The Morning Edition

This week the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave a big speech at the National Press Club in Canberra, and used it to dangle the prospect of economic reform.During its first term, the Albanese government was criticised for not being bold enough in its agenda. So is the PM signalling he will use his huge majority to institute major reform? What would a daring economic reform agenda look like? And are Australians ready for it?Plus, Jacqueline Maley, Paul Sakkal and Shane Wright discuss the hardening of the government’s stance on Israel, after it imposed  sanctions on two Israeli ministers.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peter Hartcher, the international and political editor, shares insights on the alarming events unfolding in Los Angeles. Discussing federal actions and Trump's call for military deployment, he highlights the rise of protests and the escalating tensions between state and federal authorities. Hartcher warns about the dangerous implications of labeling citizens as threats and the unprecedented increase in presidential power. The conversation raises critical questions about constitutional norms and the potential shift towards authoritarian governance in America.

New York Times bestselling Author Michael Lewis is, as one interviewer recently put it, “a kind of guru of our age”. This is because, in books like Moneyball, The Big Short and Going Infinite, not to mention his own podcast, he has chronicled some of the big social and economic seachanges of our time - from the global financial crisis, to the cryptocurrency market, and how online gambling companies have managed to wage something of a “war against young men”. Sometimes, he even seems to anticipate the sea changes. Last year, he all but predicted Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE manifesto, when he decided to investigate what American civil servants actually do. And the catastrophic risks that might come from decimating the federal government. Today, Michael Lewis, on all of this, and what he thinks comes next for the American government. Plus, whether he thinks our own prime minister is “gutless” for delaying a ban on TV gambling advertising.Michael Lewis’ new book is Who Is Government: The Untold Story of Public Service is out now.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia has marked the King’s Birthday long weekend and with it comes honours for 830 people. But there’s one that stands out: former prime minister Scott Morrison’s appointment as a companion of the order of Australia has proved divisive. So why did Morrison get the honour? Does he deserve it? And who are some of the other awardees on the list? Today, senior economics correspondent Shane Wright joins Nick Bonyhady on the people Australia chooses to recognise.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Male humpback whales sing to each other, and when they do - over the course of a season - a favourite “hit song” emerges. Each whale passes it along, until all the humpback males in the Southern Ocean sing it.  But humpback whales aren’t just amazing creatures, capable of tenderness, and rivalries. They’ve also managed one of Australia’s great comebacks - they numbered less than 100 on the east coast in the 1960s, and now there’s about 40,000 of them. Today, environment and climate reporter Caitlin Fitzsimmons on why they’re thriving, while other whales are critically endangered. And whether new information about threats to whales might inform the government’s environmental policies.Credit:David Attenborough/Netflix 'Our Planet' Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The dramatic shakeout from the general election continued this week, this time from the left wing of Australian politics, with WA Greens senator Dorinda Cox defecting to Labor. It was a coup for a triumphant Prime Minister. But will the PM live to regret his new recruit? What does Senator Cox’s defection mean for the much-depleted Greens party? And how does it fit with the PM’s recent approval of the extension of a giant fossil fuel project off the West Australian coast? Chief Political Correspondent Paul Sakkal, and Chief Political Commentator James Massola join host Jacqueline Maley.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of us have, for so long, lived under the shadow of American exports, that we’d be hard-pressed to choose which was the most intrusive. Hollywood rom-coms? Halloween? J.Lo? That list might have been relevant a couple of weeks ago. But now America’s biggest export is Donald Trump’s MAGA mindset, according to international and political editor, Peter Hartcher.  Today, he joins 'The Morning Edition' to discuss Trump’s hidden announcement, last week about a new level of American interference, globally, not seen since the end of the Cold War. And how it will impact how America changes other countries for years to come.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When news broke, over the weekend, that Ukraine launched a devastating and unprecedented attack on Russian air force bases, it shocked analysts around the world.  The damage was huge. And it made a mockery of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s expectation, more than three years ago, that he would capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, within days.   Today, Associate Professor Matthew Sussex, a fellow at the Australia National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, on what impact this attack will have on Russia’s ability to win this war. And what both countries gained, in Monday’s peace talks.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since October 7, incidents of antisemitism have surged across the globe, with people attacked and synagogues and homes vandalised. It’s with this backdrop that the latest attack has occurred, this time at a pro-Israel event in the United States. Today, world editor Catherine Naylor on the attack in Boulder, Colorado that turned a weekly vigil into what one witness said looked like a “war zone”.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How are we to make sense of the swirling chaos around us? The multiple wars, accusations of wrongdoing, and human carnage? And how can we possibly have civilised conversations about it all? British barrister and author Philippe Sands, is uniquely placed to guide us through this moment. It’s not just that he’s an expert on crimes against humanity, who has won cases against former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. But he understands the personal toil of it all; he’s written about the Nazi SS officer who might have been responsible for the death of one of his family members.   Today, Philippe Sands, who recently visited Australia for the Sydney Writers Festival, on helping to defend Palestine at the International Court of Justice. And the breakups he’s experienced with friends, over their comments about Israel.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.