In January, Jonathan Holmes met with the ABC’s then managing director, David Anderson. Jonathan and his colleagues at ABC Alumni wanted to know if Anderson was concerned about funding cuts under a Dutton-led government. Successive Coalition governments have made cuts to the national broadcaster over decades. Now, as Peter Dutton signals he’s lookin…

As a scientist, Tim Flannery says he’s seen climate change kicked around parliament for decades. Australians are now paying for the years of denial, distraction and delay from our politicians, with a decade’s worth of warming just in the past couple of years. While the last election sent the major parties a clear message that Australia should act o…

Turkish-born, Paris-based writer Ayşegül Savaş’s third novel opens with a young, ex-pat couple who are apartment hunting. Both foreigners in the city they live in and unburdened from the usual familial obligations, their days are marked by small pleasures: shopping at a local flea market, drinking coffee together before work, and taking long walks …

Peter Dutton says he’ll cut migrant numbers by 100,000 people a year as soon as he gets into office. He says it’s part of his plan to free up housing for Australians, but it could also impact the workforce needed to build new homes. Dutton is putting a number to his plans just days after immigration dominated the first leaders’ debate. Abul Rizvi w…

Elon Musk is pressing NASA to abandon its planned journeys to the moon – projects that have been decades in the making, with billions already spent and contracts already signed. Despite backlash from NASA insiders and politicians on both sides of Congress – who view his plans as costly, disruptive and politically toxic – Musk remains resolute. Toda…

Donald Trump wants to write the next chapter in US spaceflight history. With billionaire tech CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk by his side, he’s outlined an ambitious agenda: to land the first humans on Mars before he leaves office. Whether or not that goal is achievable, the plan would massively reshape America’s space program to the benefit of Mu…

Anthony Albanese won the first leaders debate of the election campaign last night. But it was a tight contest, with both leaders well prepared and polished, as they faced undecided voters in Western Sydney. Anthony Albanese spoke of a country rallying in spite of difficult global conditions. For Peter Dutton, it was about painting a dire picture of…

“We made a mistake” are tough words for any politician, but in the heat of an election campaign, they can really hurt. In a spectacular reversal, Peter Dutton has walked back his policy to sack 41,000 public servants, saying he’ll now wait for people to quit and will no longer force those who remain back into the office. Dutton’s backtracking doesn…

It looked like a scene from a very different period of history: US Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, standing in front of a prison pen filled with gaunt, shirtless men, their heads shaved, staring silently at the cameras. The footage is from El Salvador, where the US government had whisked away over 200 Venezuelan migrants to be held in …

Colm Tóibín is regarded as one of Ireland’s greatest authors — and for good reason. With a career spanning 30 years and 11 award-winning novels under his belt, Colm is beloved both at home and abroad. In his latest book, Long Island, Tóibín returns to familiar territory with a sequel to 2009’s best-selling Brooklyn. On this episode of Read This, he…

It’s only been a week, but the election campaign is already off script. Trump’s tariffs have landed like a grenade in the middle of the campaign, with the announcement of a 10 per cent tax on all Australian goods bound for the US providing a real world test for both leaders. While Dutton’s plan to tackle tariffs lacks detail, he’s clear on one thin…

Barry Berih has lived in the same Melbourne flat for most of his life. He has mild cerebral palsy and is cared for by his mother. He has all the medical support he needs, along with his mosque nearby and his Eritrean community surrounding him. But one afternoon, without warning, Barry watched the then Victorian premier, Dan Andrews, announce on TV …

Australian defence officials are preparing to choose whether to buy warships from Germany or Japan. It’s an $11 billion decision – and is about far more than ship design and cost. Given Japan describes Australia as its most important security partner after the United States, our decision will send a signal about whether the relationship is reciproc…

Today in the White House Rose Garden, President Trump will unveil his next round of tariffs – an event he’s calling “Liberation Day”. Trump’s first round of tariffs are already causing damage, and there’s more pain to come, as the president enacts what looks like a radical plan to reshape the entire global financial system. Today, managing editor o…

As the federal election campaign kicked off over the weekend, chief political analyst at the Australia Institute Amy Remeikis was paying close attention. While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a crackdown on supermarket price gouging and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton focused on cost-of-living measures, Remeikis noticed there were some big…

In recent weeks, Australian researchers began receiving a questionnaire. Sent by the US government, it asked things like “can you confirm that this is no DEI?” and “Can you confirm this is not a climate or environmental justice project?” The questions were seeking to determine whether Australian research, co-funded by the United States, was complyi…

