7am
Episodes
The Saturday Quiz: Nancye Hayes and Mitchell Butel
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The two guests joining John on this season’s penultimate episode are show business royalty. Mitchell Butel is an actor, singer and the artistic dire...
Morrison gears up for a summer brawl
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Just as parliament was wrapping up for the year, the government introduced radical and controversial proposed changes to worker’s rights. The new le...
Locked up for being sick
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The passage of the medevac legislation last year allowed sick refugees in offshore detention to travel to Australia. The legislation was bitterly oppo...
The plot to undermine the NDIS
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After years of careful manoeuvring, the Coalition government is laying the groundwork to make radical changes to the National Disability Insurance Sch...
What’s really behind China’s break-up with Australia?
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This year we’ve seen relations between Australia and China plummet. But the story of Australia’s increasing friction with China goes back much fur...
Laura Tingle on where Australia went wrong
06 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
New Zealand’s rapid response to Covid-19 and the political success of Jacinda Ardern has seen the world start to pay more attention to our neighbour...
The Saturday Quiz: Amrita Hepi and Jason Phu
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Artists Amrita Hepi and Jason Phu do extremely well at the quiz, even though the one question in Arita’s expert category nearly trips her up. We nev...
Scott Morrison feeds the trolls
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The growing diplomatic dispute between China and Australia took an ugly turn this week, after a Chinese government official posted an incendiary tweet...
The climate threat to Australia’s leaders
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese are caught between a global shift towards more serious climate action and pro-coal members of their respective par...
Hostage diplomacy: Freeing Kylie Moore-Gilbert
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018 Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in an Iranian jail. Last week, she was released...
What Scott Morrison can learn from Daniel Andrews
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic has exposed big cracks in the way Australia’s economy and social services operate, particularly when it comes to insecure work and aged...
Waleed Aly on what happens *after* cancel culture
29 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From boycotting celebrities to calling out poor behaviour, cancel culture has become a controversial phenomenon in the age of social media. But the id...
The Saturday Quiz: Agatha Gothe-Snape and Alison Bell
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Try as they might, old friends Agatha Gothe-Snape and Alison Bell just can’t seem to find the answers to the questions in this week’s quiz. But th...
How to lose a trade ally in 14 ways
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s relationship with China is at its lowest point in decades. Trade boycotts are impacting local businesses, and now the Chinese government...
The laws letting miners destroy sacred sites
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves sparked a global backlash, and now a parliamentary inquiry is exploring what needs to change. Toda...
How the government makes your mental health worse
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A landmark report has quantified the economic and social cost of Australia’s mental health crisis. It’s also pointed to poverty and unemployment a...
Enemy of the state
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
West Papuan separatists have been fighting for independence from Indonesia for decades. Now independence activists have been targeted by the Indonesia...
Who is responsible for Australia’s war crimes?
22 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Detailed accusations that Australian soldiers in Afghanistan committed war crimes have drawn widespread condemnation from around the world. But who is...
The Saturday Quiz: Wesley Enoch and David McAllister
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The outgoing artistic directors of Sydney Festival and the Australian Ballet, Wesley Enoch and David McAllister, combine forces to battle against thei...
The truth about Robodebt and political responsibility
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The federal government has settled the largest class action in Australian history, over the unlawful robodebt program. Today, Paul Bongiorno on who wa...
Why is Australia deporting this man?
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mojtaba is 29 years old. He’s lived in Australia for nearly a decade, but last year he was placed into immigration detention. Since then he hasn’t...
Here come the vaccines
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A huge, global effort to try and find a vaccine for coronavirus is showing growing signs of success. A number of possible candidates are moving into t...
Sacked after speaking up
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Recent scandals and allegations of workplace bullying have put the spotlight on the treatment of women in Parliament. Today, Karen Middleton on the un...
Rudd, Turnbull and the Murdoch cancer
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is under assault, with two former Prime Ministers, from opposite sides of politics, uniting in their criticism of the med...
