra nullius was a lie, that this country was not empty – that Indigenous Australi...
What made Jacinda Ardern unique might also explain her shock exit
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to resign as the Prime Minister of New Zealand shocked her country and the world. She had seemed almost universally belov...
Trauma therapy for children in Ukraine
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia has been a battleground for months – and now, it’s the target of Russia’s newest offensive. Fighting there ...
The premier, the Nazi costume and the pokies
22 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The premier of NSW, Dominic Perrottet wore a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party.Since the revelations, Jewish groups in NSW have told journalists...
How Australian billionaires got richer during the pandemic
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Summer has provided everyone with a respite from politics, even our politicians.But as they return, they’ll need to face up to problems that have be...
Julia Banks on how politics fails women
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Liberal MP Julia Banks quit the Morrison government in 2018, her resignation was cited as an example of how hostile the political environment can...
George Pell could have helped. He made it worse.
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
George Pell’s body is returning to Australia after last weekend’s funeral service in the Vatican. He will be interred in the crypts below St Mary’...
The detail on the Voice is right here
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This year Peter Dutton has begun to spread doubt about the Voice to Parliament. His question is: where’s the detail?One woman has spent years fleshi...
Elon Musk’s guide to losing $US200 billion in net worth
15 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk has lost more money than any human being who has ever lived.It’s not because of his purchase of Twitter – well, not directly, anyway. It...
Weekend Read: ‘A patch of land’: Gardening with Laura Tingle
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this Weekend Read, chief political correspondent for the ABC’s 7.30 program Laura Tingle, with her piece from the summer issue of The Monthly.It’...
How counter-terrorism turned a blind eye to the far right, with Lydia Khalil
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s domestic security agency, ASIO, says right-wing extremism now makes up half of its priority cases. And the far right, while still fringe...
The search for the very first star, with Dr Alan Duffy
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When we talk about the most significant events of the last year, the one that might have the biggest impact on humanity actually took place far above ...
Travel advice and race, with Santilla Chingaipe
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, around a million Australians visit the US . But it's becoming a more dangerous place: firearm murders alone increased by 35% between 2019 a...
How death became the fight of Andrew Denton’s life
08 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Misinformation, fear and pain: when Andrew Denton was asked to speak on the topic of euthanasia, he found something that he couldn’t look away from....
Weekend Read: Surfing the little breaks, with Sarah Walker
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, on the Weekend Read, writer and artist Sarah Walker with her piece, “Little Breaks”, from The Monthly.It’s a story of joy and sadness in ...
Can the Voice to Parliament deliver radical change? With Gary Foley
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Anthony Albanese declared victory in last year’s election, one of the first commitments that he made was to implement the Uluru Statement from ...
What to be watching right now, with Clem Bastow
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This year has seen an explosion of film and TV releases – as sound stages fill with productions, following the end of lockdowns that threatened the ...
The crime deep in the forest, with Sophie Cunningham
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Deep in Australia’s oldest forests there are criminal gangs operating: illegally chopping down trees to sell the wood. The authorities know it’s ...
Lachlan Murdoch: The successor, with Paddy Manning
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lachlan Murdoch is the presumptive heir to the global Murdoch media fortune – and with his father, Rupert, now aged 91, Lachlan’s time could be im...
Spotlight: Megan Davis on what’s next for the Voice
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Next year, Australians will get to vote in a referendum and we will be asked whether Australia should amend its constitution to create an Indigenous V...
Spotlight: What Murdoch asks from new prime ministers
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When you become prime minister, a lot changes – but there’s only a few people who know exactly what that's like.One of them is Kevin Rudd,and this...
Spotlight: How the Christian right overturned Roe v Wade
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This year, the case that established the legal protection for people in the United States to choose to have an abortion has been overturned.Since this...
Spotlight: How the teals really won, with Simon Holmes à Court
26 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most consequential political shifts of 2022 was the election of several ‘teal’ independent candidates to the federal parliament.The tea...
Spotlight: The dirty secrets inside one of our biggest casinos
25 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For decades we’ve been reassured that everything at Australian casinos is above board. They’re supposed to be heavily regulated, closely monitore...
