The Morning Edition

This week we had some not-so-great inflation figures and also reports that there'll be another interest rate rise right before the government hands down its federal budget in May.

Newly-minted shadow treasurer Tim Wilson, aka the "energiser bunny", accused Treasurer Jim Chalmers of pouring fuel on the economic flames, but what is the government saying about the situation?

Also in this episode, we discuss the extraordinary situation where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had to be evacuated from The Lodge in Canberra.

Joining host Jacqueline Maley is chief economics correspondent Shane Wright and chief p...

The Pentagon once said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could succeed in three days. So, as the war rages on, more than four years later, what else have world leaders got wrong?

For one thing, what a nation’s most important source of power is.

Today international and political editor Peter Hartcher on the underestimated power that Ukraine holds, and what it would take for us to acquire it.

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Jamal Rifi is the Sydney doctor at the centre of a controversial mission to repatriate the so-called ISIS brides – 34 Australian women and children who are living in a camp in Syria.

He also wants to bring back a young man who was taken to Syria as a boy who is now in an adult men’s prison. 

The women travelled to Syria and were married to jihadists, who are now dead or in jail. When Islamic State's so-called caliphate fell, they were put in detention camps. For seven years they have lived in no man’s land...

A scream in the night, glass smashing, and dogs barking - these were the first signs that something terrible had happened in a suburban Sydney street.

Since then, police have revealed this was a highly unusual case of mistaken identity that resulted in the kidnapping of an innocent 85-year-old grandfather.

And on Tuesday morning, the worst fears of his Sydney family were realised: police announced they believed they had found the body of the widower, almost two weeks after he was taken.

Today, crime reporter Riley Walter on a case that has gripped...

When Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was taken into police custody on his 66th birthday last week, it was the first time in nearly 400 years a British royal had been arrested.

So what will the former Prince Andrew’s fate be?

Today, Europe correspondent David Crowe on what it means for the monarchy that Mountbatten-Windsor was finally arrested, and why he has not been charged.

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Every parent has the same fiercely held wish for their unborn child: that they're born healthy, and continue to thrive. But how far would you go to achieve your goal?
There is a growing movement overseas - and a controversial genetic test - that offers prospective parents the chance to choose embryos that have a probability for all kinds of traits, such as being tall, or intelligent.
Today, science reporter Angus Dalton on the Australians wanting to access this technology and the ethical implications of creating designer babies.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia's ISIS brides - the women trying to return home with their children from Syria - are not getting help from the government, but it seems there is more to the story.

Joining Jacqueline Maley to discuss is senior writer Michael Bachelard, who has followed the story for years, and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.

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Tony Wright, the associate editor of The Age, has been writing for 50 years. He is the master of what we call the political sketch. Sketches are akin to a verbal cartoon, and when done well, capture a moment in politics.
Today, we bring you Wright's latest sketch, titled: 'Nation’s worst government? Jane Hume’s hyperbolic historical claim'.

Read Wright's columns, and sketches, by clicking here.

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We are in a dangerous new nuclear age, according to a growing number of world leaders. The signs are not just in Russia’s threats to use its nuclear arsenal, or China’s steady build-up of its nuclear capabilities.

The signs are also plain to see in a single sentence, buried in an otherwise dull strategic document, released last month by the Trump administration.

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on Donald Trump’s nuclear ambitions. And why Australia must begin thinking about acquiring its own nuclear weapons.

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It should have been a time of celebration for a Sydney woman, who had bought a new home for herself and her daughter.

But as settlement loomed, her application for a mortgage unravelled in shocking fashion. And it was all over $44.11.

Kishor Napier-Raman appraises what led a judge to demand that the head of one of the big four banks be hauled before a court this week.

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“Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian. That's what has made our country attractive to migrants, and we should keep it that way.’’

That was former prime minister Tony Abbott on the position he would like the newly minted Coalition leader Angus Taylor to adopt, saying that for the Coalition to win voters back from One Nation, it needed to take a harder line on immigration and move away from diversity.