The Saturday Quiz: Nakkiah Lui and Gabe Dowrick
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, writer, actor, activist, and recently one of Who magazine’s sexiest people of 2020, Nakkiah Lui and her tv editor husband, Gabe Dow...
How Biden is changing Australian climate policy
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden’s victory in the United States has already had ramifications for Australian politics, particularly on the issue of climate change. Today, ...
Yanis Varoufakis on making billionaires richer
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The world is struggling to contain the fallout of the coronavirus, but has the pandemic exposed something more fundamentally broken about our economic...
Who is Joe Biden?
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After one of the most tumultuous periods in recent US history, voters have chosen Joe Biden to try and reunite a divided country. Today, Jonathan Pear...
When police charge the victim
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A new report collating the experiences of hundreds of frontline workers has revealed how criminal and judicial systems are failing victims of family v...
How Australia will live with the virus
08 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Australia has managed to effectively suppress Covid-19, but with more international arrivals experts predict that outbreaks will continue. Today, Amy ...
The Saturday Quiz: Emily Barclay and Tom Ward
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Emily Barclay and Tom Ward like going to amusement parks. But Emily is too scared to go on any of the roller-coasters, so Tom has to do so on her beha...
Trump’s last stand
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Protests have broken out across the US in response to Donald Trump’s attempts to cling to power. But as counting continues in key states, Joe Biden’...
Election 2020: Trumpism is here to stay
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After a full night of counting votes, the outcome of the US Presidential election still remains in doubt, with Donald Trump holding on to key states t...
Trump 2020: How to steal an election
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As voters in the US head to the polls, President Trump has warned that a close or uncertain result could spark chaos. Behind the scenes both parties h...
Can Anthony Albanese beat Scott Morrison?
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After losing last year’s election the Labor party turned to Anthony Albanese to rebuild. But what does he actually stand for? Today, Richard Cooke o...
Australia’s new convict age
01 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years Australia has seen an acceleration in law and order style electioneering, and it’s led to a record high incarceration rate. Now, as ...
Not by the Hehir of my political sin
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pressure has started to mount on the federal government following a string of scandals involving senior public officials. Labor and crossbench senator...
Cutting down the Djab Wurrung trees
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the Victorian government began cutting down sacred Djab Wurrung trees to make way for a highway expansion between Melbourne and Adelaide. A...
What went wrong at Australia Post?
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As an investigation into Australia Post’s leadership gets underway, a deeper crisis at the organisation is threatening to jeopardise the way it oper...
The teenagers taking on Adani
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The controversial Adani coalmine in Queensland has already been approved by both state and federal governments, but a new legal challenge by two teena...
Australia’s diplomatic blind spot
25 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s relationship with Indonesia has a significant impact on our culture, economy and national security. But despite our proximity, it’s of...
Scott Morrison’s Labor obsession
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As political battles over the government’s stimulus measures and proposed industrial relations reforms loom, Scott Morrison has been taking aim at t...
Short back and emotional asides
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After enduring one of the world’s longest lockdowns, Melbourne is slowly reopening and hairdressers are some of the first businesses allowed to welc...
Dutton’s new war on refugees
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In recent weeks refugees and asylum seekers living in Australia have received letters from the federal government stripping them of financial support ...
Public office with (alleged) benefits
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A week after her secret relationship with a politician being investigated over corruption was first revealed, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is still ...
The new path out of lockdown
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After more than 100 days of strict lockdown, Victorians finally have a new path out of restrictions. It signals a more gradual easing than the governm...
The Saturday Quiz: Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
All the way from their home in Los Angeles, actors Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall provide more information than is entirely necessary as they stumb...
Mr. Morrison goes to Queensland
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With the Queensland state election looming, the Prime Minister has hit the campaign trail. But just as he arrived it was revealed that the LNP Opposit...
Australia’s medicine shortage
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A reliance on imports has left Australia with dwindling supplies of some essential medicines and now experts are warning that manufacturing capabiliti...
James Packer shows his hand
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past few weeks an inquiry into Crown Resorts, Australia’s largest gambling company, has laid bare a culture of risk taking and threats. It’...