Spotlight: Inside Anthony Albanese’s election night
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Seven months ago, Anthony Albanese’s Labor broke almost ten years of Coalition rule. Labor’s celebration were large and loud – and 7am was ther...
Spotlight: Monique Ryan vs The Treasurer of Australia
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in May, our producer Elle Marsh was given unprecedented access to Dr Monique Ryan and her campaign, as they attempted to unseat one of Australia’...
Spotlight: Why Britain can’t face up to the empire’s past
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This year, the only head of state that most Australians have ever known died.It led to an outpouring of grief and mourning, particularly in the UK, bu...
Spotlight: Who is Scott Morrison?
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Months after he lost the Prime Ministership, it’s still hard to get a handle on who Scott Morrison was. If anything, the secret ministries saga has ...
Spotlight: Russia moves on Ukraine, plus how prepared is Scott Morrison for conflict?
18 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At 6 O’Clock in the morning on Thursday the 24th of February, Vladimir Putin addressed the world – he said he would begin a special military opera...
How Albanese, Bandt and Dutton ended the political year
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re seeing a fitting end to a tumultuous year – parliament was urgently recalled to thrash out an energy deal, and a former prime minister grill...
How are we having another Covid wave?
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s happening again.Ahead of these holidays, infections of Covid are spiking, and people are going home sick in droves.At the same time we’re als...
The trial of Hillsong’s founder
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The founder of Hillsong Church, Brian Houston is on trial.He faces charges of concealing historic child sexual abuse by his father, Frank Houston – ...
Why Australia’s lobbying rules just don’t cut it
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When our politicians are making decisions, they’re often lobbied.These lobbyists arrange meetings, and make the case why the company they represent ...
15 months in jail after a climate protest
11 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Up to 15 months in jail, with a minimum non-parole period of 8 months – that’s the sentence that a climate protester was handed recently in NSW.It...
Anthony Albanese’s race to get energy prices capped
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s one last thing Anthony Albanese has to do before the end of the political year.Energy prices are still out of control, and they’re only se...
What happens next for Brittany Higgins?
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The trial of Bruce Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins – an accusation he strenuously denies – will not see a court room again, and ...
Can Tanya Plibersek stop new fossil fuel projects?
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Australia has a new, stronger emissions reduction target.But we are also one of the world’s biggest exporters of fossil fuels, and there’s no plan...
This generation is an existential threat to the Liberal Party
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Liberal Party is trying to resurrect its popularity after a devastating loss this year, under the leadership of Scott Morrison.But can changing th...
‘We exist 365 days a year’
04 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1992, the UN General Assembly agreed that 3 December every year would be International Day of People with Disability.It marked an early attempt to ...
Scott Morrison makes history (for all the wrong reasons)
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A prime minister will never again be able to secretly appoint themselves to act in multiple ministries.The practice will be made unlawful, with new ru...
When bureaucrats try to understand human behaviour
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are people inside government departments who want to use insights into human behaviour to influence us.At its best, it can help design systems t...
The biggest protests in China since Tiananmen
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, streets across China filled with angry protestors.Some held blank pieces of paper instead of signs, to protest censorship, others chanted ‘...
How much Christianity do we need in our military?
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you don’t believe in God, then heaven help you in the ADF.Those are the words of Senator David Shoebridge, who has argued that our military is pu...
David Pocock’s vote: The most valuable thing in Canberra
27 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The wages and workplaces of Australians could be about to change.The government’s new industrial relations packages promises to make pay more transp...
A referendum on Dan Andrews: Inside the Victorian election
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The first major election since a wave of green and teal changed the federal map is set for this Saturday.The Victorian election is about a lot of thin...
Migrant workers died to bring us this World Cup
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The World Cup is the most watched sporting event on earth.Some predict that this year’s matches in Qatar could be watched by 5 billion during the mo...
Did Australia live up to expectations at COP27?
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The world has come to new agreements on climate action.At COP27 in Egypt, measures to tackle damage and loss in countries affected by climate change h...
How Mike Cannon-Brookes staged a climate coup
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Mike Cannon-Brookes succeeded in staging what amounts to an internal coup at Australia’s largest climate polluter, AGL.Having failed in h...
