7am

ตอน

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  A richer Australia in 2066 – but for who? 21.09.2026 14นาที

  Australia in 2066 will be older, richer, and – according to the treasurer – transformed by artificial intelligence. The latest intergenerational report says, despite an aging population, our real incomes will be 55 percent higher by 2066. And Jim Chalmers says AI will get us there. But the same report says younger Australians aren’t seeing the same gains in income, wealth and home ownership as the generations before it. So what does this report really say about our future – and how much of it is political wishful thinking. Today, Vice Chancellor’s professor and Chief Societal Economist at the University of New South Wales, Richard Holden on what Australia could look like in 40 years – and where the economics end and the politics begin.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: UNSW Chief Societal Economist Richard Holden Photo: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  The race to put weapons in space 20.09.2026 15นาที

  A whole new galactic battleground has just opened up. The United States has declared it has weapons in space, and it’s ready to use them. So, are we entering a new era where the opening moves of a war could happen hundreds of kilometres above us? Today, Senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Dr Malcolm Davis on the space weapons now at the ready, and the likelihood of an orbital offensive.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Senior analyst at ASPI, Dr Malcolm Davis Photo: National Air and Space Intelligence CenterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Serco’s ugly legacy in Australia’s immigration detention system 19.09.2026 13นาที

  Last year, the company that ran Australia’s immigration detention network for over a decade, British conglomerate Serco, lost its contract, but not before helping build what’s been called one of the world’s ‘most extreme and secretive’ detention regimes. The question at the time was whether its replacement – American private prison operator MTC – would be any better. Eighteen months later, we have an answer. Recorded incidents across the detention network have more than doubled – from almost 800 to over 1,600 – since MTC took over. At the same time, Australia’s offshore detention system on Nauru is expanding – hundreds more people are being transferred to the island, and the Albanese government has announced plans to expand immigration detention as part of its crackdown on visa overstayers. Today, journalist Denham Sadler on the private companies paid billions to run Australia’s immigration detention system – and the warnings that were there before MTC took over. This episode was originally published in January, 2025.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Journalist Denham Sadler Photo: AP Photo/Rick RycroftSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Albo’s mum and “primitive” first Australians: has Pauline finally gone too far? 18.09.2026 16นาที

  Migration is shaping up to be the next big battleground in federal politics as Labor desperately tries to wrestle back control of the narrative from One Nation. But does this week’s long-awaited plan leave the government stronger or weaker politically? And could going harder on Pauline Hanson hold the key to tackling One Nation? This week, the major parties gave it a try as some of Hanson’s nasty comments came back to bite her. Today, Contributing Editor at The New Daily, Amy Remeikis on immigration politics and whether some things are off limits, even for Pauline Hanson.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Contributing Editor at The New Daily, Amy Remeikis Photo: AAP Image/Dean LewinsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Is Labor’s migration plan tackling a real problem or a political one? 17.09.2026 18นาที

  After one false start and a hell of a lot of political pressure from the right, Labor has finally unveiled its long-awaited immigration plans. Backpackers, students and visa overstayers will all be targeted by the measures – designed to bring net overseas migration down from around 300 thousand, to 225 thousand by 2028. So what impact will the overhaul have on our economy, our communities, and on Labor’s re-election prospects?  Today, journalist Peter Mares – who writes extensively on immigration for Inside Story magazine – on what’s in store, and whether the issue Labor’s addressing is a political problem, or a real one.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Inside Story Magazine journalist Peter Mares Photo: AAP Image/Lukas CochSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Why is Australia going soft on settler sanctions? 16.09.2026 18นาที

  Last week, countries including the UK, Canada and France announced plans to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In the past, Australia has joined its overseas allies in actions on Israel. This time it’s different – with Foreign Affairs Minister, Penny Wong, saying Australia isn’t considering joining the ban.  So – why not?  Today, Commissioner on the UN’s Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel, Chris Sidoti, on Australia’s responsibilities, and its failures.    If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Commissioner on the UN’s Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Chris Sidoti Photo: AP Photo/Leo CorreaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  A big-tech defector’s AI warning for the world 15.09.2026 17นาที

  In the last week, AI bosses around the world have suddenly grown a conscience – urging a global slowdown amid fears the race to develop artificial intelligence could outstrip humanity’s ability to control it. For Dex Hunter-Torricke, that realisation came a little sooner. The big-tech insider walked away last year, disillusioned, after spending 15 years inside the belly of the beast. He wrote speeches for Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, worked with Elon Musk at SpaceX, and most recently helped Google DeepMind explain the rise of artificial intelligence to the world. Now, he says society is making the same mistakes with AI as it did in the social media era – sleepwalking into what comes next. Today, founder and president of The Center for Tomorrow, Dex Hunter-Torricke gives us a glimpse inside the big tech firms shaping our future.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Founder of The Center for Tomorrow Dex Hunter-Torricke Photo: @dexhuntertorricke via InstagramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Is another GFC brewing? 14.09.2026 17นาที