The people the government left behind
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Experts have accused the government of failing to properly fund the aged care sector in this year’s federal budget. Advocacy groups are also concern...
The school fighting to save its culture
11 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, students in Footscray in Melbourne’s West, have been taught in Vietnamese alongside English, in line with the suburb’s long-standing ...
The Saturday Quiz: Shari Sebbens and Gemma Bird Matheson
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Actors Shari Sebbens and Gemma Bird Matheson take on the quiz this week. Gemma can tell you how many minutes there are in half a day, and Shari knows ...
Albanese draws the political battlelines
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In his budget reply speech last night Opposition leader Anthony Albanese outlined his response to the economic crisis and criticised the federal gover...
After the virus: Lidia Thorpe wants to change the system
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lidia Thorpe entered the Senate this week, becoming the first Aboriginal Senator representing Victoria. Today, she talks to Ruby Jones about rebuildin...
Budget 2020: Getting on with the jobs
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Josh Frydenberg’s second budget is a world away from the surplus he was predicting last year. Now, in the middle of a pandemic, debt is on track to ...
Jacqui Lambie fires up
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The future of Australia’s universities hangs in the balance, with radical reforms to funding and student fees due to be voted this week. The governm...
Helen Garner’s lockdown diaries
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Helen Garner is one of Australia’s most celebrated authors, and today on 7am she talks to host Ruby Jones about the diary she kept during lockdown i...
The Saturday Quiz: Ali McGregor and Claire Hooper
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a truly collaborative effort, host of online cabaret “Choose Your Own Variety” Ali McGregor and comedian Claire Hooper are let down only by the...
“The most important budget since World War II”
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the Treasurer prepares the upcoming federal budget he’s facing pressure to spend big and keep the economy afloat. But can a government historical...
The journalists siding with the virus
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the pandemic, there’s been a vocal group of journalists who are adamant the risk of Covid-19 is being overblown. But what drives this kin...
The NSW Koala War
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When the NSW National Party threatened to break up the state’s Coalition over the issue of koalas many were mystified. But behind the political fire...
Welcome to the dumb country
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s universities have been hit hard by the pandemic, with thousands of job losses. Now the federal government wants to change the way the se...
The new virus hotels
27 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Victoria’s second wave has been attributed to an outbreak of Covid-19 amongst private contractors working in hotel quarantine, and now government do...
The Saturday Quiz: Anne-Louise Sarks and Sean Kelly
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fearful of geography-based questions, this week’s guests – theatre maker Anne-Louise Sarks and political commentator Sean Kelly – nevertheless m...
Escape from Tony Abbott
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Morrison has spent the week untangling himself from Tony Abbott’s policies, on both climate change and the NBN. Today, Paul Bongiorno on new r...
Kids' radio: live from lockdown
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Staff and students at Brunswick North West Primary School have endured one of the longest school shutdowns in the world, and they’ve created their o...
The truth about hospital transmission
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Confidential documents leaked to The Saturday Paper show that hospitals remain a key area of coronavirus transmission, while doctors and nurses in Mel...
The grey pyramid scheme (part two)
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A Royal Commission has heard hundreds of aged care centres are facing financial collapse, as the crisis in the sector takes its toll. In the second ha...
The grey pyramid scheme (part one)
20 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, we’ve been warned about a crisis in Australia’s aged care sector, and the coronavirus pandemic has exposed its failures. In the first...
The Saturday Quiz: Belinda Bromilow and Tony McNamara
19 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What do Walloons, Novak Djokovic and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all have in common? They’re all questions that stump actor Belinda Bromilow an...
The cliff and the climate
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The federal Opposition is seeking to capitalise on the current economic downturn by arguing that the government’s policies are making things worse. ...
The calm before the recession
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s economy has taken its biggest hit since the Great Depression, but so far government stimulus measures have cushioned most people and bus...
Rupert Murdoch's next move
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Australia has one of the most concentrated media markets in the world, and that concentration could worsen as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp launches a ...
The politics of a coronavirus vaccine
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A coronavirus vaccine is the best chance the world has of returning to some kind of normal, but the stalling of one of the most viable candidates last...