Today, political analyst Sean Kelly, on how far Angus Taylor will go, in cracking down on immigration.  And his connection to Tony Abbott.

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Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie’s 2024 exposé of the criminal infiltration of the construction sector prompted a slew of investigations among governments and law enforcement agencies around the country.

The conclusions of those investigations reveal the extent of that corruption, and its findings are damning - including that the CFMEU's conduct could have cost taxpayers $15 billion, and the Victorian government knew of the problems but did not fix the problem.

Drug trafficking and shocking sexual exploitation of women on major infrastructure sites - are some of the other claims.

Today Nick McKenzie on the ser...

We're bringing you an extra episode of Inside Politics today because Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had an opening in his diary, and he's granted us an audience.

His interview comes off the back of a difficult week, with a state visit from Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Herzog's visit was welcomed by the victims of the Bondi terror attack and their families, but his presence in Australia also sparked protests with shocking clashes between police and protesters in Sydney.

Host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal ask Albanese whether the police response was heavy-handed...

There’s a bit going on with the Liberal Party this week, but while that unfolds we are going to look at some bigger issues. 

Interest rates went up recently, for the first time in two years, and there’s a question as to whether government spending contributed to inflation.

So we're testing that today, with host Jacqueline Maley, senior economics correspondent Shane Wright and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos.

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The new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is so pro-Donald Trump she’s become known as the “Trump whisperer”. She also just gained an enormous amount of power in a historic landslide election win.

What will this do to Australia, if she encourages Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to strengthen our ties with the United States?

Today, Peter Hartcher on how Australia manages this new relationship with the Japanese prime minister, while heeding calls to decouple from the United States.

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The violence that unfolded outside Sydney Town Hall on Monday night was ugly. Protesters were punched, kicked and trampled as they tried to breach a police line.

Thousands of demonstrators were crushed together as capsicum spray was deployed indiscriminately at close range. Dozens were arrested, and several police officers were allegedly assaulted.

People were there to protest a visit to Australia by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is in the country following the Bondi terror attack. More protests are expected in Canberra and Melbourne.

Today, chief reporter Chip Le Grand on whether Isaac...

If you’ve taken a passing glimpse at news over the past week, you would have come across the name Bad Bunny.

The Puerto Rican musician recently won three Grammy awards and just performed on the biggest stage in the world as headline act for the NFL Super Bowl’s half-time show, which usually attracts more than 100 million viewers every year.

The 29-year-old’s selection and performance have not been without controversy.

Today, culture editor-at-large Michael Idato examines why Bad Bunny has become a focal point for the Trump administration and the anti-ICE immigr...

We all know how a neighbour with irksome habits can drive us to distraction. Maybe their leafblower is their best friend. Or they blast their music at all hours.

But what if your neighbour is Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person? And you’re on a disability pension?

Today, investigative reporter Lucy Macken on why the NSW Supreme Court is hearing a case involving feral goats, a 12-kilometre fence and why both women won’t call off the fight.

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Today on Inside Politics, we welcome back former opposition leader Bill Shorten, who is now the Vice Chancellor of the University of Canberra.
It's a timely moment to have Shorten on the podcast as he obliquely (very obliquely, we stress) came up in the Epstein files this week.
Strangely, in the massive dump of new documents from the files, there is a text message exchange between Steve Bannon, the former strategist for Donald Trump, and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In the messages, Bannon boasts that he spoke to Australian billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer on his disruptive $80 m...

Another tranche - amounting more than 3 million pages - of the Epstein files has been published.

The US Department of Justice says this is the final drop, but there are reportedly millions of more pages being kept from view.

So is there anything in them that hurts President Donald Trump?

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on how the Epstein files are driving Trump's "war pageant". 

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The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate for the first time in two years yesterday, to 3.85 per cent. Exactly as mortgage holders have been fearing.

