We're bringing you an extra episode of Inside Politics today because Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had an opening in his diary, and he's granted us an audience.

His interview comes off the back of a difficult week, with a state visit from Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Herzog's visit was welcomed by the victims of the Bondi terror attack and their families, but his presence in Australia also sparked protests with shocking clashes between police and protesters in Sydney.

Host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal ask Albanese whether the police response was heavy-handed, and whether his invitation to Herzog caused further division.

The conversation also traverses other issues bubbling along in the background, including the Coalition leadership tussle, as well as what policies the prime minister plans to implement this year ahead of May's budget. 

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There’s a bit going on with the Liberal Party this week, but while that unfolds we are going to look at some bigger issues. 

Interest rates went up recently, for the first time in two years, and there’s a question as to whether government spending contributed to inflation.

So we're testing that today, with host Jacqueline Maley, senior economics correspondent Shane Wright and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos.

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The new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is so pro-Donald Trump she’s become known as the “Trump whisperer”. She also just gained an enormous amount of power in a historic landslide election win.

What will this do to Australia, if she encourages Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to strengthen our ties with the United States?

Today, Peter Hartcher on how Australia manages this new relationship with the Japanese prime minister, while heeding calls to decouple from the United States.

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The violence that unfolded outside Sydney Town Hall on Monday night was ugly. Protesters were punched, kicked and trampled as they tried to breach a police line.

Thousands of demonstrators were crushed together as capsicum spray was deployed indiscriminately at close range. Dozens were arrested, and several police officers were allegedly assaulted.

People were there to protest a visit to Australia by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is in the country following the Bondi terror attack. More protests are expected in Canberra and Melbourne.

Today, chief reporter Chip Le Grand on whether Isaac Herzog’s visit will further divide the country.

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If you’ve taken a passing glimpse at news over the past week, you would have come across the name Bad Bunny.

The Puerto Rican musician recently won three Grammy awards and just performed on the biggest stage in the world as headline act for the NFL Super Bowl’s half-time show, which usually attracts more than 100 million viewers every year.

The 29-year-old’s selection and performance have not been without controversy.

Today, culture editor-at-large Michael Idato examines why Bad Bunny has become a focal point for the Trump administration and the anti-ICE immigration movement, and how he might impact US politics.

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We all know how a neighbour with irksome habits can drive us to distraction. Maybe their leafblower is their best friend. Or they blast their music at all hours.

But what if your neighbour is Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person? And you’re on a disability pension?

Today, investigative reporter Lucy Macken on why the NSW Supreme Court is hearing a case involving feral goats, a 12-kilometre fence and why both women won’t call off the fight.

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Today on Inside Politics, we welcome back former opposition leader Bill Shorten, who is now the Vice Chancellor of the University of Canberra.
It's a timely moment to have Shorten on the podcast as he obliquely (very obliquely, we stress) came up in the Epstein files this week.
Strangely, in the massive dump of new documents from the files, there is a text message exchange between Steve Bannon, the former strategist for Donald Trump, and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In the messages, Bannon boasts that he spoke to Australian billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer on his disruptive $80 million advertising campaign during the 2019 federal election.
This was the election contested by Shorten, and we asked him what he thought.
Joining host Jacqueline Maley for this discussion is chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.

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Another tranche - amounting more than 3 million pages - of the Epstein files has been published.

The US Department of Justice says this is the final drop, but there are reportedly millions of more pages being kept from view.

So is there anything in them that hurts President Donald Trump?

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on how the Epstein files are driving Trump's "war pageant". 

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The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate for the first time in two years yesterday, to 3.85 per cent. Exactly as mortgage holders have been fearing.

But what if many of us are not actually in the cost-of-living crisis that we keep being told that we’re in? And that this new interest rate is comparatively good?

Today, senior economics reporter Matt Wade on how obsessing over the cost of living hides the real challenges of our age.

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Can the Coalition reunite, after two weeks of political infighting? And will the Liberal and National parties’ leaders, Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, even keep their jobs, given the threats to their leadership that continue to play out, as this episode goes to air?

These are only two of the political tripwires that are at high risk of being stepped on, this week; a period that veteran political analyst Sean Kelly calls “absolutely insane”.

Today columnist Sean Kelly on this week’s expected chaos and whether it might lead the government to finally enact bold changes, in housing and tax reform.

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"No jab no play” policy means unvaccinated children can’t be enrolled in childcare or preschool in most Australian jurisdictions. But some parents have found ways to evade those laws.

According to an investigation by reporter Kayla Olaya, these parents are using Facebook groups to share the contacts of doctors who will falsify their children’s immunisation records. This, as vaccine uptake in Australia has stalled below national targets.

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