The Morning Edition

Parents across the country have been wringing their hands for months about how the social media ban will work – and more so, if it will work. So, what exactly does the ban cover? And how will it be enforced? Today, reporter Bronte Gossling on the main methods children plan on using, to circumvent what the federal government has called a “world-leading” ban. And why most Australian parents say they won’t...

When American author Anne Applebaum travelled to the frontlines of the Sudanese civil war this year, she gave herself a stern remit. Bear witness to, and report on, a lawless world that - since the United States has pulled most of its aid - is now run by warring militias, clans and families. Crucially, she would keep emotion out of it.

But then she met with people who were so thankful for the meagre aid the United States was...

This week the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was on his honeymoon after his low-key Lodge wedding last weekend, while Senate estimates rolled on in Canberra, uncovering some interesting secrets.

Notable was the head-scratching amount that Communications Minister Anika Wells spent on flights to New York, made public ahead of the mammoth social media ban coming into effect.

Chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal polit...

When Mark Leishman and his wife Kathy first sought out the help of George Dimitriou, they were suffering with cash-flow problems at Mark’s business. 

By the time their working relationship with Dimitriou finished - and after they discovered he was only pretending to be an accountant - their Newcastle home was repossessed, and they lost, they say, $4 million.

Today, chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont on Geor...

New figures out on Monday show that the median house values in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane have become, well, kind of insane. They’re the kind of figures that make people who’ve been desperately saving to break into the housing market tear at their hair by the roots.

But new research shows that allowing Australians to subdivide their properties could mean a million new homes being delivered in the nation’...

It really was the stuff of nightmares. A Swiss tourist, who was swimming with dolphins off the NSW coast, was suddenly mauled by a three-metre bull shark. 

The 25-year-old died from her injuries, despite her heroic boyfriend, an exchange student also from Switzerland, fighting off the shark and carrying her to shore.

Today, environment and climate reporter Caitlin Fitzsimmons, on why the number of people killed by sharks in Au...

When Pauline Hanson marched into the Senate last week wearing a burqa, it felt, for a moment, like we were back in the 1990s. 

Those were the sorts of stunts – and anti-immigration rhetoric – that the former fish and chip shop owner from Ipswich used to pull when she first swept into power. 

But, with a high-profile member of parliament on the verge of defecting to her party, and polling placing support for On...

Well, Barnaby Joyce finally announced his resignation from the Nationals this week, paving his way to join One Nation, in a week where Pauline Hanson recycled a burqa stunt from 2017.

And it’s amid this turmoil that we have a special guest with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and Jacqueline Maley - Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

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We feel like we’ve known him since he was in nappies. But now, at 21, the fame enjoyed by Robert Irwin - the son of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin - has been supercharged after winning one of America’s top reality television shows, Dancing with the Stars.

Today, culture editor-at-large Michael Idato on the Irwin family empire and how Robert Irwin’s brand of "nice" has won over America.

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Donald Trump has long tried to stamp American institutions - and the daily life of his country’s citizens - with his ultra-conservative ideology, openly waging war on diversity, transgender rights and women, among other targets.

But now he wants American diplomats in Canberra to report back to him about the way we live.

Today, North America correspondent Michael Koziol on wh...

The Bureau of Meteorology has been plagued with public stuff-ups, including, just a few years ago, a false tsunami alert sent to half of the country.

This is a problem because farmers use the site to plan harvests, fisherman use it navigate the seas, and the rest of us rely on it to decide if we need to bring an umbrella, or can safely travel from one suburb to the next.

Today, cl...

Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Australia banned the importation of Russian crude oil. Even so, Russian oil is still making its way to our shores, and into our petrol.

Kateryna Argyrou calls this blood oil - money from which goes to fund the Kremlin’s war machine.

Today, Argryou, who chairs the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations and is...

Recently on this podcast we have been highly fixated on the problems within the Liberal opposition and we have neglected the government somewhat. So this week we are going to focus on Labor, and to that end we have a real treat for listeners. Sean Kelly, a columnist for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, was previously a Labor staffer with Ke...

It’s a Sunday at a park in Singapore, and, as journalist Zach Hope observed, it’s the servants day off.

They lounge on picnic rugs, shaking off the week of cooking, cleaning – and raising other people’s kids. Singapore has more than 300,000 migrant domestic workers, or “helpers”, as they’re called and many care for the children of expats, including Australians.

Today, South-East Asia corres...

There can be no mistaking it – it is that time of year known as the killing season. Because, as of this morning, there are two state political leaders who’ve lost their jobs. One whose job is rumoured to be on the chopping block. And all this, as rumours swirl that federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, might not last through to the new year. Today, state political editors Chip Le Grand and Alexandra Smith, on why all th...

Donald Trump has long sworn that his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was no big deal, that he didn’t know about his abuse of girls and women, and there was nothing of consequence in the so-called Epstein files.

Then came last week, when a group of Democrats, and later Republicans, released thousands and thousands of pages of emails and correspondence from Epstein, which could suggest that Trump knows more about Epste...

Four years ago, when our senior economics correspondent, Shane Wright, pointed out the failings of our central bank, government leaders, including the federal treasurer, sat up and took notice.

Well now, he’s at it again. And this time, he’s got his sights on what he calls an unspoken economic problem that is driving down our quality of life.

Today, Wright on how our c...

This week in federal politics there was really only one show in town, and that was the compelling and 'can't look away' car crash that is the Liberal party's continued ructions on its net zero policy.

They culminated, or maybe even concluded, on Thursday afternoon, when the Liberal Party met and finally came up with a policy.

Today, host Jacqueline Maley is joined by chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and chief political com...

“Did women ruin the workplace?”

This was the question that was put forward in a New York Times podcast that - no surprises here - quickly went viral.

The main thrust of the argument was that women are gossipy and overly emotional, and so, as we take over more and more businesses, we are a threat to the pursuit of truth and innovation. 

To say that women from the across the globe shot back is an understatement. ...