The Morning Edition

A far-right party in Germany has just trounced its rivals in a state election – the closest such a party has come to holding power in a German state since World War II. The result sent shockwaves through a country that has, since the destruction of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, created a political system that prevents extremist parties from returning to power. Today's guest, Europe correspondent David Crowe, discusses what the rise of the Alternative for Germany party, otherwise known as the AfD, means for Europe and the rest of the world. Further reading: Election shockwave: Meet the smiling new leader set to bring hard-right upheaval to Germany The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your podcasts. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the Australian government versus big tech yet again in parliament this week, with Labor planning to introduce a bill that would tackle online harm and hand back control of social media algorithms to users . It comes as toxic online content is increasingly linked to violent sexualised behaviour in young men. But is what we see on social media a matter for a government? Or has the algorithm become so out of hand that guardrails need to be put in place? Today's guest is federal bureau chief Michelle Griffin. Background reading: Hardline free-speech campaigners demand Coalition block Labor’s latest social media plan The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your podcasts. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was a dramatic fall from grace for a brand that had taken the world by storm by making sunscreen sexy, with influencers around the globe extolling how flawlessly the products wore under make-up and felt virtually undetectable on the skin. Today, lifestyle reporter Lauren Ironmonger and business reporter Jessica Yun talk about the fallout a year on from the Choice findings, and whether the safety of sunscreens in Australia has been improved. Further reading: 'It took two Aussie entrepreneurs six years to build a cult sunscreen brand. Then it came crashing down ' The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week’s episode, we dissect Labor’s brutal loss to One Nation in a supposedly safe seat in Western Australia. Does this byelection really signify, as victor Luke Herdegen put it, that no MP is safe from the “orange tsunami”? One Liberal MP who is worried is Andrew Hastie. Liberal strategists have been telling us his stance against accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith may cause voters in his electorate to defect to One Nation. Also, this week One Nation leader Pauline Hanson claimed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s rhetoric was fuelling violence towards her. Is this a bit rich coming from someone who is so divisive? Or should we be looking at threats to politicians more seriously? Today’s episode is hosted, as usual, by Jacqueline Maley with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal. Today's guest is WAtoday state political reporter Hamish Hastie. Cut through the noise of federal politics with host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal on Inside Politics, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age , every Friday. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In terms of criminal jury trials, what unfolded in the infamous death cap mushroom case was unique. Because when the jury was locked away from the outside world to consider a verdict, they were staying in the same hotel, in the same country town, as the police who investigated the case, the lawyers who prosecuted, and the media reporting on it. This strange arrangement has opened the case to suggestions that the jury was tainted – a central tenet of Erin Patterson’s appeal against her conviction. Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment last year, with a non-parole period of 33 years, for serving a poisoned beef Wellington lunch to her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her Baptist pastor husband Ian Wilkinson. Today, crime and justice reporter Erin Pearson and senior reporter Chris Vedelago on the curious case of the mushroom murder jury. Background reading: Erin Patterson, the jury hotel and the curious case of the missing CCTV The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fashion designer John Galliano announced yesterday that he would step away from being honoured with a retrospective at next year’s illustrious Met Gala, the so-called Oscars of the fashion world. Many had hailed Galliano as one of modern history's most important fashion designers, but he was also, as fashion insider Amy Odell puts it, "the industry's most famous antisemite”. Today Odell, author of Anna , a biography of former Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, and the host of The Back Row podcast, talks about whether Galliano’s cancellation was fair and if it was a wider rebuke to an industry known for tolerating bad behaviour. The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Six days ago, a massive flash flood descended like an avalanche through villages and towns on the Nepal-Tibet border, sweeping away homes, roads and bridges. Hundreds of people are dead and thousands are missing, including 43 Australians. Joining us today is South-East Asia correspondent Zach Hope, who is reporting from the disaster zone in Nepal. Background reading: ‘I must look for my sons’: A farmer’s extraordinary survival in Nepal The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve applied for a job in the past few years, you may have been humiliated by an AI program. Maybe while it interviewed you. Or threw out your CV. But lately, as AI recruitment programs have become way more sophisticated, so, too, have job hunters, enlisting AI agents of their own. Today, freelance writer Stephanie Wood on new ways that AI can discriminate against workers. And the best way to nab a job. Read Stephanie's feature here. The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Egg freezing has become a popular choice for more and more young women, many of whom are looking for something of an insurance policy against missing out on becoming a mother. It’s become big business, which means fertility companies are beholden not just to their patients, but also to their shareholders. Today, reporter Bronte Gossling and deputy lifestyle editor Courtney Thompson discuss the latest data on egg freezing, as well as what it’s actually like for the women who undergo it . Background reading: ‘Social egg freezing’ is on the rise, but at what cost ? The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we reported on some interesting polling that grappled with what makes One Nation voters tick, and one issue stood out. There’s also been an argy-bargy in the party this week over immigration numbers, the net result of which being, perhaps, that One Nation is not totally against migration. Meanwhile, the Labor government is yet to announce its migration plan and which visa classes it may cut, but the early talk of deportation of migrants sent shockwaves through some communities. Finally, we also talk about the AI data centres cropping up in Australian communities. Are they worth the investment and the energy drain? Today’s conversation is hosted by Jacqueline Maley, with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal. Background reading: 1000 One Nation voters said why they were voting for Hanson – and what it would take to switch Albanese tells Queensland to get with the program on AI revolution If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When news broke last week that America’s national debt had surged to a record high of $US40 trillion, it was notable enough. If the US economy shakes, the rest of the globe feels it. And then came the kicker: Donald Trump suggested he could use the military to stage an “intervention” on bond markets. Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher discusses the declining global confidence in the American dollar and the US Treasury – and what Trump will have to do to avoid a global financial crisis. Background reading: How is Trump weakening American power? Let me count the ways The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been a year since a murderous ambush in rural Victoria led to Australia’s biggest manhunt, and the consequences are being felt beyond the dense bush that Dezi Freeman fled into after he shot and killed two police officers. Today crime journalist Sherryn Groch on the underground network and doomsday preppers in the High Country . And why Freeman, a monster to some, has become an outlaw hero to an entrenched part of Australian society. It’s Wednesday, August 26. Background reading: ‘Still Kelly country’: Life in Porepunkah after Dezi Freeman, as locals pick up the pieces The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our domestic spy agency copped a lot of criticism in December after the Bondi Beach massacre for failing to prevent the attack. But is the answer expanded powers? A bill passed in parliament last week is proposing just that – laws that force suspects to answer questions, or face a jail sentence. Today national security correspondent Matthew Knott talks about the new expanded powers of ASIO and the politicians arguing they amount to a breach of our rights. Background reading ‘Oppressive’: Why this Liberal senator crossed the floor on expanding ASIO powers The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chanel Contos is a young Sydney woman who, five years ago, made headlines after she collated and published the testimonies of thousands of women and girls about instances of sexual assault they’d experienced. Many had made allegations they’d been assaulted by teenage boys who went to some of Sydney’s most elite private schools. So have things changed, since then? Judging by the last week or so with allegations of sexual assault made against boys from two separate schools, and then the Sydney Swans, perhaps not. Today, sexual consent activist and author Chanel Contos on elite schools, sports, and boys. Background reading: 'When the accused in sex crimes are children, school leaders must wake up to a toxic culture'. The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we have something special and a little bit different because Tony Wright, one of the stalwarts of Australian political writing, is stepping back from daily newsroom duties after 50 years in journalism. For about 30 of these years, Tony reported on federal politics. Bob Hawke was the first prime minister he covered, while Paul Keating often rang Tony at home in the mornings to, at first, berate, and then debate, the stories he had written. He witnessed great moments - such as the apology to the stolen generations - and the fracturing of Australian politics from the Rudd-Gillard era. Today, Tony talks to Inside Politics host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal. Background reading ‘Hawkie would like to see you’: Lessons, power and nostalgia from 30 years in the press gallery If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We know that Donald Trump has made a habit out of rewarding dictators and throwing off the shackles of long-standing relationships with allies. Today international and political editor Peter Hartcher discusses Donald Trump’s latest appeasement of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and the threats he’s issued to Oman. Background reading Trump threatens to bomb ally Oman as US-Iran war agreement expires Trump praises North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, slashes military drills with Seoul The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another scandal involving an alleged sexual assault has erupted in the AFL. One player from the Sydney Swans football team was spoken to by police after an alleged sexual assault said to have taken place in the early hours of Monday. Today, The Age ’s chief AFL writer, Jake Niall, discusses what's known, and not known, about what's unfolded. And, just a note, we're not suggesting the players are under investigation by police, just that they are assisting with their inquiries. Background reading: 'Men run the AFL and it is time they fixed its dark underbelly.' ‘Extremely disappointed’: Cox breaks silence as police release update on Swans investigation. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our four biggest banks say that fewer people are taking out mortgage loans. One has even forecast a significant fall in house prices in two cities. Meanwhile, Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has issued a stern warning ... Today, senior economics correspondent Shane Wright discusses whether the housing bubble is indeed starting to burst. Background reading Air is coming out of the housing bubble. Is now the time for first home buyers? The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Which dog owners among us haven’t wondered about their pets: What are they thinking? Do they like me? Are they – oh no! – judging me? Well, a new study has revealed that dogs are even better at reading our emotions than chimpanzees , our closest evolutionary relative. Today, science reporter Angus Dalton on how researchers reached this conclusion, and how to help our dogs lead their best lives. The Morning Edition 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. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple , Spotify , YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re back to talking about melons and the podcast interview that continues to cause dramas for the prime minister. Six weeks ago, Anthony Albanese appeared on a podcast called ‘Bush Deep’ and was asked about the worst gift he received. Melons, he replied, gifted to him by Japanese prime minister. What was said, and not said, has become the focus of attacks from the media, the Coalition and One Nation this week. So why has the issue reared its head again? And is it affecting Albanese’s reputation or are the Coalition and co over-egging it? While all this was going on, the main game for the government was economic management. Rates were placed on hold, but the Reserve Bank boss Michelle Bullock reminded everyone that she’d raise them if she had to. It comes as all the big banks forecast further drop-offs in house values – aren’t more affordable homes what we want? Or are the government's tax changes wreaking havoc on our struggling economy? Today’s episode is hosted by Jacqueline Maley, with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.