- 18 minutes 19 secondsMigration plan revealed: Who comes, who leaves and what it all means
Today we’re hot off the press, to use an old newsroom cliche, to talk about the federal government’s new plan for migration. Immigration Minister Tony Burke gave a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday where he announced significant changes.
These changes included curtailing visa hopping, targeting international students, implementing a ballot system for backpackers, and ramping up the deportation of unlawful non-citizens.
If these aims are achieved, what will the consequences be? Will demand for housing drop? Will there be labour shortages in agriculture, or aged care? What about deportations – does that signal ICE-esque raids? And what about the broader questions around Australian culture?
Joining national deputy editor Stephanie Peatling today is chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.
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.
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17 September 2026, 6:35 am - 21 minutes 36 secondsCould Australia join the European Union?
When Donald Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariffs in April last year, one question seemed to dominate: which country would suffer the most economic pain?
But since then, one country after the next seems to have awoken to a starkly hopeful realisation: the United States accounts for only 15 per cent of total global imports and trade. So, could these countries join a newly powerful trading bloc?
Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on recent moves by Canada to possibly join the European Union, and if Australia could follow suit.
Background reading:
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.
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16 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 22 minutes 45 secondsBestselling author Caitlin Moran on how to have hope when Trump and the world drives you 'crackers"
For nearly 35 years, hundreds of thousands of readers around the world have turned to Caitlin Moran for laughter and her signature nouse about how to cope with life's worst bits.
Having grown up in poverty in a down-at-heels English town and helping to support her siblings from the age of 15, Moran was resilience personified.
And then Trump, the universe and everything nearly stole her sanity.
Today, in a break from the doom and gloom of news, the British author on how we can rediscover how life really is a "quiet loving thing".
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15 September 2026, 7:00 am - 12 minutes 26 secondsOne Nation has revealed its migration policy
Pauline Hanson has finally announced her party’s migration policy, after weeks in which various One Nation MPs publicly contradicted one another on the plan.
Today, hear federal political reporter Brittany Busch on which visa holders Pauline Hanson has in her sights – and whether her plan could risk our prosperity.
Further reading:
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.
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14 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 16 minutes 32 secondsAustralia’s ‘Moneyball’: Finding the next big thing in footy
Finals in Australia’s major sporting codes are in full swing.
And six weeks after the AFL grand final is played, the other biggest show of the year - the men’s, and women’s, draft - begins.
But the work to find the next big thing starts years earlier, when scouts hunt for teenagers who possess unusual qualities.
I’m Samantha Selinger-Morris, and you’re listening to The Morning Edition, from The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
Today, explainer reporter Madeleine Heffernan and sports reporter Peter Ryan, on the making of a sports star.
Further reading:
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.
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13 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 23 minutes 1 secondSuperannuation and the One Nation press conference that had everyone watching
This week we’re joining the dots between two different stories: the fight over superannuation, and the colourful past of One Nation’s leader in Victoria, Warren Pickering.
On Monday, Pauline Hanson told voters her party would allow renters and prospective home buyers to withdraw their superannuation early. The policy was scant on details, but it had the desired effect of controlling the national debate.
The same thing happened with the Pickering press conference.
Normally, a leader of a right-wing political party admitting to taking drugs would not be good for electoral prospects. But, as Victorian political editor Chip Le Grand argues, the mea culpa had the opposite effect.
Le Grand joins senior economics correspondent Shane Wright for Inside Politics. Today’s host is deputy national editor Stephanie Peatling, filling in for Jacqueline Maley.
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.
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10 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 26 minutes 42 secondsFrom 9/11 to Donald Trump: Why Australia can’t afford to abandon the US
This week marks twenty-five years since the United States suffered a terrorist attack that was predicted to change the world forever.
Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher talks about the lessons that the US learned – and failed to learn – and examines the costs and rewards of Australia's full-throated support of its ally following the attack.
Hartcher also discusses what Australia's alliance looks like today in the face of Donald Trump's presidency.
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/
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9 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 21 minutes 27 secondsGermany had ruled out extremist parties. Then came this election win
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:
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.
8 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 14 minutes 5 secondsGovernment v the internet: Albanese eyes algorithm ‘off switch’
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: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.
7 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 20 minutes 24 secondsSunscreen wars: The Ultra Violette scandal
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:
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.
6 September 2026, 7:00 pm - 26 minutes 15 secondsWhat One Nation’s WA win means, and Hanson’s incitement claim
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.
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