Tanzanian-born, London-based author Abdulrazak Gurnah was midway through writing his latest novel, Theft, when he received a call letting him know he’d won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. After more than a year of events and literary obligations, he finally returned to Theft, with more enthusiasm than ever. On this episode of Read This, Michae…

In his press conference announcing the May 3 federal election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australians have a choice, warning Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will cut “your job, your wages, your child’s education and… your Medicare”. In response, Dutton asked voters to consider if they are better off now than they were before Labor came to …

While Peter Dutton’s electorate braced for Cyclone Alfred, the opposition leader flew to Sydney to attend a $25,000 dollar-a-head dinner at Justin Hemmes’ Vaucluse mansion. It was a choice that’s been pilloried in the media – and the government. But as Labor sets about to raise money in similar ways, it raises questions about who has the ear of our…

Traditionally, the idea of bail meant that someone accused of a crime had the right to be free until their trial. But over nearly fifty years, that has shifted dramatically, with bail now used as a tool for crime prevention. Jurisdictions across Australia are adopting more punitive bail laws – with Victoria just passing what it calls “the toughest …

Jim Chalmers has handed down the Labor government’s election budget. Front and centre was a surprise tax cut for all Australians, along with many of the measures we’ve been promised, including a boost to Medicare, energy bill relief, housing support and student debt reductions. As the government makes its pitch for re-election, gross public debt is…

The ceasefire in Gaza collapsed a week ago as Israel launched a series of airstrikes. Since then, more than 600 people have been killed, including children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.Israel says the attacks were aimed at Hamas’s surviving leadership – and just a few days ago, Hamas confirmed its top political leader is dead. As the war re…

When footage of a CFMEU “health inspector” assaulting a woman was made public last week, it shocked a lot of people. But many union members weren’t surprised. It’s been six months since the CFMEU, one of Australia’s most powerful unions, was put under federal administration. But now, the lawyer tasked with investigating corruption within the union …

Tasmanian writer Robert Dessaix is a man of many talents when it comes to the written form – from travel memoir and fiction to biography and philosophy, he’s done it all. He became a household name for many listeners to ABC Radio following a long stint hosting the beloved show Books and Writing. Now, at 81, Robert is back with a new memoir. This we…

Kos Samaras spends hundreds of hours listening to what voters really think. In focus groups and in surveys, his research and political strategy firm, RedBridge Group, gathers the opinions of everyday Australians to paint a picture of the national mood: What is worrying us? What do we think of the prime minister’s mansion, or the opposition leader’s…

Over the past month, a flotilla of Chinese military ships came close to Australian shores unannounced. They conducted live-fire drills off the coast of Eden, New South Wales – disrupting dozens of flights out of Sydney airport. The Chinese ships have arrived at a time when Australia’s ability to rely on the United States for defence is questionable…

Are Catholic priests employed by the Church, or by the hand of God? This question was at the heart of a five-year legal battle between a survivor of child sexual abuse seeking compensation from the Catholic Church and Bishop Paul Bird of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. The High Court’s decision last November – that the Catholic Church does not em…

In December last year, a group of crossbenchers dialled into a secret call with the Albanese government. It was to get a briefing on a government-commissioned report on the national security risks posed by climate change – a report the government has been sitting on since early 2023. Described by one senator as “frankly terrifying”, the Climate Ris…

The discovery of an abandoned caravan full of explosives on the outskirts of Sydney earlier this year triggered widespread panic and fear. There were reports of a list of Jewish targets – and right away, NSW Premier Chris Minns and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it terrorism. In the months that followed, discourse concerning the caravan bec…

Acolytes of Elon Musk, working in the Department of Government Efficiency, are currently gutting the US government, with Musk claiming he’ll find savings of up to US$2 trillion. Department by department, DOGE staff – mostly young men from the tech world – are sacking federal employees and gaining access to some of the government’s most sensitive in…

Donald Trump’s full-throated support of Elon Musk continues, despite more and more people questioning why an unelected billionaire is exerting enormous power over the future of the American government. While Musk claims to be bringing his business expertise to cutting government waste, his true motives are becoming clearer. WIRED reporter Vittoria …

Novelist Sonia Orchard was in her 40s when a revelation during a therapy session turned her life upside down. Could the relationship she’d had in her teens with a man more than a decade older in fact be abuse? In her new memoir, Groomed, Sonia investigates her own story, sharing her gruelling journey through the justice system, and shines a light o…

Australia’s Chinese community proved to be a powerful voting bloc in the last election. And as the time draws near to vote again, a growing number of politicians have realised that appealing to the country’s 1.5 million Chinese Australians is key to electoral success. But as journalist Wing Kuang has found, the major parties’ attempts to court Chin…

