Lukas Coch/AAP Trust in politicians is at an all-time low, not only in Australia but across the world. Now more than ever, people are demanding a higher standard for our elected officials. The row over flight upgrades and the Qantas lounge has reinforced distrust. So has the strong criticism of the head of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, P…

John Locher/AP Days from the US presidential election, the polls are showing the outcome of the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remains a nail biter. With the United States our closest ally, the result could have potential implications for Australia in areas such as climate change policy, defence and the economy. If there is a Trump vic…

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australian Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen greet Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group Innes Willox and Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Sally McManus. 2022 Lukas Coch/AAP Industrial relations will be hotly contested at next year’s election. Labor has introduced a raft of new…

David Clark/AAP Queenslanders vote on October 26 when, according to the polls, the almost decade-long Labor government is expected to be defeated. Last year, in a bid to improve its chances, Labor dumped long-time premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in favour of Steven Miles. Miles has handed out or promised extensive and expensive cost-of-living support…

original Dean Lewins/AAP “Productivity” might sound a nerdy word to many, but improving it is vital for a more affluent life for Australians in coming years. At the moment it is languishing. Investigating ways in which our national productivity can be improved is at the heart of the work of the Productivity Commission, headed by Danielle Wood. Wood…

David Crosling/AAP Governments around the world are battling to regulate big tech companies. As the world becomes more interconnected, people are increasingly aware of the vast, often negative, influence these companies play in our lives. More generally, many corporations extend their power over their employees to their non-work lives. Josh Bornste…

Joel Carrett/AAP For many Australians, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a fading memory as the world has moved away from lockdowns and masks. However, its lasting impacts, including persistent inflation, remain. Academic economists Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden, in their just-published book, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, examine how Aus…

Mick Tsikas/AAP The government has found many of its key measures stuck in a legislative quagmire, with both Greens and Coalition playing hardball with Labor’s plans. This week the government’s housing legislation has stalled in the Senate. The Greens are pitching for radically expanded initiatives such as scrapping negative gearing and support for…

Lukas Coch/AAP The Albanese government has announced it will ban children from accessing social media. This follows work by the South Australian government, which commissioned a report on implementing a ban. That report was done by Robert French, the former High Court Chief Justice and current chancellor of the University of Western Australia. Thou…

David Crosling/AAP It is almost been a year since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Since then, the conflict in the Middle East has increasingly impinged on our domestic politics, despite Australia having no direct role in it. The horrific death toll in Gaza and the increase in both antisemitism and Islamophobia in Australia have focused the a…

Discussion between Deputy Governor of The RBA Andrew Hauser and Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood during Australia's Economic Outlook business luncheon. Britta Campion/AAP Inflation remains top of mind as the Reserve Bank of Australia continues to keep interest rates on hold at a time when the United States Federal Reserve signals that it wil…

Gabrielle Lurie/AP This year’s Democratic National Convention has been an event filled with excitement and optimism, a far cry from where the Democrats were just weeks when Joe Biden was their presidential candidate. With Kamala Harris as their nominee, the Democrats have gained support in the polls and with a big surge in donations and volunteers.…

Mick Tsikas/AAP Cost of living remains at the top of people’s minds as inflation stays sticky. With an election in less than a year, the government has been doing what it can to address some of the pressures. But the Reserve Bank doesn’t envisage an interest rate cut this year, and has suggested spending by governments is keeping inflation higher f…

Mick Tsikas/AAP Gambling reform has become a major issue of tension for the government as it prepares to respond to a cross-party committee inquiry led by former Labor member, the late Peta Murphy. The inquiry’s report, released last year, unanimously recommended a ban on gambling advertising within three years. There is strong public and backbench…

Mick Tsikas/AAP Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s address to the weekend Garma festival had a different tone from last year’s, when the Voice referendum was approaching. The Prime Minister is resetting policy, moving the focus to the economic empowerment of Indigenous communities as a path to reducing Indigenous disadvantage and “closing the gap”. …

Mick Tsikas/AAP The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast is one of those teals, Zoe Daniel, member for the Melbourne seat of Goldstein. Daniel, previously a veteran reporter a…

Erin Schaff/AP The 2024 US election took another dramatic turn when President Joe Biden withdrew his re-election bid, endorsing his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to take his place. The quick switch from Biden to Harris has reinvigorated the Democratic Party and their donors behind a younger candidate. It has thrown up a new challenge for Donald Tr…