  The numbers are almost incomprehensible – last month US debt hit 40 trillion dollars. With an interest bill of more than three billion dollars a day. And that’s before Donald Trump’s trillion dollar promise to hand every adult in America a cheque for five thousand bucks! Now, as global debt levels rise to record highs, and the cost of paying that debt rises too – experts are sounding the alarm – warning the economic storm that’s brewing is starting to look an awful lot like the 2007 global financial crisis. Today, Senior Economics Correspondent at the Age and SMH, Shane Wright on the chance of another GFC and what it means for Australia.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Senior Economics Correspondent at the Age & SMH Shane Wright Photo: AP Photo/Richard DrewSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Something is seriously wrong in the Northern Territory 13.09.2026 18นาที

  One by one, the Aboriginal leaders, organisations and watchdogs the Northern Territory government is supposed to work with are walking away. The Children’s Commissioner has resigned. An Indigenous MP has left parliament after more than a decade. And now almost the entire Aboriginal side of the Territory’s Justice Policy Partnership has suspended its involvement. They’re all making a remarkably similar complaint – that the government isn’t listening, and that the structures supposedly designed to give Aboriginal people a say have become meaningless. Today, National Indigenous Times journalist Dechlan Brennan, on how relations got this bad – and whether a government can tackle the Territory’s enormous problems if the people most affected no longer believe there’s any point in sitting at the table.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: National Indigenous Times journalist, Dechlan Brennan Photo: AAP Image/Supplied by (A)manda ParkinsonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  This is Alice Springs: Children of the Intervention 12.09.2026 30นาที

  From afar, Alice Springs is a whirlpool of myth and truth. A town with competing interests and few solutions, marked by chaos and decades of government overreach. In cities and towns across Australia, we read about a “crisis” about “rampages”. One newspaper described the children of Alice Springs as “tiny menaces stuck on a turnstile of trouble”. In this first episode of our three part series This is Alice Springs, Daniel James visits the town at the heart of our nation, to find out how all the interventions, big and small, by governments of all persuasions have led to this chaos. What he finds is that almost all of it leads back to one thing. This series was originally published in October 2024.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Hosted and reported by Daniel JamesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Did the PM dabble in pork barrelling? 11.09.2026 15นาที

  In 2020 Anthony Albanese called for the sacking of then-sports minister Bridget McKenzie over her involvement in the infamous sports rorts – which he labelled a farce. Not long after, she resigned. But now that similar pork barrelling claims have been levelled at the Prime Minister, he’s come out swinging – refusing to admit any wrong-doing over his failure to declare membership at a golf club which received a six million dollar grant. Also coming out swinging this week was Andrew Hastie. The Liberal MP delivered a masterclass in how to take on One Nation as he labelled Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce lying cowards over a party-backed cartoon calling him a traitor. Today, press gallery veteran Paul Bongiorno on a fiery week in parliament, and who came off second best.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Press gallery veteran Paul Bongiorno Photo: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  “Nerd Reich”: Are big tech billionaires at war with democracy? 10.09.2026 17นาที

  When Donald Trump was sworn in for a second time, some of the most powerful men in the tech world had the best seats in the room. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg – a display of just how close silicon valley had aligned itself to the administration. But within that world, journalist Gil Durán says, is a smaller, more radical group with a much bigger ambition: get rid of democracy, and use technology to build a new order in its place, controlled by a wealthy elite. And in his new book, The Nerd Reich, Gil traces how these once-fringe ideas have moved closer to the White House than ever before. Today, Silicon Valley journalist and author Gil Durán, on the group he’s dubbed the “Nerd Reich’, the ideas driving them, and how they became part of Trump’s political project.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Author of The Nerd Reich Gil Durán Photo: AP Photo/Julia Demaree NikhinsonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Why Jacqui Lambie’s not done fighting veteran health caps 09.09.2026 13นาที

  Last month, an emotional Jacqui Lambie revealed a private health battle connected to her time in the army – a debilitating prolapse that required surgery. The Tasmanian senator called out gaps in health care services for female veterans, and raged against the government’s plans to introduce a $5,000 cap on allied health services for veterans. This week fellow veterans joined her calls, laying down their war medals outside parliament house in protest, as Lambie promised to continue the fight. Today, Senator Jacqui Lambie on why veterans are getting a raw deal.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Independent Senator for Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Photo: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Why are the conservative parties suddenly obsessed with super? 08.09.2026 15นาที