But what if many of us are not actually in the cost-of-living crisis that we keep being told that we’re in? And that this new interest rate is comparatively good?

Today, senior economics reporter Matt Wade on how obsessing over the cost of living hides the real challenges of our age.

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Can the Coalition reunite, after two weeks of political infighting? And will the Liberal and National parties’ leaders, Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, even keep their jobs, given the threats to their leadership that continue to play out, as this episode goes to air?

These are only two of the political tripwires that are at high risk of being stepped on, this week; a period that veteran political analyst Sean Kelly calls “absolutely insane”.

Today columnist Sean Kelly on this week’s expected chaos and whether it might lead the government to finally enact bold changes...

"No jab no play” policy means unvaccinated children can’t be enrolled in childcare or preschool in most Australian jurisdictions. But some parents have found ways to evade those laws.

According to an investigation by reporter Kayla Olaya, these parents are using Facebook groups to share the contacts of doctors who will falsify their children’s immunisation records. This, as vaccine uptake in Australia has stalled below national targets.

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The drama between the Liberals and the Nationals continued this week with what seems to be a total breakdown in the relationship between Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud.

Meanwhile, Ley's leadership remains in mortal peril, and in a plot twist, Littleproud faces his own leadership challenge next week.

Chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal joins Jacqueline Maley in today's episode.

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Inflation has risen again, and the markets are already tipping interest rates are likely to increase next week in response.

Today, senior economics correspondent Shane Wright explains what is driving the spike in inflation and what it says about where Australia’s economy is headed.

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Two Americans have now been killed by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis in less than three weeks.

Their families say they were sweet, passionate people who could not sit back and watch while masked men snatched members of their community off the streets.

The US government, meanwhile, calls them “domestic terrorists” who should not have intervened while agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - known as ICE - tried to do their work.

Former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have described the situation as “a watershed moment in US histor...

She was given the pseudonym XC, by a court, to protect her identity. And she’s never spoken publicly about her experience. But the court documents from her case against Ken Dyers reveal a harrowing set of allegations.

At the age of 14, she says that Dyers, the leader of the performing arts and social organisation, Kenja, sexually abused her. And she alleges that nine other members of his organisation – all but one of them, women – helped him do it. Dyers was in his early 80s at the time. 

Today, investigations reporter Harriet Alexander, on why Kenja –...

More than 25 years ago, photojournalist Kate Geraghty travelled to Timor-Leste to document the struggles of the Timorese people as they wrestled back their independence from a decades-long, and often brutal, Indonesian occupation.

Last year, Geraghty returned to Timor-Leste, with health editor Kate Aubusson, where they witnessed a devastating legacy of this struggle: a deep, cultural tradition of withstanding pain.

Coupled with a shame about cancer, and a lack of resources, a diagnosis of cervical cancer often equals a death sentence in Timor-Leste. And this in a place only 85 minutes away by plane from Australia, which...

Tony Wright, the associate editor of The Age, has been writing for 50 years. He is the master of what we call the political sketch.
Sketches are akin to a verbal cartoon and, when done well, capture a moment in politics.
Today, in a bonus episode of Inside Politics, we bring you Wright's sketch on the disintegration of the Coalition, titled: It’s a mess of Titanic proportions on the Coalition’s ship of fools.

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One Nation is having a bit of a moment.

Pauline Hanson’s outfit, accused by both major parties of exploiting racial anxiety over her career, has faded into irrelevance at points since she burst onto the scene in the late 1990s.

But two new polls have recorded record-high primary votes for One Nation. One of them saw One Nation’s vote rise above the Coalition, which split in spectacular fashion this week, over new hate crime legislation in the wake of the Bondi massacre.

The break-up of the Coalition, and the rise of One...

We are back with a special episode of Inside Politics as a few things have happened this week - namely the break-up of the Coalition, a century-old political alliance.