Mick Tsikas/AAP American politics has become weekly high drama. Donald Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt last weekend. Now Joe Biden has COVID, and is under ever-increasing pressure to stand aside as the Democratic candidate for November’s presidential election. We’re joined on the podcast by former Australian Ambassador to Washingto…

Lukas Coch/AAP Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman quit Labor after defying the party’s “solidarity” rule. Her action, spurred by the Gaza issue, has intensified Labor fears about the possible impact of the Muslim vote in some of its safe seats at the election. The now-independent senator joined the podcast to discuss her decision, the challen…

Flavio Brancaleone/AAP The Coalition is taking a major political gamble with its nuclear power policy, which is facing criticism from a range of experts. The opposition has announced seven proposed sites for power stations but has yet to provide costings and other details. Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O'Brien, who spearheaded t…

Lukas Coch/AAP The climate wars have been reignited with the Coalition’s release of its controversial plan for nuclear power, an option totally rejected by the government. Meanwhile, a report this week from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AMEO) has indicated the government needs to speed up efforts in what has become a challenging energy tra…

Lukas Coch/AAP After beating a first-term South Australian Liberal government in 2022, Labor premier Peter Malinauskas has gone on to be a reform advocate on issues including social media and politcal donations. His government is looking at a ban on children under 14 accessing social media accounts, with parental consent required for those 14 and 1…

Mick Tsikas/AAP Bill Shorten, the minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), is currently in New York at a United Nations conference on the rights of people with disabilities. At the weekend, he’ll fly to Europe to represent Australia at a summit in Switzerland aimed at finding international consensus on a peace path for the Ukra…

The debate over climate change mostly focuses on how to best to limit emissions in the effort to prevent disastrous global warming. However in a new book, Living Hot, Clive Hamilton and George Wilkenfeld challenge current priorities, arguing rising temperatures can’t be contained fast enough and we need to turn our attention to “adaptation”. Clive …

shutterstock Migration has become a major battleground between the government and opposition. While they have different policies, each side is targeting foreign students in their plans for cuts in the intake. The government will apply caps, decided by the minister, on the numbers of foreign students for particular universities, with some concession…

Housing remains one of Australia’s most pressing issues in both state and federal politics. The RBA keeping rates up and high mortgage repayments have left many Australians struggling. For those Australians who don’t own a home, it’s becoming increasingly hard to get into the housing market. The opposition has blamed the high levels of migration fo…

The energy debate has ramped up, with government and opposition trading blows over their respective plans to secure Australia’s energy future. The budget announced big tax incentives for green energy projects. Earlier the government embraced the importance of gas up to 2050 and beyond. The Coalition is still promising its yet-to-be-announced nuclea…

Mick Tsikas & Lukas Coch/AAP Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday handed down his third budget. It had a second successive surplus and sweeteners, including relief on energy bills, and tax breaks for development of green hydrogen and critical minerals processing. The opposition will back the energy bill subsidy but oppose the tax breaks in the Future …

Mick Tsikas/AAP Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush through in the last parliamentary sitting, went to a Senate inquiry that reported this week. In dissenting comments, the …

Dean Lewins/AAP The Prime Minister and state and territory leaders met on Wednesday as the national cabinet to discuss a crisis gripping Australia – the horrific number of women murdered this year. The killings have shocked the nation and led to mass demonstrations across the country last weekend. In this podcast, we’re joined by Dr Anne Summers, a…

Lukas Coch/AAP With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this week’s consumer price index showed, the battle with inflation has not yet been won. The government can’t afford to have an over-gener…

Lukas Coch/AAP After the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in an Assyrian Orthodox Church in Wakeley on Monday, and the killings in Bondi Junction shopping centre just two days earlier, many people in Sydney and in Australia more widely are tense. The shopping centre incident, in which the perpetrator was a mentally-ill 40-year-old man, was not …

James Ross/AAP The death of Australian Zomi Frankcom and other World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza in an Israeli strike has led to yet more intense and critical scrutiny over how Israel is prosecuting the war against Hamas. This week Foreign Minister Penny Wong has floated the possibility of recognition of a Palestinian state ahead of a two-s…

Lukas Coch/AAP The Albanese government and the Australian public are currently focused on the cost-of-living crisis and its impact on household budgets. For Australia’s longer-term economic outlook, the government is looking at reforms that are needed to increase competition and our flat-lined productivity. Andrew Leigh is in the middle of this deb…