Donald Trump’s trade war is escalating, as his wide-ranging tariffs take effect. Australia had hoped to avoid a 25 per cent tariff on our steel and aluminium – but we now know there’ll be no exemptions. As Canada and the EU retaliate with counter-tariffs, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is focused on stemming the damage, by arguing other large indu…

When Launceston nurse and midwife Amanda Duncan appeared at a Tasmanian parliamentary inquiry into ambulance ramping last year, her testimony was macabre and shocking. Duncan claimed hospital management at Launceston General Hospital had altered death certificates – meaning deaths that should have been investigated were quietly recertified. Those r…

As Trump’s radical reshaping of the US pulls into focus, so too has the list of those who have gained entry to his inner circle. That list includes not only Australia’s richest person – but also Australia’s largest private arms supplier. Robert Nioa isn’t yet a household name, but the weapons mogul is a close confidante to Peter Dutton, married to …

Most Australians have been targeted by a scam attempt, from spam text messages to intricate love fraud. The scams have cost us billions. But behind these attacks is a highly organised and secretive industry – fuelled by human trafficking. It’s believed hundreds of thousands of people are being held against their will in so-called “scam factories” a…

Julie Bishop built her career as a politician representing Australia on the world stage. Now, she’s taken on a new lobbying role, working for a China-linked resources company who are attempting to mine uranium in Greenland. Bishop’s gig comes at a time when China and the US are ramping up their fight for domination in the Arctic – and if she’s succ…

In Andrea Goldsmith’s ninth and latest novel, The Buried Life, she unpicks the relationships between people and the undercurrents of doubt and faith that define a life. But more than anything else this is a book that is first and foremost concerned with death. It’s a subject that has long fascinated Andrea, something she discusses deeply with host …

Cyclone Alfred hits as we gear up for the federal election, bringing back memories of the floods and bushfires that tore through the country last time we voted. How Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton handle this moment could be crucial, as voters refocus on the increasing impact of climate change and closely scrutinise the plans both parties have to…

Australia is heading into a federal election at a time when trust in politics and our institutions is eroding. Over the past two decades, satisfaction with the political system has collapsed, driven by economic inequality, housing stress and the rapid spread of disinformation across social media. Political parties are already preparing for a campai…

One evening, two weeks ago, Natan Mwanza was stabbed and killed at a bus stop in Melbourne’s south-west. He was 24 years old. Natan’s family had migrated to Australia from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008, and his death sparked an outpouring of grief from African diasporic communities in Australia. Historian and filmmaker Santilla Chingaipe…

When Arthur Sinodinos arrived in Washington as Australia’s ambassador to the United States in 2020, he was told the best way to get things done with Donald Trump was to go straight to the person in the White House handling the issue. In many cases, that wasn’t a typical official – it was a business figure, a loyalist, or even a family member. As Tr…

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office on Friday, they were there to sign a deal that would give the US access to a significant share of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. Instead, Trump and Vance berated and taunted Zelensky, before asking him to leave. The deal r…

Warmer waters, disease and antibiotics have pushed Tasmania’s salmon farms into crisis. But it’s not just an environmental disaster – it’s also a political one. With an election looming, the Albanese government is pouring millions into salmon farming in an attempt to save jobs and votes, even as rotting fish litter the shore. Today, national corres…

In Melbourne-based author Sean Wilson’s new book, You Must Remember This, he tackles the complicated, tragic, and often fraught subject of dementia. On this episode of Read This Sean joins host Michael Williams for a conversation about loss, family, and how to hang on to one’s humanity as illness strips it away. See omnystudio.com/listener for priv…

It was just before Christmas when Geraldine Brooks sat down for the first in a series of conversations with Anthony Albanese – and his popularity was plummeting. The prime minister's net approval rating had dropped to minus 17, while Peter Dutton’s had ticked up to zero. Since then, the polls haven’t improved for Albanese. His critics have painted …

When the country’s peak arts body, Creative Australia, decided to dump Australia’s representative at the Venice Biennale, it set in motion an existential crisis for the arts. The artist in question, Khaled Sabsabi, was removed from the role just days after his appointment – following an article in a News Corp newspaper, a set of opposition question…

It was 2020 when the government first discovered that a glitch in its system was wrongfully cutting welfare recipients off from their payments. Rather than fixing the error, the department did nothing for three years. In that time, ten people died. Whether their deaths were the result of suicide or destitution after losing support, Services Austral…

The results in the latest Closing the Gap report are grim. Only five of the 19 targets are on track, and Indigenous incarceration rates are rising. But is the policy itself part of the problem? Critics like independent senator Lidia Thorpe argue that Closing the Gap hasn’t delivered change and should be scrapped. Meanwhile, the government has annou…