The Morning Edition

The Morning Edition

The Morning Edition (formerly Please Explain) brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

Episodes

October 6, 2025 15 mins

Can we trust food labels? As in, is the chicken in the supermarket fridge really free-range like it says it is? Are the "local" prawns from a fishmonger at the market really Australian?
Today, science reporter Angus Dalton talks about new technology developed by Australian scientists that can uncover where food truly comes from, and the results may well lead you to question what you’re buying on...

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Almost seven years ago to the day, on the NRL grand final weekend, a bizarre set of events unfolded.An injured woman knocked on the door of a stranger, saying she was escaping from two men, and that she needed help.The 19-year-old air force cadet who answered the door let the woman in and called emergency services before the men forced their way into the home.

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The prime minister has just returned from 10 days of high-wire diplomacy, initially at the United Nations in New York before swinging through London and stopping by Abu Dhabi on his way home.

He’s claimed some credit for helping push along a potential peace plan for Gaza, spruiked Australia’s social media ban on the global stage, and drummed up interest in Australia’s green transition and critical minerals reserve...

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October 2, 2025 4 mins

For decades, families in Australia and overseas, have been accused of one of the worst crimes imaginable – child abuse. Diagnosing Murder is an investigative podcast about parents who've had their children taken away, sat in the dock and even done time in prison. All for something they insist they didn't do – shake their baby. Can we trust the science behind shaken baby syndrome? Or are innocent people being locked up f...

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On the weekend, Denmark reported unidentified drones had appeared above its major military bases. It was the country’s third drone alarm in a week and one of five European nations in a month to experience incursions - from either drones suspected of Russian origin or from the Russian Air Force itself.

So why is Russia violating Europe’s skies, seemingly with impunity?

Political and international editor Peter Hartcher sa...

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We all know how annoying it can be to cancel a subscription, whether to a streaming service or gym membership, but when do ‘'subscription traps’', as they’re known, legally cross a line?

Consumer advocates, businesses and legislators are puzzling over the question as the government formulates new laws on unfair trading practices.

Today, national consumer affairs reporter Elias Visontay on what a ban on subs...

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Researchers say they have, for the first time, dramatically slowed the progression of a cruel and devastating neuron condition called Huntington’s disease.
For sufferers, this potentially means getting years of their life back or the lessening of symptoms of a condition that robs them of physical movement and kills their brain cells.
Today, Professor Julie Stout from Monash ...

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There was a time when people who believed that the government can control the weather, or that Wi-Fi causes cancer might have been social pariahs. 

Now, they sit in the higher echelons of power in the United States.

So, why are conspiracy theories flourishing now?

Today, British journalists Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey, authors of Conspiracy Theory: The Story of An Idea...

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Today we are bringing you a special international episode of the pod. The prime minister has spent the week in New York addressing the United Nations, recognising Palestinian statehood and chasing Donald Trump around Manhattan trying to get a meeting.

We talk about all these capers with host Jacqueline Maley and our chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal, who are joined by foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matt...

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How to make sense of the last two weeks?Because it isn’t just that Russia has stepped up its global aggression by invading the airspace of various European countries with drones, fighter jets and a surveillance plane.It’s also the tirade US President Donald Trump let rip yesterday to 150 world leaders at the United Nations – a blistering one, eve...

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For many people who watched the coverage of Charlie Kirk’s memorial, it was the sounds that struck them the most.

The triumphant 60,000 conservatives who erupted with yelps and claps after messages of forgiveness… and hate.

Today, North America correspondent Michael Koziol, who attended the memorial, on what Donald Trump and members of his administration said in the Arizona arena, and what it might mean f...

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Optus is in the firing line once again over an outage that left customers unable to call Triple Zero for 13 hours.

In that time, four people died – including an eight-week-old baby.

Authorities later said they don’t believe the baby’s death is linked to the outage. 

Today, technology editor David Swan on whether the telcos can be trusted to run Triple Zero.

Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.co...

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Once upon a time, the dangers of eating too much fast food were at the front of our minds thanks to documentaries like Super Size Me. But that was more than 20 years ago.

Since then, the topic may have fallen off the front pages, but fast food chains have been on the march, opening up across Australia.

Today, regional editor Benjamin Preiss and senior health reporter Henrietta Cook on the growing movement to halt the growth of the ...

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The government announced its 2035 emissions reduction target this week, committing Australia to climate action despite a retreat from the United States. Meanwhile, the Coalition looked a lot like it was about to take up arms in the climate wars - again.

Chief political commentator James Massola joins host Jacqueline Maley.

Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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September 17, 2025 19 mins

A flurry of numbers relating to climate change have been tossed around all week.

But what do they mean?

Today, environment and climate reporter Bianca Hall and climate and energy correspondent Mike Foley on what impact the government’s climate emissions target for 2035 will have on all of us.

Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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September 16, 2025 18 mins

Three years ago, mainstream newspapers in the West had a bit of fun ridiculing so-called nepo-babies, and the unfair advantage enjoyed by the children of the rich and the powerful, like Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter, Apple, or Lenny Kravitz’s daughter, Zoe.

But in Nepal, nepobabies are no joking matter.

They have just, in part, sparked the most widespread social unrest that the nation has seen in recent years. Last...

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Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s charisma has led to her meteoric rise, and also, to her recent relegation to the back bench.
Lambasted for her position on various issues including the Stolen Generation, the Black Lives Matter movement, and more recently, immigration, the Indigenous senator is celebrated by some of the most powerful conservatives in the country, and has become the most followed Coalition M...

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US President Donald Trump is a fascist, running an authoritarian regime.

We hear this allegation a lot, now. But is he? Really?

Fascism expert Jason Stanley says he moved with his family to Canada so that he could leave behind, and protest against, the political climate in the United States.

Today, Stanley, a University of Toronto philosophy professor, and author of Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Futu...

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Controversial Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was sacked from the Coalition frontbench this week. Price left Opposition Leader Sussan Ley with little choice, after she refused to apologise for comments she made about the Indian community, and then refused to publicly affirm her faith in Ley’s leadership.

Chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos discuss the ins...

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When we think of countries trying to show the world their power and influence, we might think of muscular shows of force, like China’s army parading its newest nuclear weapons, missiles and lasers in a military parade in Beijing, last week.

But then there was our government scrambling to out-deliver China with a tit-for-tat over, of all things, cars, for a tiny but crucial Pacific nation.

Today, international and political ed...

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