Alan Porritt/AAP Kim Beazley, a former Labor leader, served as Australia’s ambassador in Washington between 2010 and 2016. He is widely respected for his expertise in foreign and defence policy. In this podcast episode, Beazley discusses the brouhaha over Donald Trump’s denigrating comments about Kevin Rudd, the present Australian ambassador in Was…

Imaged Provided by Lesley Seebeck The United States House of Representatives has passed a bill to force TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in the US. While the measure won’t come into effect until the American Senate agrees, it has re-engaged a debate over TikTok’s risk to national security, as w…

Professor Michael Flood/QUT Centre For Justice Last week, the ABC’s Four Corners investigated the alleged toxic culture towards women at Sydney’s elite boys Cranbrook School. The investigation covered harassment and bullying of female staff and other bad behaviour. After further developments, the headmaster, Nicholas Sampson, had resigned by week’s…

Australian National University / https://researchprofiles.anu.edu.au/en/persons/john-blaxland Last week, ASIO boss Mike Burgess gave his annual assessment of threats to Australia’s domestic security. In his speech, Burgess sensationally revealed that a former politician had “sold out their country” to a foreign regime. Burgess’s refusal to name the…

LUKAS COCH/AAP The government has released its Universities Accord report, produced by a committee chaired by Mary O'Kane, a former vice-chancellor at the University of Adelaide. The recommendations will be considered by the Minister for Education, Jason Clare and the government over the coming months, although Clare has given a few hints about wha…

DIEGO FEDELE/AAP (Left) & Supplied by opposition (Right) The March 2 byelection in the outer suburban Melbourne seat of Dunkley is the third byelection this term but the first in a Labor-held electorate. It has been caused by the death late last year of Peta Murphy, after a long battle with cancer. Labor’s margin sits at 6.3% in Dunkley, an elector…

yeah LUKAS COCH/AAP The federal government has released its latest implementation plan for Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage. What are multiple gaps are still vast, with many areas not on track to meet their targets. After the failed Voice referendum, the government is looking to the next steps for First Nations people. To discuss this wee…

MICK TSIKAS/AAP The government has announced long-awaited fuel efficiency standards, which will place a yearly cap on the total emissions output for new cars sold in Australia. The new regime will move Australia in the direction of comparable countries, but it has its critics. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen joins the podcast to …

MICK TSIKAS/AAP With the government’s changes to the stage 3 tax cuts to favour lower and middle income earners, and a looming by-election in the Victorian seat of Dunkley, eyes are now on the opposition for its response to Labor’s new package. In our first podcast of 2024, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor discusses the tax broken promise, where the e…

original LUKAS COCH/AAP It’s been a difficult year for the economy, and the year ahead also is looking challenging. Treasurer Jim Chalmers, overseer of the government’s economic policy, joins us on the podcast to talk about the latest budget numbers, interest rates, changes to the Reserve Bank board, Australia’s debt, cost of living measures and mo…

MICK TSIKAS/AAP Bill Shorten, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Government Services, has released the review of the NDIS, which recommends sweeping changes to the scheme. The reforms to come will see the states take up much of the responsibility for providing services for people with more minor issues, especially children wi…

BIANCA DE MARCHI/AAP Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, next weekheads to COP28 in Dubai, leading the Australian delegation. He joins the podcast to talk about the meeting, which he hopes will be easier than last year’s. Well, I want to see a big step forward. Now, at the last COP we were just flat out, and it was a bit of a surpr…

Lukas Coch/AAP Greens Senator Barbara Pocock – who has a background in economics and industrial relations and formerly worked at the Reserve Bank, in the federal public service and as an academic – has been in parliament only since the 2022 election, but she has already made a mark. Pocock has been one of the federal parliamentarians who has been h…

Mick Tsikas/AAP Last week the High Court ruled that holding high-risk asylum seekers in indefinite detention was unconstitutional. As a consequence of the court decision, more than 80 people, some of whom were convicted of serious crimes including murder and rape, have been released. The government will rush in legislation on Thursday to deal with …

David Moir/AAP As climate minister in the former Labor government, Greg Combet has endured the rigours of the “climate wars”. He oversaw the highly contentious move to put a price on carbon, which ultimately came to grief under the Abbott government. Fast forward a decade: now Combet has been appointed by Anthony Albanese to chair the government’s …

Lukas Coch/AAP The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report this week calling on Australia to raise interest rates again, adding to the speculation the Reserve Bank will increase the cash rate on Tuesday. If that happens it will be yet another blow to many household budgets, already under strain from the rises in the prices of food, fuel…