Exclusive: Brett Sutton’s leaked call
13 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A leaked briefing from Victoria’s chief health officer has contradicted public statements on contact tracing, and highlighted flaws with the privati...
The Saturday Quiz: Miranda Tapsell and James Colley
12 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Miranda Tapsell describes her partner, James Colley, as a little nerd. His performance on the quiz doesn’t do anything to dispel that. If you ...
Scott Morrison’s shattered cabinet
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Morrison is waging a war on two fronts this week. He’s locked in a battle with state governments to reopen borders, and he’s increasingly bl...
How to collect coronavirus
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As coronavirus transforms the country before our eyes, cultural institutions are trying to record what is happening in real time, as part of a movemen...
Death tax for booty
08 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Inheritance taxes are a feature of most advanced economies, including the UK and the US. But in Australia they haven’t been levied for 40 years, and...
5 Reasons Facebook Is Ditching News (You Won't Believe Number 3)
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After lobbying from the Murdoch press and Nine newspapers, the government is trying to force Google and Facebook to pay for journalism. The tech giant...
The doctors, the Scientologists, and the journalist
06 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A federal court has been re-examining controversial psychiatric treatments used in a Sydney hospital in the 1960s. The treatments drew the attention o...
Bonus: How we make 7am
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate 300 episodes, we produced a special, behind-the-scenes feature on how we make 7am. We followed host Ruby Jones and senior reporter for Th...
Here comes the recession
03 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Treasurer Josh Frydenberg started this week by launching an extraordinary attack on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, and ended it by presiding ov...
How branch stacking helps conservatives
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Serious allegations of branch stacking and factional warfare have engulfed both major parties in recent months, and the latest example even implicates...
Profiting off the unemployment boom
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As Australia grapples with an unemployment crisis corporate job agencies are benefiting from a boom in government payments. Some agencies are also bei...
Scott Morrison’s snapback to normality
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For months the prime minister has been projecting a return to normality. But it’s become increasingly clear the world around us has fundamentally ch...
After Christchurch: the calm before the storm
30 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Last week the Christchurch terrorist was sentenced to life without parole, the first time the sentence has ever been handed down. But even though he’...
The Saturday Quiz: Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The creators and stars of Rosehaven – Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor – attempt to answer the questions from The Saturday Paper’s quiz. Unfortu...
The minister for not caring
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a week where the minister for aged care was unable to answer questions about the crisis in his portfolio, and details emerged about a branch stacki...
The phone call that caused the aged-care crisis
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The ongoing crisis in aged care has become one of the defining elements of Australia’s second wave. There are currently over 1500 active cases linke...
Bob Brown and the end of the environment
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the federal government tries to hand power over environmental regulations to state governments, parallels have been drawn to the battles fought bet...
Why coronavirus could mean fewer nurses
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As our hospitals face pressure from coronavirus outbreaks, we’re relying on nurses more than ever. But at the same time, the pandemic means many nur...
Spying in the age of coronavirus
23 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The coronavirus is ushering in a new era of international relations of a kind we haven’t seen since 9/11 and the War on Terror. National intelligenc...
The Saturday Quiz: Briggs and Tim Minchin
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Multi-hyphenates – actors, writers, musicians – Briggs and Tim Minchin take on The Saturday Paper’s quiz. It’s a battle of brains rather than ...
Look over there! A vaccine!
20 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As a number of inquiries interrogate how prepared state and federal government’s were for the coronavirus pandemic the Prime Minister has evaded cri...
Another death in detention
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Australian government is currently holding over fifteen hundred people in immigration detention centres across the country. Some are convicted cri...
Inside the Ruby Princess: What went wrong
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An inquiry examining the Ruby Princess saga has delivered its findings, six months after the ship docked. The cruise ship remains Australia’s larges...
Inside the race for a coronavirus vaccine
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The federal government has announced that Australia is in “advanced discussions” with a number of companies over acquiring a potential coronavirus...
Australia’s love of cops
16 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a story about Australia’s psyche and the way our connection to policing makes us unique. During this pandemic, police have been handed unpre...