  One Nation is copping heat for a proposal that would let Australians take some of the money going into their super as extra pay instead. For up to three years, renters and mortgage holders could choose to take home a quarter of the money that would normally be put into their retirement – worth about $44 a week for someone on the average full-time wage. At the same time, the Coalition has been looking at its own ways to give people greater access to their super now – and some of its MPs want to go further. So why is superannuation suddenly being pitched as an answer to Australia’s cost-of-living and housing problems? And is it a good idea? Today, economist Greg Jericho, on the growing political fight over what our super should actually be for.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Chief economist at the Australia Institute, Greg Jericho Photo: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  The far right is winning. Could Australia’s neo-Nazis be next? 07.09.2026 15นาที

  In imposing scenes in the UK over the weekend, hundreds of masked men belonging to the hard-right group Patriot Platform stopped traffic. Around the same time, political party AfD was making history in Germany – becoming the first far-right party to win in the country since World War two. And on the other side of the world, Australia’s high court will today hear from our most high profile Neo-Nazi group in a challenge, legal experts say could see the federal government’s ban on White Australia (formerly known as the National Socialist Network) overturned. Today, Associate professor of politics at Deakin University Josh Roose on Germany, the UK, and Australia’s high court challenge – as the far-right continues its march across the world.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Associate professor of politics at Deakin University, Josh Roose Photo: AP Photo/Matthias SchraderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Have the Greens lost their appetite for a fight? 06.09.2026 16นาที

  On the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Labor has promised a vast new national park to protect more than 12,000 koalas. But there’s a catch. The New South Wales government wants carbon credits to help pay for it. By ending planned logging, it could generate credits that are then sold to companies to offset their emissions. For the Greens, that creates a dilemma at a moment when both major parties are bleeding voters – voters who are walking straight past the Greens as an alternative. They want the forests protected, but have long opposed carbon offsets that allow big polluters to keep polluting. Now those two positions are about to collide. Today, co-chief executive officer of the Australia Institute Richard Denniss on koalas, carbon offsets and whether the Greens are still willing to pick the big fights.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Co-chief executive officer of the Australia Institute, Richard Denniss Photo: AAP Image/David WigleySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Firebombs and gang wars: The bloody fallout of Australia’s tobacco crackdown 05.09.2026 13นาที

  For years, Australia has made cigarettes increasingly expensive in an effort to drive down smoking. Now, the Coalition wants to dramatically reverse course. It's promised to slash the tobacco excise by 80 per cent, arguing that soaring cigarette prices have fuelled a violent black market. It also wants to legalise and regulate vapes and nicotine pouches. Labor says there’s no evidence the tax cuts would draw smokers away from the black market, while public health authorities warn it could undo decades of progress in reducing smoking. So, who’s right? Today, Martin McKenzie-Murray on how Australia’s public health success helped create the conditions for a deadly tobacco war – and whether making cigarettes cheaper could actually help end it. This episode was first published in May, 2025.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Martin McKenzie-Murray Photo: AAP Image/Diego FedeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Paul Keating's unfinished argument for an independent Australia 04.09.2026 18นาที

  Paul Keating has been out of office for thirty years. But he’s never really left the national conversation. Keating wanted Australia to find its security in Asia, not from it, and to stop defining itself through bigger powers in the Anglosphere. That vision now sits uneasily alongside AUKUS, a more powerful China, and an Australia tied ever more closely to the United States. Today, historian and author of Grand Ambition James Curran, on Keating’s argument for a more independent Australia – and why it continues to challenge the modern Labor Party.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Historian and author of Grand Ambition, James Curran Photo: AAP Image/Darren EnglandSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Chanel Contos on the fight to turn off your algorithms 03.09.2026 15นาที

  Speaking at the Press Club this week, consent education advocate Chanel Contos outlined how social media companies are feeding misogynistic content to young men online.  Now, she wants the government to compel social media companies to give people the option to restrict their algorithm.  So can, and should, the algorithm be contained? And would social media companies even comply?  Today, CEO of Teach Us Consent, Chanel Contos on the damage the algorithm is doing – and the next tech frontier.  If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Teach Us Consent CEO Chanel Contos Photo: AAP Image/Lukas CochSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  Should Meta’s “pervert glasses” be banned? 02.09.2026 15นาที

  They’ve been dubbed pervert glasses. And with good reason  – women around the world are reporting being sexually harassed, filmed without their consent, often without their knowledge. But this week, the federal government ruled out an import ban on smart glasses – as concerns about the technology rise and examples of their misuse flood the internet.Today, Associate Dean of Interaction Technology & Information at RMIT Dana McKay, on the rising popularity of smartglasses, how to regulate their use, and the dangers if wearable surveillance tech becomes widespread.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Associate Dean of Interaction Technology & Information at RMIT, Dana McKay Photo: REUTERS/Carlos BarriaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.