Nationals leader David Littleproud announced the split on Thursday morning, blaming Liberal leader Sussan Ley in the process.

Federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos joins chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal in today's episode.

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Since recording this episode, Nationals Leader David Littleproud formally announced that the Coalition has split, blaming Opposition leader Sussan Ley for forcing the Nationals into an untenable position.

It comes after Littleproud's frontbenchers sensationally quit the Coalition shadow cabinet on Wednesday night in solidarity with three rebel MPs who voted against Labor's hate-crime laws.

Now, the spotlight is back on whether Ley can continue leading the Opposition.

That is no doubt much to the relief of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has faced a backlash for rushing the bills through parliament without enough...

Ronald Reagan’s presidency of the 1980s is known as the ‘Reagan Revolution’, while Franklin D Roosevelt - the only president who has served for more than two terms -  is known for his reformist agenda.

So, now that it’s officially a year on from Donald Trump’s inauguration, for a second time, how does the scale of what he has upended and changed compare?

Today North American correspondent Michael Koziol on the deliberate chaos of the Trump presidency, and whether he is likely to toss aside legalities and run for a third term.

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Kazem Hamad rose rapidly to become one of the nation’s most powerful organised crime players. The syndicate he is accused of heading waged a relentless turf war for control of Australia’s multibillion-dollar illicit tobacco trade, which has seen firebombings around the country. But Hamad’s arrest last week was unexpected, because it happened not in Australia, but thousands of kilometres away in Iraq. Today, senior reporter Chris Vedelago on the capture of one of Australia’s most wanted accused criminals.

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When Australian Open stars, such as Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka, hit the courts this week, they’ll do so with the support of screaming fans, massive sponsorship deals, and a shot at a record-breaking prize haul. But what of those who aren’t even close to being world No.1?

For them, the journey to the Open is often a juggle to make ends meet – one of scrimping and saving – sometimes without a paid coach, let alone a sponsor.

Today, sports reporter Marc McGowan on whether Australian Open competitors get paid enough. And the gruelling journey...

Inside Politics is still on a break, but we’re set to return in two weeks.  

Today, we return to an episode released just after Anthony Albanese’s successful meeting with Donald Trump, and one in which we had a special guest -  former Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten.

Bill also has some advice for the opposition, and its leader Sussan Ley, before a slight diversion to discussing the dress sense of our chief political correspondent, Paul Sakkal.

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When Kevin Rudd announced on Monday that he would leave his post as ambassador to the United States a year early, it was a penny-drop moment for many.

Wasn’t this inevitable since his incredibly awkward meeting with US President Donald Trump in the White House in October?

Today, foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matthew Knott on where this leaves our relationship with the most mercurial US president in recent memory. 

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The protests that have been spreading across Iran for weeks have been growing more violent. Video footage showed and eye witnesses described security forces opening fire on protesters, while reports from human rights agencies say the death toll is in the thousands .
But could these protests tip over into a counter-revolution? Might Iran’s brutal Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his regime be overthrown?
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian Middle Eastern scholar, spent 804 days in an Iranian prison before being released in 2020. Today, she discusses how this uprising differs from previous ones in Iran. And what it will t...

While firefighters in Victoria battle devastating bush fires that have destroyed homes and livestock, at the other end of the country, Queenslanders were bracing for floods from ex-tropical cyclone Koji.

Today, David Bowman, a professor of pyrogeography and fire science at the University of Tasmania, on what causes this climate whiplash and how our changing climate is worsening our extreme weather.

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On the first day of the new year, Donald Trump wrote on his social platform Truth Social, what he wanted for 2026. And I quote, “Peace, peace on earth”. 

Two days later, Trump invaded Venezuela. And now, the American president is threatening to invade at least four other countries. 

Today, Bruce Wolpe, senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre, and a former congressional staffer, on whether Trump’s imperialist aggression, and a recent mutiny of more than a dozen top-ranking MAGA members, might break his hold on power.

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