‘Use of force’: How Medibank changed the fight on hackers
20 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the most sensitive data to be obtained by hackers in Australian history has been published.A Russian network of hackers has put online private...
Albanese’s meeting with Xi Jinping: Will Australia get a second date?
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Australia was one of the first western nations to recognise the communist government of China, almost 50 years ago.But more recently, China appeared t...
Charlie Teo: The media’s ‘maverick, miracle doctor’
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Charlie Teo is known for his incredible brain surgeries, taking on operations that other doctors won’t touch.But several families have come forwa...
How not to fund your future leaders, Scott Morrison-style
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It was the governor-general’s pet project, a foundation that promised to nurture the future leaders of Australia.But the elite foundation never came...
Climate justice: Should countries like Australia pay compensation?
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the world gathers at COP27 to decide on the next steps in our response to the climate crisis, the biggest point of contention is one idea: climate ...
Why nuclear submarines can’t save us
13 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Australia is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on eight nuclear-powered submarines.It’s estimated to be one of the biggest spends in the hist...
The Weekend Read: Sam Vincent on the overdue arrival of native Australian ingredients on our plates
12 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, author and farmer Sam Vincent, with his piece from the latest edition of The Monthly. It explores how native Australian ingredients have gone ...
‘Air of possibility’: Surely not in Canberra?!
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Labor government’s workplace reform package, which it promises will increase wages, has passed the lower house. But it may struggle to pass the ...
Elon Musk’s half-baked Twitter takeover
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk says he plans to turn Twitter into his ideal version of a public square, and use it to advance the evolution of human communication.But his ...
They were warned, and did it anyway: Inside robo-debt
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Not long ago, the Australian government was forced to abandon a scheme it was using to pursue welfare recipients for money.The robo-debt scheme was bi...
Could Trump win in 2024? What the midterms will tell us
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Americans head to the polls in the country’s midterm elections.At stake is control of the US House of Representatives and the Senate. Both ar...
How Peter Dutton was created
06 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Dutton has an uphill battle, even he would admit that.But the Liberal leader known for tough, hardline conservative talking points is trying to ...
Wages and power prices: A wake up call for Albanese
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
People counted Dutton’s Opposition out, but Labor’s restrained budget might have opened up some attack lines for the Liberals… with some help fr...
‘You’re not imagining it’: Why the weather forecast could be wrong
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Internal tensions at the organisation that tells us about the weather — the Bureau of Meteorology — appear to be going from bad to worse.Among the...
Did the home of the Melbourne Cup make the city’s floods worse?
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When an inner suburb of Melbourne was hit by flooding a few weeks ago, attention turned to Flemington Racecourse: home of the Melbourne Cup.The track ...
Can a fossil fuel company go net-zero?
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Unlike in almost every other country in the world, the Australian government actively helps some of our biggest carbon emitters make claims to consume...
House prices are dropping faster than ever
30 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The prices of Australian houses are dropping faster than ever before – but is this a blip on the way to higher prices, or an actual value crash?And ...
PM Rishi Sunak: Will this one last more than 45 days?
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After 45 days of economic chaos under Liz Truss threatened the welfare of ordinary Britons, the UK now has a new prime minister: Rishi Sunak.Sunak’s...
Will mashed potato on a Monet solve the climate crisis?
26 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the world’s most treasured art works have been under attack in the last few weeks.Paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet have been doused ...
What’s inside Labor’s first budget?
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A Labor government has handed down a budget for the first time in nine years.It isn’t the budget that many might have imagined in May when the party...
The Bureau of Meteorology: Chaos at the forecaster
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last Tuesday, while torrential rains brought floods that cut off whole towns in Victoria, Australia’s weather forecasting agency made a strange anno...
Australia is getting a wellbeing budget. What is that?
23 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An idea that Australia discarded a decade ago will return on Tuesday night.That idea is a so-called “wellbeing budget”. It is being talked up by t...
Listen to this before budget night
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Labor party has been making promises.The latest is that it hopes to end domestic and family violence within a generation.But ahead of the budget, ...
When your identity is no longer your own
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's been two weeks since millions of Australians learned their data might have been compromised in the Optus hack. Since then other data breaches ha...